Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Psst... We Can't Type Allah's Name Or Else... uh oh... I Just Did It.

This after news from Reuters that,
"...a Malaysian court ruled on Monday that a Christian newspaper may not use the word "Allah" to refer to God".
It is hard to know exactly how the newspaper was using the term Allah but they appear to claim that it is common practice in Malaysia,
 "Lawyers for the Catholic paper had argued that the word Allah predated Islam and had been used extensively by Malay-speaking Christians in Malaysia's part of Borneo island for centuries."
An interesting argument, but it failed to convince the three Muslim judges who claim total jurisdiction over the "A" word.
"In its case, the government argued that the word Allah is specific to Muslims and that the then-home minister's decision in 2008 to deny the newspaper permission to print it was justified on the basis of public order."
"About 200 Muslims outside the court in the administrative capital Putrajaya, greeted the decision with shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest)."
"'As a Muslim, defending the usage of the term Allah qualifies as jihad. It is my duty to defend it,' said Jefrizal Ahmad Jaafar, 39. Jihad is Islamic holy war or struggle."
I am aware of the arguments about whether or not Allah and God are one in the same (see discussion at FirstThings), and given the denial of Jesus as God's son by the Koran, I conclude that any Christian newspaper that refers to Allah as god is not referring to God. Nor am I when I type,

Hey, Jefrizal Ahmad Jaafar,
Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, is not Akbar. 
There, I went and did it.

2 comments:

  1. "Allah" is just the Arabic word for "God" not specific to any religion, much like the English word. It's been tied to Islam, due to the predominance of that religion since its inception, and the fact that the Qu'ran doesn't give another name (unlike YHWH in the OT). You'd have to specify, "The Allah of the Qu'ran" or something, in order to arrive at the conclusion that Allah ≠ God.

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