A Christian newspaper in Malaysia may not use the word “Allah” to refer to God, a court has ruled, in a landmark decision on a matter that has fanned religious tension and raised questions over minority rights.
Monday’s unanimous decision by three Muslim judges in Malaysia’s appeals court overturned a 2009 ruling by a lower court that allowed the Malay language version of the newspaper the Herald to use the word Allah – as many Christians in Malaysia say has been the case for centuries.
“The usage of the word Allah is not an integral part of the faith in Christianity,” chief judge Mohamed Apandi Ali said in the ruling. “The usage of the word will cause confusion in the community.”
The government argued in the case 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.
Lawyers for the Catholic paper had argued that the word Allah predates Islam and had been used extensively by Malay-speaking Christians in Malaysia’s part of Borneo island for centuries. They say they will appeal to Malaysia’s highest court, Guardian informs.
