Posted : Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:57:56 GMT
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's High Court on Thursday handed down a landmark ruling by overturning a government ban on the use of the word Allah, or God in Arabic, in a weekly Catholic paper. The High Court in the capital Kuala Lumpur ruled that the word Allah was not exclusive to Islam, and that an existing ban by the Home Ministry was illegal and void.
The court ruled that the Herald newspaper was now permitted to use Allah to refer to God in its Malay-language articles.
Thursday's court decision put to rest a year-long legal battle between the Catholic church and the mainly Muslim government, which ruled that the word Allah was prohibited in any non-Islamic publications in order to avoid "confusion" among Muslims.
The government's ban on the use of the word in the Herald, the country's main Roman Catholic newsletter, prompted minority religious groups to argue that the Arabic word is a common term for God that predates Islam and has been used for centuries as a translation in Malay.
Malaysia's constitution declares it a secular state but with Islam as its official religion. About 60 per cent of Malaysia's 25 million people are Muslims.
Copyright DPA
Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301602,malaysian-court-lifts-ban-on-use-of-allah-for-catholic-paper.html
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Malaysia gov't to fight court verdict on Allah ban
The Oklahoman
Published: January 2, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's government has pledged to challenge a court ruling that Christians have the constitutional right to use the word Allah to refer to God.
The High Court's verdict has sparked small, peaceful protests by Muslim groups since being handed down Thursday, raising fears of friction between the ethnic Malay Muslim majority and the large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who mainly practice Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism.
The Prime Minister's Department will file an appeal against the verdict, Jamil Khir Baharom, a Cabinet minister responsible for Islamic affairs, said in a statement late Saturday.
The statement called for Muslims to respect the court decision and for all parties to be patient and allow the dispute to be resolved through the legal process.
The High Court's decision struck down a government ban on non-Muslims translating God as Allah in their literature. Minorities welcomed it as a blow against what many consider to be institutionalized religious discrimination.
The verdict has divided Muslim commentators. Some agree with the government's insistence that Allah is an Islamic word that should be used exclusively by Muslims, and that its use by other religions would be misleading. However, other Malaysian Muslim scholars say non-Muslims should be free to use Allah.
Efforts by Christians to use Allah in Malay-language literature have been perceived by some Muslims "as a plot to convert Malay Muslims to Christianity," Anas Zubedy, a popular Muslim blogger on social and political issues, wrote after the court verdict, adding his support of the ruling.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday the government should set strict conditions for the use of the word Allah to ensure the court verdict does not trigger religious tensions, the national news agency Bernama reported.
"What I am afraid of is that the term 'Allah' might be used in such a way that could inflame the anger of Muslims, if (non-Muslims) were to use it on banners or write something that might not reflect Islam," Mahathir was quoted as saying.
Minorities often claim their constitutional right to practice religion freely has come under threat from the Malay Muslim-dominated government. The government denies any discrimination, but authorities recently confiscated 10,000 copies of Malay-language Bibles because they contained the word Allah.
Source:http://www.newsok.com/malaysia-govt-to-fight-court-verdict-on-allah-ban/article/feed/119599?custom_click=headlines_widget
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