PETALING JAYA - PAS leader Dzulkefly Ahmad today stressed that the party’s collective stand on the term “Allah” was that it is not only exclusive to Muslims, but could be used by those of other faiths.
He was responding to PAS’ deputy spiritual leader Haron Din’s insistence today that “Allah” belongs exclusively to Islam, contradicting Pakatan Rakyat’s official stand that non-Muslims have the right to use the Arabic word to describe their god.
“What is important is the collective stand of the party and majlis syura (the party’s highest decision-making body), and the collective stand of Pakatan,” Dzulkefly told FMT.
However, he said Haron was entitled to express personal views that may not necessarily coincide with the collective stand of the party.
“Anyone of any standing and leaders of any discipline can state their own particular stand. In short, he is free to state his own views.
“I, for one, will not criticise him nor vilify him for stating a different view. I have seen so many differences and variations in Muslim scholarships,” he added.
Dzulkefly explained that the Islamic religion encourages differing opinions through discourse and scholarly debates.
“The Islamic discourse and scholarship is willing to accept differences by even a single voice or by a few,” he said.
“In fact, we celebrate differences. All arguments to me are logical,” he added.
Dzulkefly reiterated that the party’s collective stand was to allow non-Muslims to use the term “Allah”, however he urged those who do use the term “not to abuse it”.
“Allah celebrates the plurality of religious belief. As such, we allow the use of Allah by people of other faiths provided they do not abuse it,” he said.
“I believe this is a very objective and principled stand,” he added.
Haron Din: Christians prohibited from using “Allah”
Thursday, Pakatan supremo Anwar Ibrahim called for calm following the Court of Appeal’s decision on Monday to ban the term ‘Allah’ from being used in Catholic weekly, The Herald.
The Permatang Pauh MP was responding to worldwide criticisms on the judgment, which law experts said had misplaced its priority by misinterpreting Article 3 and Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.
He also said Pakatan’s stand is that the word ‘Allah’ should not be exclusive to Muslims as Christians and Jews are also allowed to use it, but the name should not be used in a wrong and irresponsible manner that could jeopardise racial and religious harmony.
Earlier today, Haron was quoted by Utusan Malaysia as saying that the Christians, who believed in “several gods”, had no right to use ‘Allah’ as the Arabic word meant “God All Mighty” or “The Only God”.
“Those who transform Allah into three or two or anything else then the Allah term is damaged according to our understanding as well as their understanding,” Haron was quoted as saying.
“Therefore I invite all Muslims to express their gratitude to Allah because after a struggle that goes all the way up to the Court of Appeal, the sacred word Allah remains only for Islam.
“In other words, the sacred word is exclusively for Islam while the application of others has been prohibited by the courts.”
By Lisa J. Ariffin
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