The major world religions can be roughly grouped into several categories. Abrahamic religions include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These religions are grouped together as Abrahamic religions because they share a common patriarch, Abraham. There are a lot of similarities between these faiths, a monotheistic God being central to all three religions. However, one major difference is that the role of Jesus Christ. While Christians claim that Jesus Christ is the Messiah promised to the Jews, the Jews don’t acknowledge this. Muslims claim that Jesus Christ is a prophet from a line of prophets, of which Prophet Muhammad is the last. The Abrahamic religions collectively have the highest number of adherents, with Christianity alone being the religion of about 33% of the world population and Islam another 21%.[1] In Malaysia, Islam is the majority religion and Christianity is a minor religion. About 60.4% and 9.1% of Malaysians adhere to Islam and Christianity respectively.[2]
Abrahamic religions are monotheistic, although the concept of God varies. Christians believe in the Holy Trinity, consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Some consider this concept to be polytheistic. However, this is not necessarily so. I think that a better understanding of this concept of three aspects of one singular God can be gained by comparing it with the concept of wave-particle duality in modern physics.[3] Islam is stricter in its definition of God. The Muslims believe in the concept of Tawhid, the Oneness of God.[4] Nevertheless, Muslims and Christians believe in the existence of the same God, because by their own definitions, there is only one God. The differences in their beliefs lie mainly in the attributes of God. Thus, it makes no sense to say “Islamic God”, “Christian God” etc. At most what can be said of these terms is; God as described in Islam, and God as described in Christianity. Generally, Muslims agree that the God mentioned in Quran is the same God being worshipped by the Christians and the Jews. While Christians and Jews are considered non-believers, they are generally respected and called “People of The Book” by the Muslims.
Because Islam is revealed in the Arabic language, Muslims use the word “Allah” when referring to God. “Allah” is simply the Arabic word for one God. Therefore, Arabic speaking Christians also say “Allah” when talking about God. In short, the word “Allah” is a noun, and not a proper noun. Similarly, the proper Malay word for God is “Tuhan”.
Malays in Malaysia who are muslims use “Allah”, even when praying in Malay. Christians in Malaysia are made up of the other races, like the Chinese, Indians, and the indigenous populations in Peninsular and East Malaysia. While the English translation of the Bible normally uses the word “God” and “Lord”, problem arises when the Malay version of the Bible is used. Read the story from these links :
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g7UGf1_sKDTCSPzV1B63elXQ4uKw
In my view, this problem is blown out of proportion. I feel that the proper word to be used in the Malay language, whether for translation of the Quran or the Bible should be, “Tuhan”. “Allah” is the Arabic term. It’s not very clear to me why they are fighting over this. However, since the word, “Allah” is being used for the Quran, I think it’s fair that it should be allowed to be used by non-Muslims too. To say that “Allah” is an Islamic word is not very accurate. But then, what if other religions also seek to use “Allah”? This is unlikely, because the concept of God in other religions is not as monotheistically defined. Thus, this can be easily avoided by absorbing the word “Allah” into the Malay language officially by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.[5] “Allah” should be defined as “God as described by the Abrahamic faiths’ standards”. With that, this problem can be easily solved.
Absorbing religious terms from other languages is not something new in the Malay language. Even the words “syurga” and “neraka” used to refer to heaven and hell respectively, have Sanskritic origins.[6] However, these terms are nowadays being used to mean heaven and hell in the Islamic sense, which is very different from the Hindu version. I don’t think there’s any confusion with the usage. So, why will there be any when “Allah” is used by the Christians, who after all profess similar beliefs about God? If the Muslims get confused about the usage of “Allah” by the Christians and vice versa, then it’s the fault of their own religious scholars for failing explain about the spirit of their own religions.
I hope this issue doesn’t get politicised. Especially so in a country where even sodomy and female menstrual cycle are important topics in parliament, and politicians address each other as “bodoh”[7] to show their utmost respect and admiration. Recently, there have been attacks to some churches in Kuala Lumpur.[8]Oh no, not again. We already had a cow head protest in 2009, now what? Bombing protests?
I can’t help but be amused by the fuss generated by both sides (the Muslims and the Christians in Malaysia) over a simple matter. I don’t think that God would be bothered so much about the exact language and word used in prayers. Sincerity is the key to prayers, what’s in a name?
[1] http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Malaysia
[3] http://www.halexandria.org/dward161.htm
Wave and particle duality is an important concept in modern physics. Wave and particle nature are thought to be mutually exclusive, meaning that matter can’t be a wave and a particle at the same time. However, developments in the 20th century shifted our understanding. Now, it is commonly accepted that matter is both a wave and a particle, but will exhibit either wave or particle nature under different conditions. Similarly, God may choose to express Himself in different forms under different conditions.
[4] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/584517/tawhid
[5] Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka(DBP) is the regulatory body of the Malay language in Malaysia. Christians insist that “Allah” has always been used in the Malay language in the Christian sense. However, the official status of the term cannot be verified. But, to say that there is no alternative to the word “Allah” in Malay is also quite erroneous.
[6] “Syurga” and “Neraka” came from Sanskrit “svarka” and “narakka”, which in Tamil language are “svargam” and “naragam”. The abundance of Sanskrit terms in the Malay language is the result of the Hindu-Buddhist past of the Malays.
[7] http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/translation/malay/bodoh
[8] http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20100108/tap-as-malaysia-allah-ban-5th-ld-writeth-b3c65ae.html
