Malaysia: Christians can not use "Allah" to define God

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The use of "Allah" for God by Christians must stop because it may cause Islamic anger: this is the position of a prominent Islamic Malaysian Mohd Sani Badron in a speech yesterday at the Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikimono) reopening the dispute over the Bible translation of the vernacular term to refer to God. The Islamic scholar’s attack comes only a few days after the historic meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Pope Benedict XVI, a first step toward diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the Holy See.

In his text "Kontroversi Nama Khas 'Allah' Agama Dalam Konteks Pluralism", Badron, Director of Economic and Social Studies, said that "the mistranslation of the word 'God' as 'Allah' in the Malay Bible must be abandoned because it erroneously represents the two religions as equal. " "The translation of 'God' as 'Allah' is very wrong, it should be translated correctly ... we understand not only the word but the meaning and the meaning is wrong and inaccurate." He continued: "Looking at the meaning, the correct term for 'God' in Christianity is 'Tuhan' and the word 'Lord' is also 'Tuhan', not 'Allah'."

The local Catholic newspaper, the '"Herald Malaysia" has won a lawsuit at the Supreme Court two years ago for the right to publish the word "Allah" refering to the Christian God , but can not use it because there is a pending appeal by the Ministry, and the case has been dragging on since then at the Court of Appeal. The case of Malay-language Bibles blocked in the ports of Klang and Kuching two years ago, and only recently released showed a clear division between Muslims and non Muslims. (09/04/2011 Kuala Lumpur authorizes importation and printing of the Bible in any language).

According to Mohd Sani Badron the translation of the Christian God as "Allah" is not respectful. "The term 'Allah' is a term of respect for Muslims, this judicial action has spread the perception that Muslims are oppressive, and certainly will raise the ire of the Muslim community."

But Christians have republished a 400 year old Latin Malay dictionary, which shows that from the beginning the word "Allah" was used to define God in the Bible in local languages. (22/01/2011 400 year-old Malaysian-Latin Dictionary: proof of use of the word Allah).
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Malaysia:-C...-God-22169.html

I think it is better to use " TUHAN"

coz god is specific word for Isalmic God.

It is not appropriate to call Chinese god "Jehovah , or call Hindu god "Buddha" right ?

It's no matter to call them as GOD, but the specific name should not be used.

The term has been used for centuries, why is it all of a sudden now its an issue?

I think its a lame excuse to try to argue that Muslims may get confused, its a totally different religion how can anybody get confused. Furthermore, Christians cannot preach to Muslims, and Muslims are not allowed to read the bible, so how is this an issue.

Finally the courts have ruled that its ok for Christians to use the term.

This is not simply about the use of the word Allah, Christians for a while have felt that their rights are being ignored and that only rights that matter are the Muslims. A while ago there was a rumour that a catholic church was trying to convert Malays, so an Islamic publication went "undercover" to "investigate" this. As it turned out the people in question were Filipino Catholics. What the reporters then did was to partake in the Holy Eucharist and then write a mocking article on it. Muslims may or may not understand the significance of the Holy Eucharist in the Catholic faith, and the reason they don't understand is because the govnt/religion does not allow them to learn and understand, which to me then is not an excuse. But to put it in perspective, its akin to a Catholic partaking in Friday prays, gambling and drinking alcohol while the Muslims are praying and then mocking them about the way they pray. To make matters worse, neither the publication nor the govnt forced the journalists to apologise and some imans went even as far to say that their behaviour was justified. Where is the respect that Muslims are supposed to show other religions. Firstly, even if it is justified for them to "investigate" they certainly did not need to partake in the eucharist and did not have to write a mocking article about it. No punishment and no apology. If the roles had been reversed, what would have happened? Churches would have been burnt at the very least.

Apart from what Swingdoc had already said in his response, you should also know that even the Arab Christians used the word 'Allah' to this day, and they can not understand what the fuss is in Bolehland. If you read your history, Christianity predates Islam by almost 700 years, and the Arab Christians have been using the same word even before the advance of Islam.

Another point which you failed to note is that Islam claims to be an Abramhamic faith, meaning, it claims to come from the same source as Judaism and Christianity. Thus the God of the Torah and of the Bible is also the God of the Quran, that is Allah in Arabic, so Islam does not have the monopoly of this term.

Tuhan means Lord, it doesn't mean God. There is a marked difference between Lord and God.

The Chinese and Hindu god (or gods) are not the same as the Biblical God. Hindu and Chinese do not have the same concept of God as in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

It would help you to read up on the basic tenets of the religions of the world!


Actually the Muslim reporters spit out the Most Holy Eucharist, took picture of it and published it in the fornt cover of their monthly magazine Al Islam.

This most blasphemous act - the desecration of the Most Holy Blessed Sacrament, is akin to spitting and unrinating on the Quran, nothing less, because the Holy Eucharist is the centre of Catholic worship.

Read: http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/general_opi...acred_host.html

Common, Tuhan means God, Allah is the name of God. There is only 1 God lah. Buddha is buddha, they are not God. Hindu and Chinese god, they are actually Highly respected spirit. So, no matter you are muslim, Christian or Jews, there is only 1 God, His name is Allah Jehovah YHWH

I speak malay more than 20 years, i just know today that tuhan is not god, OMG!!!

Well it's never too late to learn about the Malay-speaking Christian community in Malaysia & SE Asia, right. Actually the reason of the translation is because in Bible, there need to be a distinction between the word 'God' and 'Lord'. And Malay with it's limited vocab, does not give much option. (Btw, Bible has been translated to Malay since the 18th century while DBP is only in the 20th century)

Example is Acts 2:36
English: 36 "So be sure of this, all you people of Israel. You nailed Jesus to the cross. But God has made him both Lord and Christ."

Koine Greek: 36 ασφαλως ουν γινωσκετω πας οικος ισραηλ οτι και κυριον (Kyrios) και χριστον (Khristos) αυτον ο θεος (Theos) εποιησεν τουτον τον ιησουν ον υμεις εσταυρωσατε

Chinese: 36 故 此 ， 以 色 列 全 家 当 确 实 的 知 道 ， 你 们 钉 在 十 字 架 上 的 这 位 耶 稣 ， 神 已 经 立 他 为 主 ， 为 基 督 了 。

Hebrew: לכן ידע נא בית ישראל כלו כי לאדון ולמשיח שמו האלהים את ישוע זה אשר צלבתם׃

Arabic:

Old Malay (written in Jawi translated in 1733): 'Arkijen maka hendakhlah saganap 'isij rumah Jisra`ejl meng`atahuwij dengan sasonggohnja, bahuwa 'Allah sudah djadikan dija 'itu maha Tuhan dan 'Elmesehh, jaxnij Xisaj 'ini, jang kamu 'ini sudah mentsalibkan dija.

Malay: Oleh sebab itu, biarlah seluruh keluarga Israel mengetahui dengan pasti, bahwa Allah telah menjadikan Dia, baik selaku Tuhan maupun Mesias; inilah YESUS yang telah kamu salibkan."

Or in summary
English: God; Lord; Christ
Koine Greek: θεος (Theos); κυριον (Kyrios); χριστον (Khristos)
Chinese: 神 (shen); 主 (zhu); 基 督 (jidu)
Hebrew: אלהים (alhym); אדון (adon); משיח (mashiah)
Arabic: اللهَ (Allah); رَبّاً (Rabb); مَسِيحاً (Masih)
Old Malay: 'Allah; Tuhan; Elmesehh
Malay: Allah; Tuhan; Mesias

Isu ni basi dah la...
tak bosan ka?
Tuhan ada satu sahaja, lain2 pahaman tu konsep sahaja bagi ideologi masing2.
Lantak hangpa la nak pakai apa pun untuk sebut G-d benda tu tak ubah apa2 pun.
Orang Sikh pun ada nama Tuhan dipanggil Allah jugak.
Yahudi pon sama ada ja sebut Allah bagi Yahudi Tanah Arab.
Kalau orang Islam katanya tak percaya Allah berdasarkan kepada pemahaman Kristian
maka takdak sapa suruh pun orang Islam berpahaman macam tu melainkan dok paranoid pasai tak baca
kitab sniri bagi habeh saja.

Minta maaf lah aku malas nak cakap bahasa Inggeris, bukan tak reti cakap.

Terbaik bhai. bukan apa, saja nak mengingatkan. manusia mudah lupa kan, bukan melayu je.

Kadang2 aku pun menyampah dengan juak-juak yang dok bising2 pasal Allah tu Satu la kemudian bawak keluar lah dalil surah al-Ikhlas tu semua, yang mana anak sedara aku berusia 3 tahun pun tahu pasal itu. Kemudian nak bom gereja la bagai, what the f**k? Yang lain2 surah dalam Quran depa tak pernah baca pun pastu dok sebok nak tikam kompatriot lain yang menganuti ajaran Masihi dan dok kacau hak berbahasa depa Suruh ambil pengajian agama semua Muslim yang bangsa Melayu tu banyaknya depa pandang rendah saja pada aliran keagamaan dalam sistem pendidikan formal maupun yang tak formal lagi ada hati dok kacau agama orang lain dalam konteks ni agama Nasrani.

Nanti orang2 tu pakai Bible King James atau yang versi bahasa Inggeris kemudian tak mahu cakap lagi bahasa Melayu nanti juak-juak politaik minang chaprut semua akan bising pulak kata orang sengaja tinggalkan bahasa kebangsaan yakni bahasa Melayu. Depa ni sebenarnya orang ada sakit dalam otak. Shalom, Peace, may the Name be with Israel and His children!

Ellleeehhhh... Somebody mengalah je la... Guna je la "Tuhan" dalam bible tu... Ada masalah besar ke kalau guna "Tuhan" dalam bible?? Mende simple boleh settle pun mau besar2kan... Kenapa nak besar2kan? Rasanya bukan sebab masalah istilah ni... ada udang di sebalik batu karang ni... Muahahahaha!!!

Mmg la ada udang di sebalik batu. Udang dia tu la, orang melayu UMNO mati-mati nak pertahankan Nama Allah, tetapi mati bukannya masuk Jannah atau Jahanam, tapi masuk 'Neraka' Hindu atau 'sorga' Hindu.

Apa dia? Neraka@sorga tu kata nama am, ohhh ye ke? Sape ckp? Org melayu? Sbb org melayu je berhak menentukan takrifan kpada suatu2 perkataan melayu?klu camtu jgn galakkan bahasa kebangsaan, gubal perlembagaan supaya sabah sarawak guna bahasa inggeris?

Boleh bro?

Why should Christians? Yes, the big problem is that it is not Muslims right to tell us what we can and can't write in our bible. Would it be a big deal if we told Muslims what they could and couldn't write in the Quran?