God, Allah, Tuhan and The Catholic Weekly’s Herald Print

January 20, 2009 · Filed Under Politics and Social Issues · 17 Comments 

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When a blogger lost a comment/argument with her reader, she took the easy path by removing the comment feature. Loser!

Anyway, those who are interested in politics should be aware by now the ongoing court case between the Herald print by the Catholics in Malaysia. To wrap things up, the Herald newspaper is suing the government for not allowing them to use the Arabic word ‘Allah’ in their Malay language section.

The Catholic’s argument for using the ‘Allah’ word instead of ‘Tuhan’ are:

The term Allah has been used in the translated High Malay Bible since the 1800s. “Munshi Abdullah, the father of modern Malay literature, translated the Bible into Malay in 1852 and he also translated ‘God’ as ‘Allah’ so there is strong historical proof of what we have been using for centuries,” said Andrew.

Wikipedia has this to say:

  • Allah is the standard Arabic word for ‘God.
  • Use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to “God”.
  • Arab Christians today, having no other word for ‘God’ than Allah, use terms such as Allah al-Ab “God the Father”.

Now, the Herald print for the Malay section is in Bahasa Malaysia, therefore the right word for GOD in Bahasa Malaysia is TUHAN and not ALLAH. If there are no other words or any other alternative, then use the Arabic word ALLAH. I can go on for ages, for three generations, just answer these questions:

  • Can we change our Rukun Negara from KEPERCAYAAN KEPADA TUHAN to KEPERCAYAAN KEPADA ALLAH? If it is okay, then you have my support.
  • If you find nothing wrong in using the ALLAH word, I suggest you walk the talk, next time, tell you kids “Pray to Allah for the food on your table.” or “Oh my Allah!” or “In the name of Allah, stop cursing!” Use it in your wedding vows too!
  • Since mixing Arabic word with the Malay language is acceptable, why not go all the way, amend all the english bibles with the word GOD to ALLAH.
  • During Sunday prayers, tell your kids :”Pray to Allah” not “Pray to God”

Why, too hard for you to say the ALLAH word in front of your kids? or in church? WALK THE TALK! It is after all okay to use the ‘Allah’ word, right? wrong? I see, problem using it in front of your kids?

Don’t tell me because the English word for GOD exists, therefore we don’t use the word ALLAH in English bibles. The right word for GOD in Bahasa Malaysia is T-U-H-A-N, and not ALLAH. Come on, lets be realistic. The ‘ALLAH’ word refers to the Muslim God more than any other God.

If the bible is in Arabic, by all means use the Arabic word for God – which is ‘Allah’, problem is, it is in Bahasa Malaysia, not Bahasa Arab.

Lots of Christian boycotted the da vinci code movie, when a news reporter interviewed a Christian on his reasons for boycotting the movie, he goes on explaining in details why we should boycott the movie. When asked, “Have you seen the movie in a cinema?” His answer was ‘No’. Don’t you have your own opinion? Instead of digesting every single word said by your priest, go watch the movie and conclude it yourself based on your own views and experience.

I am opinionated, I don’t digest rubbish from politician and religious people blindly. If I intended to leave everything for God to decide, (He is a busy person, serious!) then he would have made me into an Ape. Fate is for animals and none thinking living organism, are you one?

Comments and arguments are encouraged, don’t worry, I won’t be rude when it comes to replying another person’s comment, unlike some ‘holy’ and self proclaimed ‘religious’ person with bad words such as moron, shit, weed. Bad Catholic!

TheMalaysiaInsider.com has an indepth report on this issue – Catholic paper defies ban on use of ‘Allah’

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