I refer to the letter by HF ( Why not use Iban word for 'Allah' in Bible translation?

). He is wrong to associate the word 'Allah' exclusively with Islam. It pre-existed Islam.

According to Moshay ( Who is Allah? G J O Moshay, 1994, p 138):

"Historians like Vaqqidi have said Allah was actually the chief of the 360 gods [one for each day of the year] being worshipped in Arabia at the time Muhammad rose to prominence. Ibn Al-Kalbi gave 27 names of pre-Islamic deities...Interestingly, not many Muslims want to accept that Allah was already being worshipped at the Ka'aba in Mecca by Arab pagans before Muhammad came. Some Muslims become angry when they are confronted with this fact. But history is not o­n their side. Pre-Islamic literature has proved this."

According to Zwemer ( The Moslem Doctrine of God , Samuel M Zwemer 1905, p 24-25):

"... history establishes beyond the shadow of doubt that even the pagan Arabs, before Muhammad's time, knew their chief god by the name of Allah and even, in a sense, proclaimed his unity... Among the pagan Arabs this term denoted the chief god of their pantheon, the Ka'aba, with its three hundred and sixty idols."

Indeed, there are many scholarly studies to suggest that - even though today the word 'Allah' is taken to be a Muslim reference to God - it pre-existed Islam and simply refers to the God who is (despite its pagan origins) worshipped by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Be that as it may, in the context of Malaysia (and I suppose the Muslim world), as a Christian, I'd rather be associated with more neutral words like God, Jehovah or Ya'aweh (my God is larger than the label I attach to him); lest Muslims like those who - in my view, foolishly banned the Iban Bible - get even more antagonistic towards Christians in Malaysia - especially in respect of the quiet but successful and legal (in that Muslims are not preached to) Christian missionary expansion in East Malaysia.

We have enough religious persecution and intolerance without needing even more.

The real truth is that, despite the enormous resources that have been pumped into Sabah and Sarawak by federal and state governments over the last 30 years to propogate Islam there to non-Muslims, conversion to Islam has been minimal as against huge conversions of non-Muslim bumiputeras to Christianity.