I remember reading in our local papers some months back about how our neighbours, Malaysia, had banned the use of the word “Allah” by Christian publications. Apparently, the word “Allah” could only be used by Muslims to refer to their God.
For background, you can read this FoxNews article about the ban (the first one i could find on the ban now. I don’t read FoxNews a lot but was too lazy to look for others) or maybe this BBC article summarizing some recent news events that were similar (read the first section for background or if you’re curious, read all of it). But essentially, what the Malaysian authorities decided to do was ban the use of the word “Allah” as a translation for “God” in Christian publications because as they expressed it,
‘Allah’ cannot be used for other religions except Islam because it might confuse Muslims.
The Malaysian authorities must think that their Muslim populace, which makes up at least 60% of their total population, must be ignorant. That, or I’m not understanding the rationale in the right context.
Whatever the case may be, I was catching up with news happening around the world on New Year’s Eve when I read a BBC news article published today about the ban being reversed. Apparently, the ban had been challenged in court and that the Malaysian High Court had now ruled that the ban was in fact un-constitutional.
Since then, the Malaysian government has stated that they will appeal the High Court ruling but emotions seem to be running high in certain segments of their population as there are reports, in the last two weeks, that a number of churches have been burnt or vandalized. Some of my Christian friends in Malaysia were getting a little worried.
Why am i bringing all this up?
Well, I came across another interesting blog entry. The blog author is a Muslim lady but her identity does not matter and her religious belief is not the point. The interesting bit discussed in her blog entry was about how Prophet Mohammed, in 628 AD, made a promise to early Christians who went to him and requested for his protection. He responded to the request made by the delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery by granting them a charter of rights. Quoting from her blog:
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“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses.
Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”
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Hmm.. interesting. I never knew that. There’s so much more to learn about the history of our own faith. Makes one ask rhetorically how often in Christian history has conflict occurred, in the name of religion when the people who instigated these conflicts were motivated not by religion but by greed, economic or political reasons.
One last point to make.. the choice of words for this entry’s title may be controversial. This being a blog by a group of Christian people, I want to preemptively state for the record that
- We are Christian (if it wasn’t obvious before).
- We are of the opinion that the word ‘Allah’ is just an Arabic word that means God.
- We do not believe violence is a valid way to resolve any differences between the religious beliefs of individuals or groups.
- Ignorance causes people to do stupid things.
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- adrian t
P.S. To our Christian brothers and sisters, as well as our well-intentioned Muslim readers, in Malaysia, you are in our thoughts and prayers as you go through a difficult time. Have faith, God and reason will eventually assert itself again.
