Kashish Jain
The court in Malaysia overturned a government directive banning Christians from using ‘Allah’ to refer to God. This comes after a decade-long battle. The ruling comes as a part of the Litigation brought in by Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, a Swarakian Christian who had moved the Court earlier from using the word.
Ms. Bill filed the Legal challenge shortly after the government seized eight educational compact discs at Kuala Lampur International Airport. The authorities had seized the discs after they had found that they contained the word ‘Allah’ in their titles.
The use of the word by non-Muslims has often sparked violence in the country particularly against the Christians of the country who make up less than 13 percent of the total population. The population is 32 million. Malaysian authorities believe that the use of the word in non-Islamic literature could potentially confuse the followers of Islam and cause them to convert. Christian religious leaders have argued that the use of the word “Allah” has been used in Malay-language bibles and other texts to refer to god and that it predates Islam.
After 6 years of legal battle, the Malaysian Courts had held that the seizures were unlawful and the CDs were returned to her. However, at that time the Court made no ruling on her constitutional right not to be discriminated against and her right to the use of the word.
Recently the Court has held that the ban that came in 1986 by the home ministry was no more than an ‘illegality’.
The Court of Appeal Judge Nor Bee Ariffin stated
“The fact that they [Christians] have been using it [Allah] for 400 years cannot be ignored,”