Posted on 04/27/2009 6:20:21 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — A Malay-language Bible that does not use the word "Allah" has caused controversy among Malaysian Catholics, as the church here fights a court case to guarantee its right to use the word.
The Catholic Herald newspaper, in its Sunday edition, criticised the release this week at an international bookfair of the new Bible, which uses the Hebrew word "Elohim" instead of "Allah" for God.
"The Catholic bible that the church uses has the word 'Allah' for God whereas in comparison, this one does not," the paper's editor Father Lawrence Andrew told AFP.
"The new Malay bible weakens the argument for using the word Allah because some groups are trying to substitute God with a foreign name, whereas Allah is the Malay word for God and has been the accepted translation for centuries," he said.
"The publishers have copied substantially from the Indonesian bible which was approved by the Indonesian Bible Society and the Catholic Church but this new version has not been approved by the society or the church in Indonesia or here."
The publishers of the bible could not be reached for comment.
The Catholic Church has taken legal action against the government after it was ordered not to use the disputed word under threat of having its paper's publishing permit revoked.
Malaysian authorities argue the word should be used only by Muslims, who form the bulk of the country's multicultural population.
Andrew said Malaysian Christians have been using the word "Allah" for centuries in translations of the Bible, and in popular prayers. The opposition has also called for the ban to be revoked.
"The term 'Allah' has been used in Indonesia and the Middle East by Christians without prosecution or controversy, despite both being overwhelmingly Muslim-majority regions," opposition lawmaker Tony Pua said.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
....The Catholic Church has taken legal action against the government after it was ordered not to use the disputed word under threat of having its paper's publishing permit revoked. Malaysian authorities argue the word should be used only by Muslims, who form the bulk of the country's multicultural population.
Maltese is spoken by Christians and uses the word Allah for God (not sure of the spelling--but Maltese is descended from the Arabic spoken on the island during the Middle Ages).
So now the Muslims are laying claim to languages, as well? Allah is simply a word for God in various Arabic and Arabic-related languages, and is still used by Arab language Christians (such as the Syrian Antiochene Church) and in Scriptural translation.
Mohammed picked it simply because it meant God; naturally, then, he “rebranded” it, as Islam does with everything, and now Muslims assert that it refers only to their twisted concept of God.
I hope they don’t get away with this one.
I know there are plenty of people out there that believe Allah refers to some Arabic moon god. In truth, a religious background with such a moon god may well have influenced Mohammed’s description of Allah. He may even have chosen the name because he thought it might help him win over moon-god worshippers; there is a linguistic similarity. But the term has been used in Middle-Eastern Orthodox and Catholic communities for centuries. They distinguish God from the Muslim invention by calling him Allah al-Ab.
Allah comes from “Al ilah,” meaning “the god.” It has been used to refer to pagan gods, but to say it refers to any given pagan god is as inaccurate as to say that the English use of “God” refers to Odin, or Zeus, not to the Hebrew God.
Denying the Malaysians use of the word Allah, therefore, is akin to denying English Christians the use of the word, “God.”
the new Bible, which uses the Hebrew word “Elohim” instead of “Allah” for God.
some groups are trying to substitute God with a foreign name, whereas Allah is the Malay word for God ________________________________________________
Say what ???
Isnt “allah” an Arabic word for god ????
“Elohim” is a “foreign” word ???
Wonder who initiated this little riot...
Catholic muslims, eh?
No, Catholics being told by Muslims how they will be permitted to pray.
‘Seems these “Catholics” choose it for themselves.
Malaysian authorities argue the word should be used only by Muslims, who form the bulk of the country's multicultural population.
Dr. Arthur Jeffery, one of the foremost Western Islamic scholars in modern times and professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at Columbia University, notes:
"The name Allah, as the Quran itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa" (Islam: Muhammad, and His Religion, New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1958, p. 85).
"Allah: Originally applied to the moon; he seems to be preceded by Ilmaqah, the moon god... Allat: the female counterpart to Allah." (A Dictionary of Non-Classical Mythology, Marian Edwardes, Lewis Spence, Allah, p. 7)
p>Dr. Arthur Jeffery, one of the foremost Western Islamic scholars in modern times and professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at Columbia University, notes:
"The name Allah, as the Quran itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa" (Islam: Muhammad, and His Religion, New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1958, p. 85).
Whatever the origin of the word, the fact is that it has been used to mean "God" for centuries by Arabic-speaking Christians.
True.
That does not make it right. Simply because Islam has leeched into their vocabulary, does not preclude them being corrected.
By the way, the usual Hebrew word for God, "Elohim," is cognate to the Arabic "Ilah". Everyone agrees that "Allah" is a contraction of "Al Ilah".
In other words, "Allah" is a lot closer to the Hebrew word used in the Scriptures than "God" is.
Hmmm... "for centuries" ... maybe since the 15th century, when Malaysian rulers became muslim sultans and Malaysian Christians became dhimmis?
The Arabic "Ilah" is the phrase for god, not "Allah" which is a personal name. Further, the Hebrews had many phrases for god. The personal name was never written. The useage determined the correct phrase. Such as:
JHVH from where we derive Jehovah 'יהוה' meaning 'Existing One'
Adonai 'אדון' which is Lord
Elohim 'אלהים' which can refer to many gods or the One God.
Or the Hebrew El 'אל' which is the singular phrase for God when used with Shaddai 'שדי'.
The word 'god' was derived from the old germanic 'gudan' which simply meant to invoke. It was not a specific phrase for pagan anything.
Your citation from the Koran does not uphold your assertion. Your interpretation that since Ilah is a common noun, Allah is a name doesn’t work. Given Arabic grammar, you should read it as, “There is no god (Ilah) except The God (Allah),” since Allah is a contraction of “the (Al)” and “God” (Ilah).
Given that Allah means “the god,” not “a god,” it makes perfect sense that Allah would be used only for the Mohammedan god as the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics states. To use it to refer to any other being would be to acknowledge that such another being actually is a god. True, in the West, we might refer to a god in such a way, but Islam is much more militated against foreign religions taking hold than we are. We’ve dropped the formalities, hence we say “Jesus,” instead of “Our Lord Jesus Christ.” or Catholics say “Mary” nowadays instead of “The Blessed Virgin Mary.” Contrarily, we also say “god” when we mean “false god.” This was once justified in writing, where “god” could be distinguished from God, but now we even merge the two in speech.
On the other hand: It would seem troubling to me that Allah was previously used for a moon god, and yet the Muslims make no distinction. You’d think they’d want to clarify which god they were referring to, especially given the formalisms that surround Mohammed. They won’t say the name Mohammed without “(p.b.u.h.)” so they honor Mohammed, not some othe of the hundred million Mohammeds in the Muslim world. Yet there is no such honor afforded God himself. It’s as if despite their claims that Mohammed is only a man, he is exalted higher than Allah.
>> The Arabic “Ilah” is the phrase for god, not “Allah” <<
Allah is a contraction of Al Ilah. I understand that it is specifically a grammatical contraction, not a portmonteau.
Also, not to make an argument of it, but I’m quite puzzled by your assertion that YHWH means “existing one.” Is that because you relate it to “I Am Who Am”? I’m told by Jewish friends that both the ‘J’ and the ‘V’ in ‘Jehovah’ are invalid transliterations. Hence, it’s “Netanyahu,” not “Netanjahu.” It’s also “Yeshua,” not “Joshua” which is a westernized name. Take it for what it’s worth. The point is that trying to fill in the missing vowels (all classical Hebrew words lack true vowels) is futile; All the letters “YHWH” are semi-vowels, making “YHWH” unpronounceable, and thus, impossible to take in vain. Trying to pronounce it yields the very ridiculous sounding, “Yahuwehuh,” and even that’s wrong because “yahu” can’t start a word and “wehuh” can’t end one.
The vowels in ‘Jahovah’ were simply the vowels in “Adonai,” which proper Jewish reference to God.
The use of JHVH or YHWH is simply a westerization of the Hebrew 'יהוה'. It has its origins in 'היה' (hayah) but contains the imperitive 'י'(ya) making it personal and specific.
The link below has a good exposition on it:
The use of "I AM 'היה' (hayah) WHO 'אשר' ('aher) I AM 'היה' (hayah)" is rather lengthy but does not mean 'existing one'. It simply means "I am who I am". The word 'היה' (hayah) is the Hebrew verb 'to be'.
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