Comments on: Suaris Interview: The Future of Malays #5

By: Joanna Moran.

Joanna Moran. — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:38:49 +0000

‘Command good and forbid evil’. It seems to me that all this nitpicking over how God is addressed by different religions neither
commands good nor forbids evil. It is nothing more than nitpicking. A waste of time and intelligence. A Muslim meeting a Christian might say ‘Salaam aleikum’ and be answered ‘God bless you, my friend’, without incurring, in an intelligent, blessed society, an arrest by the religious police.
I always thought ‘Tuhan’ meant ‘Lord’. The Ten Commandments starts ‘I am the Lord thy God’. Should it be changed to ‘I am Yahweh thy Ilah’? As for ‘Allah’, that name for God has been used by non-Muslims in the Arab countries for centuries. It simply means God, used with reverence and love. Only morons would start riots over that, as has happened in Malaysia. What a laughing stock we have made of ourselves.
Your mosques are built with taxpayers’ (non-Muslims as well) money. Should the mosques be considered unholy because non-Muslims’ money was used? Non-Muslims had no say how their taxes are used. But as long as they had a hand in raising your mosques, wouldn’t it be a little show of gratitude to stop referring to us as ‘infidels’, with no right to use the name of ‘Allah’? I am sure Allah/Yahweh/Tuhan/God would accept any of His names as long as it is said with reverence and love. Does not religion teach love?

By: K Das

K Das — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:53:47 +0000

Inche naz, Thanks for your input. You too are trying to give a solution as a possible way out, which should be appreciated

A contoversy that never was, for ages and more so in recent past, has become one recently, ignited by power-crazy politicians through their side-kicks.

Everything has a dimension and nothing can be cast in stone and hope it to remain so forever. “ilah” is too close to “Allah” and some may not welcome it for this reason alone. There is no telling that “ilah” may also become controversial in time to come as “Allah” has now. But this is only speculative. It may not come to pass and even, if it does, we can always confront it when we pass the bridge.

Perhaps concerned parties can consider your suggestion.

By: K Das

K Das — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:17:13 +0000

Further to my last paragraph, will “Tuan Allah” for “Allah” be accepted by all parties as a compromise?

By: naz

naz — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:37:53 +0000

Salam, Mr.Bakri, I’ve always admired your thoughtful writings and this one particularly hit it home for me. There’s a lot that our nation could learn and yes we seem to have overlooked the important matters in favour of the superficial ones. As for Mr. K Das, i
I believe that the Malay translation for the word God is ‘Tuhan’. Allah is an arabic word whereas early Christians and the original Bible was in Aramaic. Even then God is referred to as Yahweh, so using the word ‘Allah’ does seem a bit irrelevant, doesn’t it? Also as any student of language would know, a word is rarely neutral, it has connotations. Allah means The One and Only God whereas Christians believe in the Trinity. The neutral word for god or deity in Arabic, if Christians still prefer to use an Arabic word, is ‘ilah’. Then perhaps there’ll be less controversy.

By: K Das

K Das — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:24:21 +0000

Education widens, deepens and sharpens one’s mind and helps one to see faith and its application in proper context. I enjoyed reading your critical but thoughtful piece.

I get a sense as though Islam is an overly guarded religion entrapped within a garrison or fortress with a single front gate through which one can only come in and not go out and if you do so you risk facing awesome penalty (death sentence) in some countries and lesser so in others. For mind and matter to function freely in spiritual domain, any artificially erected walls have to come down.

For any Muslim (by birth or conversion) who embraces his faith and its teachings over time and who stands by it out of pure conviction and strong belief, the wall would naturally become redundant. Will things change in 50 years’ time?

My basic understanding of Islam (in Malaysian context) is very limited. I don’t think any other faith makes it obligatory, by writ, for all to give a fixed portion of their regular income (to be distributed) to the poor and underprivileged in such a manner and scale as Islam does. There is also the requirement to pray 5 times a day – practice, which can only make one, more pious and thus consciously become just and fair and helpful to fellow men. To supplement this, there is also the obligation for mellowed men to undertake Haj to Mecca to purify themselves and come back to lead a pious and exemplary life for others to emulate and follow.

Some Muftis are plain mercenary. They distort and misinterpret things and pass fatwas favouring their pay masters. They are not aloof from politics. On the contrary they are deep embroiled in politics for convenience and self-interest. They are leeches. Let them not soil the beauty of Islam.

I have one other point. Why should the word “Allah” be banned from being used in the Malay version of the Bible? One of the reasons adduced was that Muslims, presumably those weak in their faith, may be confused. Where is the justification? You cannot just invent imaginary reasons to back your claim. The Malay Bible is read only by non-Muslims, mainly the Christians that too mainly in controlled settings. And the Christians are very careful and scrupulously avoid propagating their faith to Muslims, given the sensitivity and the position of Islam as the official religion of the country. Taking the argument to its logical conclusion, would it be all right for “Allah” to be used by non-Muslims, if and when all Muslims become strong in their faith?

For all intents and purpose “Allah” is a Malay translation for God – the universal God. If the Malay Bible cannot use it, what will the replacement word for it be? God? But it is an English term. How do you “Malayanise” God other than by the word “Allah”?