Community | January 03, 2010 | 13 comments

'Allah' ruling opposed

source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/2/nation/20100102180457&sec=nation

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TravG73
Muslim groups in Malaysia have voiced opposition to a court ruling allowing a Catholic paper the right to use the word 'Allah", and said on Saturday they plan to demonstrate.

Malaysia's high court ruled on Thursday that the Herald weekly had the right to use the word 'Allah' after a long-running dispute between the government and the paper in the Muslim-majority nation.

The Herald has been using the word 'Allah' as a translation for 'God' in its Malay-language section, but the government argued 'Allah' should be used only by Muslims. The court ruled the Catholic paper had the 'constitutional right' to use the word 'Allah', declaring the government's ban on the word 'illegal, null and void'. Government lawyers have not yet decided whether to appeal.

Muslim groups have opposed the ruling. 'The court decision is not right and we are planning to hold a major demonstration to protest this,' Syed Hassan Syed Ali, secretary general of Malay rights group Pribumi Perkasa told AFP. He and 50 other Malay activists held a small protest over the ruling outside a central mosque Friday.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Humanism
  2. tags:
    Religion,  Muslim,  Malaysia,  Allah
  3.     
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13 comments // 'Allah' ruling opposed

  • MediaAnalProbeinterwebzfads
  • 02
    • 0
      02  

    • What would happen to the world if you could push a magic button and everyone, everywhere would suddenly not believe in religion. Just Poof! All at once.
      What would happen?

    • 2 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • 02:

      Oh, religions do exist, there is an abundance of empirical evidence proving their existence - therefore one needs not commit an act of faith to believe in them.

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
    • 0
      02  
    • 02:

      Religion is an artifact of humans, wholly separate from a question of someone's idea of God. But of course, as I have long argued, each person's idea of God is profoundly less than can easily be seen as what might be surmised as the 'creator'. Therefore all believers are believing in their own personal illusion (being so much less than "God", as their illusions invariably must be).
      Also, certainly - if everyone were to drop the illusions they have built up so carefully over time, they would be left starkly knowing so - and, for that matter, much closer to any hope of understanding the great creation in which we all find ourselves.

      Therefore, if everyone were walking about and suddenly the aforementioned "Magic Button" were pushed, they would stop in their tracks, all look at each other and laugh their guts out at how stupid they have been.

    • 2 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  

    • Since Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, and since Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God, the God of Abraham, that court made the right decision.

    • 2 years ago
  • MoonLoon
  • thedirtman
    • 0
      thedirtman  

    • Oh... and this is probably viewed as a victory for both Muslim and Christian Malaysians that would prefer to express belief in one God.

    • 2 years ago
  • thedirtman
    • 0
      thedirtman  

    • My guess is that between 1 and 10 percent of Malaysian Muslims would care. A smaller number of Malaysian Catholics would care. I've noticed that a vast majority of Malaysians speak Singaporean English (Singlish) well - certainly can translate God and Allah.

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
  • Ihatethemall
  • keithponder
  • Ihatethemall
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • Until I see more, this headline reminds me of those in the supermarket tabloids like "American groups favor cruelty to animals and small children." How many groups? How big are those groups? Do they represent 70% of Malaysian Muslims...or 7%?

    • 2 years ago
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