Bismillahirrahmanirahim
I dont usually comment or write about ‘controversial’ issues apart from Gaza but I am pulled to write a “brief” note on the issue. I love continuous prose but I will make an exception here as I struggle to put my thoughts together. Bismillah.
1. The Issue
2. Some background
3. Views from other people/organisations
4. My view on the word ‘Allah’ and this issue
5. What could be the reality behind the issue
6. What could have happened leading up to this ; With Husnudzhon
7. What could have happened leading up to this ; with Sudzhon (opposite of Husnuzhon)
8. My Reflections
1. The Issue
In short the Catholic Church in Malaysia appealed for the second time to the Court to lift the ban on the usage of the word ‘Allah’ in their Malay-Language Bible. This faced strong opposition from the Muslims in Malaysia. That’s the rough gist but you can refer here for more info yeah? > http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/SE+Asia/Story/STIStory_333219.html
2. Some background
a. Since before the pre-Islamic era, ‘Allah’ had been used by the polytheist Meccans as one of their idols. While ‘Allah’ had referred to God, these polytheist had ascribed partners to ‘Allah’ i.e. ‘Allah’ has sons and daugthers of jinn origins called al-ʻUzzá, Manāt and al-Lāt. When Islam through the prophet arrived, the polytheists were called to worship ‘Allah’. Who is this ‘Allah’? It is written the Quran as ;
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4. And there is none like unto Him.
~ Surah 112: Al-Ikhlas (The Unity, Sincerity, Oneness Of God)
As described by Professor Syed Naquib Al-Attas in his work , ” Islamic Philosophy – An Introduction ” ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/7794899/Islamic-Philosophy-An-Introduction-by-Syed-Mohd-Naquib-AlAttas ),
“The nature of God as revealed in Islam is derived from Revelation. We do not mean by Revelation the sudden visions great poets and artists claim for themselves; nor the apostolic inspiration of the writers of sacred scripture; nor the illuminative intuition of the sages and people of discernment.We mean by it the speech of God concerning Himself, His creation, the relation between them, and the way to salvation communicated to His chosen Prophet and Messenger, not by sound or letter, yet comprising all that He has represented in
words, then conveyed by the Prophet to mankind in a linguistic form new in nature yet comprehensible, without confusion with the Prophet’s own subjectivity and cognitive
imagination.”
- The arrival of Islam gave new dimensions to Arabic words. This includes “Allah” as explicitly redefined by the Quran as above. And you would be in awe of the fact that the Prophet’s father was Abdullah , translated as Servant of Allah and was named such in the pre-Islamic days. When Islam came and Muhammad was made the final prophet, all fitted perfectly, Muhammad ibn Abdullah , Muhammad , the son of Abdullah ( Servant of Allah, the one and only God without any partners ); Not Muhammad ibn Uzza/Lat. Allah forbids!
Even though ‘Allah’ has been redefined as such with the advent of Islam, Arabic Christians of today still use the word “Allah” since its in their language but has ascribed affixes to it (parallel to how they ascribed partners to Him ) such as, Allāh al-ʼab (الله الأب) meaning God the father, Allāh al-ibn (الله الابن) mean God the son, and Allāh al-rūḥ al-quds (الله الروح القدس) meaning God the Holy Spirit (See God in Christianity for the Christian concept of God). You can find this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah.
b. The Indonesian Bible uses the word ” Allah “, in its unchanged form and it has been there since decades.
c. The word ” Allah” does not appear in all bibles across the world regardless of religions. In fact, the European Christians shun the word.
3. Views from other people/organisations
My Tauhid teacher says he doesnt mind but what he is against is the abuse of the word that can be used in converting desperate and uneducated Muslims.
My Islamic Worldview teacher says no.
A non Muslim wrote extensively about the issue and said no. http://takemon.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/allah-what-in-gods-name-have-the-courts-done/
A daughter of a well known politician in Malaysia says “Yes, we should not be Muslims who are not confident. “
A prominent western Muslim organisation says yes.
PAS, a forefront Islamic political party says yes.
4. My view on the word ‘Allah’ and this issue
‘God’ is a common noun while ‘Allah’ or ‘Allāh al-ibn (الله الابن) mean God the son’ is not .Both are proper and specific nouns. Both words have a conception and specific meaning to them.
In fact, the word ‘Allah’ is so specific in Islam that, we Muslims, do not even translate it into our own language. In all Quran translations , the word ‘Allah’ remains.
The word ” Allah ” is not a Malay or Bahasa Indonesia word for that matter; its Arabic. The word for God in Malay is “Tuhan”. Christians may argue that their God is a specific noun as well, not like “Tuhan” which is a common noun. The point is how can you claim a foreign word for your language which is furnished with concrete qualities? Even the native Arab Christians change the word’s form and in a way, relinquish their right on “Allah” with attaching suffixes to the word , what right do non-Muslim Malays and Indonesians have? Will it not be more logical to use the words from the ancient scriptures such as ʼĔlāhā in Biblical Aramaic ( the language Jesus peace-be-upon-him used) and ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ ʼAlâhâ or ʼĀlōho in Syriac ?
Ok, say that they really need to use a proper noun for God in Arabic. ‘Al-Ilah’ ( The God ) will be more accurate, not Allah s.w.t.
Even though no one asked , my answer is ,”No, Christians cannot use the word “Allah”. “
By principle, its a “no” for me. By principle, the principle should be enough.
But I still wish to go on to the repercussions that this ruling will have once permitted.
So once this ruling takes effect, the bibles will contain the word “Allah”. Its usage would be so widely use that the textbooks will need to be rewritten, local dramas will be littered with the usage of “Allah” by Christians, choir songs which will inevitably contain Christianity’s essences will be in Malay and will contain the word ‘Allah’ is numerous songs such as “Gloria” and “Eziekil saw the wheel”. The after-effects will be enormous and logical.
But who are the audiences exposed to such a culture?
It would be the easliy influenced Muslim youths who are prone to follow their nafs which Islam prohibits but Christianity allows. Coupled with uneducated or under privelleged parents , unstable political leadership and lack of unity of Muslim leadership; its a disaster, just waiting to happen. It is not that every Muslim is not confident , they are not just as privileged as some of the elite to have received proper upbringing. Looking at the bigger picture of the average Muslims in Malaysia : not doing well in academic and rife with social ills. On top of this , coupled with a threat to erode their faith and conception of Allah s.w.t which is central to a Muslim’s life. Really, it does not look very bright .
There are other speculations to this issue which I heard and had contemplated about.
5. What could be the reality behind the issue
One of the most popular speculation is the fact that this issue reflects a strategy of the Catholic Church to confuse Muslims and convert them to Catholics.
The other was purely political, to ‘test’ the current prime minister with his conception of 1Malaysia, just new in his term of office.
Another political explanation describes the non Muslim-Malay political party to further swing non Muslim-Malay votes in their way and usurp the UMNO dominance in Malaysia.
Yet another could be that UMNO uses this as a distraction from public scrutiny of their current leadership performance in governance.
I don’t know what is the reality myself.
But I cant help but think that, if there were not Bahasa Indonesia translation Bibles in Malaysia in the first place, which uses the word ( and should not ) “Allah” to refer to God , would all of this madness have happened?
Where or how such bibles have surfaced?
6. What could have happened leading up to this ; With Husnudzhon
“Allah” was absorbed into the dominantly Muslim environment till “Allah” became a common noun in Bahasa Indonesia. And thus, such bibles.
The past Christian scholars in Indonesia were oblivious and unintentionally translated “God” into “Allah”, not “Tuhan” or “Al-Ilah” or “ʼĔlāhā ” or “ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ ʼAlâhâ” or “ʼĀlōho”.
But I would expect better from scholars, regardless of what sciences they are in. Would they have not consulted the Pope about this or have a panel to approve of the translation? I dont know.
7. What could have happened leading up to this ; with Sudzhon (opposite of Husnuzhon)
The same scholars knew and deliberately used “Allah” in their bibles. As mentioned before, how could they not research into every word used in translating the Bible in a 88% Muslim-dominated region?
If it was intended, it was certainly an effective strategy and now, we are seeing their fruits of labour, conquering a highly esteemed ‘Islamic’ country, attacking their tauhid and leaving them helpless and disunited.
And I also wondered about what the Indonesian Muslims were doing when the Bible was translated into Bahasa Indonesia and carried the word ” Allah ” to refer to God?
Were they like what Syed Naquib Al-Attas mentioned in his response , ” They (the Muslims in Indonesia) seem not to bother about this”? You can read his response here : http://blogs.iium.edu.my/jaiz/2010/01/07/issue-of-khalimah-allah-simple-but-meaningful-answer-by-prof-syed-muhammad-naquib-al-attas/
I dont know.
8. My Reflections
Regardless, this has been a learning journey for me, to think and reflect quite intensively. It was also timely, as if to test my understanding of what I have learnt recently in my new Tauhid and Islamic Worldview classes. To quote my classmate, I merely copy and paste from my teachers and readings.
My mom’s ustad mentioned that ” Since the Muslims do not want to use the word ” Allah ” anymore, the Christians are now using it”.
So it all really boils down to knowledge, useful knowledge.
When 9/11 occurred , most people thought that it was the end for Islam; people would shun it ( some governments in the world are anyway). But MasyaAllah, truly, Allah knows best what He has ordained for the ummah; the rate of conversion to Islam rose rather dramatically as people wanted to know more about Islam.
I am hoping that the same hikmah is currently sitting in the shadows, waiting for the right time to step into the light of His Truth. Perhaps, Muslims and Muslim Organisations will step up their efforts in educating Muslims & daawah& islah and more non-Muslims around the world will be interested to know the difference in conception of God between Islam and Christianity. Perhaps, this is the will of Allah s.w.t as a mercy to Muslims. Perhaps, this is the will of Allah s.w.t. to impart His Taufeek and Hidayah.
Wallahualam
Ya Allah, I strive to present the truth and nothing more in this post; forgive me and show me the right way for any fitnah I have made in this post.
Astargfirullahala’zim
Wassalam
p.s. I have nothing against Christians or Catholics. I believe there are as much sincere Christians and Catholics who are in search of The Truth. If you happen to be a Christian or Catholic wanting to verify what constitutes a Holy Book, you can refer to this link http://www.slideshare.net/zhulkeflee/qur-ancriteria2006scribdamnded-presentation?type=powerpoint .
Granted, it is kind of biased but its an eye opener to us Muslims as well
