Allah issue: ‘Pakatan stands by Hadi’
Anwar Ibrahim is firm that Pakatan Rakyat will allow non-Muslims to use the word ‘Allah’.
Anisah Shukry, FMT
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said that Pakatan Rakyat was firm in its decision that non-Muslims were allowed to use the word “Allah”.
“Pakatan Rakyat in the past meeting looked through the statement made by PAS president [Hadi Abdul Awang] carefully and we took the stand that we agreed to give room [for Allah to be used by non-Muslims], but to also remind people to not misuse it,” said Anwar.
“So we follow what the PAS president says. And if he does not revise that statement, then that is Pakatan’s decision.”
He was referring to a statement by PAS president Hadi Awang after the opposition pact’s presidential meeting on Jan 8.
Hadi had said that “Allah”, which is written in the Quran, is special and cannot be translated properly to other languages.
“That’s why Muslims of all races refer to God as Allah. So non-Muslims can use the holy word although it may not reflect the original meeting,” Hadi had said.
But the PAS Syura Council said last week that non-Muslims should prevent the use of the word “Allah” in translations of their religious text.
“Translating the word God or Lord from any non-Muslim religious texts to the word Allah cannot be allowed because it is wrong from the aspect of meaning…. therefore, it has to be prevented,” PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said in a statement.
Commenting on this, Anwar said: “I’ve read the PAS Syura Council’s statement. Its concern is the problem of the term ‘Allah’ used for other purposes, and that is probably where there is a difference of opinion…”
But he said the difference of opinion was small and the issue as a whole had been interpreted differently by various Muslim scholars.
