Malaysian govt challenges ruling allowing Christians to use the word 'Allah'
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Muslim groups in Malaysia had asked the government to launch an appeal against the court ruling.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian government on Monday (March 15) filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal against last week's ruling on the use of the word "Allah" by Christians in their publications in the country, local media reported.
Solicitor-General Abdul Razak Musa confirmed with both the Malaysiakini and Malay Mail news sites that the appeal has been filed on behalf of the Home Minister and the government.
Muslim groups in Malaysia had asked the government to launch an appeal against the court ruling.
Malaysia's High Court judge Nor Bee Ariffin on March 10 granted a Malaysian Christian the right to use the word "Allah" in her religious practice, quashing a three-decade government ban on Christians using the word in their religious publications.
The court also allowed three words to be used in Christian publications for educational purposes: Kaabah (Islam's holiest shrine in Mecca), Baitullah (House of God), and solat (prayer).
The ruling affirmed the constitutional right of Ms Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, a Sarawakian Christian, to use the word "Allah" for her religious practice, some 13 years after she first filed a legal challenge on the matter.
Ms Bill's legal challenge started shortly after the government seized eight educational compact discs from her containing the word "Allah" at an airport in 2008, upon her return from Indonesia.
Her legal challenge over a decade ago also coincided with another court case involving the use of the word "Allah", after Catholic weekly The Herald was banned by the Home Ministry from using the word.
The Herald, however, was unsuccessful in its legal challenge, with courts in 2013 backing the government's ban on the use of "Allah" in publications.
At the height of both trials, right-wing groups in Malaysia protested against the right of non-Muslims to use the word "Allah".
Amid controversy over the issue in 2010, 11 churches and five mosques were firebombed or vandalised.
Malaysian Christians have argued that they have used the word "Allah" to denote God for centuries in their own religious practice.
Christians make up a substantial population of the two Malaysian Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak, where congregations use the Malay language in their church activities and publications.
However, some Muslim leaders have argued that allowing Christians to use the word "Allah" could lead to public unrest and confusion.
The word "Allah", they say, is largely perceived by Malaysia's Muslim community to exclusively refer to the Islamic God.
