No need for appeal, Catholic Church failed to show right to use Allah, say Muslim groups

Muslim groups have spoken against the Catholic Church’s decision in seeking leave to appeal the Allah ruling at the Federal Court.

The Court of Appeal judges’ decision was based on facts, while the church had failed to provide credible evidence on its usage of the word, they said.

The Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association said in an affidavit that the Home Minister, from 1986 to 2009, had reminded the church repeatedly that the use of Allah in place of “God” in Herald’s Malay section would create animosity among Malaysians.

"The applicant (church) has failed to provide credible evidence that they have been consistently using the word for generations in replace of 'God'," said the association.

The religious councils of Malacca, Kedah and Johor have also said in an affidavit that the apex court should not waste its time to allow leave and answer the 26 questions posed by the church.

"In any event, the answers to the questions, even if it favoured the church, will not alter the decision of the Court of Appeal," said a statement in the affidavit which was affirmed by the association president Datuk Dr Mustapha Ma.

Putrajaya and seven Muslim organisations on December 5 said they opposed the church's leave application and had asked for two weeks to put in writing their objections.

Lawyer S. Selvarajah, a member of the church's legal team, told The Malaysian Insider he has yet to be served with affidavits from Putrajaya and the rest.

The Federal Court has fixed the leave application for hearing on February 24.

The church had filed its leave application on November 12 by submitting questions on the Federal Constitution, administrative law, as well as the power of the court to allow the minister to ban the use of a theological word.

The constitutional questions framed by the church lawyers were to debate on Islam as the religion of the federation, freedom of speech and religion, and the right to religious education. The questions on administrative law centred on the home minister and his powers.

They also said that the home minister's decision to ban the Catholic weekly Herald from using the word Allah was illegal and irrational.

The church earlier questioned the power of the court to allow the minister to ban the word based on theology.

A three-member bench on October 14, led by Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali, allowed Putrajaya's appeal on the banning of the word Allah from Herald as there was a 1986 directive by the Home Ministry prohibiting non-Muslim publications from using four words – Allah, “kaabah”, “solat” and “baitullah”.

As Herald had been in publication since 1994, ministry officials admonished the publisher and issued show-cause letters on its failure to comply with the directive.

Apandi in his judgment said the reason for the prohibition was to protect the sanctity of Islam and prevent any confusion among Muslims.

He ruled that if the word was to be allowed to be used by Christians, it could threaten national security and public order.

The court also said the prohibition was reasonable on the grounds that the word Allah was not an integral part of the Christian faith and practice.

The decision sparked an outcry among Christians and other non-Muslims in the peninsula and East Malaysia.

The ban was a follow-up to the 2009 case where Herald filed a judicial review at the High Court to challenge the home minister's order.

Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan subsequently quashed the home minister's order, ruling that the ban had violated the constitutional rights of the publisher.