The High Court of Malaysia has passed a ruling allowing non-Muslims to use the term ‘Allah’ for God in their Malay-language worship services and literature.
On face value, this should appear uncontroversial, as Christians in that region have referred to God as ‘Allah’ for 400 years, including using the term in translations of the Bible into Malay.
Long-standing dispute
However, this development masks a 35-year dispute that has undermined Christian-Muslim relations in Malaysia in substantial ways. In 1986 the Malaysian Government prohibited the use of ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims. This policy is unique to Malaysia. In today’s Arab world, ‘Allah’ is the standard term for God among Arabic-speaking Christians of different denominations. In neighbouring Indonesia, ‘Allah’ is commonly used by Christians; the 1974 New Translation of the Bible in Indonesian renders the Old Testament Hebrew terms for God as ‘Allah’. These usages occur in their different locations without objection from local Muslims.
