Most holy, onmipotent and omniscience Allah - the Malaysian Prime Minister and his cabinet has decided that only Malaysian Muslims can use the word Allah.... and to know call you "Allah" may cause this already oppressive government to arrest me - but, I, being being a believer, shall not cease calling you "ALLAH", my dearest Allah.
There are so many failings of the Barisan National government that have been recently highlighted - but yet again the BN government tries to distract the rakyat by creating "new issues" based on religion and race. What do they want now - to cause a Muslim - non-Muslim tension?
HINDRAF raised the issue of discrimination of a particular ethnic group - the Indians in Malaysia. And the government and its cronnies turned it into a "racial tension issue" - and even set up mechanisms on how to deal with him. Some Indian cronny organisation also assisted and tried to make it a religious issue - i.e. those odd proposals about the creation of a "non-Muslims Affairs department.."
The issue was economic in nature. It was socio-cultural in nature. It was about inequitable distribution of wealth and resources - in fact it not only affects the Indians in Malaysia - but all Malaysians --- we have after all one of the largest gap between the rich and the poor. (far worse than countries like Philipines, Indonesia, etc....). The Barisan National government has been shown to be a government that helped a few amass the wealth of the nation - and has failed to be a government of ALL the people of Malaysia. Sadly our Prime Minister, his chiildren and his son-in-law, our Deputy Prime Minister...etc may most likely be in that category of richest 10% of Malaysia....
And the trick used on the rakyat whenever these real issues are raised is ........"racial tension"..."religious tension"...."May 13"...and now this laughable issue of who can use the word "Allah" and who cannot.....LET US NOT BE DISTRACTED FROM THE REAL ISSUES..
Herald can’t use ‘Allah’ in its publications
Friday, 04 January 2008 08:59am
• Cabinet: ‘Allah’ for Muslims only©The Star by Mazwin Nik Anis
PUTRAJAYA: The Herald - The Catholic Weekly publication is not allowed to use the word “Allah” in its publications, the Cabinet decided.
The restrictions on the use of the word “Allah” was still enforceable and shall be upheld as decided by the Cabinet in two of its meetings – on Oct 18 and Nov 1, 2006, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Abdullah Mohd Zin said.
Abdullah, who said the Prime Minister had instructed him to clarify the matter so the public would not be confused, told a press conference on Thursday:
“One of the reasons given to uphold the restriction is because that it has long been the practice of this country that the world Allah refers to God according to the Muslim faith.”
It was only proper for other religions to use the word "God" and not "Allah" when referring to their God in respective beliefs, Abdullah said, adding that the use of the word “Allah” shall not be made a public debate that may give the impression as if there is no freedom of religion in the country.
“The use of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims may arouse sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims in the country,” he said.
On Dec 31, the publication’s editor Father Lawrence Andrew said the weekly was allowed to continue printing its Bahasa Malaysia section with no restriction on the use of the word “Allah” for God.
He said a representative from the Internal Security Ministry delivered a letter dated Dec 28 with the permit to print the newspaper and that according to him, the letter did not place any restrictions whatsoever.
The newspaper carries reports in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Tamil and Chinese, about the Catholic community. It has a circulation of 12,000.
The ministry had earlier issued directives to the publisher to cease the use of the word “Allah” in the weekly, failing which its permit would either be suspended or revoked.
On Dec 5, the publisher filed a writ of summons in the Kuala Lumpur High Court to seek declarations of use of Allah.
When contacted later, Abdullah said that the Cabinet in the two meetings had decided that Herald - The Catholic Weekly should not use the word “Allah” in its publications.
“I would also like to remind the public that apart from the word 'Allah', three other words - Solat, Kaabah and Baitullah – are also prohibited and cannot be used in other religions’ publications,” he said.
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As I understand it, the word “Allah” is a derivative word of the Sanskrit language. Similes would be Akka and Amba. This should come as no surprise as the original 360 deity statues were of Hindu origin anyway, as was King Vikramadiya’s inscription on the golden dish contained within the Ka’abah itself. The same black stone contained within the Kaabah is called the “Hajra Aswad”. Ironically the Hindu Lingghi or Lingham, is also called the Sanghey Ashweta. Both words have their origins in the Sanskrit language. Please consult your favorite linguist for verification. I stress linguist, and NOT religious advocate, to reduce any possible “unbiasness”. (geseran Bahasa)
Coming back to the name “Allah”, it has been established that the Sanskrit language translates it as “Mother”, or “Goddess”, or “Mother Goddess”. This appellation has been retained by the Muslims, some say as a form of continuity, and for the ease of transition of the people’s religion of the middle-east from Hinduism and Paganism to Islam. Mecca was already the pilgrimage focal-point of the Hindus & Pagan Arabs as their Holy Site for centuries pre-dating the birth of the prophet Muhammad (real name Ahmad). In fact, the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad (saw) was one of the keepers of the then Pagan Ka’abah. One of his duties included the daily cleaning of the 360 golden pagan statues contained within this Holy Place.
The parallel Christian story is, that Dec 25th was really the Birthday of Horus (Son of Isis 4,000bc) and NOT the birthday of Jesus. The Roman Pope “canonized” it to minimize the transitional “shock” from Paganism to Roman Catholism. Thus, certain “traditions” are kept for ease of religious transitional purposes.
To preserve inter-faith religious harmony, I will not get into the discussions of the shaving of heads, or the perambulations as practiced by both the Hindu and Islamic religions when performing pilgrimage at the Kaa’bah. It raises too may doctrinal questions.
I will however, highlight:
Surah 3 verse 48
“And He (Allah) will teach him the Scripture, and Wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel(Bible).”
Also:
Surah 3 verse 3
”He (Allah) hath revealed unto thee the Scripture with Truth, confirming that which was before it even as He (Allah) revealed the Torah and the Gospel (Bible).”
You might also want to read about the additional definitions of the name of Allah at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah for even more alternative views.
So perhaps the Christian Community should NOT be using the term “Allah” in their Alkitab, even though Khadijah’s cousin, Waraqah (Christian Pastor), had been preaching Christianity using the same name of “Allah” from his Arabic Talmud/Torah and his Injil/ Kitab (book of Matthew only). Although the Christian community may be historically correct when using the term “Allah”, they may face some inferred “paganistic conflicts” as the term “Allah” also has female connotations in the Sanskrit origin of its derivative. They should instead be adhering to either Yahweh, Yehovah among the many other names of God so as to be more theologically "accurate". Christianity after all, insist that their God is a He.
Final Word, IMHO, Christians should NOT use the term “Allah” in their Alkitab or any other publication when referring to their God.
“Uncle” Pak Lah, maybe you should have let the “INTER-FAITH” Conference proceed instead of canceling it. Now you have a very confused nation. Each citizen not fully understanding one another’s religions. Leaving everyone in a very confused and sorry state.
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