Asri wants guidelines on ‘Allah’ usage

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal - The Malaysian Insider

Asri backs non-Muslims’ right to use ‘Allah’, but says guidelines are needed. — file pic

GOMBAK, Jan 5 — Influential Islamic scholar Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin urged the government today to draw up reasonable guidelines on the usage of “Allah” among non-Muslims so that “other people’s rights will not be marginalised.”

The former Perlis Mufti said that reasonable guidelines have to be in place to avoid the misuse of “Allah”, but at the same time, people should not be denied their rights to mention God’s name, even though they are not of the Muslim faith.

“The best thing for a government to do in a multi-racial society is to set reasonable guidelines or rules. I feel that in a country, it is not about emotions, it is about how we manage ourselves with proper rules of conduct. Rules need to be drawn up so that people won’t misuse the name of Allah.

“However, at the same time, to absolutely deny a person from mentioning Allah’s name is just not right,” asserted the Islamic scholar.

He reiterated the fact that caution needs to be exercised in this matter, as Arab Christians before this and even Sikhs use the name “Allah” in their worship.

According to him, what needs to be made clear is that “Allah” cannot be used in idol-worship or in any activity which denounces other religions which refer to Allah.

“I mean, if a non-Muslim were to say to a Muslim this, ‘May Allah bless you’. How can you tell that person you cannot say this because you are not a Muslim?

“As long as the name of Allah is used in the right context, non-Muslims should be allowed to say Allah’s name.”

Dr Asri’s remarks come amid PAS’ decision last night to back the Catholic church’s right to use the word “Allah”, with the condition that it cannot be misused or inappropriately addressed.

There was uproar among Muslims last week when the High Court ruled that the Catholic church had a constitutional right to publish the word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia edition of its Herald newspaper.

The public outcry has resulted in several protests throughout the country, with Umno-led bloggers adding fuel to the fire by starting an online campaign against the ruling via social networking site Facebook.

The government has since decided to appeal the ruling, bowing to demands from Muslim groups who say they fear the ruling would result in confusion and that non-Muslims would abuse the usage of the word “Allah.”