Masha Allah

The Herald case by the Catholic Church against the Government over the usage of the term, Allah, in the Malay Bible has taken a new twist as both the Perak Religious Department (JAIPP) and the Gurdwara Council had sought to intervene. This was reported in the Star, July 4 2008.

I wonder when the Hindu Sangam would intervene. After all there is a hymn sung in temples and related to Gandhi. Part of it goes as the following:
"Ishvara Allah Tero Naam, Sanmo Sanmathi Hey Bhagwan"

Notice the term Allah. Basically the entire hymn's message is the oneness of God and man calls God with different names. Contrary to the classification of religion that classifies Hinduism under polytheism, the Hindu faith monistic in nature.

Personally I have got no issue with other religious groups using the term Allah in their prayer. From a linguistic perspective, the term Allah means God in Arabic. So what's the big deal. it is more important for us to lead a righteous life instead claiming copyright over how we address God.

From a political perspective, furthering feuds over God's name is detrimental to the progress of Malaysia as race is unique factor that bind Malaysians. Race and religion is interconnected. As Malaysia undergoes a turbulent phase in politics this type of cases can be used by certain quarters to create civil unrest and race relations breakdown. The closest scenario to race relations breakdown would be May 13, 1969 and the Kg Medan incident in 2001.