In 2014, the High Court ruled against a decision previously given by the country’s federal court.
A Malaysian court ruled on March 10 that non-Muslims could use the word “Allah” to refer to God, in a major ruling on the divisive issue for religious freedom in a Muslim-majority country.
The High Court ruling lifted a 35-year-old government ban on the use of “Allah” and three other Arabic words by Christian publications, the plaintiff’s lawyer Annu Xavier said, calling the ban unconstitutional.
The government has previously stated that “Allah” should be reserved specifically for Muslims to avoid confusion that could convert them to other religions, a stance that is unique to Malaysia and an issue in other Muslim-majority nations Is not a minority.
Christian leaders in Malaysia say the ban is unfair because Christians who speak Malay have long used Arabic, a Malay word derived from Arabic, in their Bibles, prayers and songs.
The High Court’s decision opposed an earlier ruling by the country’s federal court in 2014 that upheld the government’s ban following a legal challenge by the Roman Catholic Church, which in its Malay-language newspaper the word “Allah” Was used.
“The court has now said that the word Allah can be used by all Malaysians,” Mr Xavier said. He said, “Today’s decision impedes fundamental freedom of religious rights for non-Muslims in Malaysia”, the constitution states.
Among Muslims, two-thirds of Malaysia’s 32 million people are with large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities. Christians comprise about 10% of the population.
Most Christians in Malaysia worship in English, Tamil or various Chinese dialects, and mention God in those languages, but some Malay-speaking people on the island of Borneo have no other word for God, but “Allah” .
The 1986 government directive also prohibited three other words – “Kaaba” or Islam’s holiest temple in Mecca, “Baitullah” or the house of God and “Vilayat” or prayer.
Was cited by government lawyer Shamsul Bolhassan Star The newspaper is saying that the four words can be used in Christian content according to the court’s ruling, as long as there is a disclaimer saying that it is intended only for Christians and a symbol of a cross has been displayed.
The ruling was the result of a lengthy legal challenge by a Christian woman whose religious content the word “Allah” was confiscated by authorities at the airport when she returned home from Indonesia in 2008.
The controversy over the use of “Allah” provoked violence in Malaysia. A lower court ruling against the government’s ban in 2009 led to arson and vandalism in angry churches and other places of worship. That decision was later overturned by the High Courts.
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