Sacred Language and Vernacular Translation of Scriptures

Sacred Language and Vernacular Translation of Scriptures: Why Some Muslims Just Cannot Understand/Accept the Use of “Allah” in the Alkitab (Bahasa Bible) I. Sacred Language and Religion of Diffusion Some Muslim activists have repeatedly charged Christians for having ulterior motives when they use the word “Allah” which include attempting to “deislamize Malay language” and to … Continue reading “Sacred Language and Vernacular Translation of Scriptures”

Sacred Language and Vernacular Translation of Scriptures:

Why Some Muslims Just Cannot Understand/Accept the Use of “Allah” in the Alkitab (Bahasa Bible)

I. Sacred Language and Religion of Diffusion

Some Muslim activists have repeatedly charged Christians for having ulterior motives when they use the word “Allah” which include attempting to “deislamize Malay language” and to proselytize confused Muslims. It is significant that these activists have not denied the fact that the Malay speaking churches have been using the word “Allah” in their liturgy and instructional materials for centuries. Still, these Muslim activists simply brushed aside the historical fact and the charge of ulterior motives is repeated ad nauseum. Wherein lies this visceral reaction that overwhelms, if not precludes rational discussion in the dispute over the use of “Allah”? Continue reading “Sacred Language and Vernacular Translation of Scriptures”

Foreign Vocabulary and Loan Words in the Quran: Historical Facts

Foreign Vocabulary and Loan Words in the Quran: Historical Facts One repeated assertion by Muslim scholars defending the government’s ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by Christians is that Quranic Arabic is the ‘purest’ and most appropriate language of divine revelation. As such, Christians are not allowed to use the word ‘Allah’ on … Continue reading “Foreign Vocabulary and Loan Words in the Quran: Historical Facts”

Foreign Vocabulary and Loan Words in the Quran: Historical Facts

One repeated assertion by Muslim scholars defending the government’s ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by Christians is that Quranic Arabic is the ‘purest’ and most appropriate language of divine revelation. As such, Christians are not allowed to use the word ‘Allah’ on the assumption that improper usage of the word by Christians will lead to corruption of language – to use the emotive words of a Muslim scholar – it amounts to raping the soul of their race (“Pemerkosaan Jiwa Bangsa”).

Such an assertion is intellectually questionable. It is evident that there is no such thing as a pure language which would presuppose a self-contained and self-sufficient linguistic community, hermetically sealed from interactions with neighboring linguistic communities – a historical impossibility by any account. Indeed, the Arabic language coexisted and dynamically interacted with other cognate Semitic languages like Nabatean, Hebrew and Aramaic (Syraic) in its early history. We only need to point out the phenomenon of loan words in (Quranic) Arabic to prove the point. Continue reading “Foreign Vocabulary and Loan Words in the Quran: Historical Facts”

High Court Judgment on Allah controversy: Home Minister Wrong in Four Crucial Areas

High Court Judgment: Home Minister Wrong in Four Crucial Areas The High Court ruling on the Allah controversy on 31 Dec 2009  by the learned judge Lau Bee Lan is a model of acute and coherent reasoning. The learned judge  57-page judgment found the government wrong in four crucial areas : 1) The Home Minister’s … Continue reading “High Court Judgment on Allah controversy: Home Minister Wrong in Four Crucial Areas”

High Court Judgment: Home Minister Wrong in Four Crucial Areas

The High Court ruling on the Allah controversy on 31 Dec 2009  by the learned judge Lau Bee Lan is a model of acute and coherent reasoning. The learned judge  57-page judgment found the government wrong in four crucial areas :

1) The Home Minister’s ban is illegal

2) The Home Minister’s ban is unconstitutional

3) The Home Minister’s ban is irrational

4) The Home Minister’s claim that the ban was to safeguard public security and order is without merit

Read full report at Religious Liberty Watch LINK

Allah and Conversions in Malaysia: The Facts!

Allah and Conversions in Malaysia: The Facts! Muslim activists have claimed repeatedly that Christians in Malaysia refuse to drop using the word Allah because they want to confuse and convert Muslims, thereby posing a threat to national security. The claim is both groundless and insincere.

Allah and Conversions in Malaysia: The Facts!
Muslim activists have claimed repeatedly that Christians in Malaysia refuse to drop using the word Allah because they want to confuse and convert Muslims, thereby posing a threat to national security. The claim is both groundless and insincere. Continue reading “Allah and Conversions in Malaysia: The Facts!”

Why Use Allah and Tuhan? Official Explanation from Indonesian Bible Society

An Official Explanation from Indonesian Bible Society LINK (English Version) Why are the terms “Allah” and “TUHAN” used in our Bible? Penjelasan Rasmi Daripada Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia LINK (Malay Version):  Versi Melayu Berikut Di bawah The Indonesian Bible Society, which speaks for 25 million Malay/Indonesian Christians  should be the most authoritative reference on translation of … Continue reading “Why Use Allah and Tuhan? Official Explanation from Indonesian Bible Society”

An Official Explanation from Indonesian Bible Society LINK (English Version)
Why are the terms “Allah” and “TUHAN” used in our Bible?

Penjelasan Rasmi Daripada Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia LINK (Malay Version):  Versi Melayu Berikut Di bawah

The Indonesian Bible Society, which speaks for 25 million Malay/Indonesian Christians  should be the most authoritative reference on translation of the Malay Bible! Continue reading “Why Use Allah and Tuhan? Official Explanation from Indonesian Bible Society”

Allah and Tuhan in Bible Translation

Why It is Not Possible to Substitute Allah with Tuhan in Bible Translation Muslims in other parts of the world (Arabs, Persians, North Africans, Pakistanis and Indonesians) have no objection and are not worried about getting confused when Christians use the word Allah. In contrast, some Malaysian Muslims claim to be confused; a strange phenomenon … Continue reading “Allah and Tuhan in Bible Translation”

Why It is Not Possible to Substitute Allah with Tuhan in Bible Translation

Muslims in other parts of the world (Arabs, Persians, North Africans, Pakistanis and Indonesians) have no objection and are not worried about getting confused when Christians use the word Allah. In contrast, some Malaysian Muslims claim to be confused; a strange phenomenon indeed.  This observation lends credence to the suggestion that the Allah issue is an artificial Malay issue and not a genuine Muslim issue. The truth is that the current orchestrated protests against the recent High Court decision to allow the Catholic Herald (and Christians) to use the word Allah must be seen as cynical manipulations by Malay politicians to gain votes from their community. Continue reading “Allah and Tuhan in Bible Translation”

Translating the Names of God

TRANSLATING THE NAMES OF GOD: Recent experience from Indonesia and Malaysia D. Soesilo Note – This is partial reproduction of the original article. Reproduced with permission from the author The Situation in Malaysia The situation in Malaysia in regard to the use of the divine names is different to that in Indonesia in one important … Continue reading “Translating the Names of God”

TRANSLATING THE NAMES OF GOD: Recent experience from Indonesia and Malaysia
D. Soesilo

Note – This is partial reproduction of the original article. Reproduced with permission from the author

The Situation in Malaysia
The situation in Malaysia in regard to the use of the divine names is different to that in Indonesia in one important respect, which has more to do with politics than with language. It is that some years ago some states and the federal government prohibited the use of the name  Allah  by non-Muslims.
It is partly fear of this that has led some organisations to make changes in the rendering of the names of God in Malay and Indonesian, in both their own writing and in quoting of Scripture. (Each time the word  Allah  “God” occurs, it has been consistently changed to  Tuhan “Lord”, with the result that there is no difference between the renderings of the two Hebrew names YHWH and Elohim.)
Continue reading “Translating the Names of God”

BULLSHIT, LIES & errors

BULLSHIT, LIES & errors The internet promises the rebirth of the Republic of Letters (circa 18th century) which comprises critically minded people from diverse linguistic, religious and national backgrounds who are bonded by open inquiry and the common quest for truth. But the sad reality is that the anonymity allowed in internet discussion platforms provides … Continue reading “BULLSHIT, LIES & errors”

BULLSHIT, LIES & errors

The internet promises the rebirth of the Republic of Letters (circa 18th century) which comprises critically minded people from diverse linguistic, religious and national backgrounds who are bonded by open inquiry and the common quest for truth. But the sad reality is that the anonymity allowed in internet discussion platforms provides a perfect cover for some intellectual juveniles seeking to misrepresent and abuse truth and thereby derail conversations that would otherwise lead to discovery of common truth. Indeed, in place of truth we find ample evidence of errors, lies and even bullshit all over the internet. Continue reading “BULLSHIT, LIES & errors”

More Academic Resources on Pre-Islamic Use of Allah

Rejoinder – Allah is Not a Personal Name: More Evidence Needed, Not Mere Assertions Again in response to some comments on the article “ Allah is not a Personal Name LINK I have decided to post my own rejoinder as a full post: Further comments on use of allah I am not concerned with how … Continue reading “More Academic Resources on Pre-Islamic Use of Allah”

Rejoinder – Allah is Not a Personal Name: More Evidence Needed, Not Mere Assertions

Again in response to some comments on the article “ Allah is not a Personal Name LINK
I have decided to post my own rejoinder as a full post:
Further comments on use of allah
I am not concerned with how Muslims understand Allah (whether personal or generic; that is their personal liberty that I have no wish to interfere). But the thrust of the argument of my articles is that the Christian use of allah is consistent with the centuries of usage among the various Semitic languages/dialects. This argument has not been addressed, much less challenged. Continue reading “More Academic Resources on Pre-Islamic Use of Allah”

Allah is Not a Personal Name

Allah is Not a Personal Name It is bad enough when the Malaysian government bans Christians from using the word Allah. It is worse when some misguided Christians (granted it is a small minority) agree that Muslims have sole proprietary rights to the word Allah, even though this capitulation amounts to surrendering their centuries old … Continue reading “Allah is Not a Personal Name”

Allah is Not a Personal Name

It is bad enough when the Malaysian government bans Christians from using the word Allah. It is worse when some misguided Christians (granted it is a small minority) agree that Muslims have sole proprietary rights to the word Allah, even though this capitulation amounts to surrendering their centuries old usage of the word Allah for worship and spiritual instructions.

Perhaps this capitulation results from a misunderstanding of Arabic grammar, that is, the view that Allah is a personal name. Allah, as such, refers solely to the individual Supreme Being whom Muslims (and no other believers) worship. Accepting this misunderstanding would give grounds to the Muslim’s (still contestable) demand that only they have the right to use the word Allah and its related terms.Such a capitulation must be vigorously resisted seeing how the Malaysian government unrelentingly prosecutes its ban against Christians using the word Allah. It is imperative that we analyze and correct this misunderstanding.

Continue reading “Allah is Not a Personal Name”