This is getting a bit too far

Jan 8, 2010

Faith

Church attacks? Come on. This is getting a bit too far, is it not?

The recent court ruling that allowed the word “Allah” to be used in the Roman Catholic publication has led to protests around the country. Of course, Muslims are upset that their word for God is now officially allowed (by the law, if you please) in Catholic publication.

But attacking churches? Please. Even the army of the caliphs of Prophet Muhammad era hundreds of years ago respect Christian places of worships.

I am not pointing fingers here. The attacks might come from people who just like to take advantage of the situation. I believe a majority of our fellow Muslim brethren in beloved Malaysia will not resort to such an attempt – only a certain small minority percentage that adopts a hard line radical view will even think of doing something like this.

Fortunately no one was hurt.

Of course, rationally speaking, using the word ‘Allah’ in Catholic publication is like pouring oil on fire (Chinese proverb), especially in a Muslim majority country.

Then again, there’s the argument that “Allah” has been in use for years in the Malay version of the services and newsletters of the Catholic church, especially for indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak. ‘Allah’ is also used by Christians in the Arabic countries.

So, who is correct, who is wrong? Can you blame the Muslims for not protesting decades ago, when the word was used in the newsletters? Can you blame the Catholics, for stoking such sensitive issues in a volatile situation?

Either way, rest assured that there will absolutely be no mass protest or rallies by the Catholics. It is just not the Christian way to go out in force and yell slogans, cause disruption and so on.

ROMANS 12:19-21 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)

¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.

²⁰ Instead,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”

²¹ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

I personally cannot imagine Christians doing that. But if tomorrow there is indeed a counter-rally by the Catholics, then.. o.O Anyway, note that I have referred to Catholics only, because Protestant churches use the word ‘God’.

I just hope the issue can be resolved amicably. What with 1Malaysia and all. Bleh. >.>

2 Comments

kim • Jan 10, 2010 @7:27 pm

Mmm. Do you know what Protestant churches use for ‘God’ in Malay? If not you generalise and say can’t say that they don’t use ‘Allah’.

Cos ‘Tuhan’ is essentially not the same. ‘Tuhan’ is Malay for ‘Lord’ and ‘Allah’ is Malay for ‘God’. Protestant churches in Indonesia use ‘Allah’ for ‘God’.

All in all I think it’s just bullcrap la. Didja read what Marina (Mahathir’s daughter) wrote about the issue? Pretty good read. and I think the thing I’m most concerned about is how Christians react. I doubt any would react in response in the same way.

I’m rather amused at how the word has been used for ages, without the Muslims’ knowledge. Firstly, how did they find out? That would mean that someone read the Herald to see that the Catholics use ‘Allah’ – which is against some law that Muslims arent supposed to read materials of other religions.

Anyway, they really don’t have a full valid reason as to why Christians can’t use ‘Allah’. If anything, I’d think Indonesians would have more extremists than Malaysia. Why aren’t they protesting?

Just hope the whole thing blows over fine.
Ian Bong • Jan 12, 2010 @2:20 am

Yeap, funny how certain things turn out to be.