PUTRAJAYA, MalaysiaMalaysia’s top court on Monday rejected the Roman Catholic Church’s appeal for the right to use the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in its newspaper.
The high-stakes case, which dates back seven years, has provoked strong feelings in the Muslim-majority country at a time that advocates of conservative Islam have been gaining clout.
The Catholic Church first brought a case in 2008 to try to overturn a ruling by Malaysia’s then-home minister, Syed Hamid Albar, which prohibited the Herald newspaper from using the word “Allah,” to refer to the Christian God, arguing it should be used solely by Muslims.
The minority Christian population had hoped that a win in the case would strengthen religious tolerance in a nation where Islam is the official religion. An initial ruling in favor of the church in 2009 sparked mob vandalism and arson at both Christian and Muslim places of worship.
Some opponents accused the church of using the word “Allah” to try to convert Muslims to Christianityan accusation church officials denied.
About 100 Muslims gathered on Monday outside the federal court building in Putrajaya, carrying banners and signs in the local Malay language which read: “Unite in defending the word Allah. Struggle to the last drop of blood.” Some protesters shouted: “God is great.”
A copy of the ruling wasn’t immediately available, but the justices ruled four to three in favor of the government’s position that “Allah” should be used exclusively by Muslims.
“We are greatly disappointed with this judgment,” said Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of Herald newspaper.
The church said it is looking at the possibility of asking for a review, which the top court rarely allows.
Cyrus Das, the church’s lead counsel, said the ruling seems to apply to the written materials of all non-Muslims, not just the Catholic Church’s newspaper.
“The judgment of the court of appeal seem to suggest that the ban on the use of the word Allah isn’t merely confined to the Malay edition of the Herald but it is a ban generally which means it cannot be used by non-Muslims whether in West Malaysia or East Malaysia. That is a very important issue. That ought to have been clarified. And an opportunity to do that has been lost,” Mr. Das added, referring to the judgment.
The Catholic Church argued that it wanted to continue to use the word “Allah” in Bahasa editions of the Herald newspaper because that is how its local language adherents refer to the Christian God. Of the 2.6 million Christians in the country, about 60% use the word “Allah” to refer to God, according to the Christian Federation of Malaysia.
The case dates back to 2007, when the then-home minister, Syed Hamid Albar, prohibited the Catholic Church’s Herald newspaper from using the word “Allah,” arguing it should be solely for Muslims.
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