Tag: allah

No more ‘Allah’ for Christians, Malaysian court says – The Christian Science Monitor

KUALA LUMPUR — In the latest round of a divisive political and religious saga, a Malaysian court ruled Monday that the word “Allah” can only be used by the country’s Muslim majority, overturning a previous decision that allowed other faiths using the term to denote “God” in their local-language services and scriptures. This morning, Malaysia’s Court of Appeals issued an expansive ruling that sparked surprise and anger throughout the country. At the court in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya, Justice Mohamed Apandi read a brief summary of the 100+ page judgment. “Our common finding is that the usage of Allah is not an integral part of the Christian faith. We cannot find why the parties are so adamant on the usage of the word,” he said.

Tensions over economy, religion and environment ahead of Malaysia election – The Irrawaddy

KOTA BHARU — After Malaysia’s opposition coalition announced a reform-inclined election manifesto on Feb. 25, an opinion poll released the following day showed that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s popularity down two points to 61 percent, while his government had the approval of 45 percent of Malaysians, also a two point drop, according to findings by The Merdeka Center, a Kuala Lumpur-based research firm. What is expected to be Malaysia’s closest-ever election will take place sometime between now and the end of June this year. Opposition lawmaker Dzulkefly Ahmad is confident that the three-party opposition coalition can make history by winning the vote, an outcome that would end the governing National Front’s unbroken run in office, having governed since independence from Great Britain in 1957. “In a clean and fair context, we have a fighting chance of winning,” says Ahmad, a MP for the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), one of three parties in the opposition coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister