Without Allah who will help? – Orang Asli Christians

The above title is the title of a post that appeared in the blog "uppercaise" (click here to read) which was adapted from the Malaysian Insider.  

In that posting, Bong Alang, the village headman is quoted as saying, "Without 'Allah' who is going to help us?  This is our history, how are we supposed to suddenly change God's name?"  

A picture of the hymnal (which was seized by the police but was subsequently returned) was also included in the post.

I find the headman's question a little strange and they have chosen to omit a comma in the  hymnal's title.  Why I think so?

Well according to the Bible, Deuteronomy 6:4 reads, "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one!" and also Mark 12:29, "... Hear, O Israel, the LORD our GOD is one."

The Al-Kitab translates the above verses as: "Dengarlah, hai orang Israel: TUHAN itu Allah kita, TUHAN itu esa!" (Ulangan 6:4) and "... Dengarlah, hai orang Israel, Tuhan Allah kita, Tuhan itu esa." (Markus 12:19)

Or does the headman use a different translation of the Bible?

End to the "Allah" issue?

"All right to use Allah", says the Sun quoting Selangor Executive Councillor for Islamic Affairs, Sallehin Mukhyi. (Read the report here.)

According to the report, Non-Muslims can use "Allah" provided it is not 'misused' such as to propagate other religions among Muslims.

Isn't propagating other religions to Muslims against our Federal Constitution, with or without use of the word "Allah"?

What about the misuse of the word in the Al-Kitab for god and gods (lower-case or small 'g')?  As far as I know, there is no 'allah' (lower-case or small 'a') in Malay or even in English. (I had to disregard spell-check.)  It is definitely not found in the Arabic Bible (Al-Kitab Al-Mukhandas) - there are no upper/lower case letters in the Arabic Language.

Arabic Bible
(from Google Images)

I found this on someone's Facebook wall (I've forgotten whose) some time ago and I think I'll share it here.  No special reason but you're free to think whatever you want.  I'm not responsible for your thoughts.

The ALLAH Issue Again!

This time the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) has raided the Bible Society of Malaysia.  Even if there was a need for it, the reported high-handed manner in which it was carried out does not bode well for inter-ethnic, inter-religious relations in the country, and the raid itself could be illegal.

Then there is news that some political groups want to picket in front of churches.  The Police have issued a ‘stern’ warning against this, but considering the parties involved, we need to wait and see what happens and how the Police will respond.

As I have voiced out before the Islamic Authorities, both at Federal and State levels, seem to insult the intelligence of Muslims in the country.  They think that we are some sort of imbeciles who cannot think for ourselves and they have to do the thinking for us.

And just because the Christian God does not have a proper name, the Church should not be adamant in misusing words to insult other faiths, in this case Islam.  (The Arabic alphabet does not have upper and lower case letters, how is ‘allah’ written in the Arabic Bible?)

The only way forward, in my view, is for the Church to work with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) to produce a Malay version of the Bible.  (If you have a better solution, please feel free to voice it.)

This will not only resolve the issue of the ‘Allah’ word, but all the words that are ‘banned’, not because “Muslims will get confused” as the authorities seem to think, but to maintain the integrity of meaning of those words.

When we want to say ‘The Late so-and-so’ in Malay, it is AlMarhum Tengku Abdul Rahman, Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak, and Mendiang Tun Tan Siew Sin.  It is not about the person writing, it could be Johan or John, it is about the person referred to, whether Royalty, an ordinary Muslim or a non-Muslim.

Similarly, ‘Firman’ in Malay is exclusively for what Allah says in the Quran.  If it is something that the Prophet said, the word is ‘Sabda’.  The King ‘titah’ and the rest of us ‘kata’. (I hope you get where I'm going.)

If a non-Muslim is Guest of Honor at a breaking of fast ceremony, and in his/her speech, he/she decides to quote from the Quran, he/she should be able to say, “Allah berfirman dalam AlQuran…”  There is no ambiguity is what is said.

There are those who say that language is ever changing and meanings change with the times.  I am well aware of that.  A word, which, in my younger days, would have meant what a happy and jovial character I was, will only raise eyebrows if I described myself as such now.  I don’t think I want to see religious terms reduced to that level.

The Open Letter - Additional Comments

You know that my letter got published in The Malaysian Insider.

I can only clarify points for those who don't understand me, but for those who choose to misunderstand me, I can only say that they are well entitled to their opinions as I am to mine.  However, if someone finds some fact wrong in what I wrote, then please enlighten me that I can make any correction that may be necessary.

As I have said in earlier postings, I have no personal objections on anybody using the term Allah provided they maintain the integrity of the meaning of the word.  Anyone who says that non-Muslims using the word may confuse Muslim me is surely insulting my intelligence.

I would like to thank 2 readers, bimasakti and yk001nul, for their comments (reproduced below) which I consider is helpful in explaining my letter.

Instead of condemning Shaik Dawood with the standard criticisms of who owns which word, why don't you read once again what he has actually written. Why use the lower case 'allah' in the al Kitab to refer to to non-Judeo-Christian/non-Islamic deities like baal, ishtar, ishwar? Do you really believe your typical East Malaysian reading the al Kitab can distinguish between an upper case Allah and a lower case one? – bimasakti

The writer has highlighted accordingly the Muslims' concern. That is the point of contention when Muslims object to the usage of Allah in the Malay Bible. It was never about permission, but it's always about the literal meaning. 

To understand the 'confusion' the Muslims are always talking about, try visiting other places or country where the Bible is presented in the local vernacular. You can see that the word referring to God changes from country to country, from place to place. It's 'ibshaq' in Assamese areas of India, 'atoatl' in Nahuatl-speaking provinces of Brazil, and of course, 'allah' here in Malay-speaking Malaysia. Heck, in Hebei province of China, there used to be a Bible publication calling the God as Buddha, before some pressure from Buddhist groups corrected the problem. 

For a really central important concept in Christianity to be represented in such non-uniform way across the globe, isn't it a matter of concern to all Christians? In this, our Muslim brothers obviously has the better hand; the God is uniformly referred to as Allah no matter wherever they go, and you don't see them usurping the God concept from other religions for their own use. Interestingly, I read the Arabic version of Bible, and nowhere are there such transliteration confusion as the one found in our Malay Bible. Proper nouns are properly addressed as Allah, while references to generic deities and pagan gods are addressed either as 'rabb' or 'latt' (a generic name derived from pre-Islamic Nabatean goddess Latta). Thus it was no wonder that Arabic Christians are confused on the Allah ban ruling by our authority. So, it is inherently a Malaysian problem then. (Emphasis mine)

I've no idea why the missionaries of yore chose Allah instead of the pre-existing Malay-Sanskrit over-god word 'Mahadewa' when they first published the Malay bible in the 17th century. It just didn't follow the pattern used by contemporary missionaries elsewhere in the world around that time. Many reasons can be thought of; Christianization among Muslims, colonial politics, Muslim tolerance, or maybe just bad command of Malay language. 

One thing for sure though, is that it is a move worth reconsidering for mutual peace between these two great religions. I hope that Christians and Muslims here can get over their emotions and find a common ground to settle this issue once and for all. – yk001nul

Open Letter to the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur

I just sent this letter to The Sun Daily, The Star, The Malaysian Insider and The Malay Mail Online.  I'm not sure if it will get published.  However, I share it here.

Most Reverend Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam, PSM, PJM
(Image from Wikipedia)

Open letter

to

Most Reverend Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam,

Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur

Your Grace,

I am writing this as a concerned Malaysian Muslim on the distress caused by the “Allah” issue on the inter-faith/inter-ethnic relationships in our beloved Malaysia.

Before I begin, permit me, Your Grace, to quote from the well loved children’s book ‘Through the Looking Glass’ by Lewis Carroll.

 ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

 ’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

I begin with this quote because I think that words do have meanings of their own and should not be taken out of context or used in ways that it was not intended to be used.

In writings on or about Islam in English, ‘Allah’ is often rendered as ‘God’.  Modern day Muslim scholars, however, think that Allah should not be translated as it is a Proper Name and is free of number or gender, whereas God can be general or specific (god/God), singular or plural (god/gods) and male or female (god/goddess).

Your Grace has been quoted in the media as saying, “The First Article of Faith in the Catholic Creed and for all Christians is: ‘I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth’.  Any Christian, who denies or modifies this statement of faith, incurs excommunication and would be considered a heretic. It is to be noted that for centuries the Bahasa Malaysia translation and the Arabic equivalent of the one God, is the sacred word Allah, which the Christians have been using peacefully.”

As a Muslim, I fully support anyone’s use of ‘Allah’ in the context that Your Grace was quoted above, whether Christian or otherwise.  (I must qualify that this is my personal opinion and may not reflect the views of the Malaysian Islamic authorities.)

In the AlKitab, God is translated as Allah.(e.g.: Genesis 1:1  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. / Kejadian 1:1  Pada mulanya Allah menciptakan langit dan bumi.)  This, I think, is the God/Allah that Your Grace refers to.

However the AlKitab also translates god and gods as allah, albeit with a lower-case ‘a’. (e.g.: Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods...  / Ulangan 32:17 meraka mempersembahkan korban kepada roh-roh jahat yang bukan Allah, kepada allah yang tidak mereka kenal, allah baru...)

To the best of my knowledge, there is no allah (with a lower-case ‘a’) in the Malay Language.  Even in Arabic, god is i’lah.  The Malay word for god is dewa, with the plural form written as dewa-dewa.  God is also Tuhan.

Interestingly though 'Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites' in 1 Kings 11:5 is translated as 'dewa kejijikan' while 'Milcom the god of the children of Ammon' in 1 Kings 11:33 is 'allah'.

                                                                                                                        

Goddess is translated as dewi.  (e.g. 1 Kings 11:5 … Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians… / 1 Raja-Raja 11:5  … Asytoret, dewi orang Sidon… )

In Malay, Allah is always the proper name, while Tuhan is the general term used for God.  The Translators of the AlKitab have chosen to reverse the order, so that Tuhan is the proper name and Allah is the general form.  (e.g.  Deuteronomy 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! / Ulangan 6:4  Dengarlah, hai orang Israel: TUHAN itu Allah kita, TUHAN itu esa!  Also in: Mark 12:29 ...Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. / Markus 12:29 ...Dengarlah, hai orang Israel, Tuhan Allah kita, Tuhan itu esa.)

Your Grace, I cannot claim to know the intentions of the Translators of the AlKitab.  I can only assume that they were persons well versed in the Malay Language who choose to follow Humpty Dumpty.  I find this misleading, deceitful and dishonest, and as a Muslim I feel extremely hurt and insulted.

Your Grace, in the interest of truth and harmony, may I suggest that Your Grace appoints a person or persons to undertake an honest and accurate translation of the Bible in the Malay Language.  Deo volente, we will have an early closure to this issue.

May the Almighty bless and guide us in all our endeavours.

I am, Yours respectfully,

Shaik Dawood

Note:     Bible quotes in English from New King James Version, quotes in Malay from AlKitab (Lembaga AlKitab Indonesia)

The 'ALLAH' Issue, Will there be a resolution any time soon?

'Palace of Justice'
Putrajaya, Malaysia
(from Google Images)

The Court has decided and now the court of public opinion is in full swing.  While some agree that it is about 'preventing confusion' and 'preserving harmony' many others are asking, "what happened to freedom of religion?"  I have shared my opinion earlier here, here and here.

In Islamic writings in English, 'Allah' is often rendered as 'God'.  However, some scholars maintain that the word should not be translated as 'Allah' is unique, while God can be general or specific (god/God), male or female (god/goddess), singular or plural (god/gods).  Moreover 'God' has different connotations to different people based on that individual's conception of God.

The Sikhs use 'Allah' to describe God as do the Qadianis. (In Malaysia, as in Pakistan and other Muslim countries, the Qadianis are not considered Muslims.) Those of the Baha'i Faith probably also do the same.  (The founder's name is Baha'u'llah.)

Now let us look at the Christian use of the word.

In the English Bible, there is not only the word 'God', but there are also 'god', 'gods' and 'goddess'.  God may be translated as Allah, but how do you translate the other three?

In the AlKitab [the Indonesian Bible] God is Allah [upper case first letter for both]. (e.g.: Genesis 1:1 / Kejadian 1:1), god is allah [lower case first letter for both] (e.g.: 1 John 4:8 /1 Yohanes 4:8) gods is also allah [the 's' plural form to be understood from the context] (e.g.: Deuteronomy 32:17 / Ulangan 32:17 ... demons that were no gods, to gods they had never know, to new gods...  ...roh-roh jahat yang bukan Allah, kepada allah yang tidak mereka kenal, allah baru...), but goddess is dewi [here a Malay word is used instead of an Arabic one] (e.g.: 1 Kings 11:5 / 1 Raja-Raja 11:5).

Interestingly though 'Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites' in 1 Kings 11:5 is 'dewa kejijikan' while further down in 1 Kings 11:33 'Milcom the god of the children of Ammon' is 'allah'.

In Malay, God [upper case 'G'] is Tuhan, while god, gods and goddess can be rendered as dewa, dewa-dewa and dewi respectively. Even in Arabic, god [lower case 'g'] is i'lah not Allah.

So if the Church insists on using Allah to include god and gods (as used in AlKitab), it could be seen as act of provocation (i.e. purposely using words out of context with possible intent to offend/insult) and not about freedom of religion.

AlKitab - my personal view

Image from Google Images

Actually this is still about the "Allah" controversy.  Many of my Christian brothers and sisters, including my brothers and sisters of other religious persuasions, think this is only about language so why the fuss?

When we translate religious texts into other languages, the name is usually not translated.  That's why we have the Quran (sometimes spelled Koran), the Gita, the Vedas, the Tao and etc. all in English.  In Malay, the names are retained but the spelling may differ slightly based on pronunciation.

The Bible is translated as AlKitab in Indonesian, but the word is not Indonesian but Arabic.  In Arabic "kitabun" is a book while "Al Kitab" means "the book" but the Bible is not "a book" nor "the book", it is a collection of books (the number varies among the different denominations), so why the need to translate the title?  Why not leave it as "Bible" or "Bibel" based on the way it is pronounced.

The Old and New Testaments are translated as the Perjanjian Lama and Baru.  To me the word "Testament" means a covenant, a statement of belief, an evidence of proof or something in those lines.  "Perjanjian" on the other hand simply means an agreement or contract.

Coming to "Allah", it is Arabic and not Malay.  If it is to be used, it must be used in the way it is understood in Malay i.e. the specific name for God.

The problem with using it in the Bible is that God is used sometimes as the specific name for the Deity and some times in the general sense.  Other times the specific name of the Deity is Lord, Lord God and even Lord Jesus.

I think that the way forward is for the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, as the "guardian" of the Malay Language, and the Church authorities to get together in producing an accurate Malay translation of the Bible.

Having said that, what about those, like the Islamic religious authorities, who think that having a Malay translation of the Bible would lead to mass apostasy among the Muslims?  My answer is, "Please resign your posts.  If you cannot educate Muslims in the proper concepts of their faith, why are you there?"

The 'ALLAH' controversy again.

I recently attended 2 talks at UTM in KL.  One was delivered by Imam Afroz Ali from Australia and the other by our distinguished professor, YM Tan Sri Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas. Neither were about the Allah issue, but some points came up that I think are necessary for us to understand what it is about.

Imam Afroz at Dewan Jummah, UTM

Prof. Al-Attas at Dewan Utama, UTM

Firstly, "Allah" is not the monopoly of any group or persons.  Secondly, "Allah" is the specific name of the unique and only creator of the universe.  The generic "God" in Arabic is "illah".

So if anyone wants to use the word "Allah" in it's meaning of the unique creator and the one and only worthy of worship, no one should have any problems with that.  But if the word is to mean anything different, such as one of many or one of a third, than it is not acceptable.

When I saw a copy of the Al Kitab, the Indonesian Bible (I have never seen a Malay Bible), the verse at Mark 12:29 "...Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." is translated as "...Dengarlah, hai orang Israel, Tuhan Allah kita, Tuhan itu esa." (Markus 12:29).  I.e. the specific "Allah" is used to translate the generic "God" while "LORD" (it is capitalized in this case denoting a specific name) is translated using the generic "Tuhan".

Using a specific name of God to describe a generic term seems to be what Muslims in Malaysia consider as insulting.  If the Arabs and Pakistanis have no issues with this, its their problem to live with.

Maybe the Churches in Malaysia and the Malaysian Authorities should consider getting out a Malay translation of the Al Kitab so that Christians can practice their faith in peace and Muslims don't feel insulted.

The Sikhs use "Allah" to mean the One God and "Allah" is not associated with the name of any of their Gurus.  (Any Sikhs think that this statement is wrong, please correct me.  Thanks.)  That's probably why they are not really involved in this controversy like the Christians.

Note:  Why I choose Mark 12:29?  That was what I could find with 'Lord' and 'God' in the same verse, given the short time I had.