‘Allah’ was used by non-Muslims since Prophet’s time, says PAS MP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 — Non-Muslims have been using the word "Allah" to refer to their god since Prophet Muhammad's time, a leader of Islamist party PAS has said, appearing to side with the Christians in their fight to use the Arabic word.

According to Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, there was never a ban against the word by any Muslim leaders or scholars since Islam was first practised, and non-Muslims' usage of the word was even documented in the holy book of Quran.

"Smua stuju Bkn Islam guna kalimah Allah pd zmn Nabi. Knapa kita haramkn? Islam ala Melayu?" (Everybody has agreed that non-Muslims have used the word "Allah" since the Prophet's times. Why are we banning it? Islam ala-Malay?) Khalid asked in Malay on his Twitter account @KhalidSamad recently.

Khalid was referring to the panelists on a recent forum on the "Allah" row, which video was uploaded to YouTube last week.

Moderated by former Perlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin, other speakers in the forum included Dr Yusri Mohamad, the president of Muslim NGO PEMBELA, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Khalif Muammar A. Harris of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's (UTM) Centre for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science and Civilisation.

Khalid could not be reached by The Malay Mail Online at the time of writing to elaborate on his series of tweets.

Last Tuesday, the Court of Appeal heard submissions from the church and the government and expects to reach a decision this October on whether Catholic newspaper, The Herald, may continue to use the word “Allah”.

In the forum following the court hearing, Khalid criticised Muslims for trying to turn something which he said was "harus" (allowed) in the Prophet's times into absolutely "haram" (forbidden) now.

"We want to bring the condition and original understanding which was present during the Prophet's times ... Not by defending an inaccurate reality," warned Khalid.

"(Not) by making the Islam that we want to implement in Peninsula Malaysia different from any other place ... There we can, but then here we cannot."

The PAS Central Working Committee member also mocked those who claimed that by banning the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims, Malaysia has become a more advanced Muslim-majority country compared to others which do not do so.

"Is it true that we're more advanced? Or are we trying to change a condition and stance which in the end will confuse Muslims themselves when they recite the Quran?" he asked.

"Why do we insist on making Islam in Malaysia different from the Islam (practised) elsewhere?"

He explained that even the Islamic phrase of "there is no god but God" in the syahada recital -- to declare belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet -- cannot be translated if "Allah" does not mean "the God".

Putrajaya had in January 2010 filed an appeal after the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled a month earlier in favour of allowing the Herald to continue using the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The Catholic Church had in July this year moved to strike out Putrajaya’s appeal, after its patience finally ran out with the lack of progress on the government’s challenge over the decision that has contributed to festering interfaith ties in the country.

A month later, the appellate court ruled in favour of allowing the government’s appeal against the 2009 High Court decision.

Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, the case is expected to go all the way to the apex court as neither side is seen as willing to back over the contentious issue.

The Allah row erupted in 2008 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Herald’s newspaper permit, prompting the Catholic Church to sue the government for violating its Constitutional rights.

The 2009 High Court decision upholding the Catholic Church’s constitutional right to use the word “Allah” had shocked Muslims who considered the word to only refer to their God. It also led to Malaysia’s worst religious strife, with houses of worship throughout the country coming under attack.

Christians are Malaysia’s third-largest religious population at 2.6 million people, according to statistics from the 2010 census, behind Muslims and Buddhists.

Tanda Putera producer finally apologises to Lim

More than a year after the film 'Tanda Putera' was embroiled in controversy with its Facebook page accusing DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang of urinating on a flagpole, the film's producer has finally issued an official apology.

"We, Messrs Pesona Pictures Sdn Bhd, unreservedly apologise to Lim Kit Siang for the embarrassment caused by the abovementioned publication which is devoid of truth," it said in a statement uploaded on Facebook this afternoon.

In an earlier posting yesterday, the Facebook site of the film based on the May 13, 1969 race riots attributed the faulty allegation it made July last year to a junior social media administrator.

"The administrator at that time, who was also our friend, received a link from a visitor who sent a picture of Lim Kit Siang with the wrong caption.

"Our junior administrator did not do it on purpose, but he thought it was correct, so he uploaded it," the posting reads.

The caption had said Lim urinated on the flagpole outside the house of the then Selangor menteri besar Harun Idris.

Yesterday's 'Tanda Putera' Facebook statement said the mistake was promptly rectified and claimed that the administrator and film producer have since apologised, though it did not specify to whom.

However, it noted that there were demands for an apology on Facebook where the posting originally appeared: "No problem, we will do it (apologise on Facebook)," the posting says.

"The picture and caption were not our creations but were sent to us," it adds.

Elaborating on the faux pas in the latest official apology today, the film's producer said Lim's photograph and erroneous caption was posted on their Facebook page by a subscriber and was spotted by the page's administrator.

"Innocently believing the same to be in some manner relevant to the movie Tanda Putera, he proceeded to copy and save them onto the Facebook 's photo album.

"The publication thereof was purely an inadvertence, without any malice or bad faith intended," it said.

However, the company said it stood by the content of the 'Tanda Putera' film.

Apology missing

This is the first public apology made. It was absent in the prominent public rebuttal by film director Shuhaimi Baba on Aug 15, 2012, almost a month after the controversy first erupted.

Shuhaimi ( right ) had merely said that the erroneous posting was removed and that at no point did Lim appear in the film.

However, she insisted that the urination incident was real, though not by Lim himself.

'Tanda Putera' chronicles the relationship between former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein and his deputy Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman in the midst of the 1969 race riots, which continues to be a divisive topic, and more so today as a result of the controversial film.

Lim has repeatedly denied the urination incident, seen as a provocation for the 1969 race riots, pointing out that he was in Sabah when the May 13 tragedy broke out in Kuala Lumpur.

He had also urged the filmmakers to apologise over the allegation.

On Monday, Lim, who is also DAP national adviser, commenced legal action against Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and former information minister Zainuddin Maidin for repeating the 'urination' allegation against him.