Praying to Allah

You —

A Catholic church in Malaysia which prays to Allah has prompted a court case over who can use the word.

Muslim leaders say Islam should be the only faith to use it, saying its use in other faiths could lead to confusion and conversions.

Watch the video @ BBC News

Personally, I think people trying to force the word Allah to only be used by Muslims is ludicrous.

Forum

s.b.f — Sun, 24 May 2009 - 15:53

The National language in Malaysia uses the word 'Allah' for God.

Could people really 'convert' from the Qu'ran to the Bible from the confusion of the word 'Allah' ?

Does the Bible in the Malay language use the word 'Allah' instead of 'God' ?

You — Sun, 24 May 2009 - 15:59

Yes - think so.

But also imagine the reverse.

Just imagine in a time gone by if the Christians had gone "You cannot call Allah God as that will confuse Christians into thinking we both worship the same God" ...

You — Sun, 24 May 2009 - 20:03

I remember there being a forum topic on it before, but I could not be bothered to search for it...

Amal — Mon, 25 May 2009 - 11:02

Since it is an 18 month old story, I wonder if anyone knows what judgement was reached.

Whilst I acknowledge and appreciate that muslims/chistians may become confused by sharing the same Name for God, I cannot see how Muslims can justify an entitlement and monopoly of the arabic word for God. Language is universal and we cannot claim ownership over it.

The Arabic word for God does not belong to them. Non-muslims during the time of Muhammad ﷺ used to refer to God as Allah, and Allah is used in the Arabic bible to refer to God, and is also used amongst Arabic speaking Christians the world over.

It seems an example of how overly sensitive Muslims have become over their faith. Why are Muslims behaving like this?

Ya'qub — Mon, 25 May 2009 - 12:27

[quote=Amal]Since it is an 18 month old story, I wonder if anyone knows what judgement was reached.

[/quote]

As far as I know the Muslim side withdrew from the case after all the negative publicity.

You — Mon, 25 May 2009 - 15:54

Are you sure?

I thought that it was only just going to court, hence my link...