Brahma instead of Allah? – Nehali

I refer to a letter published in a newspaper February 8, 2014 by Abdullah Ismail, secretary-general of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organisations, urging Christians to use Brahma for God instead of Allah.

I would like to respond with the hope of promoting communication and greater understanding among Muslims and Christians.

Firstly, thanks, Abdullah, for the suggestion, but no thanks.

Although both Islam and Christianity believe in one God, their concepts of God differ as Abdullah has rightly pointed out.

The Islamic concept of God is a simple oneness while Christian concept of God is a complex oneness.

Some Muslims have misunderstood the Christian concept of God, thinking that God physically gives birth to a son called Jesus. And that Christians worship three gods.

Nothing is further from the truth. However, this is not the appropriate place to explain the concept of Trinity.

Instead of burning bridges, Christians and Muslims must realise that Islam and Christianity share many common attributes of God.

For example, both believe that God is Almighty, All-Loving, All-Merciful, Omnipresent and so on.

Abdullah cited a situation whereby a Christian quotes a verse from the Indonesian Bible: “Karena begitu besar kasih Allah akan dunia ini, sehingga Ia telah mengaruniakan Anak-nya yang tunggal, supaya setiap orang yang percaya kepadaNya tidak binasa, melainkan beroleh hidup yang kekal.”

He mentioned that Muslims would feel provoked and insulted upon hearing this.

Understandably, this would be the case based on their understanding about Allah.

I would urge the Malaysian Muslims not to feel that way because the quotation is not meant to provoke them or to insult their God.

Rather, it is a Biblical quotation to convey sacrificial love of God (or Allah, in the context of Indonesian or Malay translation).

The Indonesian Bibles contain the word Allah and it is used freely in Indonesia. Indonesian Muslims do not feel provoked or insulted.

Similarly, Arab Muslims in the Middle East are not offended when the Arab Christians use Allah to mean God.

By the way, the Christian Arabs used the word Allah long before Islam's existence. So why should the Malaysian Muslims feel offended when others use the word Allah?

Why must Malaysian Muslims monopolise its use when the rest of the Muslim world does not have this compulsive need? Are Malaysian Muslims so unique?

Can we not celebrate our differences and diversity rather than seeking boring and regimented uniformity of views?

Abdullah urges the Christians to use "Brahma" instead of Allah, claiming that it is closer in concept to Christian God. It reflects his ignorance of both Christian and Hindu concepts of God.

Hinduism is polytheistic while Christianity is monotheistic.

Moreover, what happens if the Hindu claims that "Brahma" belongs to their exclusive use, just like the Malaysian Muslims are claiming now?

Nevertheless, we leave it to the Bible scholars and linguistic experts to decide the most appropriate translation. The consensus among world experts is that Allah is the most appropriate translation for God since time immemorial. Its usage predates Islam. 

Therefore, thanks Abdullah for the suggestion to Christians to use "Brahma" instead of Allah, but no thanks.

The Bahasa Malaysia speaking Christians calling God as "Allah" have nothing to do with colonial heritage or attempts to propagate the religion to Muslims. And their usage of Allah has been going on for centuries without any issues.

Now, in order to continue the usage, they are accused of "making irresponsible demand" (to quote Abdullah).

Abdullah further claims that the religious rights of minorities are well protected. The BM speaking Bumiputera Christians will surely disagree with him.

Churches are torched. Christian literature banned. Christians are not allowed to build churches with their own money on land owned by them. Just recently, it is reported that Bumiputera Christians in Sabah are tricked with money into converting to Islam. The list of oppressive measures by the authorities goes on.

Abdullah also brought up the issue of confusion if Allah is used by the Christians. If there is confusion, it is Christians who should be more concerned since they are the minority while Muslims are the majority.

Every child calls his father Dad or Papa. All fathers are different. Yet no children are confused as to who their fathers are.

Since the Christians are confident that their followers will not be confused, it is not wrong to expect that Muslims likewise not be confused.

Abdullah claims that Malaysia is one of the most tolerant countries in the world where the religious rights of minorities are well protected. In certain aspect, this is true, but more needs to be done.

The religious minorities are grateful for the constitutional guarantee of freedom to practice one’s religious obligation. The Allah issue is putting to test whether this constitutional guarantee will be honoured.

* Nehali is an engineer, and reads The Malaysian Insider.