Malaysian Court

rules Herald free

to use the word

"Allah"

Musbri Mohamed
DIL; ADIL ( ITM )
Pursuing MBL ( UKM )

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The Catholic weekly Herald is now free to use the
word "Allah" in its publication after the Malaysian
High Court quashed the Home Minister's
prohibition against it using the word, declaring the
order as "illegal, null and void.“

December 31,2009

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In her decision, Justice Lau Bee Lan also
declared that under Article 3(1) of the Federal
Constitution, applicant Titular Roman Catholic
Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam had the
constitutional right to use "Allah" in Herald in
the exercise of his right that religions other than
Islam might be practised in peace and harmony
in the country.

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She further ruled that the Constitution, which
states Islam as the country's religion, did not
empower the minister to make such a prohibition.
"In pursuant to Article 10, the applicant also has
the right to use the word 'Allah' in the Herald in
the exercise of his right to freedom of speech and
expression." she said in her oral judgment
Thursday to a packed courtroom.

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Justice Lau ruled as grounds for her
judgement that both the respondents -
the minister and the Malaysian
government - had failed throughout
the trial to prove how the use of the
word "Allah" could threaten national
security.

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On Jan 7 last year, the Home Ministry had
approved the Herald's publication permit on
condition that the usage of the word "Allah"
was prohibited and the word "Limited"
(Terhad) be endorsed on its front page to
mean that it must be circulated only to
Christians.

The minister had prohibited the usage on

grounds of national security and to avoid
misunderstanding and confusion among
Muslims.

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The Archbishop, as Herald's publisher, had filed
an application on Feb 16 for a judicial review to
seek a declaration that the minister’s decision
for the prohibition was illegal and that the word
"Allah" was not exclusive to Islam.

Representing the Archbishop were counsel

Porres P. Royan and S. Selvarajah while senior
federal counsel Datuk Kamaludin Md Said
stood for the respondents.

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Following the ruling, Kamaludin sought a
clarification for the declaration to be only
confined for the permit in question, which was for
the period from Jan 1 to Dec 31 last year, and not
future permits.

"It does not relate to an order or decision relating

to future permits," he said, adding that future
permits would require a fresh application.

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However, Royan argued that the permit for the
period between Jan 1 and Dec 31 this year had
already been issued, subjected to the same
condition pending the court's determination on
the matter.

"The order speaks for itself. I believe the

minister will be bound by the words he has used
and that he will respect the court's decision.

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"Of course, they have other remedies. The court has
granted declarations to allow the use of the word 'Allah'
that must bind the parties," he said.

Kamaludin then said he would seek direction from the

minister on whether they would file a stay of execution
application or an appeal.

In an immediate reaction, Herald’s editor Father Andrew

Lawrence told the press that this was a "long-awaited"
decision, hailing it as a "landmark case for our nation".

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If Muslims in other country permit non Muslim to
use the word Allah it is a mistake. Muslims in
these countries usually do not have the power to
stop it.

In Indonesia, liberalization of Islam and

secularization of Muslim community has long
been in place.

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In Indonesia, a family can consist of a
Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, so on
and so forth. This is their culture but not
ours.

We do not practice such because there is no

scope for such in the Qur’an.

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When it comes to food, the spectrum differs from one
country to another. For example in Indonesia, both lawful
and unlawful dishes can be placed side by side. Often, if
asked about the state of food, the common reply can be that
it contains no ‘pork lard’.

In Malaysia, Muslims are sensitive to such and often we

come across newspaper reports of pork meat being placed
side by side or next to chicken.

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We in Malaysia are lucky to have a government that
takes this matter seriously. Therefore, we must strive
hard to prevent the use of Allah by other religious
community.

And the non Muslim community must understand it is

not a quarrel for the sake of a name, but it is about the
protection of the Islamic Creed (Aqidah), and this has
nothing to do with religious tolerance or intolerance. This
is about respecting other religion.

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God addressed the Prophets, Adam as Adam Safi-Allah,
Noah as Nuh Nabi-Allah, Abraham as Ibraheem Khalil-
Allah, Moses as Musa Kalim-Allah, Jesus as I’sa Ruh-
Allah and Mohammed Rasul-Allah. All these titles, in the
Semitic language were written on the Tablet before the
arrival of the Prophets.

This is why the Prophet Mohammed said: “I was a Prophet

even before I came in to this world.”

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Prior to the advent of Islam the Name Allah was
announced with the title of every Prophet. When the
souls were created, the first Name on their tongue was
Allah and when the soul entered the body of Adam, it
said, Ya-Allah, and only then it entered the body.

Many religions understand this enigma and chant the

Name Allah and many others because of doubt are
deprived of the Name.

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This situation over the usage of the word ALLAH is indeed quite
different to what we in Malaysia are used to. For ages Muslims here
have come to look upon the word ALLAH as being exclusively
identified to Islam and Muslims, while the rest refer to the Creator
as “TUHAN” in Malay or GOD in English.

This approach establishes a distinction over the definition of God

and how we separately view Him in our own way. Therefore, the
request to make use of the word Allah by non-Muslims here seems
to be out of place because we are not Arabs or Indonesians but
Malaysians with out own practices.

One wonders what the motive or agenda is over such, or it could be

said that globalization offers other ways to beat rules in place over
conversion.

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What Muslims in Malaysia need to understand is that they have to
prepare themselves for this new propaganda approach, which no
doubt will lead to much confusion amongst lukewarm namesake
Muslims. If we are not careful in determining our stand and
educating Muslim on our percept of God in comparison to the one
adopted by Christianity, then there is a danger that many Muslims
will fall prey to Christian literature, which is globally sponsored
and often targeted at Muslims, in efforts to open their minds to
Christianity.

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We cannot equate God with Allah. Therefore when we say la ilaha
illallah it is not there is no god but God, this does not make sense,
rather it means there is no god but Allah.

When we analyze the use of Allah in the Qur’an there are two
forms: general and specific. The verse in Surah al-Tawbah: 30
only tells that Christians say Messiah is the son of God or Jews say
that Uzayr is the son of God. Other oft-quoted verse regarding this
issue is..

“ …..if indeed thou ask them who it is that created the heavens and
the earth, they would be sure to say, “Allah.” (Surah
Al-Zumar, 39:38).

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Malaysian Government and its subsidiaries are put on pressure
if they do not allow the use of Allah by the Christians. The
government will be accused of violating freedom of expression.
Evidently, freedom of expression become the highest principle,
above all considerations including religious and the interests of
the people. The question is do we have to submit to the liberal
values propagated by the West? As an independent and
sovereign state, we should disregard what others will say if we
can prove academically that what we do is the best for our
community.

As Muslims we should base our values on our religion, why

should we let the West dictates their values on us. Certainly
they are not superior in matters such as values, ethics and
morality. Even if they do, we have the right to have our own
values, our own identity.

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The non Muslim should not be permitted to use the
word Allah in any ways to refer to their God even
in their publication for their own community.

As long as they live in Muslim country they have

to respect their Muslim neighbors.

Thank You.

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