‘Christians would be confused as well’
Their concept of God as symbolised by the Trinity is absolutely and completely dissimilar to the concept of Allah in Islam, says Justice Zawawi Salleh.
K Pragalath, FMT
Even the Christians would be confused over the usage of Allah’s name since there is a different understanding of God in Christianity and Islam, said Court of Appeal judge, Zawawi Salleh in his written judgment today.
The Cout of Appeal today unanimously over-ruled a Kuala Lumpur High Court decision in 2009 which had allowed Catholic newspaper The Herald to use ‘Allah’ to refer to the Christian God.
In his judgment this morning, Zawari said there was potential for ambiguity if Allah was allowed to be used in The Herald.
“If the word Allah is to be employed in the Malay versions of The Herald to refer to God, there will be a risk of misrepresentation of God within Christianity.
“This is because the Christian concept of God as symbolised by the Trinity is absolutely and completely dissimilar to the concept of Allah in Islam.
“The potential for confusion is not confined only to Muslims but also to Christians,” said Zawawi.
Apart from Zawawi, the two other judges who heard the appeal were Federal Court judge Mohamed Apandi Ali and Appeals Court judge Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim.
Zawawi also pointed out that the Indonesian, Malay and Middle Eastern Bibles erred by using the word Allah to refer to God in the Bible.
“This Islamic deity called Allah is never found in the Hebrew text of the Bible. It is antithetical to the Biblical God, Jehovah-Elohim,” he said.
Religious freedom
He added that the non-Arabic speaking Christian community did not translate the Hebrew word, Yahweh as Allah.
“It is translated as Yahweh or rabb,” he said, adding that only the Malay translation in 1912 and 1988 used Allah for Yahweh.
