Malaysia forbids Catholic newspaper from using the word “Allah”

By Michelle Malkin  •  January 5, 2008 09:36 AM

Malaysia is usually touted as a model “moderate” Muslim country. Never mind the persecution of Christian converts, the destruction of churches, the demolition of Hindu temples, the state crackdown on cartoons, and yes, the banning of the word “Allah” in a Catholic newspaper (via Jawa Report):

Malaysia has ruled that a Catholic newspaper cannot use the word Allah, clarifying reports it had reversed an earlier ban on the use of the word by non-Muslims.

The move deepens fears the government is trying too hard to please the more extremist sections of its Muslim majority at the expense of other religions.

Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of Kuala Lumpur-based ‘Herald - the Catholic Weekly’ was reported this week as saying the government had renewed its publishing permit, without restrictions, after earlier ruling that non-Muslims are forbidden from using the word Allah.

But Abdullah Md Zin, a minister for religious affairs, said on Friday the ban on the use of the word remained despite the renewal of the permit.

‘It was just the priest’s interpretation that there was no restriction on the use of the word,’ Abdullah told Reuters.

This is the latest in a series of disputes that is feeding fears of a gradual erosion of the rights of non-Muslims.

A textbook case of sharia creep.

Posted in: Sharia

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Comments

  1. #1
    On January 5th, 2008 at 9:54 am, bironetworks said:

    I don’t know enough about Malaysian religious demographics to really make an intelligent comment about this.

    So I’ll make an ignorant one.

    Who cares? America’s, like, number 1. Malaysia’s not even top 30.

    I believe that comment was both ignorant and disrespectful.

    A twofer.

    And on a Saturday no less.

  2. #2
    On January 5th, 2008 at 9:54 am, backwoods conservative said:

    It seems that nitroglycerin is less touchy than Muslim extremists.

    Do they really expect to convert the rest of the world to a religion that supresses freedom so much?

  3. #3
    On January 5th, 2008 at 9:54 am, meatpieandtatters said:

    From now on he will be referred to a “Fred the Magnificent!”

  4. #4
    On January 5th, 2008 at 9:56 am, Tennessee Dave said:

    I have no idea how one would convert to the Religion of Peace, but at some point a non-Religion of Peace person would have to say “Allah” to convert wouldn’t they?
    It doesn’t say what the penalty would be for saying the forbidden word. Anyone know?

  5. #5
    On January 5th, 2008 at 9:58 am, ajmontana said:

    Geez just replace “Allah” with “Dopey” or one of the other seven dwarfs.

  6. #6
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:00 am, bironetworks said:

    meatpieandtatters

    ‘Fred the Magnificent’.

    Fantastic.

  7. #7
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:00 am, wrcnossen said:

    Meatpie, I love it! I can just see the headlines “Another martyr for Fred the Magnificent”. I’m sure that won’t offend anyone.

  8. #8
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:01 am, zorro said:

    But just as in every country where Muslims and non-Muslims have lived, the Muslims have driven out or killed enough of the non-Muslims to diminish their numbers. In the early 1950s, Lebanon was 40% Muslim and 60% Christian; while censuses are no longer taken, the proportion is likely reversed.

    It will not take long for the blood thirsty islamist to move on the government of Malaysia to create another islamist state like Iran. As for Lebanon, the devils are planning a large march to remove the democracy there but, God willing, the indigenous Christians will resist the Iranian and Syrian based cut-throats.

    Keep in mind that Lebanon is the last Christian country in the land where Christianity began.

  9. #9
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am, meatpieandtatters said:

    I felt that a Pythonian’ moniker was appropriate!

  10. #10
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:19 am, TMoney said:

    “Fred the Magnificent” surely beats my “Ali-poop-poo-pee-doo”!

    Gotta love them euphamisms.

    Allah-yaba-daba-doo!

  11. #11
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:30 am, Larraby said:

    I have been told by people who travel extensively that Malaysia not only refuses entry to people traveling on an Israeli passport but also that if you have Israel stamped on your passport, airport authorities in Malaysia haul you out of the line and subject you to nasty questions and comments and often you are denied entry into Malaysia. I have no pesonal experience with this, not having traveled to Malaysia, but this has been relayed to me from people who have traveled there.

  12. #12
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:51 am, ThackerAgency said:

    It isn’t going to end until Christians get fed up and start fighting back. This is how the Crusades started, and it’s going to happen again. . . only this time, the Christians will probably get help from the Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists of China.

    It will continue to get worse, and it won’t end until blood is shed because that’s the only thing that the Muslims appreciate.

  13. #13
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:59 am, DaveC said:

    ‘Fred the Magnificent’ sure is better than my choice.. Anti-God, the false god of the moon, Satan,… any others to replace the name.. :)

  14. #14
    On January 5th, 2008 at 11:00 am, gandolphxx said:

    Well that is good, this ruling will clean up my act and language - not good to use the idol of a cult in polite discourse after all.

  15. #15
    On January 5th, 2008 at 11:06 am, Gabe said:

    It isn’t going to end until Christians get fed up and start fighting back.

    Catholics and Protestants are already starting to fight back. The first thing is to admit that Islam is NOT a religion of peace; the second is to admit (and even some conservatives have a hard time doing this–it must be some type of dhimmitude) that Allah is NOT the same god as the God Christians worship.

    I’m a Catholic and know that Christ fulfilled revelation. For the possessed pedophile Mohammed to have received further revelations from “Allah” 600 years after Christ and to claim the barbarian got them from the same God we worship–as many imply when they claim our God is the same god Muslims submit to–is ridiculous.

    Malaysia has ruled that a Catholic newspaper cannot use the word Allah, clarifying reports it had reversed an earlier ban on the use of the word by non-Muslims.

    Good. At least Muslims are now admitting that they don’t worship the same God as we do. They worship a fallen angel, which is reflected in the violence, anarchy, evil, and hatred of humanity their barbaric religion promotes. Let’s start using the term “moon god” instead of Allah.

  16. #16
    On January 5th, 2008 at 11:11 am, bit_boy said:

    So might a Christian do some other word substitution and not use the word religion for Islam but rather use the word cult for Islam. aj #5 and TMoney #10 beat me to word substitution for Allah. Allah-yaba-daba-doo! does have some historical credentials. My substitution word Allah is Painted-pony.

  17. #17
    On January 5th, 2008 at 11:24 am, Ordinary Coloradan said:

    Thacker - I pray what you say is not true, and I fear that what you say is true.

    Islam is the religion of irrationality.

  18. #18
    On January 5th, 2008 at 11:30 am, zorro said:

    Catholics and Protestants are already starting to fight back.

    Yes, true. Keep your eyes on the streets of Beirut in the next few weeks.

  19. #19
    On January 5th, 2008 at 11:49 am, TexasTiger said:

    We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.

    Sounds more reasonable with every passing day.

  20. #20
    On January 5th, 2008 at 11:56 am, JoAnn in VA said:

    What’s the arabic word for “moon-bat”? It would cover both the moon god worship aspect and be a nice link to our own home grown dhimmi-wanna-be’s.

  21. #21
    On January 5th, 2008 at 12:13 pm, Jim M. said:

    Can’t use “Allah”? Try Satan.

  22. #22
    On January 5th, 2008 at 12:56 pm, meatpieandtatters said:

    “All bow before Fred the magnificent!”

  23. #23
    On January 5th, 2008 at 1:01 pm, meatpieandtatters said:

    I also think there would be a serious detterant to suicide bombing if the would-be bombers had to say “Fred the magnificent is great! Fred the magnificent is great” before dispatching themselves.

  24. #24
    On January 5th, 2008 at 2:11 pm, RhymesWithRight said:

    Interestingly enough, this is part of the WaPo story today.

    Abdullah Zin, the de facto minister for Islamic affairs, told reporters Thursday that the Cabinet is of the view that “Allah” refers to the Muslim God and can only be used by Muslims, who comprise about 60 percent of Malaysia’s population.

    Sounds like an important admission to me.

    http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/251145.php

  25. #25
    On January 5th, 2008 at 2:11 pm, Christian Soldier said:

    Since the Christian leadership in the U.S. and world wide is too weak to stand up to Islam in order to protect our brothers and sisters in Sudan, Malaysia and et. al., it will be up to individual Christians to form advocacy groups to battle for them.

  26. #26
    On January 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pm, NHMagenta said:

    To the hosts:
    Any idea of how many Islamic-majority countries michellemalkin.com is blocked by?

    The hard-line Islamists in Malaysia won’t be happy until they’ve managed to drive out the Hindus and Chinese along with “Western” corporations like Intel, Iomega and Seagate at which point Malaysia becomes another Fourth World armpit like Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
    I really hope the Thais have what it takes to keep their Jihadis in line!

  27. #27
    On January 5th, 2008 at 2:18 pm, brooklyn red said:

    JoAnn #20, I think they refer to moon-bats as useful idiots… could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure.

  28. #28
    On January 5th, 2008 at 2:53 pm, NotaSlickFan said:

    Well now we know for sure that it is the official Malaysian government position to declare that allah is only a muslim god and non-muslims may not speak/write the name allah. So if I say allah, I am in defiance of them, right? Allah is a god to the cult worshippers of a pedophile (Big Mo). I don’t know about any of you but I would say that allah, yes allah, is nothing more than a demon (named allah) that calls upon its followers to kill, rape, torture, chop, bomb and excoriate all true religions and thereby bring “peace” to the world. Well ain’t allah a peach. Heck of a guy that allah is. Uh-oh, I just realized that I have written the name allah many times, yes I said allah. Yikes, the minions of allah –there I go again—are going to be so miffed at me for my use of allah in my comments that allah itself could not save me. Oh, what the heck—allah, allah, allah. I feel better now.

  29. #29
    On January 5th, 2008 at 3:22 pm, eagles5 said:

    Looks like a reversal.

    Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (AHN) - The Malaysian government cabinet has withdrawn its earlier decision to ban the Catholic publication “The Herald Weekly” over its use of the term Allah. Cabinet officials had earlier said that the Muslims only could use the word Allah, which means God in Arabic - by other religions.

    http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009624252

  30. #30
    On January 5th, 2008 at 3:25 pm, nyc123me said:

    Seriously, it’s like Monty Python and the Knights who say “ni!” ..we are the knights who don’t say “it”. OMG I just said “it”. ARGH I said “it” again! Oh no…!

  31. #31
    On January 5th, 2008 at 4:05 pm, Seabecker said:

    Although technically “Allah” is simply the Arabic name for God, the name, as used today, is really NOT synonymous with God as defined by Jews and Christians.

    Even though God is a generic term, Jews and Christians have used it as a proper name, especially English speaking folks.

    What non-Christians/Jews/Muslims do not understand is that God is NOT Allah, and Allah is NOT God. Semantically one could argue they are the same, but theologically you cannot. This is mistake often made by the MSM, as they translate phrases like “Allah Akbar” into “God is Great”. This is an erroneous translation because Allah is a proper name for a specific god, who is NOT the god referred to in our Judeo-Christian society as God. To the Christian, Allah is a false god, not the same god. “Allah Akbar” should always be translated as “Allah is Great,” not “God is Great.”

    The Deity worshiped by Jews, Christians and Muslims are defined within the tenets of their respective faiths. The attributes of God are not the attributes of Allah.

    A web search for “Allah is not God” will yield many results, some of which are knee-jerk, but many of which have credible scholarship.

  32. #32
    On January 5th, 2008 at 4:23 pm, Jim M. said:

    Deck the halls with blood by golly

    allah-lah-lah-lah-lah, lah-lah-lah-lah

    Tis the season for martyr jollies

    allah-lah-lah-lah-lah, lah-lah-lah-lah

    Don we now out bomb apparel

    Allah-la, allah-la, al-la-la-la

    We are a cult that has gone feral

    ALLAH-LAH-LAH.LAH..LAH…LAH…..LAHHH

  33. #33
    On January 5th, 2008 at 7:11 pm, ammo john said:

    Well, Allah dang it!

  34. #34
    On January 5th, 2008 at 9:29 pm, TMoney said:

    To: Jim M #33…

    Abso-freaking-lutely poetic. Wish I could write ditties like that.

  35. #35
    On January 5th, 2008 at 10:04 pm, garyt said:

    Islam has no redeemer for sin they don’t recognize that Jesus is God and only a divine being can forgive sin. Jesus is the only one who has done that. Why is this so difficult to understand. Islam is a religion invented by the devil to imitate Christ.

  36. #36
    On January 6th, 2008 at 8:21 am, Kevlaur said:

    Actually, Arab Christians use the term Allah for God. My Arabic language bible has Allah for God in both testaments.

    According to this article the Malay Christian usage predates the Muslim usage:
    href=”http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071231/30696_Malaysia_Allows_Newspaper_to_Refer_to_Christian_God_as_’Allah’.htm”>

    Another page I saw when I first read about this:
    href=”http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2007/12/28/do-malaysian-muslims-understand-what-allah-means/”>

    I hope the links work…

  37. #37
    On January 6th, 2008 at 10:47 am, Dimsdale said:

    It is amazing how worked up into a froth the MSM gets over the “cult of Mormonism”, but stories like this and the tragic murder of those poor girls that Michelle has posted go unnoticed.

    I guess they are busy kissing the hindquarters of CAIR and the other terrorist organs in this country (or afraid of lawsuits by them).

  38. #38
    On January 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm, dallas7 said:

    Let’s start using the term “moon god” instead of Allah.

    No can do, Gabe. We honor the Moon God (Mona, Mani, et al) every Monday in accordance to the infallible Pope Gregory’s calendar.

    Fred the Magnificent it shall be. Amen.

  39. #39
    On January 6th, 2008 at 6:26 pm, Grey Fox said:

    There is no Fred the Magnificent but Fred the Magnificent, and Muhammad is his Prophet!

    Sounds good to me!

  40. #40
    On January 7th, 2008 at 5:41 am, Kevlaur said:

    I feel a fatwa coming on…

  41. #41
    On January 7th, 2008 at 12:28 pm, Chuck said:

    Well then, let’s call Allah by his real name: Beelzebub.

  42. #42
    On January 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm, Khyris said:

    “Dear Readers,

    We apologize, but we are not permitted to print the word _____. Please take caution that if you are not a Muslim, do not say the word _____ aloud, or face prosecution. If you see the word _____ or hear ______ being spoken, please report it to your local authorities immediately. We regret any inconvenience this _____ controversy may cause.”

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