It is not about rights but it is about educating the malays

That subject matter above is how I feel on the matter of Allah. it is morally wrong for a pakistani Cleric to voice his displeasure on the issue. He should advice the Malays Muslim Cleric on that matter and also the Sultans on what is right. I do not want to revisit this issue but it has gone far enough. It is wrong For the priest Father Lawrence to insist the use of Allah although under the constitution he has the right. But the Malays who are the majority and majority of them cannot accept it thus being right is wrong in this case. He is inflaming the flame which he should not although I blame this issue on the politician and the Malays Muslim Clerics, we should not add to the flame. In the Surah alhajj Chapter 22 Verses 40 it is mention that Allah was use in the temple and churches etc. So if it was mention it does not proscribe a ban. We should return to the status quo of old which until Tun Mahathir the usage was limited to the church compound. I can't deny the Islamic studies which was taught and made compulsory in the Higher Institution now has warp the mind of the Malays. They were told since young of the crusades and the Christians Inquisition in Spain. But that was history and like all history told by men it is always lopsided according to whom you are.This must change. Below are some articles for your perusal

Quran 22:40 " (They are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right,- (for no cause) except that they say, "our Lord is Allah.. Did not Allah check one set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is commemorated in abundant measure. Allah will certainly aid those who aid his (cause);- for verily Allah is full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (able to enforce His Will)."

For some Muslims and Christians, no row over ‘Allah’

BY SHAZWAN MUSTAFA KAMALJanuary 11, 2014

For Mujahid, the hardest part was heading home and trying to explain to his constituents the 'complexities' surrounding the usage of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims. — Picture by Choo Choy MayKUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Vocal demands of Muslim exclusivity over “Allah” were not unanimous, as an interfaith forum here last night illustrated a willingness among followers of Islam to share the Arabic word for God.
Titled “Polemik Kalimah Allah dan Rampasan Bible — Antara Undang-Undang dan Sensitiviti Agama” (The Allah polemic and bible seizures — between rule of law and religious sensitivities), the PAS-organised event drew a crowd of more than 150 people who were largely Muslims and Bumiputera Christians from Sabah and Sarawak.
“Whosoever prays and holds steadfast to the truth should not worry about the strength of his or her faith. There should be no compulsion in religion.

“We cannot tell or dictate to other people how they should pray or refer to their own God,” PAS central committee member Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa said, adding that he strongly disagreed with how the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had carried out last week’s raid and seized over 300 Malay and Iban language bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM).
The Parit Buntar MP was one of the panellists in last night’s forum, along with constitutional law expert Prof Dr Aziz Bari as well as National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF) secretary-general Eugene Yapp.
“With regards to how the bibles were seized, I do not believe that it fulfils the precepts of Islam, only the wishes of certain parties,” he said.
For Mujahid, the hardest part was heading home and trying to explain to his constituents the “complexities” surrounding the usage of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.
But even this was not as intractable as the issue is made to appear in the media, he noted.
“When I explained to my rural constituents why Christians wished to exercise their right to use the word ‘Allah’...they did not find it a problem. Rural, Malay constituents tell me that it’s okay if Christians want to use the word for the purpose of their own worship.
“So, why are we in the city even arguing about this if even kampung people are not confused?” asked Mujahid amid claps and laughter from the audience.
After the flashpoints of bible seizures and threats to protests outside churches last week by pro-Malay rights groups, yesterday’s gathering was a stark contrast to recent events.
There, many of the Christian members of the audience took turns and pains to explain why the word “Allah” resonated with them and was integral in their daily prayers.
One Sabahan Christian, who identified himself only as Phillip, said that he grew up understanding the word “Allah” to mean “God” ?even before he understood a word of Malay or anything about Islam.
“I grew up understanding that Allah to me mean my God, without knowing at that time what Allah means to Muslims. But the word has become such a part of my life and prayer, why can’t I carry on using it? Is it not my right? I am just practising my own faith,” he said.
NECF’s Yapp reiterated that Bumiputera Christians have used the word “Allah” for decades and that the religious knowledge was passed down from one generation to another.
“If you take the word ‘Allah’ away, they feel as though their hands, legs will have been taken away from them as well,” Yapp said, adding that Christians in Malaysia were currently at a “loss” and “despair” over their constitutional rights to practice their religion freely.
Temperatures have risen of late over the so-called “Allah” row that remains unresolved four years after it shocked the nation and led to the worst religious strife in the country’s history.
The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church over its right to print the word “Allah” in the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.
Christians make up about 10 per cent of the Malaysian population, or 2.6 million. Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and are largely based in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.
Opinion

Kami mahu damai

January 12, 2014

12 JAN — Keluarga saya adalah penyokong kuat parti kerajaan terutamanya emak saya, juga emak mertua saya. Sehingga segala apa yang dihidangkan oleh pembangkang itu tidaklah ada yang manis melainkan yang  pahit-pahit belaka adanya.
Saya faham situasi emak saya itu, kebanyakannya sama dengan orang-orang tua kita dulu. Mereka setia kepada yang satu. Kesetiaan mereka seperti Laksamana Hang Tuah yang setia kepada rajanya tanpa berbelah bagi.
Tapi percayalah, emak saya orang yang baik hatinya, begitu juga dengan emak mertua saya. Kebanyakan orang-orang tua kita dulupun saya percaya punya sikap seperti emak saya.
 Saya dibesarkan di pekan Bruas, sebuah penempatan kecil yang punya simpang jalan ke Lumut, Ipoh dan Taiping. Di tempat tinggal saya itu masyarakat berbagai kaum tinggal bersama dalam suasana yang aman dan damai. Itulah yang kita perlukan dalam hidup ini, aman dan damai.
Kehidupan dan taraf pendapatan penduduk terutamanya golongan Melayu, Cina mahupun India adalah di tahap sederhana. Rumah banglo adalah satu dua yang terdapat di pekan kecil tersebut. Tapi kami boleh mencapai erti keamanan dalam istilah mensyukuri nikmat yang Tuhan beri ‘seadanya’.
Sebab utamanya adalah kerana sikap saling hormat menghormati antara satu sama lain.
Jika tiba perayaan Thaipusam atau Deepavali, semua bangsa turut sama memeriahkan upacara yang dijalankan. Begitu juga apabila tiba musim perayaan raya Cina, kita saling kunjung mengunjungi, apatah lagi jika kita menyambut hari raya.
Keluarga saya biasanya mengambil barang-barang keperluan dapur di sebuah kedai runcit milik peniaga berbangsa Cina, namanya Sum Yew. Ini cerita tahun 70an dulu. Bapa saya waktu itu seorang pesara polis. Jadi biasanya barang-barang diambil secara hutang, maknanya cukup bulan baru bayar.
Perhubungan antara bapa saya dan towkay kedai runcit itu memang baik. Emak saya pun sering memuji towkay tersebut walau di pekan tersebut, banyak lagi kedai runcit milik peniaga berbangsa Melayu juga mamak.
Tahun 1974 dulu, saya pernah menonton ceramah politik yang dianjurkan parti BN (Barisan Nasional)  di kampung saya. Perdana menteri yang ke dua waktu itu, Tun Abdul Razak turut hadir memberikan ucapan.
Ramai yang hadir malam itu. Saya tidak faham apa itu politik waktu itu, pun hadir juga kerana mengikut emak saya yang memang penyokong kuat parti kerajaan dari dulu sampailah ke hari ini. Emak saya adalah contoh terbaik jika kita mahu bercerita tentang makna ‘kesetiaan’.
Katalah apa saja tentang Umno dan Barisan Nasional, dia tidak pernah goyah dan goncang pendirian. Apabila emak saya marahkan parti pembangkang di hadapan saya berpandukan teorinya, ia buatkan saya ketawa lucu walaupun saya tahu dia tidak maksudkan. Tapi itulah emak saya, dan saya percaya kebanyakan ibu-bapa kita juga sama pendirian mereka dengan emak saya itu.
Yang emak saya tak suka adalah pembangkang, bukan orang Cina, India ataupun lain-lain bangsa sekalipun. Ini kerana tahap kesetiaannya kepada pimpinan kerajaan zaman kemerdekaan lagi.
Saya tidak pernah menganggap politik itu suatu yang serius kerana namanya pun ‘politik’. Ia bagi saya hanya sebuah pentas bagi mereka yang berkepentingan dan kita semua adalah sebahagian dari alat untuk mereka melengkapkan misi dan agenda mereka saja.
Mungkin kita hanya askar sahaja seperti dalam permainan catur dan mereka adalah King atau Queen. Pun askar penting juga kerana tanpa kita, siapalah mereka. Jadi walaupun politik itu bukan suatu yang serius, mahu tidak mahu kita juga adalah pelengkap kepada cerita kejayaan dan kegagalan mereka.
Saya hadir menonton ceramah kerana waktu itu demam pilihanraya sedang melanda. Pilihan raya berlangsung pada Ogos 1974. Tun Abdul Razak (menjadi PM pada 1970-1976) menjadi Perdana Menteri yang ke dua selepas Tuanku Abdul Rahman (1957-1970).
Waktu itu apabila tiba musim pilihanraya,  suasana dan sambutannya sangat meriah, umpama menjelang perayaan dan sambutan. Bendera dan sepanduk parti dipasang merata-rata, di seluruh pelusuk kampung juga bandar.
Muka wakil-wakil rakyat yang sebelumnya tenggelam timbul akan muncul semula untuk satu tempoh dan mereka memang merakyat waktu itu bersempena pilihanraya. Selepas habis, batang hidung lenyap entah ke mana...
Pernah satu ketika seorang wakil rakyat dari sebuah parti datang menziarah satu majlis perkahwinan jiran sekampung saya. Kita boleh lihat betapa terharunya jiran saya itu sehingga menangis kegembiraan dek kehadiran wakil rakyat yang hadir mungkin atas dasar kepentingan kerana waktu itu adalah musim pilihanraya.
Berbalik pada cerita di kampung waktu dulu, kalau nak tempah baju atau seluar, kita akan ke kedai jahit milik peniaga Cina juga. Kalau nak beli surat khabar, itu kita beli di kedai mamak berhadapan dengan stesen bas Ipoh.
Jadi kesimpulannya masyarakat kita waktu itu memang saling perlu memerlukan, hormat menghormati di antara satu sama lain, apatah lagi bila ianya melibatkan hal-hal agama yang memang sensitif untuk dibangkitkan terutamanya di zaman ini.
Saya rindukan suasana itu, seperti saya sukakan sajak Usman Awang yang judulnya ‘Anak Jiran Tionghua’. Ceritanya sama seperti apa yang masyarakat kita lalui, dari segi praktikalnya.
Saya sedih dengan perkembangan yang berlaku hari ini, apabila mereka yang di atas suka berbalah antara sesama terutamanya apabila ada hal yang melibatkan politik dan agama. Mengapa kita suka rumitkan keadaan sehingga ianya menjadi berserabut dan kusut?
Mengapa tidak ada sifat rasional dalam diri kita dalam menghadapi dan menangani hal-hal yang biasa kita lalui sejak merdeka dulu?
Memanglah kehidupan ini adalah seperti permainan catur. Kita pun faham peranan kita masing-masing. Dan memanglah juga King dan Queen itu perlu menang untuk sesuai dengan sifat mereka. Tapi segalanya perlu berjalan dalam suasana yang rasional, bukan kelam-kabut dan emosional. Kalau yang atas dah kelam-kabut, susahlah...
Saya percaya semua agama utama di dunia ini menuntut umatnya menjadi baik. Tak ada agama dalam dunia yang menggalakkan umatnya menjadi jahat. Kebanyakan agama juga menggalakkan umatnya berbuat baik untuk hasil yang baik. Sudah-sudahlah dengan babak-babak yang penuh dengan nafsu dan dendam, kerana ia tidak akan mendatangkan untung pada sesiapapun, tak kira samada kepada yang kiri mahupun yang kanan.

Should issues of law be left to lawyers?

James John @ James Ligunjang

James Ligunjang was a former elected assemblyman for Petagas in Sabah during the PBS era.

Someone emailed us his Facebook posting below and sought advice as to the accuracy of the contents thereof:

Let us take a very brief course on constitutional law:

Firstly, Article 73 provides that the Dewan Rakyat enact laws for the federation while the Legislative Assemblies for the states.

Secondly, Article 74 (2) provides that State Legislative Assemblies pass laws mentioned in the State and Concurrent Lists.

And in Article 76 (1) (c) the Dewan Rakyat can only interfere in the enactment of laws mentioned in the State List when specifically asked to do so by the State Assemblies.

Thirdly, Article 76 (2) prohibits the Dewan Rakyat from passing laws relating to Islam in the states unless the state governments are agreeable to it.

Fourthly, the State List clearly provides that Islamic laws, conduct of Muslims, Islamic organizations and authorities in the states are within the exclusive purview of the State Assemblies.

Fifthly, the Concurrent List does not mention anything about Islamic laws and/or pertaining to the conduct of Muslims, Islamic organizations and authorities which arms the Dewan Rakyat with joint jurisdiction to enact.

Conclusion

The National Fatwa Council can issue edicts but it is entirely up to the state religious authorities whether they wanted to adopt or ignore the same.

The 10-Points solution proposed by the federal government is nothing more than a Memorandum of Understanding with no real legal force of law.

By reasons of the matters aforesaid, it is clearly understood that Islamic affairs and matters arising therefrom are under the control of the state governments and not the federal government.

In this regard, we find that James Ligunjang is confused and his Facebook posting contents totally wrong.

In the same breath and based on the interpretation of the above-mentioned constitutional qualifications and restrictions, we recognize that there are no express or implied stipulations that non-Muslims could be curtailed within their own religions.

Wherefore, the controversial 1988 Selangor enactment barring non-Muslims from using certain words undoubtedly contravenes constitutional guarantees that allow for freedoms of religion, speech, and expression.

Effectively, these inconsistent provisions in the Selangor enactment are unconstitutional, ultra vires the Federal Constitution, null and void; the seizure of the Bibles containing the word Allah is therefore illegal and criminal in nature.

Lastly with Sultans now joining in the fray, who or what should the people listen to - Sultans or the Federal Constitution?

Our answer is the Federal Constitution because the Sultans are actually constitutional monarchies; without the constitution, the Sultans will cease to exist...!

Pakistani cleric slams “ignorant” Allah ruling

K Pragalath

 | January 22, 2014

Pakistani Muslim cleric Younos AlGohar says the Court of Appeal ruling on the use of 'Allah' by non-Muslims implies that there is another creator.

PETALING JAYA: A Pakistani Muslim cleric Younos AlGohar said the Malaysian Appeals Court decision that the word ‘Allah’ is exclusively for Muslims, is syirik.
“The Malaysian court said, don’t use the word Allah. It is our God. Use your God’s name. This sentence is syirik,” said Younos, the co-founder of Messiah Foundation International in a 16:12 minute video recording by Alra TV.
“When you say this, you mean you believe that there is another God? Can you understand how ignorant and short sighted they are?
“It is deplorable and condemnable,” he said.
Younos who currently resides in Manchester, UK, gave his view of the Court of Appeal judgment prohibiting Catholic weekly, The Herald, from using the word Allah in reference to God in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
The decision was made in mid-October 2013 by three judges – Federal Court judge Mohamed Apandi Ali and Appeals Court judges Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim.
The unanimous decision was made by them on the grounds that the word Allah is not an integral part of the Malaysian Christian’s faith.
Zawawi said that usage of the word Allah would only serve to confuse the Christians as well as the Muslims due to the Trinity concept practiced in Christianity.
The judge had also said that Christian Bibles in the Indonesian, Middle Eastern and Malay languages had erred by using Allah when referring to God in the Bible.
Younos however said that the judgment only served to show that “Muslims today do not have any understanding of the Quran”.
“It is so clear that the word Allah can be used by any human being just because everyone is the creation of Allah.
“There is no other creator. So why must you ban people of other religion from using God’s name?” he said.
He criticised the three judges and the authorities as being “highly ignorant, shortsighted and prejudiced.”
Wrong mentality
In November 2013, Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah decreed that ‘Allah’ could not be used by non-Muslims in the state.
Recently, various states have also started to enforce respective state enactments barring non-Muslims from using ‘Allah’ and a list of other Arabic words deemed to be Islamic.
This led to more than 300 translated Malay and Iban bibles being seized by the Selangor Religious Department (Jais) from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) premises on Jan 2, 2014.
Younos said the judgment is a form of “tyranny” and represents the wrong mentality of Muslims worldwide.
He added that the perception of some Muslims that Allah is equivalent to the Muslim god is untrue.
“Putting limitations on God to be God for Muslims is wrong.
“Arabic is not the Islamic language. Some people who are ignorant think that it is the language of paradise,” said the cleric.
He explained that the reason the Quran was revealed in Arabic was because it was the language that Prophet Muhammad understood.
“Allah is referred to as God to all mankind. This is personified in the term ‘Rabb al-Amin’ instead of Rabb al-Muslimin (God to Muslims),” he explained.
Not the first to condemn the judgment, Younos is joined by others, including the American Muslim theologian Reza Aslan who described the Malaysian court judgment as “a tragedy”.
An appeal has been filed against this judgment and the Federal Court is scheduled to hear the leave application next month.
Younos AlGohar’s video: