“Our Allah and your Allah is one” - have you heard of this, Harussani & other EXTREMISTS?

It’s the lack of proper religious education and ignorance among some Muslims that have muddled their minds when it comes to the term “Allah” used to refer to “God” by people of other faiths.

Some politicians and religious figures find it expedient to exploit on this issue not that they know too much about religions and the principles of various theological doctrines but to help parties to win elections.

The government of Malaysia in 2007 barred usage of the term Allah in any other but Muslim contexts. The High Court in 2009 annulled the decision, ruling that it was unconstitutional. While Allah has been used by the Christians to refer to God in Malay for more than four centuries (since the early 17^th century) without any objection by the authorities, the present controversy was prompted by usage of Allah by the Roman Catholic newspaper, The Herald.

The government has in turn appealed the court ruling, and the High Court has suspended sine die implementation of its verdict ‘until the appeal is heard’.

“Our Allah and your Allah is one”

The Qur’an clearly says:

And dispute ye not with the People of the Book (who covenanted with Abraham), except with means better unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong: but say, "We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; and it is to Him we submit." (29:46)

"And indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path." (19:36)

Apparently, there is no lack of Islamic religious education in the country and yet some Muslims seem to be ignorant of usage of the word Allah in the Abrahamic faiths as well as in many other religions. It’s the religious education system that has failed to disentangle the bondage minds of the Muslims.

Muslims should be edified that the world Allah (root word ilah) or its derivatives were used long before Islam by the pagan Arabs, Christians and Jews. Just emphasise to the Muslims that this 'conception of God' is not the same from that of the pagan Arabs, the Christian theology and Islam.

Epistemologically the term Allah is derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al (the) and ilah (God). The concepts associated with the term Allah, however, differ among religious traditions and the Muslims in the country can be enlightened on this with proper education.

Hebrew and Arabic are closely related Semitic languages, and that Allah (root, ilah) and the Biblical Elohim are cognate derivations of same origin. Going beyond the Semitic race, for instance in the Sanskrit language, Allah, Amba and Akka are synonyms. The term Allah forms part of Sanskrit chants.

It’s therefore no surprise that the term Allah is also found in the Bengali and many other languages in the Indian subcontinent. In fact, the origin of the root word ilah can be traced back to 2000BC when it was used by the Arabs for pagan worship.

A bondage mind

Muftis and other Muslim religious scholars in the country should stop politicising Islam but get to the study of the actual etymology of the word Allah as used in Islam and other cultures and religions. They may lack this creativity if they have a captive mind. This is not the issue or tussle between Muslims and non-Muslims or PAS and UMNO but of educational significance to all Malaysians.

Educate the masses on the universal acceptance of the term Allah and its cognates to refer to God and stress that theologically they may mean different to every religion or culture.

Why not explain to the masses that Allah is the Arabic word for ‘the God’ and Al- is a definite article in Arabic; the word Allah or its derivatives are used in more than 60 main languages in the world to refer to ‘the God’ and the word is notably used by Muslims, Arab speakers, Arab Christians, the Mizrahi Jews and later by the Christians in the Malay Archipelago since the 17th century?

Christianity and Judaism came before Islam. Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, had long used the word Allah or its cognates to mean God.

In the context of Indonesia, Sabah and Sarawak the term Allah has been in use for the past four centuries by those who profess Christianity. This is not something new so there cannot be any valid reason why they should stop using the word Allah in their translated Bibles now.

The first dictionary of Dutch-Malay by A.C. Ruyl, Justus Heurnius, and Caspar Wiltens in 1650 (revised edition from 1623 edition and 1631 Latin-edition) recorded Allah as the translation of the Dutch word "Godt". Since then the word Allah has been used to refer to God by the majority natives who profess Christianity in the Malay Archipelago.

This has been conspicuous in Indonesia, Sarawak and Sabah for the past one century.

Stopping it after it has been in use for the past four centuries is impulsive in nature and even defeats the purpose in this era of technology.  Translated Bibles these days come in the form of e-books and can be downloaded free from the Internet.

No laws can stop this and instead of coming  up with rules or decrees against the Christians using the term Allah,  Muslims should be educated to see the differences in usage of this term in the various concept of theologies and cultures.

The hinge of the Muslim faith

Educate the Muslims that the Christian community are used to the term Allah and its extension such as Allah al-ʾab (God the Father), Allah al-ibn (God the Son), and Allah ar-ruḥ al-quds (God the Holy Spirit).  This is not theologically accepted in Islam, though. Arab Muslims are aware of this as they do not subscribe to these concepts in Islam. The same should be told to Muslims in this country.

Every Muslim is taught about the monotheistic aspect of Islam. If the reason in objecting to their request to continue using the word Allah and other Arabic words is that it will confuse the Muslims this cannot be accepted. It will only reflect on the weaknesses of the Muslims.

An Arab Christian may invoke the word “bismillah” (in the name of God - term also used by Muslims) to the concept of Trinity in their discourse.  The Muslim bismi-lla reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitised bismi-llah reads: "In the name of Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God."

Despite invoking the same term bismillah by both Muslims and Christians before doing things every Muslim is able to recognise the difference in approach to the concept of Allah in Islam and Allah in Christianity.

Are Muslims too pathetic that they are not to be able to discern the various concepts of theologies in other religions? If they are, then they have not been taught enough about Islam.

It is as simple as telling the Muslims that to them, Allah (God) is the Sustainer of this universe, He upholds everything in existence, He cannot be associated with any other being, and humble submission to His Will, Divine Orders and Decrees is the hinge of the Muslim faith.

A defeatist stand

It was reported that JAKIM issued a statement pointing out the use of the word Allah by other religions will bring harm to Islam. He said the position was based on a decision of the National Fatwa Council decision in 2008. This is a defeatist stand made by a Muslim authority.

The Malaysian Gurduwara Council (MGC) was reported to have argued that it was unconstitutional to ban anyone from using the word Allah insisting that the National Fatwa Council’s decree on the word could not apply to non-Muslims.  In a statement by the MGC president he pointed out that the council does not have direct jurisdiction over non-Muslims and could not issue fatwas to bar the community from using a specific word in their sacred books.

Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria was reported to have told non-Muslims who insist on using the word Allah to refer to their Gods to convert to Islam if they refused to accept that the word belongs only to Muslims. The contentious cleric also indicted the Christian community of deliberately provoking Muslims by pressing on with their demand to use Allah in their Holy Book.

This avowal sounds weird and to an extent ridiculous coming from a so-called ‘learned’ mufti. Stuck in his servitude mind he has missed many issues relating to Islam and other religions. He has missed the core semantics and theological issues relating to the lexis Allah when he says the word only belongs to Muslims.

Educate the masses on religion, stop politicising it and only with an open mind will common sense prevail when it comes to tolerance and freedom of religion. This is important if religious harmony is what Malaysians hope for in the country.

Malaysia Chronicle