Malaysia’s highest court has finally ruled that Catholics (in particular a Catholic newspaper) has the right to use the word “Allah” to refer to God. The government had attempted to stop the long running custom of Catholics in Malaysia saying that it could cause confusion.
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s high court ruled Thursday that a Catholic paper had the right to use the word “Allah” after a long-running dispute between the government and the weekly in the Muslim-majority nation.
The ruling overturns the government’s controversial threat to cancel The Herald’s annual publishing permit.
“The applicant has the constitutional right to use the word ‘Allah’,” Judge Lau Bee Lan told a packed courtroom, declaring the government’s ban on the paper’s use of the word “illegal, null and void”.
The weekly used the word “Allah” as a translation for “God” in its Malay-language section but the government argued “Allah” should be used only by Muslims.
Now you may be asking yourself “Patrick, sure I am happy for those Malays, but what does this have to do with us here in the good ol’ US of A?” Well I will tell you. I have considered that perhaps we should adopt the same practice here. Well, if we do and then when all these radical atheists and secularists mock God (Allah), our Muslim brothers and sisters might just express their, um, dissatisfaction.
“Hey Aftab, did you hear what this PZ Meyers guy and Maureen Dowd just said about Allah? Just thought you should know.”
Then just sit back.
