January 16-22 (2010)

There is raging controversy in Malaysia over the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims. The majority Malays, who are Muslims, are protesting, some with use of petrol bombs. Several churches were already damaged or vandalized since a Muslim court ruled late last month that non-Muslims can use the word Allah for their God. And the suspects were the Muslims, who say that the word is exclusive to their religion and its use could confuse Muslims.

This editorial is not to say the court ruling is correct or not. That is not in our competence or prerogative to comment; that is internal to Malaysia and for the Muslims and Christians there to handle the issue responsibly. If we run this issue in our editorial, it is because the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has Islam as its guiding ideology. We feel it is our obligation to say something on such a very important subject matter that is not only local in repercussions but also international.

However, before we state our view, let us have a brief background of the word Allah. The name of Allah is recognized by Muslims worldwide as the proper name of God. More than 85% of the Muslim world comprises of non-Arabs, but all communities, regardless of their language, refer to God as Allah. The importance of this word to the Muslim faith stems from the fact that, contrary to popular belief, Allah is not actually a direct translation of the word "God".

The name "Allah" can only be spelled with a capital letter – as compared to the generic word of "god". It carries no gender association, unlike god and goddess. It cannot be made into a plural noun, unlike gods or goddesses. Allah is One, and only One – the Superior Force of the Universe, the Creator of everything. He bears no child and has never been begotten. This is a key concept in the Islamic creed.

As stated above, Allah can never equate to the word God, especially of the Christians, whose concept of God is that of Trinity which teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The concept of personhood in the Trinity does not match the common Western understanding of "person" as used in the English language—it does not imply an "individual, self-actualized center of free will and conscious activity. Nevertheless, in this doctrine, it makes Jesus Christ the central theme about which all other theological positions/doctrines are oriented; in fact some Christians or sects put Christ as the second person in the Trinity.

Islam never assigns to Jesus Christ any divinity but as prophet like the rest of the other prophets, Adam, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Mohammad (peace be upon them all!). Muslims never believe he was crucified but Allah “brought him unto Himself”. Muslims also believe Christ will come to earth for the second time.

However, Christians in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine used Allah for their God. And it did not create much uproar, much less a violent reaction from Muslims. Such Islamic expressions “Insha Allah” (If Allah wills) and alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah) are also used by these non-Muslim Arabs. It is because they are Arabic-speaking and their Bibles are also written in Arabic.

This shows that the name of Allah is not foreign amongst non-Muslim Arab communities. However, while its use by non-Muslim Arabs is logical (as Arabic is their mother tongue), its use by non-Muslim non-Arabs is more difficult to understand. This makes the issue an urgent agenda in global dialogues among religions especially between Islam and Christianity. It is time the religious leaders of Muslims and Christianity to meet soon and discuss this pressing issue once and for all.