Court’s Allah ban a gift to Muslims, says Utusan

The decision by the Court of Appeal to ban the word Allah in the Catholic weekly, Herald, was a gift to Muslims as they celebrate Aidiladha today, said Utusan Malaysia.

Awang Selamat, the pseudonym for Utusan's collective editorial team, said the decision also recognised the efforts made by those who defended the purity of the name Allah.

"This case must be an example to others not to jeopardise the supremacy of Islam as any of such attempts would affect the harmonious relationship between other races and religions in the country," said Awang Selamat.

"As Malaysians, we have to accept the supremacy of Islam. The Court of Appeal's decision in setting aside the earlier High Court's decision was correct based on the provisions provided in the constitution which clearly states the rights of Muslims and the role of the Malay royalty as the protector of Islam."

He said under Article 11 (4) of the Federal Constitution, it states the prohibition of the use of Allah by non-Muslims in any religion.

The Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that the Catholic Church was not to use the word Allah in the Herald.

The three-man bench, led by Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali, found that "the name Allah was not an integral part of the Christian faith and practice and that such usage if allowed, will inevitably cause confusion within the community".

The Allah row began in early 2009 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Herald's permit for using the word Allah in its Bahasa Malaysia section to refer to God.

This prompted the Catholic Church to sue the government for violating its constitutional rights.

On December 31, 2009, the High Court allowed the church's judicial review application and lifted the minister's ban on the use of the word in the publication.

Judge Lau Bee Lan said the church had a constitutional right to use the word Allah in its newspaper on the grounds that religions other than Islam can be practised in peace and harmony.