I’m an Atheist. So is my immediate family. But we are Buddhists because there’s no Tiada box to tick on our birth certificates. I’m fine with religions, I love the public holidays that come with them. But what I’m not fine with is when people of different faiths get intimidated for some stupid rhetorical technicalities.
Torching churches because they’re allowed by law to use the word “Allah”? Why the violence? It is just a word. An abstract thing that you can’t feel or touch. It is not your mother, father, brother or sister. Okay, so it is your God. But surely Allah is powerful enough to look after Himself, no? Besides, they are not using the word in a disrespectful context. In fact, some Moslems believe that Christians are practicing the same religion and worshipping the same God, albeit off tangent (read: wrong prophet, oops). So why resort to violence over a word?
It is so easy to blame the politicians & medias for sensationalizing this issue. If they hadn’t made such a big fuss out of this, giving opinions at every opportunity they can, I’m pretty sure these terrible incidents would not have happened. Most importantly, the issue would not have been hijacked by some young, stupid arsonists.
In fact, this shouldn’t be a Muslim vs Christian issue at all. This should be about Malaysians against crimes. Catch the perpetrators, Mr. Police. Even if they’re hiding in mosques, I believe Allah would gladly welcome a couple of minutes of commotion in his House so long these terrorists who give Islam a bad name can be apprehended. Wouldn’t He?
Disclaimer: Comments on this blog post do not represent the opinions’ of the writer of the blog post unless stated otherwise by the writer (ie: me).
Yah God is God, whatever you call him/her/it. Allah is just another word, like God..
You don’t see Christians or anyone else getting upset if Muslims use the term God.
I don’t get why they need to be so anal over it, in BM the word for God is Allah so why can’t they use it in their Malay language publications?
fully agree with u.
religion is something good but y do bad things because of something which is suppose to teach u good? idiotic moron lar these ppl.
hehehe i’m not so sure if religion is necessarily something good.
Well you can say the basic premise of religion is to teach people to life a good life, the pessimist in me however would say religion was created to control the masses.
I think the general public is outraged by the church arson (Twitter is going crazy) and we all hope the Police will work fast enough to catch the arsonist.
This is not just a religious arguement. It’s turned political – every Minister out there has their 2 cents on this topic that has blown way way over proportions!
*shakes head* What has our country become? *sigh*
ST: I suppose to majority of Msian Muslims, the word Allah refers specifically to the Islamic God. I’m not surprised that they are not properly educated about the history of the word hence the brouhaha. And of course, a lot of the flak come from politically motivated parties.
myhorng: I don’t think the people who firebombed the churches did it genuinely for Islam. I think they merely hijacked the issue to satiate their need to vandalise and terrorise.
ky: Personally, I prefer the world that is devoid of religions better.
ST: Agree. But I think the court of law can do a better job at controlling the masses.
Winnie: Well, I think the problem is that nothing has ever changed about our country. Obviously, I’m going to get a lot of flak for this, but even my Malay friends agree that these are prevalent problems in the Malay community – the need to meddle in other ppl’s affairs and seeing others suffer. It’s tragic that this “jaga tepi kain orang” & schadenfreude mentalities of the Malays have seeped into Islam. Defending Islam? Please! Don’t they have any faith in the strength of their religion and followers? The mere usage of the word Allah can destroy Islam? Seriously? If you asked me, the real intention is really to kick sand into ppl’s eyes and watch them writhe in pain.
i agree with ky. seriously, religions are over hyped.
i like wt u say esp on this sentence, it should be msian againts crime!!!
I think you’re right…whoever firebombed the churches had other motives. In fact, I don’t think they really care about the issue at all.
Think about it…everybody knew the organisations had planned to organise protests after Friday prayers over the Court decision. Could the arson attacks have been planned to create more tension, incite violence/revenge/riots come Friday afternoon?
Because seriously, who in their right mind believes that torching a few churches would resolve the disagreement over the use of Allah in the Herald?
I’m thankful that (1) Nobody was hurt or killed in the arson attacks, and (2) that nothing bad happened during the Friday demo
robb: i share your sentiment.
joshua: thanks :)
loko: yeah, there’s no way that the think that torching the churches could make a point. it only makes things worse and whoever is the mastermind is probably looking forward to participate in more violence.
Those morons are not the ordinary muslims in our country. Ordinary muslims may not be as stupid as them because these ppl hate violence. And ordinary muslims left immediately after friday prayers. Those ppl are those idiots so-called gangsters carrying their three lines flags as shown in one blog. Government cant stop them because politicians are also members of these imbeciles. Only gangsters dare to do violence like smashing people’s car, arson, etc…
So quickly everyone conclude this was done by muslims. This is an act of terrorism and terrorism know no boundary as it work solely on fear. The purpose of these act are to divide the masses (pitching one against another), it has been effective as the reaction from the masses have proven this. The henchmen could have been a lowly drug addict that was prepped and staged to carry out these terrorising acts and they could have been of Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or even Athiest in faith. The act is cowardice for sure and should be brought to justice. But the educated majority (lets hope) should not react from emotion and instead remain calm and collect.
hi kim.
there was a discussion regarding the incident last night on Facebook between my friends an i from all religion. i was hoping to share it with you to shed some light about the incident. perhaps from an islamic point of view/ opinion based.
my personal thought, my religion is of peace and that my faith in my religion remains no matter what others say. islam is not about exclusivity. we were not taught by our Prophet or Scholars to cause violence and hurt people. . it’s actually sinful. unfortunately the matter was used by some people for their own personal agenda. those thugs do not represent the general sentiments of muslims nationwide. more like, some individuals reckless act. i apologize.
https://sunshineyism.blogspot.com/2010/01/shame-on-you.html
https://sunshineyism.blogspot.com/2010/01/taken-from-friends-note-on-facebook.html
im sad Church being burned. So many year in term of economy, social and political we has stepped down and done a lot of compromising! But still has certain ppl still keep on step in front of us and stoking a racial and insulting our culture, people even our religions!
Why we have to keep on compromising? Wake up !wake up my baby, this time should step up and fight for our right! tell the them we are the “Ketuanan” here also!
surely its MORE than a word…. your argument is deeply invalid! name is everything!
and in BM, God is “Tuhan” ok….
and why the f**k the Christians so desperately want to use the name?!!! No Muslim (not Moslems btw) ever want to use word “Jesus” or “Buddha” or others for God! ever! (smell fishy to me)
and why I bother explaining to a freaking Atheist…
anon: Tuhan is Lord not God, God is Allah, even Google translates Allah in BM to God in English.
eric: true that. it seems that it’s more important to protect the feelings of overly sensitive (or politically motivated) people than to protect the physical safety of common people.
love: totally agree with you. those people do not represent islam. they are not thinking muslims, they do not have thoughts & consideration for other people. they are extremely selfish. i weep for the religion, for having followers like that.
hanuman: i think the general reaction towards the incident has been very moderate. for one, we haven’t seen any mosque being burnt down. people are bound to talk though but that is a right to speak, and of which muslims are also entitled too. whoever that burnt down the churches MUST BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. but it seems that actions to ensure that are not as swift as expected – why?
azreena: thanks for sharing. i’m positive the majority of muslims are moderate people like you.
anonymous: sorry i had to edit your language lest i’d get into trouble. well, there’s a saying: kill your enemies with kindness. i suppose that is the stance that the rest of the world is taking.
anon: i’m really interested in your argument as to how a name is everything. would you have had a different personality or attributes if you were named differently? Jesus refers specifically to the prophet and Buddha refers specifically to the founder of Buddhism whom btw was only a mortal but he achieved enlightenment. 4 criminal incidences had taken place and all you care about is how a name is everything. it is people like you who lack intelligence and depth that i’m afraid for Islam.
ST: thanks for the clarification.
Anon above @12.37am ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
He doesn’t have much grasp on muslim studies.
Allah is an arabic word imported into Malay language.
Muslims, even though their religion was established more recently, worship the same god as do Christians.
Anon may have written as if he is muslim, but his ignorance of the existence of the islamic prophet Jesus would indicate that Anon is not Muslim.
Anon (if muslim) should keep an eye out for Jesus, who is coming back to earth and will unite all of Allah’s followers, Jews, Christians and Muslims under one faith Islam. (hose who today burn churches of Allah’s followers are likely incurring the wrath of Allah)
There is a gravesite in Medina, beside Muhammed, awaiting Jesus’s body.
Not only is Anon ignorant of language, he is ignorant of Islam.
Dear Anon,
Any use and misused of ANY words doesnt give anyone the right to attack the worship places. Burning churches down is wrong no matter what the excuse is.
from what i learned and my belief. God is God no matter what you call him or use any term. a muslim in Malaysia might say Ya ALLAH but a muslim in China for example may use Tien (please correct my spelling if im wrong) to refer to God but if we’re using the same teaching, under the same faith, believing in the same God and our Prophet, he or she is still my Brother/ Sister in Islam.
He to me is the Almighty. He would know if one is faithful so that’s why i do not see the fuss with the name. if one choose to be faithful to the religion, that shouldnt hamper him or her from doing so.
what i do know is that according to the teachings and the history. muslims are not allowed to practice violence unless in a state of self defense, even then we are advised to sabar or be patient. that’s what the Prophet himself has done throughout his life. and that we are to respect other religion’s places of worship. we are even allowed to perform our prayers in these places if need be. that’s how highly we are suppose to regard these places of worship. the Prophet himself stated that one should protect everyone that’s taking shelter in a place of worship, no matter of what religion.
it saddens me to see that these people are forgetting the teachings and act according to their means and twisting the facts. one should never mix racial sentiments with one’s faith. a muslim is a muslim no matter what race is he. it’s not an exclusivity that belongs only to a malay.
ps: sorry for the long reply. just thought i can help justify some facts to Anon
Hey ST! Tuhan = GOD or DEWA.
Tuan = Master.
Allah is Malay spelling of Arabic word/representation.
I am not a Catholic/Muslim but here’s what I think.
This whole fiasco is actually because of the stupid Catholic publication.
If they want a Malay translation of bible, then the correct word to use is Tuhan.
Allah is used only because in middle easts, the language native to those population there address God as Allah. But we’re not Arabs, we DON’T use those word.
There is absolutely NO reason to use Allah word in Christian publications HERE because Malay version already have Tuhan.
The only reason those idiots in Church would wanna use this is a subtle subliminal conversion/psychological sooth saying to make potential Muslim to Christian converts feel at home.
This is the danger with religion.
If you ask me, I do not care for who is right, because I think both are too damn free, Christians and Muslims alike.
That’s why I condemn religion.
One side you have idiotic Christians wanting to test another religion’s patience by playing with the word Allah.
The other side you have fanatics waiting to pounce.
Then you have the political side wanting to capitalize on this, creating chaos so they can take back Selangor by force through Darurat.
In the end we all lose, because Selangor goes back to a bunch of corrupt despots by force.
And the idiots who’re to blame are none other than the religious nuts who cannot see beyond their imaginary fairytales.
The court is a tool of the politicians. They deliberately approve the ruling to create the chaos. You think they are actually independent ? They can screw around with Anwar’s trial, you seriously think they have no direction from anyone to approve the Allah word usage?
It is all a sandiwara by Umno and the stupid Catholic publication couldn’t see through the political moves and stuck blindly to their technical rights to use the word ‘Allah’ therefore giving these Umno goons the green light they needed to manipulate the manchurian candidates brainwashed by religion.
To all my Christian bros & sis, this incident is a test to our faith and we must remained strong…By God willing, He will punish those perpetrators and bring them to justice. Do not incurred the wrath of the Almighty…
Ming: I’m talking from a purely linguistic perspective, I think you should read this – Allah can’t be substituted with Tuhan in Bible translation
Check this self admitted church bomber.
https://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs228.snc3/21577_257045654496_611589496_3045300_4111945_n.jpg
ST: The original language of the Bible is Hebrew and Aramaic.
The word used to reference GOD is Elah or Eloah.
There’s no reason at all to ignore this, which the sneaky Catholic publication Herald has demonstrated.
They’ve been using the excuse that Arabic bible references GOD as Allah, but that is in Arabia, not Malaysia.
There’ve been excuses that they have no other word to use and they don’t want to use the word Tuhan.
This is nonsense. As I mentioned, they could always use the original Hebrew/Aramaic word in place of Tuhan and leave Allah out because what happens in Arabia has got NOTHING to do with the rest of the world.
They could’ve easily avoided that controversy but they prefer to play with technicalities and test the patience of others.
I have no pities for the Herald, and they really did brought it upon themselves on their ignorance or deliberate sneaky attempt to confuse and make would be Muslim-to-Christian converts feel at home by using the word Allah when they could’ve used either Tuhan, Elah, or Eloah.
Ming: O Hai Shadowfox!
Ming, since you are not a Christian who are using BM in daily prayers and during Sunday Mass, I don’t think you understand what is actually happening now.
Lets put your feet on the Christians shoes… Christians have been using the word in their daily prayers every morning and night, since they were little child, and suddenly now they have to change the word to some other words. It’s just doesn’t feel right actually.
It feels like they even want to control over your personal life now. Example, Principal said to Student, “Change your middle name to AAA.” Student asks, “Why?”… Principal said, “Because I don’t like it, and if you want to stay in this school, you have to change it.” When the Student disagree, Principal put on all the notice boards in the entire school that other students should avoid this Student because of his unacceptable behaviour.
Hope you understand the situation now, and the others too…
You don’t have to label yourself “atheist” anymore. Be proud of “bright” as in bright, a person of reason and humanity for all.
For those into supernatural, they’re refer to as “super”.
Just a footnote, “allah” is an Arabic word which predated Islam monotheism. I’m not taking side as all religions are based on contemptible universal untruth.
Here is the famous quote I thought I would share with you all:
“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”
Wow, I think I agree with Bright.