Use of "Allah" by Catholics

The Catholics in Malaysia wish to use "Allah" in their publications in the Malay Language. Their main justification in asserting their right to do so is their contention that Arab Christians use it in referring to God. That makes for "funny" logic. It is understandable if they are publishing their material in Arabic, but why insist on an Arabic word when publishing in Malay?

They may contend that the Muslims here too use " Allah" in their Malay and even English publications and so they should have the right to do the same. But there is a major difference. Muslims all over the world pray in the Arabic language. Likewise the call to prayer throughout the world is made in the Arabic language. In all of these " Allah" is used and Muslims throughout the world use "Allah" in praying to and referring to God.

Only Muslims and perhaps Arab-speaking Christians use "Allah" in their prayers. Do the Christians in Malaysia use " Allah" in their prayers? No,they do not. So why the demand that they have the right to use " Allah"? To publish in Malay they could use "Tuhan" which is the Malay word for God. Why publish in the Malay language and insist on using an Arabic word when there is a Malay equivalent?

Are there then other undisclosed reasons for such demand?

The answer lies in the Christian agenda to preach to Muslims. The Christians have this worldwide agenda called the 10/40 Window. To quote from one of their websites at http://1040window.org/what_is.htm:

"The 10/40 Window is an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians in the world. The area extends from 10 degrees to 40 degrees North of the equator, and stretches from North Africa across to China.It includes Malaysia."

Not very long ago Time magazine ran as its lead story and had on its cover the caption "Should Christians convert muslims".

In another website at: http://www.win1040.com/countries/malaysia.htm, this comment appears:

"Growing Islamic culture in Malaysia could make it harder for Malay Muslims to hear the truth about Jesus. Pray that Christians would still find opportunities to share the Gospel."

In another website at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/4229/cia1.html, it states:

"The 10/40 Window is evangelical-speak for the rectangle with boundaries of latitudes 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator; encompassing most of the Muslim World.

Muslim countries especially targeted are the newly independent states in Central Asia - particularly Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and the Southeast Asian tigers, Malaysia and Indonesia."

It adds: "Mike and Cindy Bowen of LaGrange, Georgia first went to Malaysia in 1987, on a short-term outreach for the Pentecostal Holiness Church. According to the Bowens, it was on the plane home that God confirmed His call to them. "We both knew that God would eventually bring us back home to Malaysia to teach and preach to the Malay people who haven't heard," says Cindy Bowen, of her husband-and-wife team."

Further it says:"'The Bowens plan to help establish two Pentecostal Holiness churches in Kuala Lumpur by training the pastors and bringing forth leaders to start plant more churches in this emerging Southeast Asian Muslim-majority nation of 19 million. A spokesperson for the National Evangelical Fellowship of Malaysia claims that 600 Christian churches have started there since 1992. Evangelical Christians like the Bowens tout Muslims as the largest block of unreached peoples in the world."

That just gives one an inkling of what is going on.

In Malaysia, Malays are synonymous with the faith of Islam. The Christians here are part of a worldwide movement intent on converting Muslims to Christianity. They are however hampered by the social contract (The Federal Constitution) entered into amongst the various races here at the time of independence where it imposes restraints on other religions being preached to Muslims.

The Christians however have their agenda to fulfil and obviously one of the means to reach Malay-Muslims is by publishing material in the Malay language and using terms that the Muslims are familiar with like "Allah". They obviously hope that the less-informed and less-learned Muslims may be confused by the use of such terms.

There have been instances previously where Christian material using words like "Allah", "Alhamdulillah","Subahanallah", "ibadat" and others have been found distributed at primary schools targeting Malay-Muslim pupils in an attempt to confuse them and to lead them towards Christianity. This is in defiance of the provisons of the social contract(Federal Constitution) and a gross attempt at deceit. When it suits them they quote that social contract for their rights, and at the same time abuse it when they can.

Muslims should be on their guard against such attempts at deceit. Perhaps if they still insist on using "Allah" in thier publications, permission could be given provided the Church in their prayers pray to "Allah".

Often times we have been taught and told that the character of an act is determined by its underlying intent. Hence an act may upon examination of its intent may be found to be quite different from what it appears to be. Hence the Catholics wanting to use the word "Allah" in their publications may seem innocent enough, but when the intent behind it is considered in the light of their grand agenda to convert Muslims in defiance of the provisons of the Federal Constitution and law, then surely they should not be allowed to pursue this course.

In their hypocritical way, the Church and Christian writers have countless times abused "Allah". They have referred to "Allah" as the "Moon God". A quick search on any search-engine online will reveal that.

Here is an excerpt from http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Islamic%20Muslim/moon_god.htm.:

"The religion of Islam has as its focus of worship a deity by the name of "Allah." The Muslims claim that Allah in pre-Islamic times was the Biblical God of the Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. The issue is thus one of continuity. Was "Allah" the Biblical God or a pagan god in Arabia during pre-Islamic times? The Muslim's claim of continuity is essential to their attempt to convert Jews and Christians for if "Allah" is part of the flow of divine revelation in Scripture, then it is the next step in Biblical religion. Thus we should all become Muslims. But, on the other hand, if Allah was a pre-Islamic pagan deity, then its core claim is refuted. Religious claims often fall before the results of hard sciences such as archeology. We can endlessly speculate about the past or go and dig it up and see what the evidence reveals. This is the only way to find out the truth concerning the origins of Allah. As we shall see, the hard evidence demonstrates that the god Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the Moon-god who was married to the sun goddess and the stars were his daughters."

The Christians have to answer: Is the Moon-god then what they mean by Allah in their wanting to publish "Allah" in their material? Is this what they are fighting for? Is the Moon-god their god? Are they trying to reach out to their followers to worship the Moon-god?

This is an update:

On 29th March,2008 at an interfaith forum held at Hotel Singgahsana, I publicly invited a forum-panellist, Bruno Pereira, who is a Catholic priest, to recite together with me "There is no God but Allah". He declined stating that there are differences in thelogical understanding. To me this was a litmus test of their sincerity in their wish to use "Allah" in their publications.

If they cannot recite that there is no God but Allah, then they have no business using "Allah" in their publications.

I therefore urge all Muslims to invite the Catholics at suitable public occassions to recite aloud that "There is no God but Allah".

Further update on 10th,May,2008

Received an e-mail from a concerned muslim, extracts of which read:

"Why do the Christians in Malaysia want to use the term 'Allah' in Malaysia when the Christians around the world are against it? Why only for the Malay Bible and not for the English Bible? If these Christians are sincere then they should not object to the term 'Allah' being used in English too.

Lets see what happens when 'Allah' is used instead of God in the English Bible;


NEW TESTAMENT

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our Allah is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your Allah with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. (Mark 12:29-30)


“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my Allah and your Allah ’” (John 20:17)


Jesus (pbuh) says; "I can do nothing on my own. I judge as Allah tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will." (John 5:30)



"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by Allah to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which Allah did among you through him, as you yourselves know. (Acts 2:22 NIV)


OLD TESTAMENT:


Exodus 20:1-5
1 And Allah spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your Allah who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your Allah am a jealous God.

These are only a few examples."

Perhaps the Muslims can print such a Bible in English for them