SHAH ALAM, 12 Oct: In the wake of the “Allah” word case which will be tried in the Putrajaya Court of Appeal on 14 October, the President of PAS, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang reiterated his stand that the word “Allah” can be used by non-Muslims.
Speaking to the media after finishing his keynote address at the Seminar on the Implementation of Islamic Shariah in Malaysia, Abdul Hadi said that there are many strong arguments in terms of religion, language and history that allows for the use of the word “Allah” by Christians.
“We cannot prevent non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”, in fact even the Prophet (Muhammad) allowed for non-Muslims to use the word “Allah” in an agreement (Medina Charter),” Hadi firmly said, adding however that the word “Allah” should not be misused by any party giving rise to conflict.
The Court of Appeal will decide on 14 October whether the publication of the Catholic Christian weekly, The Herald, is allowed to use the word “Allah”.
On 10 September, the three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal, consisting of a Federal Court judge, Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali, and two judges of the Court of Appeal, Datuk Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh, postponed the decision after hearing from the parties involved in the case.
The panel will decide on the Ministry of Home Affair’s appeal and the government regarding the decision of the High Court to allow The Herald to use the word “Allah”.
Previously, in January 2010, Abdul Hadi submitted a research paper in a seminar organised by the Institute of Islamic Understanding (IKIM).
Through the book entitled ‘Allah: Kalimah yang Benar, Tujuan yang Salah’ (translated to ‘Allah: The True Word, Wrong Purpose’) published in January 2010, Abdul Hadi explained that Islam does not prohibit people of other religions from using the word “Allah” in their practices, however, it does not achieve the meaning of the original language of the Quran.
“The word “Allah” is a word according to the original Arabic language (He is One), cannot be translated into any language accurately,” he explained in his book.
Seminar on Implementation of Islamic Shariah in Malaysia took place at the Pro-Chancellor’s Hall, University of Selangor (Unisel) near here, today.
Themed ’56 years of Independence: What is the direction of Islamic Shariah in Malaysia’, the seminar organised by the Selangor State Government, the Majlis Permuafakatan dan Institusi Pendidikan Islam Selangor (Mappis) and the University of Selangor (Unisel), opened a space towards finding a solution for the implementation of Shariah in the context of a democratic country.
Also present was the PAS Information Chief, Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, the Selangor PAS Commissioner, Dr Abdul Rani Osman, Selangor Executive Councillors Dr Halimah Ali and Sallehen Mukhyi.
