Malaysian Govt. Withholds 'Allah Bibles'

PDN

I found this report interesting: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8343626.stm

I had always understood that Muslims claimed to worship the same God as Jews and Christians, but that they see our Scriptures as being flawed and corrupted.

However, it seems now that the Malaysian government objects to Christian Bibles that refer to God as 'Allah'. Does this mean they are now claiming to worship a different god altogether?

chozometroid

The impression I get from the article is that the Malays just feel that the name Allah is exclusive to Muslims and perhaps using that name in the Christian Bible is a misrepresentation of their deity. I don't think it means they think of themselves as worshipping a different God. It's just that the name "Allah" is what represents their take on the same deity.

Perhaps an analogy would better explain:

You write a book about your grandfather, calling him "Gramps." You give details about your childhood and your relationship with him, and tell a lot about what type of person he was. No one else in the family called him "Gramps" except you and your parents. Later you find out that your cousin had all ready written a book about your grandfather. You read it and find that it is a total misrepresentation of the facts and of his character. Your cousin referred to your grandfather simply as "grandpa." A new edition of his book comes out which refers to him as "Gramps," in an effort to sound more familiar to your parents. You take offense because "Gramps" is your version of your grandfather, not your cousin's version.

Zombrex

I think it is probably because Arabic is not the native language of Malaysian, and thus they probably associate the word Allah with the specific context of the Muslim religion, which is taught through Arabic, rather than just Allah being the Arabic word for God.

philologos

Wicknight: Good point, but what about Christians and Yemenite Jews who use the term "Allah" to describe God in the Middle East?

Zombrex

Jakkass wrote: »

Wicknight: Good point, but what about Christians and Yemenite Jews who use the term "Allah" to describe God in the Middle East?

That is my point, in Arabian countries "Allah" is just the word for God, and is used by a host of religions in that area for the word. From wikipedia it doesn't even seem to be the word for the Abrahamic god but any monotheistic notion of a deity

It is sort of I guess (and my French is terrible so excuse me if this is a terrible example) the way garçon just means adolescent boy in French, but over here we use it exclusively in the context of a waiter (without necessarily knowing what it means in French or that it is some what insulting).

So, and perhaps this wasn't clear, I think the Malaysian decree is stupid and ignorant of the history of their own religion and the traditions around it. That is assuming this is the reason of course

hivizman

This is apparently a by-product of a regulation introduced in Malaysia several months ago, which prohibited the use of the word "Allah" for "God" in documents written in Bahasa Malaysia, the local language of Malaysia, by non-muslims. As far as I can discover, it doesn't apply to documents in other languages (it would be ridiculous, for example, to ban the word "Allah" in a Bible translated into Arabic). The ban was aimed at Catholic publications circulating in Sabah and Sarawak, the parts of Malaysia on the island of Borneo, where much of the tribal population is Christian. See here for more details.

It's possible that some Malaysian Muslims saw the use of the word "Allah" as in some way provocative. A quick surf of various western Muslim blogs and websites suggests that the consensus view among non-Malaysian Muslims is that the ban is silly and, if anything, counterproductive. One blog asserts that "the more people who refer to Allah the better".

hivizman

Following up my earlier post, here's a link to a website that contains translations in various forms of Malay of the first verse of John's Gospel. Four different translations, the earliest dating back to 1818, use "Allah" for God.

The Malay language has borrowed words from other languages, and Arabic was a particular source of religious terms. I note, for example, that two of the translations on the linked-to website use forms of "Kalimah" to translate "Word", and the other two use "Firman" - both of these have Arabic origins. Even the name of John's Gospel - "Injil Yahya" - is Arabic.

This reinforces the view that the alleged Malaysian ban on the use of "Allah" for God in Malay-language Christian texts is the product of ignorance and prejudice.

Fanny Cradock

Excellent stuff, hivisman.

chozometroid

hivizman wrote: »

This is apparently a by-product of a regulation introduced in Malaysia several months ago, which prohibited the use of the word "Allah" for "God" in documents written in Bahasa Malaysia, the local language of Malaysia, by non-muslims. As far as I can discover, it doesn't apply to documents in other languages (it would be ridiculous, for example, to ban the word "Allah" in a Bible translated into Arabic). The ban was aimed at Catholic publications circulating in Sabah and Sarawak, the parts of Malaysia on the island of Borneo, where much of the tribal population is Christian. See here for more details.

It's possible that some Malaysian Muslims saw the use of the word "Allah" as in some way provocative. A quick surf of various western Muslim blogs and websites suggests that the consensus view among non-Malaysian Muslims is that the ban is silly and, if anything, counterproductive. One blog asserts that "the more people who refer to Allah the better".

Nice. I knew my post would probably be for naught.

hivizman

chozometroid wrote: »

Nice. I knew my post would probably be for naught.

Surely not - you provided a very good analogy.

I've been spending a few minutes looking at the many translations into English of the Qur'an that I have access to either on-line or in hard copy. Some of these stick with "Allah":

Abdullah Yusuf Ali The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'an
Al-Hilali & Muhsin Khan Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an
M H Shakir The Qur'an

Others translate "Allah" by using the word "God":

Arthur Arberry The Koran Interpreted
N J Dawood The Koran
M A S Abdel Haleem The Qur'an
Muhammad Asad The Message of the Qur'an
Tarif Khalidi The Qur'an: A New Translation

Although there is no obvious pattern (e.g. Muslim or non-Muslim, old or more recent) to the translators' choice of word, there was one translation that, when I first read it, caused me to feel a little like the guy in chozometroid's story. This is the translation of Rashad Khalifa Qur'an: The Final Testament - Authorized English Version. He uses GOD (bold capital letters), and this, together with his subtitle, put me in mind of the Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible, which uses LORD in the Old Testament for the Tetragrammaton YHWH. I just didn't like this, and I was quite glad to discover that Khalifa, who founded a deviant sect (the Submitters), is regarded by most Muslims as an apostate (though I wasn't glad to read that he had been murdered).

Is it disrespectful and offensive to Muslims to call God "Allah" in an English version of the Qur'an, or to call Allah "God"?

PDN

Just an update on this.

The Malaysian high court has ruled that Christians are allowed to refer to God as 'Allah' if they wish.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8435975.stm

GUIGuy

Another update... The govt there has applied for a stay on the high courts ruling and will appeal the ruling in the appeals court.

The will suceed there, and then propably all the way the Federal (Supreme) court.

And just yesterday 3 churches in KL were torched. Sad.

This is really sad and the dispute is not a "Muslim/Chtistian" issue at all. It's cheap political rabble rousing gone wrong. Certain well known politicians there constantly create sensation and anger in the tabloid press (where there is no cause) and then suddenly act angrily who violence ensues. Reminds me of the way the Ian Paisley used to act in NI.