Mufti dares Putrajaya to drop Allah enactment

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria has challenged Putrajaya to abolish Islamic laws regarding the use of Allah after allowing Christians to freely distribute Malay-language bibles across the country.

He said the decision insults the Quran and contravenes the Control and Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religions Enactment, which bars non-Muslims from using Allah to refer to God in all states besides Sabah, Sarawak, Penang and the federal territories.

“If the enactment already bans it at the national level, on what basis do we allow it? Is the enactment abolished automatically?

“If the government does this, just cancel the law. I feel disappointed with the government as the law already says it cannot be allowed. If we really want to do this, just abolish the enactment,” he told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

“When the government allows other religions to use Allah, it insults the Quran,” he added.

Faced with an unyielding Christian community days ahead of a crucial state poll in Sarawak, the government offered on Saturday a 10-point solution to the Alkitab impasse which will allow the Bible to be freely distributed across the country in all languages.

The Cabinet offered a new list of suggestions to put an end to the month-long stand-off in a bid to head off a possible backlash against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in the April 16 vote by Christians who make up half the population in Sarawak.

However, it insisted that Malay-language bibles in the peninsula be marked with a cross and “Christian Publication” on the front cover.

This was despite a pending appeal by the government over the High Court’s decision to allow non-Muslims to use the term Allah in their printed publications.

The vocal religious scholar explained that the enactment meant the use of Allah was exclusive to Islam and his stand concerned that specifically, not the distribution of Malay-language bibles.

He said other religious texts can be translated into Malay as long as it did not use terms barred by the enactment.

“There is no problem if Christians want to respect Bahasa Malaysia and use the Malay Bible. This is our national language, so all citizens can use it as it holds to the federal constitution,” Harussani said.

His counterpart in Selangor, Datuk Tamyes Abd Wahid, has also stressed that the 5,000 Malay-language bibles that were seized by the Home Ministry in Port Klang cannot be released as it was barred by the enactment in the state.