MALAYSIAN CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER ORDERED NOT TO USE THE WORD ALLAH FOR GOD
January 7th 2008 01:12
Malaysia has ruled that a Catholic newspaper cannot use the word 'Allah' to refer to God.
The Straits Times says that this “clarifies reports that it had reversed an earlier ban on the use of the word by non-Muslims.”The Times reported that on Thursday Abdullah Mohd Zin, the minister in charge of Islamic affairs, said that ‘Allah’ can only be used by Muslims. His statement came a week after the government renewed the publishing permit of The Herald, a weekly publication of the Catholic Church that comes in four languages, including Malay.
Abdullah said it had long been the practice in Malaysia that the word ‘Allah’ refers to God in the Muslim faith only.
The Herald’s editor, Father Lawrence Andrew, told The Straits Times that when the permit was renewed on December 28, no restrictions were stipulated, and it was assumed that the word would be allowed.
However, Abdullah has now said the restrictions will remain, following a decision by the Cabinet in November last year.
The other banned words are ‘solat (prayer), Kaabah (Islam's holiest shrine in Mecca,) and Baitullah (House of God). The Christian literature does not use these words.
In 2002, the Herald was also asked to stop using the word ‘Allah’ but after an appeal to the then Cabinet of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, it was allowed to continue doing so.
The Catholic Church now has taken its fight to court. It is seeking an order that it be allowed to use "Allah" in its publications. The case is pending.
It strikes MediaBlab that the Catholic priest cum editor is simply being obdurate and purposefully inflammatory in wanting to use the word Allah because, while he may be technically correct, the world at large generally perceives the word Allah to be the Muslim word for the deity.
Perhaps the editor should simply tend to his flock and leave and stop playing political games with Muslim sensitivity.
- From MediaBlab
| 48 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
