Someone by the name of Richard Tallboys asked Alan Wood who in turned asked Bro. Habibur Rahman (UPM Alumnus) to enlighten him on the following question: What are your friend's views on the current controversy in Malaysia. May Christians use the word "Allah" when referring to God?"
It is no secret that the Christian Churches, especially the Catholic Church has been gradually losing their followers and congregations. It is the same here in Malaysia. On the other hand Muslims are getting more religious world wide. I see this tendency in every country and city I have travelled to in recent times.
Mosques from Karachi to Tehran, and even in Europe are overflowing with worshippers on Fridays. In Malaysia we never seem to have enough Mosques to accomodate Friday congregations. More Muslims now pray in mosques for their five daily prayers although this is not mandatory.
Threatened by the declining numbers in the congregations, the Catholic Church has to find ways to convert people from other faiths. Now let's look at the demographics of the Malaysian Peoples :
1) 67 % are Malay Muslim. All share the same faith and pray in one common Sunni protocol. The State Religion is Islam and the constitutional Head of Islam is the King and the Nine State Sultans who are elected King by five year rotation terms.
2) About 24 % of Malaysians are ethnic Chinese who practice several religions namely : Bhuddism, Taoism, Confusionism, Christianity and the rest "Free Thinkers "............Oh yes .........the Chinese have another religion........ called Money!
3) About 8 % of Malaysians are ethnic Indians who mainly practice Hinduism and Christianity.
Breakdown by religious groupings show that 67 % are Muslims , 7 % Hindu and about 4 % are " Church Going " Christians. I say " Church Going " because this is the only way to differentiate between a Christian by faith and one by use of a Christian first name like " John Wong " or " Alice Lee " , but who remain Bhudists or Free Thinkers.
So in reality the numbers of Christians in Malaysia are a single digit % minority. My hunch is that this number is on the decline amongst young non Muslim Malaysians.
I speculate that the powers in the Vatican would leave the propagation of the Catholic Faith to the wisdom of the respective Bishops in their host Countries. If I was the Bishop of the Catholic Church in Malaysia , I would know that the main " target market " for conversion and missionary work is the Muslims. This Missionary work by Christians ( mainly the Catholics ) have been going on in this Country since the 13th Century in Melaka from the invasion of Melaka and its colonization by the Portugese Admiral Vasco da Gama: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/d/dagama.shtml;
which was followed by Jesuit Priest St. Francis Xavier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier.
St. Francis's remains were originally burried in St. Pauls Church in Melaka and exumed later to his final resting place at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, India.
Missionary work by Christian priests was active in the East Malaysian States of Sarawak and British Borneo, which was mainly inhabited by pagan Natives. Islam did not have a foothold in these vast remote regions until the Malays migrated from Indonesian Islands and Malaya back in the early 1900's. By that time Christianity has established itself as a major religion amongst the "natives " who are Iban and Dayak in Sarawak; and Kadazan Dusun in Sabah (former British Borneo).
Due to the "maturity "of Christianity in Sarawak and Sabah and due to the familiarity of the Malay reference to the word " Allah " , it was natural for the Christian priests to refer to God as Allah in these States. Nobody took any notice of this and it never became an issue , because the use was contained within the confines of sermons and to exclusive Christian congregations.
It was when the Catholic Church in Kuala Lumpur decided to use the same method of conversion by the use of this word in their Weekly Newspaper ; that angered mainstream Muslim Malays here. They see this as an intrusion of their Faith , a direct attempt at missionary work target towards Malay Muslims and as a direct strategy for conversion. The Catholic Church naturally denies this.
The Malay Muslims say that it is not what is done that they object to as much as what is seen to be done , which is beyond the borders of subtlety. That breached the tolerance level of usually docile Malays who take their religion very seriously. The anger from demonstrators is a reaction to what they see as method to convert ; which was successful in Sarawak and Sabah.
It made matters worse when the Catholic Church took the issue to the Courts and obtained judgement in their favor; but the judge is a Chinese and a non Muslim. Constrained by fear of contempt of court, Malay Muslims now seek remedy of their case to their King while abiding by their right of appeal to the Appeals Court and if necessary the Federal ( Supreme ) Court.
He is where the dilemma will ensue if common sense does not prevail:
a) The Appeals Court upholds the judgement of the lower Court. This will be followed by final adjudication by the Federal Court.
b) The Rulers Council ( Council of Nine Sultans ) will meet soon to decide on the issue and decrees against the use of the word Allah by non Muslims.
Here is what may happen:
1) The rule of law allows compliance after judgement by the highest Court. If the Federal Court upholds the judgement by the Appeals Court; the Catholic Church will prevail. The Feredal Court in it wisdom can make provisions or conditions to prevent a worsening situation in the interests of peace and National unity.
2) The decree by the Ruler's Council to stop the use of the word Allah has to be implemented (constitutionally) by the Government. Since Islam is the State Religion, the decree is sacred and mandatory to all Malaysian Muslims, and is expected to be respected by non Muslims. To defy the decree will be in violation of Sedition Laws , a capital crime in Malaysia.
3) Non Muslims may not be morally bound by the Decree but may face legal and social implications on the defiance of such rulings. If this happens the Muslims will react and unite against those who they see as "enemies " of Islam and invoke " jihad ". I pray this does not happen.
4) Constitutionally even the Bishop of the Catholic Church is a subject of the Malaysian King, and therefore expected to demonstrate loyalty towards the Kimg. To not do so, will be to his discredit.
The only peaceful solution is for the Church to be magnanimous to the rule and wishes of the majority, as much as the Muslims in Europe are subjected to prohibitions such as wearing of Islamic apparel and minarets in Mosques. While Musilm minorities as citizens living in Christian dominated countries are told " When in Rome ....do as the Romans do "; the Malay Muslims in Malaysia are telling these Catholics the same. To ignore such pleas is to stir the hornets nest. Malaysia has always been proud of it various races living in harmony for Centuries and serves as a model of peace.
It is ironic that such a few has caused so much grief and pain to so many.
I write this as clearly as I know how to , so that if ( God forbid ) this matter becomes a global issue and politicized further by the Catholic Church......you my friends at least know why!
In closing;......I paste what I wrote recently to my Malaysian friends who are of all races:
Quote:Please remember that this whole issue was started by the Catholic Church by being adamant about their choice of the use of the word Allah. The demonstrations we see up till now are a mere reaction to this act ( by the Church ) in spite of many passive objections by Muslims before the judgement. The post judgement demonstrations are an escalation of the same issue. Who made this into a big deal ? It looks like it is the Malays; but who started this ? It was the Church.
As always, the voilence involving Muslims from Gaza to Mindanao to South Thailand and the victims of Al Queda are all without exception the reactions by Muslims to what they see as injustices and wrongdoing by others.They did not start this. All of them lived in peace until others provoked them to turn to Jihad as the only means left. Jihad is not an initiative, but a reaction towards injustice by others towards them.
I ask again ....and you should too. Ask the Church why it is so important to use the Allah word in the Herald Weekly. Will Catholicism be less appealing if they remained as they did before the use of the word Allah ? I just want to know. We ( Muslim and Christians ) are all " Ahlil Kitab " ( Children of the Book ). Why are we quarelling as adversaries ? OR are we quarelling because of a few ego inflated personalities fueled by selfish politicians take joy from seeing God fearing people enjoy a good relationship. These people should be punished for what they did. They are the perpetrators.
The demonstrators will go away as fast as they appeared if we put a stop to this folly. Let's go after the real bad guys ! In this case I'm afraid the Malays just reacted to what they see as an infringement of what they hold sacred.The bad guys are those with a hidden agenda! Jesus said that if one slaps on you ...give the other cheek. What happened to " give the other cheek " ? .......and who gave the slap in this case ?
Habibur Rahman.
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