01/01: Christians don't call Allah in everyday life

The issue concerning the use of the word Allah by Catholics and Christians in Malaysia has somewhat been settled. I personally have no worries about it since the non-Muslims hardly use the word in their everyday life anyway and they also do not use it with the same conviction as the Muslims.

All my Catholic and Christians 'Thank God' for everything and none has said 'Thank Allah'. They, themselves would find it odd if they have to say Allah, while Muslims do it often.

I also find it baffling when I realize that the Malay word 'Syurga' and 'Neraka' are actually referring to the Hindu Heaven and Hell. So how come the Muslim leaders in Malaysia, especially, do not discourage Muslims from using the words by replacing it with Arab words for them instead such as Jannah for Heaven and Jahanam for Hell.

Malays who are angry will say 'Pergi Jahanam!' or 'Go to Hell!

So I hope by continuing to use Syurga and Neraka, the Muslims might be confused to mean that all their deads and misdeeds in life will result in them being sent to the Hindu Heaven and Hell.

How come the Hindus did not complain against the use of such words by Malays who are Muslims in Malaysia and in the region especially, since the words are not used by Muslims in the Middle East.

So there's no need for Muslims need not worry about it.

Even amongst Muslims, many would use the word Tuhan and Ilahi over Allah because it is not easy to prononce it correctly. And if the sound is not perfect, the person who pronounced it is telling everybody that he is not a religious person because he lacks practise in pronouncing the word.

Anyone who tries to pronounce the word for the first time will make the word sound flat and lifeless.

I would like to hear the church elders in Sabah and elsewhere in Malaysia to pronounce the word and say that they are praying to Allah to find out how it sounds.

But for me, it doesn't matter if the Christians and Catholics are allowed to use the word in their publication, whose usage may be related to history that some of their elders I Malaysia wanted to refer to Biblical times when it was so.

What I am more interested is if it is true that Christians and Catholics use the word Allah in everyday life. I have many friends who profess this religions, since I had studied in a Catholic missionary school in Melaka and mixed around fairly well with many of them.

But I have yet to hear even one of them spouted the word Allah in front of me.
It is true that the word has also the same meaning as the word God. But in America they are now preferring to call or spell it as G_d as opposed to God for some strange reason while the agnostics spell it as Gawd.

No one in America calls God, Allah.

In my travels in few countries in the Middle East I have heard the Jews saying Allah and also 'Insyallah' in front of the Arab Muslims. I did not think the staff at the Israeli Embassy in Amman, Jordan was using it to make the Arabs comfortable but because they also use it often in their everyday life.

Here and in other countries the Christians and Catholics hardly use the word Allah in their everyday conversation.

So I hope the Catholic groups in Sabah did not try to be sinister in insisting to use the word in their publication.

The truth is that the Catholics and Christians in Malaysia and elsewhere outside of the Middle East has not been using the word in a very long time that it has become the 'property' of the Muslims.

And it seems to me that the Catholics and Christians in Malaysia and Singapore had already changed the way Jesus Christ and his Apostle wear from the Arab robes to a skirt with the Arab-style headdress looking like a shawl because they did not wish to confuse the flock, especially the younger ones.

And the nuns and priests, too, are redesigning their habit so that they do not look like what Muslim women and men wear. And if the nuns have to drive they make sure they open up their scarves so that they are not confused with other Muslim women wearing headscarves, while the prists are now wearing a red belt around their waist instead of the flowing white robes which look like many robes worn by pious Muslims.

If they insist on being allowed to use the word Allah, then they should also insist on wearing their habits properly like what I had noticed in the past.

So by wanting to use the word Allah instead of God, the Catholics and Christians are indirectly saying that they are praying to Allah.

Sincerely,

Mansor Puteh