Johari: “Allah” For Muslims Only
December 22, 2007
In my previous post, Allah, God, Yahweh? What’s In A Name?, I wrote about the issue of the usage of the word “Allah” in the Catholic publication, the Herald. Some commenters think that “Allah” should not be used by non-Muslims, some commenters think it’s OK, some commenters think that if “Allah” should be used in Bahasa Malaysia, it should be used in English as well. There are commenters that feel we should just get on with it, and try to get along.
I would like to say, I agree with the commenters who just want to get on with it. But how do we ‘just get on with it’? We need the government and the Herald to work hand-in-hand. The solution is simple.
First, find out the statistics on which Christians use Bahasa Malaysia as their first or second language. You could start by pondering over the statistics here at bobjots.
Then, engage these people and ask them, in Bahasa Malaysia, how do you refer to your God (the Christian God).
If they say “Allah”, then let it be “Allah”. If they say something else, then let it be that something.
Simple? No need to complicate matters right? Shouldn’t we just accept what a community calls their God, instead of dictating to them?
Of course, the BN government loves to complicate matters.
From Malaysiakini, Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum has stated that the word “Allah” can only be used in the context of Islam and not any other religion.
Firstly, this is not coming from the mouth of a renowned Islamic scholar. This is coming from the mouth of a BN politician, who had corruption allegations hanging over his head. Certainly not someone who is qualified to speak on this.
Also, the fact that the statement came from the Internal Security Ministry says a lot as well: The government sees this as a national security issue. This means that they are not sincere in solving this problem, rather, they are more interested in dictating to you what you should think, do, or say, for the interest of national security. Just like how submitting a memorandum in Parliament can land you in jail and court for threatening national security. This is Malaysia, after all.
Excerpts from the Malaysiakini article:
The word ‘Allah’ can only be used in the context of Islam and not any other religion, said Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum.
Asked why a new condition will be imposed on Catholic weekly newspaper Herald when its annual publishing permit is next renewed, the deputy minister said this is to prevent confusion.
“Only Muslims can use ‘Allah’. It’s a Muslim word, you see. It’s from (the Arabic (language). We cannot let other religions use it because it will confuse people,” he said when contacted today.
“We cannot allow this use of ‘Allah’ in non-Muslim publications, nobody except Muslims. The word ‘Allah’ is published by the Catholics. It’s not right.”
Like some of you guys have mentioned, they are just insulting the Muslims in this country for not knowing when they are reading a Catholic publication. How has it caused confusion? Highlight which article in the Herald that has caused confusion. Or is this more of a preemptive strike?
The ministry has also allegedly told the publisher to remove the entire Bahasa Malaysia section or the permit will not be renewed when it expires in two weeks.
The Herald, which is published in four languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil - has a circulation of 12,000.
Johari noted that other publications, such as Buddhist magazines, do not use the word ‘Allah’ when referring to God.
That’s because Buddhists already have a name for their god. It’s called Buddha. Or Kuan Yin. Dumbass Johari.
He said the decision was made based on a report submitted by the publications department of the ministry.
“Previously no one knew (about this). I made the decision based on a report submitted to me that was prepared by an officer,” he explained.
However, when asked why the Herald is being told to remove its Bahasa Malaysia section altogether - rather than demanding the weekly not to use the word ‘Allah’ - Johari was unable to comment.
“I’m not sure about this, I have to check again. As far as I know, they used the word ‘Allah’ and we cannot allow that,” he reiterated.
Hahahahaha. First, a non-qualified person comments on this matter. To make things worse, the non-qualified person turns out to be someone who’s not even doing his job properly. I wonder why the heck we are still paying this public servant his wages. So typical. “I am not sure, I have to check.” Dumbass.
Johari Baharum says the darndest things!
Other views on the blogosphere:
What in God’s name … (KTemoc Konsiders)
herald, allah and the use of BM (Lucia Lai)
THERE THEY GO AGAIN. (zorro-unmasked)
Do not utter the lie, saying this is lawful and this unlawful (People’s Parliament)
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- Allah, God, Yahweh? What’s In A Name?
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- Airing Your Linen In Public: What Are Our Priorities?
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20 Responses to “Johari: “Allah” For Muslims Only”
Add your comment
To Henry who commented in the previous post; Chill dude
To Kamaruddin as well; Please take a step back and think over what you said. Saying peace in the beginning of your post does not relieve you of the responsibility of being reasonable, neither does it make you anymore reasonable. I concur with ycg on all of what he said.
Regarding the word of Allah, Arabic is a language. Arabic like any languages around the world, share words, writing forms, grammar, with languages in the same region. Arabic does not pop out of nothingness. Arabic derived and developed from other earlier languages including Aramaic. Jesus spoke Aramaic most of the time, so He referred to God in the Aramaic Allaha.
Besides, it’s a language, when the Christians emerge in Rome does it stop them from using Deus? I made a brief comment on the origins and the use of the word Allah.
Anyway, it shouldn’t be an issue. I think it’s another of the government’s official’s habit to commit grievous mistakes, and this time they forgot to pull the lever before they step into religion, perhaps a subconscious temptation to show some ’sugar’ to please the Malay voters, taking them as fools instead of dealing the real problem.
Well, what they could have done is, open up an open dialogue, you know the word Allah is a good place to start with, it’s just among the many issues and differences that both sides, all religions must try to understand and negotiate, not for some Mr Know-it-all to call the shots.
December 23, 2007 at 12:58 am
[...] from the Malaysiakini article, taken from Malaysians Say The Darndest Things!: The word ‘Allah’ can only be used in the context of Islam and not any other religion, said [...]
December 23, 2007 at 1:23 am
I have a trackback to this post. I hope it doesn’t end up in your spam. I am a Catholic and I am pissed with this pettiness from the Government.
Klaw: Nope lilian. Just had to get it out of moderation.
December 23, 2007 at 1:33 am
As the High Prophet (or was that High Priest?) of Pastafarianism in Malaysia, my congregation is pressuring me to quickly resolve this issue before our spaghetti dinner gets cold. Very well then, I shall cut right to the chase:
Johari Baharom, you have been found guilty of the following charges:
(1) of being the chief instigator of a totally unnecessary brouhaha over a non-issue, thereby miraculously creating religious tension where there was none before, and
(2) criminal stupidity.
I hereby smite thy sanctimonious ass with a salmonella-encrusted steel cable spaghetti strand. Be gone!
All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster (www.venganza.org).
December 23, 2007 at 2:58 am
Dear Members of this Forum
Allah is a word that Bahasa Melayu has adopted from Arabic. Despite the fact that Malaysia is a Muslim country, Malaysia refused to embrace Arabic as one of its official languages.
Therefore, no Malaysian authority has the right to determine/restrict the usage of any word that is purely Arabic in origin. That right belongs to the Arab League and its 22 member countries.
I would suggest that a request be made to Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to state that ALLAH is Arabic in origin. Give them two weeks to respond failing which we can get the Arab League to issue a statement that ALLAH is an Arabic word. That statement from the Arab League will end all these stupidity gushing from idiots at UMNO.
All Malays please remember this - embracing Islam and being a Muslim does not make you a native speaker of the Arabic Language. Likewise, not all native speakers of the Arabic language are Muslims - there are Christians, Druzes and Jews amongst us.
The word ALLAH had been in existence before Islam. So, do not forget that ALLAH in English is simply God. If you insist that ALLAH is a Muslim God, you should also explain that TUHAN is a pagan deity for the Malays.
Dear Malays, please stop making a fool of yourselves!
December 27, 2007 at 9:35 pm
The govt just renewed Herald’s permit
December 31, 2007 at 12:38 am
They are planning to take it back me thinks.
Another Arab,
I agree with your points but I think Dewan Bahasa is even more screwed up, man. Check out my article, Dei Joe Tak Sekolah ka? Part 1 and you will see why.
But I do take offence when you mentioned that Malays should stop making a fool of themselves. You cannot judge the actions of a few to represent the actions of all. You are generalizing the Malays. You are only looking at things from the surface and based on your perception of Malays. You have not even delved into the truth of it.
I suggest you dig a little deeper and find out do all malays feel this way, or is it only the ones who are your friends?
January 4, 2008 at 4:48 pm
When I want to play the game of Monopoly,
Aah lah mak! They say I can’t because I don’t practise polygamy
When I want to read “Animal Farm” by George Orwell with all my peers
Aah lah mak! They say I can’t because I’m not “more equal than others” and don’t have enough fears
When I want to herald the New Year in all four known languages
Aah lah mak! They say I can’t becasue I still can’t count down to five whatever my age
When I want on special occasions to sing some stately songs
Aah lah mak! They say I can’t because all the lyrics and music are all considered for me all wrong
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 070108
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Mon. 7th Jan. 2008.
January 7, 2008 at 11:53 am
Things are getting complicated within religions.
A religion holds peoples together but somewhat keeping them apart from each other..
Like:
Peoples in religion A would be held together with peoples with religion A but people with religion A tends to stay apart from peoples from religion B.
Ancient peoples sure contributes a lot to keep peoples apart with their status.
January 16, 2008 at 11:00 am
It is my fervent belief that “allah” is a NAME and not a WORD; as such, its usage is EXCLUSIVELY for the religion of Islam ALONE. There is absolutely no proof that the Apostles of my Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST referred to ELOHIM as “allah” when they spoke in Arabic to the Arabs who came to Jerusalem after Pentecost to witness the signs and wonders performed by Christ’s Apostles. When the Koran says: “THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH….”, which is generic and which is the specific name of the Muslim god?? Allah is NOT Arabic! But “ilah” is Arabic. However, there is no proof that “Allah” comes from the Arabic word “ilah”. Those so-called Christians who challenge the Malaysian government in the court are nothing but IGNORANT “Christianised’ lots. They are not even Christians in the true sense of the word. They should be ashamed of themselves to “hijack” the name of a Muslim god/deity called “Allah”. I am a Born Again Baptist Christian; most of these people who call Jesus Christ as “Putra Allah” are Roman Catholics and SIBs. I am NOT one of them. Praise the name of Jesus Christ for the gift of discernment.
February 1, 2008 at 1:11 am
In the Muslim recital thus: “La ilaha illAllah”, “La ilaha illAllah”. What do you suppose they are talking about?
A word for word translation into English would read: ‘La’ [‘no’] ‘ilaha’ [‘god’] ‘ill’ [‘except’ or ‘but’] ‘Allah’ [‘Allah’] and so forth. If ‘allah’ were the word for ‘god’, then the phrase would read, “there is no allah but Allah.” Does it make any sense? Clearly, it does not. The Qur’an itself claims that (i) ‘Allah’ is the personal name of their god, and (ii) there is no translation for ‘Allah’ to any other language. An English word like “baker” can be translated into several synonyms but try translating the name “Mr. Baker”…. What do you get??? A name is a name! It cannot be translated or etymologically transliterated. So does the name of the Islamic god called “Allah”. How do the KadazanDusun people of North Borneo react when some ancestors worshiping tribes of Mongolia tell them that a Mongol deity called “Kina Ringan” has kids named “Ro Gon” and “Tom Bi Vo”?? And this strange deity called “Kina Ringan” married a Dusun of Borneo by the name of “Humi No Dun”. Would these KadazanDusun pagans (90% Roman Catholics & 10% animists) bring the unfortunate Mongol to court?? Come on…., why cannot you simply adopt the BM word “TUHAN” to indicate “God” instead of “Allah”???? BEWARE THE PROHIBITIONS OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. WORSHIPING OTHER PEOPLE’S GOD IS FATALISTIC TO THE SOUL! Take it from a Bible believer. THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT SHALL SURELY WIN THE COURT CASE. I have no problem with the religion of Islam and I fully agree with Johari that non-Muslims are FORBIDDEN to refer to their “god” as “Allah”. If you want a name for your “god” other than the word “TUHAN”, may I suggest that you destroy all your Malay translated Kitab and use the Arabic word “ilah” instead of the name “Allah”? What’s wrong with “ilah”?? It is a generic word for “god” in Arabic. And if you do not like “ilah”, may I propose the word “Sallahel”, “Allaaha”, “Eloha”, “Ellaha” or something to that effect, but can you please forgo “Allah”. It has already been taken anyway….. You can NEVER win the court case merely based on a hypothetical idea or a seriously flawed premise that Christians first alid a claim to “Allah”. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PROVE. And, the fact of the matter is….”THE BURDEN IS ON YOU TO PROVE THAT ALLAH IS NOT EXCLUSIVE FOR ISLAM ALONE…” Islam does NOT Have to prove that Allah is exclusively theirs…. They began using “Allah” since the 7th century AD; but when did you start using it?? Was it not only in the 20th century AD? Who documented it first? Is it the Koran or your Kitab? I speak as a Bible believing Christian and not one who has been indoctrinated by religious authorities, traditions or magisteriums. I believe in the self-sufficiency (SOLA SCRIPTURA, SOLA GRATIA, SOLA CHRISTO, SOLA FIDE) of the WORD of God alone (in the KJB). God’s blessings….
February 1, 2008 at 1:43 am
Correction:
When I wrote : “Would these KadazanDusun pagans (90% Roman Catholics & 10% animists) bring the unfortunate Mongol to court??”, I meant to say: “90% animist and 10% Roman Catholics”. 90% of Roman Catholics do NOT even read their own catechism anyway, much less the Bible. Come May this year, they are praising, honoring and glorifying their heathen god which hails from Nunuk Ragang in Ranau for the whole of the month!! Their Huguan Siou who acts as the “VICAR” of Kina Ringan or Kinoringan has just made a proclamation over the press yesterday. These KadazanDusun people just can’t forsake their unhealthy and filthy habit of being drunkards. It is amazing how the demon spirit of Kinoringan pagan deity has controlled the faculties of even the most learned of these KadazanDusun people of Sabah. If you can seriously err in your understanding of the God of the Bible in relations to the pagan deity (a.k.a demon-god) of the Bobohizans (priestesses), then you can also err in your understanding of the religion of Islam and Allah. It is a simple as that. PROVE TO ME THAT ALLAH IS AN ARABIC WORD AND NOT A NAME….. That’s all for a start; you don’t even have to worry about etymological considerations, contraction or transliteration (which are bigger words…). IF THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF, THEN IT IS YAHWEH’S WILL THAT YOU REPLACE YOUR MALAY BIBLES WITH ONES THAT DO NOT HAVE THE NAME ALLAH ON THEM. In this way, you shall do justice to the Malays in this country. SUFFICE IT THAT YOU USE THE MALAY WORD “TUHAN” IN ITS STEAD. Thank you very much…..
February 1, 2008 at 2:00 am
lei kong meh yeh ah?
February 1, 2008 at 2:37 am
Yes, let us start by telling those Sabahans and Sarawakians to stop praying to their gods using Allah (TM). I mean, they’ve only been doing it for decades since they were born, but no matter. Islam has claimed patent and trademark on Allah(TM) since the 7th century, so Islam wins.
Then let’s move on to those publishers of Indonesian languaged Bibles, since Malay bibles are banned in this country anyway. Let our government work together with the Indonesian government to ban and imprison these renegade publishers for poisoning the mind of Christians in this country. Damned indons, right?
I mean, you Christians praying to Allah (TM), stop already! You’re offending people like michael pritchard with your ignorance. There, he has already commented and shown so much IRREFUTABLE proof that Islam has laid claim over Allah (TM), that it is up to you to prove him wrong with your own IRREFUTABLE proof.
February 1, 2008 at 2:38 am
The sikhs call their god @ll@h too, can or not? ^_^ cannot ah? sue than lah pan~
February 1, 2008 at 2:40 am
Boy: God, is it wrong to call you Allah
Allah: No it is not
Boy: Oh ok, thank you Allah
February 1, 2008 at 2:45 am
Boy : YHWH my Elohim, may I call you “ROGON”?
YHWH : Yes, you may my son…., it’s only in a name. If that pleases you, you may call
me with any name under the heaven, but please do not call me “Lucifer”.
Boy : Why not?
YHWH : ….emmm, because that’s the Devil’s name!!
Boy : but….but, you just told me that I can call you “ROGON”…..
YHWH : errrr…, what’s a “ROGON” please….
Boy : You fool!!! “ROGON” means “LUCIFER” in the KadazanDusun language….
YHWH : Is it???? If that’s the case, then be very very careful with what you call
me then…. or I shall cat you into hell for all eternity for calling me a Devil!
Understood??
Boy : YES SIREEEE….!!!
December 27, 2008 at 12:31 am
I deeply repent for offending YAHWEH above. I believe there’s no sins He will not forgive. I used the same theatrical analogy in response to Ian’s dialogue with Allah. I am merely stressing a point that it really matters what name we call God as. If we called God with a name of a mythical or pagan god like “Kinharingan” whom the KadazanDusun pagans believe to be exactly the SAME as the God of Judeo-Christianity, then these ‘christianized’ pagans are no better than the animists who worship ‘mother earth’ and its pantheon gods that reside amongst the rocks, caves, hills, mountains, timbers and huge boulders.
I believe that the Catholic Herald versus Malaysian Government court case is still on-going or merely being shelved temporarily (pending) until such time the Malayan political scenario subsides.
My challenge to all proponents of the name of the Muslim god “Allah” to remain in the Kitab / Injil is to PROVE to me that the Jewish-Arabs and the Christian-Arabs who came to Palestine during the time of the Jewish patriarch Abraham and during the Apostolic era of the 1st Century AD referred to the Judeo-Christian God YAHWEH as “Allah”. I heard some telling me that there is a PROOF but came short of delivering to me all the documentation to adduce thereof in hard and soft copies so that I too shall become a proponent of the same. It has been 5 years now that NOTHING has been delivered thus far.
And to all opponents of the use of the name “Allah” in the Kitab / Injil (Indonesian Bible), who are Muslims or professing Christians, may I also challenge you to donate MONIES to the Bible Society of Malaysia (who was the chief culprit who adopted the name Allah back in the ’60s) so that they shall be able to replace all Kitab / Injil that bear the name Allah with new publications containing original names of Bible personalities and chiefly to REMOVE the name Allah and replace it either with “Al-Ilah” (which is an Arabic word for Elohim / God) or “Tuhan”. With your contribution, you can PROVE to the whole world that you are ready “to put your money where the mouth is” and that you are doing a mighty good service to your “GOD”. A bible copy wouldn’t cost more than RM20/copy in paperback. I suppose there are <1,000,000 Christian “opponents” in Malaysia today; to produce 1.0 mil copies would not cost so much as RM20mill. There are currently 20 million odd Malaysians today; all it needs is for every Malaysian to donate a mere RM1.00 and the whole matter shall be settled once and for all!! If I had that amount of money today, I will print 1,000,000 copies of this “replacement” Kitab / Injil for distribution to around 1.0 mil Christianized people in Malaysia. Donate directly to the BSM, lest I be labeled as a cheat; trying to raise a religious fund for myself. I cannot be more serious than this.
I thank you for hearing me out.
December 27, 2008 at 2:32 am
Dumbass Johari. Good one!!!!!!!
February 5, 2009 at 7:20 pm
There is a phrase ‘ ALLAH lanjutkan usia tuanku ‘ in the Selangor anthem. So, if non-muslim can’t use the word ‘Allah’, does this mean that non-muslim students cannot sing the song ?? hehehe
May 26, 2009 at 12:22 am