The Malaysian Federal Court upheld the ban on the use of the word
"Allah" by Christians in Malay language Bibles and Christian
publications. This news, while certainly can't hold a candle to
celebrity gossip as far as popularity goes, did make some waves in the
international media. Not surprisingly in many quarters this decision was
seen as the clear sign of the intolerance of the rising islamofascist
right wing in Malaysia, but even in the civilized press there was
ridicule and scorn towards "ignorant" Malaysian Muslims for insisting
that the word "Allah" be exclusively used by Muslims.
I do understand that in the Middle East Arab Christians address the
Almighty as "Allah" without any local Muslim going into a catatonic
shock. We need to stress though, that these Christians are native Arabic
speakers, who have used this word before the advent of Islam in the 7th
Century AD, and that this word itself means "the God". The Bumiputra
Christians of Malaysia are however, not native Arabic speakers. To
suggest that in their native tongue they have absolutely no word to
express the concept of the "supreme deity" is either willfully ignorant
or so condescending, that I am surprised the PC police is not cracking down on
it. Malay Christians, moreover, were not introduced to Christianity by
Arab Missionaries, which would support their claim to the word "Allah",
if they had first encountered Christian Scriptures in Arabic.
In Malaysia, for the past seven years emotions have been running high
on both sides. Muslim groups have organized protests in front of the
court house. Civil rights groups and various NGOs explored the
constitutionality of the ban, and fiery opinions have been published by
both parties.
Yes, Malaysia, much like the rest of the world have a long way to go
to achieve perfect harmony. But why is everybody asking the wrong
question? Let's look to the core of the problem.
Why WOULD Malay Christians use an Arabic loanword???
And in light of this, why is it so surprising that Malaysian Muslims are not too pleased with that???
