COMMENT The Federal Court is wrong by not allowing CatholicHerald to appeal to the highest court in the land to plead its case that it has a fundamental and constitutional right to use the word 'Allah' to refer to God in the Bahasa edition of its weekly newspaper.
There is no avenue for further appeals as this is already an apex court decision. But lawyers for The Herald have indicated that they may take a rare action to ask the Federal Court itself to review its own decision.
The Federal Court's decision yesterday is wrong on two counts alone simply because there is no evidence before it to come to this decision. There was certainly no consensus on such a controversial issue as it was a 4-3 decision by the seven-person bench.
It decided that the Court of Appeal was right to rule that the use of the word 'Allah' is not integral to Christianity. It also went along with the Court of Appeal that the use of the word could be a threat to national security.
The role of a court of law is to decide on the basis of law and facts presented by parties in dispute and to hand down judgment accordingly without taking considerations outside of the case before it however compelling they may be.
The Court of Appeal had ruled on Oct 14, 2013 the use of the word 'Allah' by The Herald. The Federal Court upheld this position. There was no evidence in law and in fact before both the appellate and federal courts to come to this opinion.
In jurisprudence and settled international law, the management in matters of religion is best left to their respective ecclesiastical authorities and the state or the courts should refrain from intervention. For instance, the government nor the courts cannot decide which Holy Scriptures people of the other faiths can or should use as their authorised versions.
If Bahasa-speaking Christians chose to use the word 'Allah', 'Tuhan' or 'Yawweh' to refer to God, it is not for the government nor the courts to tell them that such words would be not suitable or are even prohibited. It is up to adherents of a particular faith to determine their own theology and what is integral to their faith, even if they were to worship what may appear as a false god to outsiders.
The argument before the courts is that in allowing Bahasa-speaking Christians to use the word 'Allah' may lead to the prosyletisation or confusion of Muslims. And this may become a threat to national security. It must be remembered that national security is the function of the government and not that of the courts.
The courts' primary role is to dispense justice by interpreting laws. If at all there was any possibility of threats to security and public order, they may likely stem from actions of certain groups in trying to impose their will on others while the court proceedings have gone on for the past seven years even to the extent of threatening to burn bibles.
In the wake of such provocation, both the police and law enforcement agencies have turned a blind eye to them only to fuel ethno-religious tensions further. This indeed has become the real threat to national security.
Clear differences
As for the ‘Allah’ word causing confusion among Muslims, former Perlis mufti and now an academic, Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, has pointed out that "only stupid Muslims cannot differentiate between Muslims' Allah and Christians' Allah".
"It is better for people to know who's the real 'Allah' (through education)," he was quoted as saying.
To Bahasa speakers, the Arabic loan word, 'Allah' refers to God in English. The Allah or God in the Quran is clearly defined and there can be no confusion over it.
A Muslim child from young probably encounters Allah in the opening prayer of the Quran right from the first surah known as Al Fatihah with the “Bismillah” invocation or “Dengan nama Allah” (in the name of Allah).
The Bahasa-speaking Christian child's first knowledge of God or Allah is probably from the prayer that Jesus taught or otherwise known as the Lord's Prayer (Gospel of Matthew 6:9-13) which begins with, "Our Father..." This immediately introduces the Christian child to the trinity or godhead of the Father, Son and Spirit.
By no stretch of imagination would any Muslim entertain the idea of the trinity. The word 'Allah' may be the same for both Muslims and Bahasa-speaking Christians but as pointed out by Asri, only the stupid cannot differentiate between the two.
Even the Quran envisaged this difference between those who follow Islam and those of other faiths when it says in five short verses in Surah Al Kafirun; the command to Muslims not to compromise in the matters of religion:
"I worship not that which ye worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship,
And I will not worship that which ye have been wont (accustomed) to worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship,
To you be your Way and to me mine.”
(Surah Al Kafirun, Yusof Ali's translation.)
Likewise, the Christian believer is guided by his or her own scriptures: "Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ." (1 Peter 3:15-16 NLT).
There is enough guidelines for both Muslims and Christians to keep the peace hence the Federal Court should stick to what it knows best and not wade into theological minefields. All that it needs to do now it to review its own decision on the 'Allah' controversy so that there can be peace on earth as in Heaven.
BOB TEOH retired recently as a mainstream editor. He was National Union of Journalists general-secretary from 1984 to 86.
There is no avenue for further appeals as this is already an apex court decision. But lawyers for The Herald have indicated that they may take a rare action to ask the Federal Court itself to review its own decision.
The Federal Court's decision yesterday is wrong on two counts alone simply because there is no evidence before it to come to this decision. There was certainly no consensus on such a controversial issue as it was a 4-3 decision by the seven-person bench.
It decided that the Court of Appeal was right to rule that the use of the word 'Allah' is not integral to Christianity. It also went along with the Court of Appeal that the use of the word could be a threat to national security.The role of a court of law is to decide on the basis of law and facts presented by parties in dispute and to hand down judgment accordingly without taking considerations outside of the case before it however compelling they may be.
The Court of Appeal had ruled on Oct 14, 2013 the use of the word 'Allah' by The Herald. The Federal Court upheld this position. There was no evidence in law and in fact before both the appellate and federal courts to come to this opinion.
In jurisprudence and settled international law, the management in matters of religion is best left to their respective ecclesiastical authorities and the state or the courts should refrain from intervention. For instance, the government nor the courts cannot decide which Holy Scriptures people of the other faiths can or should use as their authorised versions.
If Bahasa-speaking Christians chose to use the word 'Allah', 'Tuhan' or 'Yawweh' to refer to God, it is not for the government nor the courts to tell them that such words would be not suitable or are even prohibited. It is up to adherents of a particular faith to determine their own theology and what is integral to their faith, even if they were to worship what may appear as a false god to outsiders.
The argument before the courts is that in allowing Bahasa-speaking Christians to use the word 'Allah' may lead to the prosyletisation or confusion of Muslims. And this may become a threat to national security. It must be remembered that national security is the function of the government and not that of the courts.
The courts' primary role is to dispense justice by interpreting laws. If at all there was any possibility of threats to security and public order, they may likely stem from actions of certain groups in trying to impose their will on others while the court proceedings have gone on for the past seven years even to the extent of threatening to burn bibles.
In the wake of such provocation, both the police and law enforcement agencies have turned a blind eye to them only to fuel ethno-religious tensions further. This indeed has become the real threat to national security.
Clear differences
As for the ‘Allah’ word causing confusion among Muslims, former Perlis mufti and now an academic, Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, has pointed out that "only stupid Muslims cannot differentiate between Muslims' Allah and Christians' Allah".
"It is better for people to know who's the real 'Allah' (through education)," he was quoted as saying.To Bahasa speakers, the Arabic loan word, 'Allah' refers to God in English. The Allah or God in the Quran is clearly defined and there can be no confusion over it.
A Muslim child from young probably encounters Allah in the opening prayer of the Quran right from the first surah known as Al Fatihah with the “Bismillah” invocation or “Dengan nama Allah” (in the name of Allah).
The Bahasa-speaking Christian child's first knowledge of God or Allah is probably from the prayer that Jesus taught or otherwise known as the Lord's Prayer (Gospel of Matthew 6:9-13) which begins with, "Our Father..." This immediately introduces the Christian child to the trinity or godhead of the Father, Son and Spirit.
By no stretch of imagination would any Muslim entertain the idea of the trinity. The word 'Allah' may be the same for both Muslims and Bahasa-speaking Christians but as pointed out by Asri, only the stupid cannot differentiate between the two.
Even the Quran envisaged this difference between those who follow Islam and those of other faiths when it says in five short verses in Surah Al Kafirun; the command to Muslims not to compromise in the matters of religion:
"I worship not that which ye worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship,
And I will not worship that which ye have been wont (accustomed) to worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship,
To you be your Way and to me mine.”
(Surah Al Kafirun, Yusof Ali's translation.)
Likewise, the Christian believer is guided by his or her own scriptures: "Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ." (1 Peter 3:15-16 NLT).
There is enough guidelines for both Muslims and Christians to keep the peace hence the Federal Court should stick to what it knows best and not wade into theological minefields. All that it needs to do now it to review its own decision on the 'Allah' controversy so that there can be peace on earth as in Heaven.
BOB TEOH retired recently as a mainstream editor. He was National Union of Journalists general-secretary from 1984 to 86.
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