KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNS) The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has ruled that a national Catholic weekly can use the word "Allah" to refer to God and that the Home Ministry’s order banning certain uses of the word was illegal. The court also declared Dec. 31 that the word "Allah" is not exclusive to Islam, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.
"We welcome the court’s decision very much as, in the long term, it will be not only good for (the) Herald but for others as well," said S. Selvarajah, one of a team of four lawyers involved in the church’s challenge of the ban.
In 2007 Malaysia’s Home Ministry issued a blanket ban on the use of the word "Allah" in all non-Muslim publications.
Archbishop Murphy Pakiam of Kuala Lumpur, publisher of the Herald, challenged it in a case that began in February.
Selvarajah told UCA News the judge made six declarations, one citing Article 11 of the constitution on the right to religious freedom.
"Article 11 states that we have the right to manage our own religious affairs, thus using ‘Allah’ as part of our worship is our right," the lawyer said.
Bishop Antony Selvanyagam of Penang congratulated the Herald’s lawyers and its editor, Father Lawrence Andrew, "for their efforts to defend the rights of the church."
The government had argued that the use of the word "Allah" in Christian publications was likely to confuse Muslims and draw them to Christianity.
Father Andrew said the word "Allah" has been used by Christians in the region to refer to God for 400 years.