[Alex Murphy]

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 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.

[Verginius Rufus]

This is nuts. Do they use "Elohim" also in the New Testament, which was written in Greek? (Why not "Theos" or "Deus"?)

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).

[Tennessee Nana]

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...

[onedoug]

Catholic muslims, eh?

[anglian]

The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, states: "The origin of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is NOT a common name meaning "God" (or a "god"), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity" (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, I:326, Hastings). Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics I:326, T & T Clark, states: "Allah" is a proper name, applicable only to their [Arabs'] peculiar God."

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).