Allah Again
by Rev. Eu Hong Seng
In the interview last Dec. 31 on the issue of restriction of the Alkitab, Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar assured the Christian community that there was no "agenda to discriminate" and that the restriction was to ensure that there was "no confusion and controversy" among the Muslim community (Online Utusan Malaysia, 30/12/08).
However we feel that these attempts by the Government could be more helpful if they were made by both the Muslim and Christian communities to explain the meaning and understanding of the word 'Allah' in context in their respective places of worship.
In a multi-racial and multi-religious society where religious freedom is espoused and where the world is encouraged to look at us as a 'model' of racial and religious harmony, it does appear inconsistent when the Government is resistant towards others who use the word 'God' (Allah) in the national language, especially in the Holy Scriptures.
If one were to accept the flawed argument by Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, then the other religions in Malaysia may soon find themselves unable to use the word 'Allah' in other places of worship besides churches.
It does seem logical that the Sikhs may be next in line as they too use 'Allah' in their Scriptures, though we pray that they will not be subjected to the same restriction.
While the Ministry would like the public to think that the issue is limited to the use of 'Allah' in the Christian Scriptures, this is not so as the Government has consequentially curtailed the use of the same word in other Christian publications, as seen in their ongoing restrictions and confiscations of such materials.
To avoid confusion and controversy, perhaps a better approach would be to get Muslims, Christians, Sikhs (who also use the word 'Allah' in their Scriptures) and any other religious groups to educate their respective adherents on the obvious elementary truth - that their understanding of 'Allah' is not the same as our 'Allah'.
Simply put, their 'God' is not our 'God'. This is not very complicated, very 'un-confusing' and 'non-controversial'. Done in context in our respective places of worship, this will go a long way in promoting goodwill besides high respect for each other's faith.
Millions of religious leaders have been doing this for centuries and we find no reason why this cannot be done in the context of Malaysia.
Having said all that, we need to bear in mind that the word 'Allah' predates the birth of Islam, and it has been used by both Muslims and Christians worldwide for centuries and definitely before Independence in 1957.
The Britannica (online dictionary) tells us "the name's origin can be traced back to the earliest Semitic writings in which the word for god was Il or El, the latter being an Old Testament synonym for Yahweh. 'Allah' is the standard Arabic word for 'God' and is used by Arab Christians as well as by Muslims."
We must also remind ourselves that in the context in Malaysia, our Government, through our Prime Minister, desires to ease religious tensions and has been preaching tolerance.
How can this be when the Government is effectively saying, through legislation and government directives, "you cannot call your God 'God' (Allah)?"
Surely we can learn from our neighbour Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world, where the word 'Allah' is allowed in the Alkitab. There is no confusion and controversy there today.
The Christian community has adopted our national language policy since its introduction and we remained committed to nation building.
Copyrighting a word or laying claim on 'a word' (in the national language) to be used by one community to the exclusion of others (not to mention it is also a widely-used language in the ASEAN region) is unquestionably inappropriate of a nation that is seeking to become a 'first world nation with a first world mentality.'
We call upon all churches to pray for good sense to prevail.
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