Church group under probe for ‘Allah’ Facebook post
More than 60 per cent of the country’s Christians, believed to number just under 2.8 million, are Malay-speaking Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak.July 3 — An evangelical church group is now being investigated for posting a Facebook message urging Christians to pray for the blessings of “Allah”, a word still in the center of a tug-of-war battle that has been threatening religious harmony in multiracial Malaysia.
Selangor PAS commissioner Dr Abd Rani Osman confirmed with The Malay Mail Online yesterday that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) is investigating the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF), despite the state government’s earlier attempt at intervention.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/Vatican backs Christian Malaysians’ right to ‘Allah’ as logical -
PETALING JAYA, July 11 — The Vatican expressed support today for the right of Christian Malaysians to use “Allah” to call their god, but said that the ongoing row with Muslims here was a dispute between the local Catholic Church and the government.
In his first media interview here, the Vatican’s first envoy to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino (picture), observed that the “Allah” storm that has been raging here for the past five years was unique to this Southeast Asian nation due to the widespread use of the Malay language, the lingua franca of Malaysia’s Bumiputera Christians.
He indicated that the local churches have presented a “logical and acceptable” argument to counter the allegations by some hardline Muslims here that “Allah”, a word of Middle Eastern origin, was exclusive to Islam.
“But the document that they produce seems to be very well-presented in terms of explaining why Christians use this word,” the apostolic nuncio said, referring to the Christian Federation of Malaysia’s (CFM) fact sheet on the “Allah” released a couple of months ago.
But Marino carefully pointed out that the ongoing appeal by the Home Ministry to reverse a 2009 High Court judgment in favour of the Catholic Church was an “internal matter” when asked to comment further on the dispute.
sourced:: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/
From: http://www.malaysia-today.net-resolving-an-unresolvable-issue
Hence is there only one Rabb or many Rabbs? And if there were only one Rabb then the Christians would share the Rabb of the Muslims. And since we have only one Rabb and we all share the same Rabb and this Rabb is called Allah then the Rabb of the Christians is also called Allah.
How will the court rule regarding the ‘Allah’ word issue? I really don’t know but one thing I do know is that it can never be resolved. And it can never be resolved because we are using man-made laws to try to resolve what many perceive as God’s laws. And the ‘Father Lord’ and ‘Mother Justice’ are in conflict about the meaning of justice.
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Rabb is an Arabic word meaning Lord, Sustainer, Cherisher, Master, which in Islamic context refers to Allah.- In the Qur'an Rabb is one of the usual Names of God . Yet the literal meaning of the word is Sustainer and Master, and if in that sense, a man is the "rabb" of his house. Notice also how similar sounding it is to the hebrew RABBI which may have same etymology.
Religious bigots should be ashamed of themselves,
http://dumdumtrivia.blogspot.com/the-sally-yen-insult-of-islam
also read /how-the-allah-issue-started/
The dispute between Christianity and Islam lies in the doctrine of the Trinity,- Father , Son and Holy Spirit as one Godhead and the resurrection- .that Islam counters never happpened- but only acknowledges Jesus as a prophet . Muslim scholars will vehemently brush the doctrine of christian beliefs and teachings aside , no such thing as the Son of God or Holy spirit . Despite that the Arabic terms for the holy Trinity are Allah al-ab meaning God the Father, Allah al-ibn mean God the Son, and Allah al-ru? al-quds, meaning God the Holy Spirit and their term for Jesus is usually Yasu not the muslim reference” ISA”..
So , for Malaysia to claim exclusivity for the term “ALLAH” to be used only in the Islamic context,dare I say, seems a bit arrogant if not Xeno phobic or Xeno manic..(if there is such a word).
Was at church that had invited a guest pastor who has been servicing the Indonesian Christians for close to a decade , and when he prayed for the congregation, he chosed to pray in Bahasa Indonesia and whenever invoking the Almighty’s name, ALLAH was used, not intentional but second nature to him .
Hence ,with respect, the Malaysian Malays are in default Muslims,but my question will be , is it possible for a race or language to claim exclusive ownership to a word in reference to the Almighty.?
But so far, impression is that there is stubborn resistance to knowledge about the issue among the faithful , adhering religiously to teachings and be easily outraged at a perceived challenged to their faith.-selectively .hearing only what they want to hear that can rile up their passions in defence.. Resolution can only come via understanding which no one seems to be eager to promote..anxious in jeopardising own self vested interest..or incurring the wrath of many.