PAS urges Fatwa Council to rule on ‘Allah’

(MM) – PAS urged the National Fatwa Council today to decide whether Christians may refer to God as “Allah” as permitted under the Cabinet’s 10-point solution or barred from doing so prohibited by a Selangor state law.

PAS information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar said the nation’s top Islamic authority must clarify the growing confusion in the tug-of-war between Muslims and Christians over the Arabic word, which was exacerbated by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (Jais) decision to actively prevent Christians from using “Allah”.

“We want the National Fatwa Council to decide which is correct,” Mahfuz told reporters at the PAS headquarters here today.

“Are the Selangor religious authorities acting according to Islam, or is the Cabinet decision, which was made under Najib’s leadership and allowed Christians in Sabah and Sarawak to use ‘Allah’, the right one?” he added.

Prior to the 2011 Sarawak state election, the Cabinet issued the so-called 10-point solution that allowed Christians in the two Borneo states to keep using “Allah” in the AlKitab Malay language bibles.

But Jais insistence on enforcing the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 has now complicated the issue.

The state law, passed by the then Barisan Nasional state government, prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).

The 10-point solution also allows the Al-Kitab to be distributed in the peninsula, albeit with the words “Christian publication” and the symbol of the cross printed on the cover.

But the Al-Kitab and Christian holy scriptures in the indigenous languages are allowed to be distributed without such conditions in Sabah and Sarawak, where the majority of Christians reside.

Jais seized more than 300 copies of Malay and Iban-language bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) last Thursday in a surprise raid.

Two BSM top officials were also arrested by the police under the Selangor 1988 law, but they were released shortly and told to report to Jais this Friday instead, without the police recording their statements.

PAS central committee member, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who was also at the press conference, mooted a bi-partisan parliamentary caucus on the “Allah” issue, as well as on the rising cost of living.

“The Jais raid on BSM has sparked a religious conflict,” said Dzulkefly.

“Both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) can come up with steps to tackle both crises,” he added.

Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong said last Friday that the Jais raid was unconstitutional.

He also noted that sections 9(1) and (2) of the Selangor 1988 law — which bar “Allah” and other Arabic words and phrases to non-Muslims — were too general as they were not confined to the limits proscribed in Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution that prohibit non-Muslims from propagating their faith to Muslims.