As ‘Allah’ confusion grows, Perkasa backs view that ban only for Herald: KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Last week’s court decision on “Allah” does not effectively ban all non-Muslims from using the Arabic word, Malay rights group Perkasa has acknowledged, despite maintaining its objection to others using the word to refer to their God. Perkasa vice-president Datuk Zulkifli Noordin said the ruling had only applied to the use of “Allah” in Catholic weekly the Herald and had been silent on its use in other ways, whether verbally or in print. But despite admitting this, Zul said that as a Muslim, he still considered it illegal for the Middle Eastern word to be used to describe anyone else but the Muslim god. “D issue b4 the Court is only on the Herald using klmh ALLAH. D usage of ALLAH by other parties or in other manner was not an issue b4 d Court. “So whether non-Muslim can use it or not is not an issue & hence has not been dcided by Court. “Altho as Muslim I strongly object 2 the usage of kalimah ALLAH by anybody for purpose other then 2 bear witness to the Oneness of ALLAH, wthout associating ALLAH wth other being or having sons/associates etc.,” he said, in a text message yesterday. Zul’s remarks comes despite the Malay rights group’s call for Muslims across the country to demonstrate against the Catholic Church outside the Court of Appeal last week, in support of the Home Ministry’s efforts to prohibit non-Muslims from referring to God as “Allah” in print material. Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali, who declined to comment for this article, had also previously slammed Arab scholars who criticised the Court of Appeal’s ban on Christian usage of “Allah” as ignorant, saying that not everyone in the Middle East, Islam’s birthplace, understood the religion well. Perkasa is one of the most vocal groups calling for the Arabic word to be barred to non-Muslims here. A week after the Court of Appeal’s decision on the “Allah” issue, debate on its impact on the rights of the Christian community and other religious minorities has continued to rage on, with religious and political leaders taking opposing stands to the matter. The Court of Appeal had adjudged that the use of the word “Allah” was not integral to the Christian faith and it would have caused confusion in the Muslim community, with critics such as civil rights lawyer Nizam Bashir saying that such a judgment reinforces the “misconception” that the word is for the exclusive use of Muslims. In response, Iranian-American religious scholar Dr Reza Aslan recently said the Court of Appeal’s ruling barring non-Muslims from referring to God as “Allah” only showed Malaysia’s folly. The ruling was also criticised in several international publications, such as Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post, which wrote an editorial yesterday that “those who claim exclusivity to God undermine their own faith, and inadvertently or not, preach polytheism”. On Monday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak moved to reassure the Christians in East Malaysia that they will be able to continue using the word “Allah” in their religious practice. “Recently when the Appeals Court made its decision on the use of the word Allah, it did not at all touch on the practices of Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, in fact the 10-Point Agreement is still being maintained,” Najib said, pointing to Putrajaya’s 10-point solution in 2011 that allowed Christians to publish, import and distribute Malay-language bibles containing the Arabic word. But even as ministers Tan Sri Joseph Kurup and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday said that the Court of Appeal ruling was restricted to the Catholic Church’s Herald weekly, lawyers and non-Muslims remain unconvinced that the decision would not have a wide-ranging impact on non-Muslims. Civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan has said it is “inaccurate” to represent the ruling as being limited only to the Herald or to non-Muslims in peninsula Malaysia, saying that it would create a precedent for a future ban on non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”. “What the Court of Appeal has essentially done is to create a precedent in which the word ‘Allah’ may be banned on the basis that that it causes confusion,” Syahredzan told The Malay Mail Online via email. Yesterday, the Herald’s editor Father Lawrence Andrew said the lack of clarity in Putrajaya’s interpretation of the Court of Appeal’s judgment on the “Allah” issue is only adding to the growing confusion surrounding the use of the word by non-Muslims nationwide. The Court of Appeal ruling casts doubt over how the judiciary will rule on two similar court cases over the word “Allah”: one is by Sidang Injil Borneo (Borneo Evangelical Church) Sabah, who is suing the Home Ministry for confiscating its Malay-language Christian education publications, which contain the word “Allah”, in 2007. The other is over the 2008 government seizure of audio CDs, which bear the word “Allah”, that belong to Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, a Sarawakian Christian. Both cases have been put on the backburner the past few years pending the disposal of the Catholic Church’s case. dlvr.it/4BHqTz
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 23:40:33 +0000
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