YOURSAY 'It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that there is no untoward incident whatever the outcome.'

Huge crowd outside court as gov't appeals 'Allah' case

Proarte: If logic, truth and honesty are issues which concern Muslims, then the government has to lose its appeal on the Allah case.

The Quran, which Muslims claim to be the word of Allah, explicitly states that Allah revealed his message to humanity in earlier missives, namely the Torah and the Bible.

However the Quran does say that Christians have misinterpreted the message, in particular surrounding the belief in the resurrection of Jesus and the concept of the Trinity.

But this does not negate the fact that Christians worship Allah although according to the Quran their perception of Allah is different to that of Muslims.

To ban Christians from using the word Allah is showing Malay Muslim ignorance of the Quran. It also shows their ignorance about the fact that Christians were using the word Allah long before the advent of Islam.

In fact Prophet Muhammad's father who died before Muhammad was born was called Abdu-Allah, meaning servant of God. This is further proof that the word ‘Allah' is not exclusive to Islam.

Imraz Ikhbal: If Islam is truly our religion, Allah is our one true God and the Quran our absolute source of divine guidance, then I have nothing else to state but to hereby implore all my Muslim brethren to not only recite but also internalise just two relevant Quranic verses:

Sura 29:46 - "And dispute ye not with the people of the earlier scriptures (the Jews and the Christians) except in a manner that is best, save for those who inflict harm upon you, but say to them, "We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one and it is to Him that we submit."

Sura 6:115 - "The word of thy Lord doth find its fulfillment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is the one who heareth and knoweth all."

Nyaduung: Imraz Ikhbal, you are what I consider as first-class Muslim. There are many like you, I know. I wonder if the three judges in this Allah case are like you.

Dingy: Christians who use English bibles don't pray using the word ‘Allah' to refer to God. Bahasa Malaysia is the daily spoken language of East Malaysian natives. Hence those who are Christians pray in BM and ‘Allah' is used in their prayers.

For these people, the only bibles are those from Indonesia. These Alkitab use ‘Allah' to refer to God. If the government win this court case, are they going to enforce it on all Sabah and Sarawak Christians to stop using ‘Allah' in their prayers?

What about the thousands of Alkitab in their possession? Is the government going to force these natives to surrender them to the authorities so as to prevent them from using it?

For churches which conduct their sermons in BM especially in East Malaysia, is the government going to send law enforcers to make sure the word ‘Allah' will not be used.

Will action be taken if they insisted of using ‘Allah' in their prayers and sermons?

Changeagent: It time for us to forget about this issue which was actually created by Umno to fight PAS. It's a political thing and the people are being dragged into this.

This is really an Umno issue, made to look like a Muslim thing. Malaysia, it's time we seek common ground rather than harp on our differences.

Happy Malaysian: The Muslims are not saying that other religions cannot use Allah. They are just saying that only in Malaysia and basically peninsular Malaysia, they want exclusivity and that also in written word and not spoken.

Malaysians have to be sensitive to the fact that Muslim Malaysians only know one word for their Almighty, it's Allah, and hence they would like it to be used exclusively for themselves here in Peninsular Malaysia.

In Sabah and Sarawak, I guess it has not been a problem. Why can't we all in the name of the Almighty God, come to a solution? In the peninsula, we have never used Allah but Tuhan.

Pope Francis has shown humility, why can't we all?

Geronimo: Sorry, Happy Malaysian, I have to disagree with you. The issue now is not about the word ‘Allah' any more. It is about setting the precedent for Umno Baru and other rightist Islamic groups to start banning any words that they fancy.

The word ‘Allah', as you know by now, was banned arbitrarily. If this can be done, what is stopping them banning other words later on, say ‘Mary' or ‘Mariam', as their argument would that this is also a figure represented in the Holy Quran and therefore it is out of bounds to Christians.

In fact, the Allah case is not a religious issue but a political one. Umno Baru knows they are losing ground to PAS and in order to show that they are a protector of Islam, they have to resort to this measure.

Ask yourself, why such a thing did not happen during Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak or Hussein Onn's premiership. In fact, there was no public disorder either until Umno Baru went and fanned up the emotions.

Ade: Happy Malaysian, you know that many East Malaysians are either studying or working in peninsular Malaysia? Which is why many churches here have BM services to accommodate them and also Christian Indonesians.

So, you see, this ‘Allah' issue cannot be confined to Sabah and Sarawak. Of course, we in Peninsular Malaysia do not, and would not, use ‘Allah'. For me it is ‘God'.

Hajile Leumas: Food for thought. Is the government going to change the word ‘Tuhan' to ‘Allah' in our beloved Negaraku national anthem? Furthermore, will the Muslims change the word ‘Tuhan' to ‘Allah' when they sing the Negaraku and non-Muslims use ‘Tuhan' instead?

The lyrics of Negaraku goes as follows: "Negara-ku, tanah tumpah nya darah-ku. Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju. Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan, raja kita selamat bertakhta..."

Anonymous #02382443: I think both sides of the divide should refrain from the show of strength and hope to pressure the courts from not making an objective decision in this case.

It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that there is no untoward incident whatever the outcome.

Odin: Seeing that the government has done nothing right after incidents such as Perkasa's intention to burn the Alkitab and Hasan Ali-Jati's blatant lies to incriminate Christians, it is reasonable to believe that it will allow and encourage such extremist groups to create havoc against the Christian community if the panel of judges rules in the Church's favour.

Whether the panel will listen to its conscience or bow to political pressure is left to be seen.

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