Matt K. George: Use of ‘Allah’ still unresolved for Malaysia’s Christians

Three court cases seen as ‘politically’ motivated

Malaysian Christians this week have been anxious about their right to practise their faith without state interference or provocation from militant Islam, as three cases concerning religious freedom have come to court.

Much is riding on the legal system to affirm Malaysia’s constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. Christians in Malaysia have endured steady attacks on their faith during the past year. There have been taunts, such as a banner declaring “Jesus is the son of Allah” attached to railings of a church in the popular resort island of Penang. There have been threats, including petrol bombs hurled at a church, and the seizure of bibles. And there has been the hounding of Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of a Catholic newspaper, who insisted his paper will continue to use the word “Allah” to name God when appropriate, despite his effigy being burnt, protests outside his church, and a charge of sedition being laid against him.

The government’s order allowing only Muslims to use the word “Allah” is particularly galling to Christians in multiracial Malaysia, a nation once tolerant of all creeds. The indigenous Sabah and Sarawak, who constitute 70 per cent of the country’s Christian population, have been using the word in their theological vocabulary -- both in worship in the Malay language, or in written form in the Malay Bible, the Alkitab -- for more than 100 years.

Yet the government, individual Sultans and state-sponsored Muslim bodies dictate that ‘Allah’ belongs exclusively to Muslim Malays, despite widespread criticism of the policy from Muslim scholars around the world. Keep reading

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