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Sikhs join
demands to use of word 'Allah' in Malaysia
WSN Network
 KUALA LUMPUR: "Ishwar-Allah Tero Naam"
-- sing many a children in India in their schools' morning assembly
chorus. But not in Malaysia. Now, a Sikh group in the
Muslim-majority country wants to use the word "Allah" as a synonym
for Akal Purakh and has joined a legal battle by Christians against
a government order banning non-Muslims from using it.
The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council has
filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court seeking to join
a suit by The Herald, a Roman Catholic newspaper, against the
government over use of the word "Allah," said council President
Sardar Jagir Singh.
The Home Ministry previously ordered the
newspaper not to use the word "Allah" in its Malay-language
publication as a translation for God, saying using the word would
confuse Muslims. The Herald then filed suit, claiming it had a right
to use the word.
Jagir said his council, representing
more than 100,000 Sikhs, wanted to join the suit because the ruling
would affect them.
The word Allah appears on "numerous
occasions" in the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, fact that the
council has brought before the court. The Sikhs cannot alter even a
word in their scriptures. In fact, the community is very united on
this score.
Jagir said so far he has not received a court date. The High Court
is scheduled on Wednesday to hear the applications of several
Islamic institutions that have applied to intervene in the suit to
defend the ban.
The Herald — which publishes in English,
Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — says "Allah" is an Arabic word that
predates Islam and has been used for centuries to mean "God" in
Malay.
The government has not explained how the
use of "Allah" by other religions would confuse Muslims, but
apparently wants to draw a sharp distinction between the Islamic God
and all other deities.
The case is an example of increasing
complaints by religious minorities in Malaysia that their rights
have been undermined by government efforts to bolster the status of
Islam, the country's official religion.
Ethnic Malays, virtually all of whom are
Muslim, make up nearly 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people.
The main minorities are ethnic Chinese and Indians, most of whom are
Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.
Dissatisfaction with court rulings over
Muslims' inability to legally leave Islam along with other religious
issues such as the demolition of Hindu temples by state authorities
contributed to the ruling coalition's poor performance in March
elections, when it lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
In a separate case, the Sabah
Evangelical Church of Borneo has filed a lawsuit in an effort to be
allowed to use "Allah" after officials last year banned the import
of books containing the word. Hearings in that case are still in the
preliminary stages.
9
July, 2008
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