Allah, lost in translation

A pastor in Kuching rang me up to update me won the situation over the Allah controversy in Sarawak.

"Brother, the battle belongs to the Lord. The enemies are all confused now," he said sounding very pleased.

The world may rely on Sun Tzu's "Art of War" but the Bible actually has its own principles for going to war.

One of it is found in the fifth book by Moses (Musa in the Quran) in the Christian Old Testament or the Jewish Bible:

Regulations concerning War

"When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The Lord your God, who brought you out of (captivity from) the land of Egypt, is with you! For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!" (Deuteronomy 20:1,4 New Living Translation).

In the Court of Appeal judgment, the three judges are unanimous in their finding: "It is our common finding that the usage of the name 'Allah' is not an integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity. We find no reason why the Herald is so adamant to use the name 'Allah, if allowed, will inevitably cause confusion within the community."

They are way off the mark but this is understandable because they are judges and not theologians or Bible scholars. It would be unfair to expect expert opinion from them on the rendering of divine names in the Bible.

This particular passage from Deuteronomy concerns regulations on how Hebrews and Christians should engage in war, spiritual or otherwise. Therefore, they must be very clear on the usage of the words LORD and God failing which they may just lose the war.

This passage from Deuteronomy where the words LORD and God appear alongside each other makes its context clear. The original language of the Bible is mainly in Hebrew, New Testament (not classical) Greek and some Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. Any study Bible would explain how divine names are translated to a modern language to avoid any confusion.

The New Living Translation Bible from which this passage is quoted explains the principles used in rendering Divine names:

"In the Old Testament, all appearances of 'el', 'elohim', or 'eloah' have been translated 'God', except where the context demands the translation 'god(s)'. We have generally rendered the tetragrammaton (YHWH) consistently as 'the LORD' utilizing a form with small capitals that is common among English translations. This will distinguish it from the name 'adonai', which we render 'Lord'. When 'adonai' and YHWH appear together, we have rendered it 'Sovereign LORD'. When 'elohim' and YHWH appear together, we have rendered it 'LORD God'.… The Greek word kurios is consistently translated 'Lord', except that it is translated 'LORD' wherever the New Testament text explicitly quotes from the Old Testament, and the text there has it in small capitals."

We need to note that in the original ancient languages there are no capital letters used. These were introduced in modern languages.

In the Malay language Bible or the Alkitab, these translation principles were used consistently since the first translation in 1612, the first non-European translation of the Bible. Hence the word elohim which is translated into English as God is translated as 'Allah'. YHWH is translated as LORD or TUHAN all in capital letters. Adonai or kurios is translated as Lord or Tuhan in small letters.

Some have suggested that Malay speaking Christians should use Tuhan for God instead of Allah. Since Tuhan means Lord imagine the theological confusion when we translate the LORD God as TUHAN Tuhan. This is meaningless. In Malay a repetition of words renders them into the plural form. This would imply Christians believe in many gods. Horrors, this is heresy! This is why all major Malay translations of the Bible render elohim as Allah and Lord as Tuhan.

The High Court ruling seems to be line with the accepted translation when the judge accepted the Herald's submission that the correct translation for God is Allah. This is "incontroverted evidence", she pointed out and ruled that "the usage of the name 'Allah' is an integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity."

MAILBAG