Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 14 Oct 2013 07:52 PM PDT
In short, the entire Bible has been translated from, say, Latin or Greek, into, say, Bahasa Malaysia. But then one word in that translation (God) that was originally in Latin (Deus) or Greek (Theos) has been translated not into Bahasa Malaysia (Tuhan) but into Arabic (Allah). NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin
The word "Allah" is never exclusive to Islam – indeed, both Christians and Jews used the word "Allah" to refer to God even before the coming of Islam. Like the history of most religions, the history of Islam is complex and much debated. But there are a few elements that are not in dispute, chief among them that the God of the Quran is the same as the God of the Bible and of the Torah before it. The mission of Islam, as expressed in the Quran, is not to bring a new faith, but to update the messages of the monotheistic faiths before it. It is therefore surprising to see, as The National reports today, that a Malaysian court has ruled that a Christian newspaper may not use the word "Allah" to refer to God. The court overturned a previous decision by a lower court, ruling that "Allah" as a term is not exclusive to Islam. This causes a problem for the country's substantial Christian minority, who have used the word "Allah" to refer to God for decades. In a fellow Muslim country with substantial Christian and Hindu populations, this feels like the wrong decision. The UAE is rightly proud of its society that allows people from all over the world to practise their faiths openly and without discrimination. Indeed, that inclusiveness is inherent in Islam. One of the reasons Islam was able to spread so far, so rapidly, was the inclusive nature of the faith: for at least two centuries after the coming of Islam, the Arabs ruled vast regions where the majority were not Muslims. The word "Allah" is never exclusive to Islam – indeed, both Christians and Jews used the word "Allah" to refer to God even before the coming of Islam. That remains the case today. When Christians across the Middle East pray to God, they use the term "Allah". Walk into a church in Cairo, Baghdad or Beirut this coming Sunday and you will hear the name of "Allah" invoked. That also applies to the Jews of the Arab world, who for centuries have prayed to "Allah". The Quran itself is explicit on this subject, declaring, in Surah Al Ankabut, that Muslims should tell People of the Book (Christians and Jews) that "our God and your God is one". The Malaysian decision overlooks not merely the theology, but also the etymology of the word. The word "Allah" is derived from the Arabic "al-ilah", the god. It's found its way across the world and entered Malay from Arabic. Arabic as a language is a vehicle for faith, be that Christianity, Judaism or Islam. The God of the three monotheistic religions is the same god. It is unsurprising, therefore, that all three faiths in the Arabic-speaking world (and beyond) refer to God as "Allah". And if they have the same God, they should have the right to call their deity by the same name. -- The National UAE *************************************************** Allow me to repeat what I have already written before. The term Allah is derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al (the) and ilah (deity). The name was previously used by pagan Meccans as a reference to a creator deity, the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia. In pre-Islamic Arabia, amongst pagan Arabs, Allah was not considered the sole divinity, having associates and companions, sons and daughters -- a concept that was deleted under the process of Islamisation. The Aramaic word for God in the language of Assyrian Christians is Elaha, or Alaha. Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word 'Allah' to mean 'God'. The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for 'God' than 'Allah'. Okay, so what is my take on the latest controversy surrounding the Allah word? First of all, the word 'Allah' was used as a reference to God long before Islam. In fact, before the coming of Islam, Allah was the 'chief God' who had many subordinate-Gods plus sons and daughters. Now, of course, since the coming of Islam, Allah means the one and only God. Secondly, Muslims, especially Malaysian Muslims, practice Islam in Arabic, so to speak. They pray in Arabic plus they read the Arabic version of the Quran (before they even go to school). Some even dress as Arabs. Some Malaysian Muslims, in fact, frown upon those who read translations of the Quran and insist that the Quran must be read only in Arabic -- hence one must learn Arabic to understand the Quran (plus to understand your Arabic prayers) rather than read a translation of the Quran. So, to most Malaysian Muslims, there is no translation to the word 'Allah'. The name of the one and only God is Allah. This is the Muslim word for God and no other word may be used as a reference to God. Hence the view of most Malaysian Muslims is that Allah 'belongs' to Islam and is the exclusive Muslim name for God. But what about those non-Muslim Arabs who also use the 'Allah' word as their reference to God? Well, that is the main issue here. Those are Arabic speaking non-Muslims. So they also use the Arabic word 'Allah' as the name for God. But non-Muslim Malaysians do not speak Arabic. They speak non-Arabic languages. So the argument would be: why do they want to use the Arabic word (Allah) for God when they are not speaking Arabic but are, in fact, speaking, say, Bahasa Malaysia? If, say, the Malaysian Christians speak Arabic, then it would make sense that they also use the Arabic word (Allah) for God. But since they are speaking English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, Tamil, or one of the native languages of East Malaysia (and are not speaking Arabic), then why use the Arabic word (Allah) as the name of God? In short, the entire Bible has been translated from, say, Latin or Greek, into, say, Bahasa Malaysia. But then one word in that translation (God) that was originally in Latin (Deus) or Greek (Theos) has been translated not into Bahasa Malaysia (Tuhan) but into Arabic (Allah). In the original Latin or Greek version of the Bible, the word 'Allah' is not used as the name for God. But after translating the Latin or Greek version of the Bible into Bahasa Malaysia, one word, God, has been translated into Arabic. If the entire Latin or Greek version of the Bible is translated into Arabic, then it makes sense that the Arabic word for God would be translated as Allah. This is what has upset the Malaysian Muslims. The Bible has not been translated into Arabic. It has been translated into Bahasa Malaysia. But instead of using the Bahasa Malaysia word for God they go and use the Arabic word when the Bible is not in Arabic but in Bahasa Malaysia. Not going to be an easy issue to resolve, isn't it? Well, that is religion for you. And when both sides think they are right there is not going to be an easy resolution in sight. At the end of the day it is going to be politics that will decide what happens. And trust me on this. This is all about politics and not about religion.
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