Detailed report on court ruling on use of word “Allah”

This is the most detailed article on the use of the word “Allah” in Malaysia which has led to acts of violence on at least 10 churches this past week. I find the High Court Judge’s use of historical examples very interesting to denote what’s considered relevant in a Malaysian case.

1. The word “Allah” is the correct Bahasa Malaysia word for “God” and in the Bahasa Malaysia translation of the Bible, “God” is translated as “Allah” and “Lord” is translated as “Tuhan”;

2. For 15 centuries, Christians and Muslims in Arabic-speaking countries have been using the word “Allah” in reference to the One God. The Catholic Church in Malaysia and Indonesia and the greater majority of other Christian denominations hold that “Allah” is the legitimate word for “God” in Bahasa Malaysia;

3. The Malay language has been the lingua franca of many Catholic believers for several centuries especially those living in Melaka and Penang and their descendants in Peninsular Malaysia have practised a culture of speaking and praying in the Malay language;

4. The word “God” has been translated as “Allah” in the “Istilah Agama Kristian Bahasa Inggeris ke Bahasa Malaysia” first published by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia in 1989;

5. The Malay-Latin dictionary published in 1631 had translated “Deus” (the Latin word for God) as “Alla” as the Malay translation;

6. The Christian usage of the word “Allah” predates Islam being the name of God in the old Arabic Bible as well as in the modern Arabic Bible used by Christians in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and other places in Asia, Africa, etc;

7. In Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, the word “Allah” has been used continuously in the printed edition of the Matthew’s Gospel in Malaysia in 1629, in the first complete Malay Bible in 1733 and in the second complete Malay Bible in 1879 until today in the Perjanjian Baru and the Alkitab;

8. Munshi Abdullah who is considered the father of modern Malay literature had translated the Gospels into Malay in 1852 and he translated the word “God” as “Allah”;

9. There was already a Bible translated into Bahasa Melayu in existence before 1957 which translation was carried out by the British and Foreign Bible Society where the word “Allah” was used;

10. There was also already in existence a Prayer Book published in Singapore on 3.1.1905 where the word “Allah” was used;

11. There was also a publication entitled “An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine” published in 1895 where the word “Allah” was used.

12. Anther publication entitled “Hikajat Elkaniset” published in 1874 also contains the word “Allah”

13. The Bahasa Indonesia and the Bahasa Malaysia translations of the Holy Bible, which is the Holy Scriptures of Christians, have been used by the Christian natives of Peninsular Malaysia; Sabah and Sarawak for generations;

14. The Bahasa Malaysia speaking Christian natives of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah had always and have continuously the word “Allah” for generations and the word “Allah” is used in the Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesian translations of the Bible used throught Malaysia;

15. At least for the last three decades the Bahasa Malaysia congregation of the Catholic Church have been freely using the Alkitab, the Bahasa Indonesia translation of the Holy Bible wherein the word “Allah appears;

16. The said publication is a Catholic weekly as stated on the cover of the weekly and is intended for the dissemination of news and information on the Catholic Church in Malaysia and elsewhere and is not for sale or distribution outside the Church;

17. The said publication is not made available to members of the public and in particular to persons professing the religion of Islam;

18. The said publication contains nothing which is likely to cause public alarm and/or which touches on the sensitivities of the religion of Islam and in the fourteen years of the said publication there has never been any untoward incident arising from the Applicant’s use of the word “Allah” in the said publication;

19. In any event the word “Allah” has been used by Christians in all countries where the Arabic language is used as well as in Indonesian/Malay language without any problems and/or breach of public order/ and/or sensitivity to persons professing the religion of Islam in these countries;

20. Islam and the control and restriction of religious doctrine or belief among Muslims professing the religion of Islam is a state matter and the Federal Government has no jurisdiction over such matters of Islam save in the federal territories

21. The subsequent exemption vide P.U.(A) 134/82 which permits the Alkitab to be used by Christians in churches ipso facto permits the use of the word “Allah” in the said publication;

22. The Bahasa Malaysia speaking congregation of the Catholic Church uses the word “Allah” for worship and instruction and that the same is permitted in the Al-Kitab.

Article 150 of Malaysian constitution

Here’s an article detailing how the Emergency in Malaysia (1948-60) led to the drafting of Article 150 in the Malaysian constitution. The article is useful in pointing out that technically Emergency never ended in Malaysia. Anyway, I quote the relevant paragraph below on implications for Islamic law in Malaysia.

Article 150 has an exclusion clause where the power of Parliament and of the King under Emergency powers does not extend to matters of Islamic law, customs of the Malays, native law or customs in Sabah and Sarawak, citizenship and language.

Constitutional changes

Malaysia’s hybrid system is a unique one in the sense that although it claims to be a secular state, numerous elements in Islamic law has had an impact on the actual practice of law in the country, or at least in public opinion which led to actual implementation of Islamic law in certain states. Thus plans to amend the federal constitution has been called for to draw the line between federal law and sharia. One Malaysian MP has suggested that the line “Islam is the religion for the Federation including in terms of the law and syariah” be included to remove any ambiguity. If so then, any other law that is passed and that contradicts it must be void for as long as it is contradictory.

But the MP’s definition and vision of Islamic law is rather hazy and inclusive of many things not defined in any established body of laws. Even these would be open to debate and revision  The ban on the use of turban and the sale of condoms for example are subsumed under the administration of Islamic law, according to him. He also proposed that the use of the word “Islam” be regulated by the state, specifically when it came to associations which purport to be doing things in the name of Islam, such as Sisters of Islam which he claimed is not based on the Sharia. In this way, a state would have a monopoly on the usage of words like “Islam” and “Muslim.”

In other news, Mona Eltahawy highlights how the implementation of Sharia challenges the notion of One Malaysia.