‘allah’ copyrighted to malaysian muslim?
Post on Dec.22, 2007
… so implied deputy internal security minister, johari when he said "only muslims can use the word ‘allah’".
“Only Muslims can use ‘Allah’. It’s a Muslim word, you see. It’s from (the Arabic (language). We cannot let other religions use it because it will confuse people,” he said when contacted today.
pigilah! the only confused people is you yourself and your UMNO gang!
“We cannot allow this use of ‘Allah’ in non-Muslim publications, nobody except Muslims. The word ‘Allah’ is published by the Catholics. It’s not right.”
see, according to him, the word ‘allah’ is copyrighted to muslim… er… malaysian muslim that is. you remember my previous post, rita from malta said that ‘allah’ is used in the maltese/catholic spoken and written form. it is not exclusively for muslim only.
to show the meaning/origin of the word ‘allah’, here is a comment made by someone with handle ‘a muslim’ (who may or may not be a muslim) in several bloggers’ post (whom had blog on this issue).
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Allah’ (Arabic: Alla-h) is the standard Arabic language word for "God", nothing more, nothing less. In Bahasa Malaysia the standard word for God is ‘Tuhan’.
The term Allah, is most likely derived from a contraction of the Arabic article al + ila-h "deity, god" to al-la-h meaning "the [sole] deity, God" (ho theos monos); another theory traces the etymology of the word to the Aramaic Ala-ha-.
While the term Allah is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God *, it is used by Arabic-language-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews in reference to "God".
The term Allah was also used by pagan Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia.
Note: * This Western misguided belief is also held by some uneducated persons in Malaysia, such as Malaysian Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum.
The concepts associated with the term Allah (as a deity) though differed from tradition to tradition.
In pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah was not the sole divinity, had associates and companions, sons and daughters. There was also a kind of kinship of between Allah and the jinn (spirits).
In Islam, Allah is the pivotal essence of the Muslim faith, Allah is only, the one God, all-merciful and omnipotent, transcendent creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind.
The Arabic-language-speaking Christians today use other words besides Allah for ‘God’ other than ‘Allah’, they for example use terms Alla-h al-ab meaning God the Father, Alla-h al-ibn means God the Son, and Alla-h al-ruh al ghodus meaning God the Holy Spirit.
There are both similarities and differences between the concept of God as portrayed in the Qur’an and the Hebrew Bible (Toarh). The Torah and the Qur’an however both reject the Trinitarian (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) conception of God as three persons in one substance.
(Information sourced from Wikipedia and elsewhere. ) God=Allah=Tuhan, etc. you can use such terms as you like, none is exclusive or reserved for use by any particular religion or belief.
So Johari, what are you creating unnecessary disharmony for? Perhaps for a few UMNO gold stars?
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ok fine if you stupid gomen get confused (but don’t blame the majority muslim as the confused ones) and don’t want herald to use the word ‘allah’…. maybe herald can comply with that… BUT why on earth must herald stop its bahasa section all together? not fair at all!! and we had out PM crying that he is fair to all??
since i read herald regularly (btw watch out for this coming week – 23 dec – issue; i have 2 of my articles published), i understand that the bahasa section is getting popular these days. we now see readers writing in (readers’ letters) to the bahasa section. it would be a pity if the bahasa section is pulled off just as it was starting to get popular! (among the sabahans and sarawakians). er… perhaps that is the reason the gomen want it to be pulled off?
here are the links of bloggers who posted on this topic. i have the links in my other post earlier but people might missed them so i’m re-producing the links here.
blogs on this issue (will update periodically)
ronnie liu: UMNO-led BN is a racist political entitiy
bob: is it really just about terminology?
jeff ooi: (catholic) herald’s KDN under threat?
zorro: there they go again
the malaysian
haris ibrahim: why forbid that which god has enjoined?
kenny law: allah, god, yahweh. what’s in a name?
ktemoc: what in god’s name…
malaysian unplug: islam ala malaysia
kenny law: johari – ‘allah’ for muslim only
haris ibrahim: do not utter the lie….
Filed in christian, government, malaysia, politics, religion
December 22nd, 2007 on 6:00 AM
Instead of splitting hairs, how about addressing this?
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/76284
The silence is so deafening, you can hear a pin drop!
December 22nd, 2007 on 11:01 AM
Malaysiakini- Dec 21, 07 6:23pm :
In an audacious move, a notable Gerakan politician has taken Barisan Nasional coalition leader Umno to task for inciting racial sentiments among Malays to gain political mileage.
“They incite racial sentiments among their community in a petty attempt to further their political career,” Gerakan Youth vice-chief S Paranjothy alleged today.
Such attempts, he said, include taking potshots at other BN component parties which draw their support from non-Malay communities.
“Umno leaders are very found of picking on component parties and use them as their punching bag or stepping-stone to gain popularity in their community,” Paranjothy said in a hard-hitting four-page statement entitled ‘Discrimination from Womb to Tomb’ and his deputy Khairy Jamaluddin’s claim that non-Malays would take advantage of a weak Umno leadership, as prime examples of racial posturing.
He also cited Khairy’s speech at the Umno general assembly last month, during which he blamed newspaper vendors for not wanting to work on Deepavali day. He made a pointed reference to the fact that the sector is predominated by Indian Malaysians.
(Each year, the print media takes a break during the major festivals. This year, Deepavali fell during the week of the Umno general assembly, and there was no publication on the day following the delivery of the presidential address.)
“Umno is fond of playing up sensitive issues among Malaysians. Statements and decisions made by Umno politicians have been (discriminatory) and contain a lot of racial slurs. So who is playing racial politics in Malaysia?… So who is causing racial disunity?” asked Paranjothy.
He warned that national unity would be elusive as long as political parties and politicians continue their communal approach towards politics.
“Politicians always feel (they) must fight for (their) own party. Since we have mostly ethnic parties, they are fighting for their ethnic group. It is difficult to achieve any kind of consensus.”
He stressed that the 14 BN component parties must consolidate into a single party in order to “end racial manipulation in politics”.
“In a multiracial party, if a politician wants to succeed, he would need to prove his ability and win support from all races, not just his own,” he explained.
‘Fourth-class citizens’
Commenting on the Nov 25 Hindraf rally, Paranjothy said the 30,000 Indians took part to express their “frustrations and anger” because the community has been “marginalised, oppressed and ignored”.
Paranjothy said Indians form the most neglected group in economic terms, as shown by key performance indicators such as tertiary education.
“(They) are treated as fourth-class citizens. Where the Indians predominate over their fellow Malaysians is mostly in prison, violent crimes, gangsterism, suicide and social ills. Government policies have failed to improve (their situation).”
On the government’s hardline stance against public demonstrations, Paranjothy said the government has practised double-standards in the issuance of police permits.
“I have participated in street demonstrations and rallies organised by Barisan Nasional Youth, spearheaded by Umno Youth, to handover a memorandum… over certain issues that had taken place (abroad) which I believe would not have benefitted Malaysia.
“Did BN Youth obtained a permit to hold the rallies or demonstrations?… Looks like the government is one-sided when it came to the issuance of permits for public gatherings. BN started this culture of street demonstrations and now others have emulated it.”
December 22nd, 2007 on 8:49 PM
December 22nd, 2007 on 11:12 PM
gutless: choose other names for your god…
May I suggest the name ‘Ah Lah’ ( as in Ah Kow and Ah Too) or has that name been patented too?
December 22nd, 2007 on 11:50 PM
Allah is the Arabian word for God. If you happen to watch any of the Lebanese church services, you will realise that Arab Christians also use the word for God. It’s the same case in Indonesia.
In other words, the usage of the word Allah is not limited to Muslims.
December 23rd, 2007 on 12:34 AM
December 23rd, 2007 on 12:42 AM
gutless
please refrain from using crude words and do not attack people by calling people names. if you do that again, i’m going to ban you and delete your comments.
December 24th, 2007 on 7:42 AM
I dont agree with gutless for his use of crude word. He needs to be re-educated on this matter.I also agree that UMNO is one racist party.However on the usage of Allah as the name for god exclusively for Muslim in Malaysia I dont have problem with it.
It is clearly stated in wikipedia.” While the term is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews in reference to “God”.
In addition,
“Arab Christians for example use terms AllÄh al-ab (الله الآب) meaning God the father, AllÄh al-ibn (الله الابن) mean God the son, and AllÄh al-ruh al ghodus (الله Ø§Ù„Ø±ÙˆØ Ø§Ù„Ù‚Ø¯Ø³) meaning God the Holy Spirit (See God in Christianity for the Christian concept of God).”
Thank you
December 24th, 2007 on 3:01 PM
too bad most of the pious muslims in malaysia support his statement. just look at their blog.
December 24th, 2007 on 11:45 PM
Hey guys,
I’m malay muslim.
Now that we’ve gotten over that, let me tell you that the word/name Allah means ‘one god’ or ‘the one true god’. It’s just one of His many names. According to Muslims, Allah has 99 names. I learnt this in school and you can even google it.
So these idiots want to have exclusivity. This really riles me up. They are bigots. They don’t even know their own religion. They are morons.
Also please don’t say ‘pious’ muslims support this. Who’s to say that they are ‘pious’? I find this comment insulting. They correct word would be ‘bigots’, minus the word ‘muslim’. They are ignorant yet righteous. How shameful.
To think that these people are our ‘leaders’ is really embarasing. I hope you guys realise what they are doing. If you don’t, let me tell you.
They are trying to get the support of the kampung people. They are trying to make everything into a religious fight. They want the kampung people to say “Walaupun BN ni lesap duit kita, dia mempertahankan agama kita.”
Sad part is, it actually works.
Elections are coming. Expect more of this.
Vote these a**holes out before its too late. Get to know your leaders.. youtube them, google them, whatever. But know who you are voting for.
Problem is, we have been ignorant for too long. Let’s wake up and smell the shit that BN is.
December 25th, 2007 on 2:23 AM
Alright I know some of you are really excited with the coming election etc but let us not be blinded by sentiment. Not everything that come out from the BN mouth is totally wrong ( tho 90 percent wrong I reckon), we have to study on this issue with an open mind.
The usage of the holy name Allah in christianity only applicable to arabic-speaking individuals (see my previous comment). In malaysian context, we do not speak Arab so there should be a fine line between name of God in christianity and islam (to avoid confusion).
If the Christians still want to adopt the name it would be better to distinguish them than Allah in islamic context eg: “Arab Christians for example use terms AllÄh al-ab (الله الآب) meaning God the father, AllÄh al-ibn (الله الابن) mean God the son, and AllÄh al-ruh al ghodus (الله Ø§Ù„Ø±ÙˆØ Ø§Ù„Ù‚Ø¯Ø³) meaning God the Holy Spirit â€.
Thank you.