Malaysian Catholic weekly told to drop use of 'Allah' in order to renew publishing permit

[gilliam]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A Catholic weekly newspaper in Malaysia has been told to drop the use of the word “Allah” in its Malay language section if it wants to renew its publishing permit, a senior government official said Friday.

The Herald, the organ of Malaysia’s Catholic Church, has translated the word God as “Allah” but it is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim God, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit.

“Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people,” Che Din told The Associated Press.

iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/21/asia/AS-REL-Malaysia-Catholic-God.php#end_main

 

[WanderAimlessly]

So, essentially what they are saying is that the Catholic God and Muslim god are different?

 

[Dale_M]

Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit

That is a government agency which I am glad to say does not exist in our country.

The position which he voiced seems odd. My understanding is that, as People of the Book, Jews and Christians are seen to be followers of the same God as in Islam. I wonder if The Herald can get some Islamic experts to clarify the matter.

 

[Muzhik]

That is a government agency which I am glad to say does not exist in our country.

The position which he voiced seems odd. My understanding is that, as People of the Book, Jews and Christians are seen to be followers of the same God as in Islam. I wonder if The Herald can get some Islamic experts to clarify the matter.

My guess is that they’re reacting to the growing number of MBBs (Muslim-Based Believers) – the people who where born and raised Muslim, and are coming to faith in Christ Jesus. Many of these are seeking out believers because they have been having dreams and visions of Jesus, (Isa, in Arabic), the Man in White. A few years ago, Al Jazeera ran an interview with Ahmad Al Qataani, “the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, which is an institution specializing in graduating imams and Islamic preachers.” In this interview Sheikh Ahmad made the statement that, “In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity.” This was just in Africa. The numbers are similar in the rest of the world. Given these numbers, I guess the Muslims in the area are worried about “brand dilution” – there is only the Muslim Allah; accept no substitutes.

You can read an English translation of the interview here, and more information about Muslim converts to Christianity here.

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[Francine_Peters]

So, essentially what they are saying is that the Catholic God and Muslim god are different?

Pope John Paul II and the document Lumen Gentium say Allah and Yahweh are the same God. Some contemporary Protestants say they are different.

 

[WanderAimlessly]

Pope John Paul II and the document Lumen Gentium say Allah and Yahweh are the same God. Some contemporary Protestants say they are different.

What I am commenting on the the Malaysian governments stance on this issue not the Catholic Church’s.

 

[nigelsim]

This issue has recently surfaced again. The Herald (Malaysian Catholic Weekly) has been asked to remove its Bahasa Malaysia section (the section written in the national language) when it sought to renew its publishing license. Their reason - The Herald has been using the word ‘Allah’ despite orders not to do so. Furthermore, the government threaten to withdraw its publishing license because the herald has “touched upon issues other than religious matters”

themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/7903-herald-not-out-to-be-controversial-says-editor

so my question here is why the government is restricting the usage of certain words that they claim to be exclusive to islam and also what constitutes matters pertaining to religion only? isn’t religion supposed to relate also to matters affecting our daily day lives?

 

[Dale_M]

Why is the newspaper using the word “Allah”, which is Arabic, when writing in the Malay language? Is that the word for “God” in Malay?

 

[nigelsim]

well… u have to understand that many words (more than 95%) in the malay language is borrowed from one language or another… so its not surprising that the arabic word is used.

 

[DaveBj]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: snip

The Herald, the organ of Malaysia’s Catholic Church, has translated the word God as “Allah” but it is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim God, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit.

“Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people,” Che Din told The Associated Press.

…which is precisely what I have been saying all along (on other forums at this site).

DaveBj

 

[Dale_M]

…which is precisely what I have been saying all along (on other forums at this site)

Then I guess you and Che Din Yusoff agree on that matter. But Nigelsim indicates that “Allah” is the Malay word for “God”, for Christians as well as Muslims. And, of course, Arab Christians use the word “Allah” when referring to God.

 

[Claude_Frollo]

Hi there, I am a Catholic from Turkey, our Catholic Churches here use the arabic word “Allah” instead of using turkish version of the word “God” if the mass is done in Turkish language. At first I could not get used to it praying to Allah because you hear every time this word from the mosques and it is somehow disturbing. But then I thought, if my understanding of God is correct, it should not make much difference just the word I spell and God would understand the situation.
I stood against this word and in my prayers I never use it but whenever our Bishop or a priest in Turkey speaks or writes something they use the word Allah and in most of the books it is translated so. So if these are the decisions of our priests which are very educated and experienced here, who am I to stand against this in the church ?
The turkish protestans are protesting it… They are somehow extremist in terminology and even they are not using the turkish version of “God” but they are using the original name “Yahweh”.

 

[DaveBj]

Then I guess you and Che Din Yusoff agree on that matter. But Nigelsim indicates that “Allah” is the Malay word for “God”, for Christians as well as Muslims. And, of course, Arab Christians use the word “Allah” when referring to God.

That’s true, of course; my Arabic teachers were Baptists and they used “Allah” for “God.” Also, “Allah” is used for “God” in my Arabic Bible.

Where I and Che Din Yusoff agree is that the deity that the Muslims worship is not the same deity that Jews and Christians worship, no matter how much Muslims may believe it is.

DaveBj

 

[daeve]

I just ran into this while following a link on another thread.

news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090108/lf_afp/malaysiareligioncatholicislammedia_newsmlmmd

 

[Dale_M]

I just ran into this while following a link on another thread.

news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090108/lf_afp/malaysiareligioncatholicislammedia_newsmlmmd

Here’s the first three paragraphs of the article:

Malaysia has withdrawn a ban on a Catholic newspaper’s Malay-language edition imposed in a row over the use of the word “Allah”, an official said Thursday.

The decision was made after the “Herald” weekly threatened to sue the government, the Home Ministry’s publications control unit secretary Che Din Yusof told AFP.

“We received their letter. We have reviewed the decision and we will now allow them to print the Malay version provided that they don’t use the word ‘Allah’ until it is decided in court,” he said.