The Allah in the bible issue has been reignited again and the edict from the Sultan of Selangor over banning non-Muslims over the usage of the word has drew the ire of many other people whom, many based on historical facts that the word can be used by Christians in the Arab nation as well as the the word being used in the past 4 centuries without a hitch or two.
Dr. Asri, has raised a very critical point. If by not allowing the non-Muslims to use Allah, state anthems will have to be replaced with another version to cater for the others. There are six states that has anthems containing the word Allah.
The Perak state anthem, Allah Lanjutkan Usia Sultan (1888) also has it - not to mention the tune is also based on the Memula Moon tune. Allah appears in the first and the last half of the song:
1 - Dilanjutkan Allah usianya Sultan
5 - Iman yang soleh Allah kurniakan
6 - Allah berkati Perak Ridzuan
7 - Allah selamatkan negeri dan sultan
Doing on blanket ban on other people except their own kind is totally impossible, considering that there are cases like that above that has to be considered. Bishop Paul Tan was quoted saying, "If the Malaysian government forbids people of faiths other than
those who profess Islam from using the word ‘Allah’, we would be the
laughing stock of more enlightened people in other countries.” What he said is correct. Malaysia is run by people who claimed to be themselves holier than thou but actually not practising by what they preach.
If you remember what Harrussani Zakaria said about convert to Islam then Allah can be used, this is somewhat not very logical. Along the way, the episode of the edict brought up by the Sultan of Selangor also raises another interesting point of debate: revelation vs reasoning. In this current age of technology and education, young and well educated people will definitely would look for a reason in understanding why a revelation is there on stone. However, the old guard's perspective is that what is revealed cannot be challenged without question.
The Sultan is the head of the religion. Behind the head would be a group of religious advisers. If they want the Sultan to follow it, then the calling of shots comes from them. But here, the problem would be that there is a person who claims to be pious, holier than thou but yet the ideas and principles he had in mind do not match with the current period of time. The other problem with them is there may be some of these people who don't practice what they preach.
The bible and Quran are silent on people's daily activities. Most of the daily activities are mostly taken from the narratives of the people who in association and close proximity with either Jesus or the Prophet. Between a narrative and the one that came directly (written from the words of God), which takes the precedence most?
The argument that Allah is superior and can be used by one group (between Muslims and Christians) is wrong and can imply that they do not accept prominent figures in religion like Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, Adam and Eve, Jesus and even his mother Mary which are acknowledge in the Quran or in the inscriptions on locales such as the Dome of the Rock.
That is one main argument to say that whoever thinks that is no doubt incorrect and misled.
In this case of people who talks so much while claiming to be holier than thou, may I suggest that if anyone of these people fall in that category, might as well migrate to Saudi Arabia? I've seen people in that category but yet come to places in big cars and carrying prestigious titles - but isn't that going against the modesty that most of the well known religious people would carry?
In anyway, the battle between reasoning vs revelation without questioning remains ongoing now.
The Sultan is the head of the religion. Behind the head would be a group of religious advisers. If they want the Sultan to follow it, then the calling of shots comes from them. But here, the problem would be that there is a person who claims to be pious, holier than thou but yet the ideas and principles he had in mind do not match with the current period of time. The other problem with them is there may be some of these people who don't practice what they preach.
The bible and Quran are silent on people's daily activities. Most of the daily activities are mostly taken from the narratives of the people who in association and close proximity with either Jesus or the Prophet. Between a narrative and the one that came directly (written from the words of God), which takes the precedence most?
The argument that Allah is superior and can be used by one group (between Muslims and Christians) is wrong and can imply that they do not accept prominent figures in religion like Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, Adam and Eve, Jesus and even his mother Mary which are acknowledge in the Quran or in the inscriptions on locales such as the Dome of the Rock.
That is one main argument to say that whoever thinks that is no doubt incorrect and misled.
In this case of people who talks so much while claiming to be holier than thou, may I suggest that if anyone of these people fall in that category, might as well migrate to Saudi Arabia? I've seen people in that category but yet come to places in big cars and carrying prestigious titles - but isn't that going against the modesty that most of the well known religious people would carry?
In anyway, the battle between reasoning vs revelation without questioning remains ongoing now.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You are welcome to post in any comments that do not trouble readers of the blog.
Providing an ID is recommended. If some reason you wish to use an Anonymous name, please leave a name below your comments. From now on, comments with no names will not be considered for moderation.