The Malaysian government has told a Christian publication, Herald, that it may not use the word Allah to refer to the Christian God. The story is carried by the BBC and, later, the New York Times, though I first heard about it on the sterling Language Log.
I've not been able to get my hands on the wording of the prohibition. It's been put variously by the news sources, which typically say that the rule is that non-Muslims may not use the word Allah; but this, as Language Log pointed out, doesn't seem right: the Herald would likely be allowed to say "Muslims worship Allah." The gist seems to be that only the Muslim single deity is to be called Allah and that other single deities may not have that title (even though, as we're told, Allah was used to refer to the Christian god in Arabic before Islam came into being).
This conjunction of the hyper-rational and the irrational is frought, you might say. Different gods? One god with different names? Can't really go outside and look. Comes down to power in the end. Which is best directed at the real, I'd say.
"The Legal Position of using the word 'Allah' in Malaysia and Singapore”
2.8.2009
In Malaysia, the State religious authority in the respective State has sole jurisdiction over all affairs involving the religion of Islam. This is provided under the Malaysian Federal Constitution in the ‘State List’ ( which refers specifically to the Second List set out in the Ninth Schedule of the said Federal Constitution). Article 74(2) provides clearly : “Without prejudice to any power to make laws conferred on it by any other Article, the Legislature of a State may make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List (that is to say, the Second List set out in the Ninth Schedule).
The List II – State List states that : 1. Except with respect to the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, Islamic law and personal and family law of persons professing the religion of Islam, including the Islamic law relating to succession, testate and intestate, betrothal, marriage, divorce, dower, maintenance, adoption, legitimacy guardianship, gifts, partitions and non-charitable trusts; Wakafs and the definition and regulation of charitable and religious endowments, institutions, trusts, charities and charitable institutions operating wholly within the State; Malay customs. Zakat, Fitrah and Baitulmal or similar Islamic religious revenue, mosques or any Islamic public places of worship, creation and punishment of offences by persons professing the religion of Islam against precepts of that religion, except in regard to matters included in the Federal List; the constitution, organisation and procedure of Syariah courts, which shall have jurisdiction only over person professing the religion of Islam and doctrine Malay custom.
Hence, any party, person, body, entity etc who wishes to use the word of ‘Allah’ in the current scenario for religious purposes and/or for any purposes relating to religion, must by law obtain written approval from the respective State Religious Authority.
This is to avoid causing racial disharmony and religious ill-will/hostility in Malaysia which is a multi-racial society. (See the Emergency of 13th May 1969, Malaysia)
In Malaysia, failure to do so is an offence punishable not only under the bylaws,rules and regulations of the State religious body but also under the Malaysian Penal Code /CPC.
In Singapore, the act of using the word ‘Allah’ may also attract criminal liability under the various laws, namely the Sedition Act 1985, the Penal Code, the Societies Act and the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act if the use of such word could or likely to cause religious disharmony or extremism. (See Singapore’s Racial Riots of 1964 and the recent case "Christian couple convicted for anti-Muslim booklets", Agence France-Presse, AFP, 29 May 2009. For related discussion, see also the speech by PM Goh Chok Tong during the Teacher’s Day speech in 1996, Singapore and for a detailed overview, see “Keeping God in Place: The Management of Religion in Singapore”, Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore).
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Jeong Chun phuoc
Lecturer-in-Law
And a reader in Islamic/Syariah laws