Scholar: Refer to original text instead of ‘Allah’

An Indonesian scholar says Christians in Sarawak should refer to the original text of their scriptures for reference on how to refer to God instead of insisting on the word ‘Allah’.

Menahem Ali, who specialises in Semitology, added that in Indonesia, some Christians have already rejected the use of the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God as it is perceived to have Islamic influence.

“The Christian should refer to their original text. For Muslims, we refer to Arabic which uses the word ‘Allah’.

“Christians have said that their new testament is based on Greek but in Greek, the word ‘Allah’ has never appeared,” he said during a seminar entitled ‘The ‘Allah’ Word and Christology in the Malay Archipelago’ at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam this afternoon.

He added that the use of the word ‘Allah’ in old Dayak Bibles was merely a borrowed word from Arabic as Islam had arrived in Sarawak before Christianity.

“To use the excuse the ‘Allah’ word is being used because Christian have already been using it long before is not acceptable.

“The translation should come from the original text,” he said.

Menahem said the insistence of Christians to use the word ‘Allah’ from Arabic instead of referring to their original text in Greek was an attempt at Christianisation.

He added that some in Indonesia have accepted this translation argument although Indonesia’s Al-Kitab board have remained adamant about using the word ‘Allah’.