Even the Pope doesn't want to use 'Allah'
Nigel AwPublished: May 6, 2014 6:13 AM | Updated: May 6, 2014 12:45 PM
Even the Catholic Pope had refused to use the word 'Allah', so why are Malaysian Christians bent on using the word to refer to God?
This was a question thrown to some 1,000 people comprising university and secondary school students by Pertubuhan Muafakat Sejarahtera Masyarakat Malaysia’s Abd Karim Omar.
Even the Catholic Pope had refused to use the word 'Allah', so why are Malaysian Christians bent on using the word to refer to God?
This was a question thrown to some 1,000 people comprising university and secondary school students by Pertubuhan Muafakat Sejarahtera Masyarakat Malaysia’s Abd Karim Omar.
Karim, who was speaking at a seminar on "The word 'Allah' and Christology in the Malay Archipelago" highlighted an example from former Pope Benedict XVI's speech in Arabic shortly after his visit to Lebanon and Syria in 2012.
"He spoke in Arabic - the Pope prays for all the people of the Arabic speaking world. God bless you all. He said God, not Allah," Karim told the seminar at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
He said the Arabic verse caused a controversy in the US media and the Vatican later reiterated the Pope had used the Arabic word ‘Raab’, which means God, and did not say ‘Allah’.
Meanwhile, another Indonesian scholar said Christians in Sarawak should refer to the original text of their scriptures for reference on how to refer to God, instead of insisting on the word ‘Allah’.
Menahem Ali (left), who specialises in semitology, added that in Indonesia, some Christians have already rejected the use of the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God as it is perceived to have Islamic influence.
“The Christians should refer to their original text. For Muslims, we refer to Arabic which uses the word ‘Allah’.
“Christians have said that their New Testament is based on the Greek language, but the word ‘Allah’ has never appeared in Greek,” Menahem said.
Islam came to Sarawak before Christianity
He added that the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the old Dayak Bible was merely a borrowed word from Arabic as Islam arrived in Sarawak before Christianity.
“To use the excuse that the word ‘Allah’ is being used because Christians have already been using it long before is not acceptable.
“The translation should come from the original text,” he said.
Menahem said the insistence of Christians in using the word ‘Allah’ from Arabic instead of referring to their original text in Greek was an attempt at Christianisation.
He added that some people in Indonesia have accepted this translation argument, although Indonesia’s Al-Kitab board has remained adamant about using the word ‘Allah’.
NGO warns of Christian Malays posing as Muslims
This was a question thrown to some 1,000 people comprising university and secondary school students by Pertubuhan Muafakat Sejarahtera Masyarakat Malaysia’s Abd Karim Omar.
Karim, who was speaking at a seminar on "The word 'Allah' and Christology in the Malay Archipelago" highlighted an example from former Pope Benedict XVI's speech in Arabic shortly after his visit to Lebanon and Syria in 2012."He spoke in Arabic - the Pope prays for all the people of the Arabic speaking world. God bless you all. He said God, not Allah," Karim told the seminar at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
He said the Arabic verse caused a controversy in the US media and the Vatican later reiterated the Pope had used the Arabic word ‘Raab’, which means God, and did not say ‘Allah’.
Meanwhile, another Indonesian scholar said Christians in Sarawak should refer to the original text of their scriptures for reference on how to refer to God, instead of insisting on the word ‘Allah’.
Menahem Ali (left), who specialises in semitology, added that in Indonesia, some Christians have already rejected the use of the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God as it is perceived to have Islamic influence.“The Christians should refer to their original text. For Muslims, we refer to Arabic which uses the word ‘Allah’.
“Christians have said that their New Testament is based on the Greek language, but the word ‘Allah’ has never appeared in Greek,” Menahem said.
Islam came to Sarawak before Christianity
He added that the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the old Dayak Bible was merely a borrowed word from Arabic as Islam arrived in Sarawak before Christianity.
“To use the excuse that the word ‘Allah’ is being used because Christians have already been using it long before is not acceptable.
“The translation should come from the original text,” he said.
Menahem said the insistence of Christians in using the word ‘Allah’ from Arabic instead of referring to their original text in Greek was an attempt at Christianisation.
He added that some people in Indonesia have accepted this translation argument, although Indonesia’s Al-Kitab board has remained adamant about using the word ‘Allah’.
NGO warns of Christian Malays posing as Muslims
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