The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 13 Mar 2014 04:46 PM PDT

March 14, 2014

Zan Azlee is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, writer, New Media practitioner and lecturer. He runs Fat Bidin Media www.fatbidin.com

Malaysian Christians who are practising an Abrahamic faith, as is Islam, are forbidden to use the Arab word "Allah", which means "God", because it might confuse Malay Muslims.

The reasoning for this is because the word "Allah" has been used so much by the Malay community that in Malaysia, the word is almost considered a Malay word.

This will confuse Malay Muslims because they might think that the God that the Christians are referring to is the same God as the ones they refer to.

All the ultra-Malay political groups and NGOs aggressively protested against non-Muslims in Malaysia using the word "Allah", even bordering on violence.

Those non-Muslims who don't comply are dragged for investigations and even to court for only practising their freedom of religion.

I totally disagree with this because I think a word is just a word, no matter what language it is. For example, the English word "yellow" is the same as the Malay word "kuning".

Also, of course there is the jarring fact that the God that the Christians refer to is in fact the same God that the Muslims are referring to (and the Jews, too).

If the Malay Muslims in Malaysia don't realise this, then they obviously don't understand their religion well enough as they should.

What religion did Islam evolve from if not Christianity? And what religion did Christianity evolve from if not Judaism? And all these religions teach its followers that it comes from the one God.

So, what happens when a group of Malay Muslims come out in public using the word "Allah", but obviously practising something that is so detached from the actual teachings of Islam?

Yeah, that Raja Bomoh guy (Ibrahim Mat Zin) who says he can see where the missing MH370 plane is at currently by using a method he claims is Islamic.

Acting out a scene involving coconuts, bamboo, a mat and incessant chanting of the word 'Allah', he and followers attracted a lot of attention at KLIA.

Rather than looking like anything spiritual, it was more like a scene out of a comedy movie. A P. Ramlee comedy movie "Laksamana Do Re Mi", to be exact.

First of all, I don't think I need to even begin to explain how what this Raja Lawak (oops ... slip of the tongue) is doing contradicts so much the teachings of Islam.

This group of people are the actual ones who are confused with the word 'Allah' and not the Christians who are, if I may remind you readers, referring to the same God as Islam.

Second, he is insulting all the family members and friends of the passengers of the ill-fated flight MH370 who are facing such a hard time right now trying to come to terms with what has happened.

So I call upon all the ultra-Malay political parties and NGOs to protest aggressively what the Raja Bomoh and his group are doing. Stand up for the Malays, as you so passionately claim to want to do.

And to the authorities, don't just sit quietly and ignore this. Haul them up for investigation and drag them to court for insulting the word "Allah". – March 14, 2014.

Raja Bomoh needs to be brought down!