MALAYSIA'S CURSE: Catholic Church loses legal battle to use the word 'Allah' in reference to God

Arab Christians have been using the word 'Allah' in pre-Islamic period. The Apostle Creed in Arabic says it: (Source: Creationism.org):

بالحقيقة نؤمن بإله واحد، الله الآب، ضابط الكل، خالق السماء والأرض، ما يُرَى وما لا يرى.

نؤمن برب واحد يسوع المسيح، ابن الله الوحيد، المولود من الآب قبل كل الدهور، نور من نور، إله حق من إله حق.

مولود غير مخلوق، مساو للآب في الجوهر، الذي به كان كل شئ. هذا الذي من أجلنا نحن البشر، ومن أجل خلاصنا، نزل من السماء، وتجسد من الروح القدس ومن مريم العذراء، وتأنس.

وصلب عنا على عهد بيلاطس البنطي. وتألم وقبر وقام من بين الأموات في اليوم الثالث كما في الكتب.

وصعد إلى السموات، وجلس عن يمين أبيه، وأيضا يأتي في مجده ليدين الأحياء والأموات، الذي ليس لملكه انقضاء. نعم نؤمن بالروح القدس، الرب المحيى المنبثق من الآب. نسجد له ونمجده مع الآب والإبن. الناطق في الأنبياء.

وبكنيسة واحدة مقدسة جامعة رسولية. ونعترف بمعمودية واحدة لمغفرة الخطايا.

وننتظر قيامة الأموات وحياة الدهر الآتي. أمين.

Sadly, the Federal Court of Malaysia finally BAN Catholics from using the word 'Allah' [Arabic الله‎ ] in reference to the One Almighty God!

"Allah (English pronunciation: /ˈælə/ or /ˈɑːlə/; Arabic: الله‎ Allāh,  is the Arabic word for God (al ilāh, literally "the God"). The word has cognates in other Semitic languages, including Elah in Aramaic, ʾĒl in Canaanite and Elohim in Hebrew.

"It is used mainly by Muslims to refer to God in Islam, but it has also been used by Arab Christians since pre-Islamic times. -Wikipedia

How could Malaysia's majority Muslims be given the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to use the word 'Allah' when in the West MINORITY MUSLIMS keep on telling non-Muslims that 'WE ARE BROTHERS' with 'THE SAME GOD'.  How could we refrain from STEREOTYPING MUSLIMS and ISLAM as a religion when what WESTERN MUSLIM APOLOGISTS say is different from MUSLIMS say in Islamic countries.  Could this be MYTHS OF ISLAM:

"Muslims often complain of popular "misconceptions" about their religion in the West.

"We took a hard look, however, and found that the most prevalent myths of Islam are the ones held by Muslims and Western apologists. The only glaring exception to this is the misconception that all Muslims are alike (they aren't, of course), but even Muslims often believe this as well, as evidenced by the various contrary factions insisting that they are the true Muslims, while those who disagree with them are either infidels, hijackers, or hypocrites."

Malaysia's  FEDERAL COURTS decision only PROVES what CRITICS of ISLAM in the WEST have been saying since the Islamic terrorist attacks in the US in 9-11. If Muslims around the world wish that minority Muslims in other countries are respected, THEY SHOULD KNOW how to RESPECT RELIGIOUS MINORITIES in Islamic States such as Malaysia!

Let's learn from JESUS, the Son of God / the Prophet of God:

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets. -Mt. 7:12

Malaysia Church loses battle to use 'Allah' in Catholic newspaper

The Federal Court in Malaysia has ruled that the Catholic Church has no right to use the term “Allah” which means God in the newsweekly Herald.

The decision follows the Church’s five year-long legal battle for the constitutional right to use the phrase.

A five-man bench led by Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong unanimously upheld that here had been no procedural unfairness in the Federal Court's earlier decision not to grant leave. He added that the threshold for the review had not been met. 

A seven-member panel of federal court judges on June 23, 2014, dismissed the church's application for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision to ban the Herald from using the Arabic word for "God" in its Bahasa language content.

Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria was among the four on the panel who dismissed the church's application, in a 4-3 "skin of our teeth" judgment, as the church's lawyers have called it, that saw three other judges dissenting.

With no more legal avenues to pursue for the right to use the word "Allah" in the Herald, the publication’s editor Rev Father Lawrence Andrew expressed disappointment on Wednesday that the Federal Court's dismissal of the appeal would further undermine the rights of minorities.

"Malay has been the language in the church in Malaya for centuries and I have shown evidence [that Bahasa Malaysia] was already a language of worship for hundreds of years in devotional booklets,” he said. "And during this period, there was no trouble whatsoever, so I don't see an possibility of evoking trouble.”

The word “Allah” is widely used by the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak and the church has argued that the ban of its use in the Herald is a violation of freedom of religion and expression.

Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) politician Gan Peng Sieu, who is also a lawyer and was holding a watching brief on the case for the party, described the Federal Court's decision as a great injustice.

Islam is the official language of Malaysia, whose population is 61% Muslim, 20% Buddhist, 9% Christian, and 6% Hindu. About half of Christians in the Southeast Asian nation are catholic.

My heartfelt sympathy to all Victims of this curse. May they ALL REST IN PEACE!

Curse of Malaysia Airlines? 5 tragic moments in airline's history before MH17 and MH370 -Mirror.co.uk

Missing AirAsia QZ8501 and MH370: Twitter reacts to 'cursed' Malaysian flights -International Business Times

‘Is it a curse?’ Prayers for missing AirAsia plane -Al Arabiya News

The curse of Malaysia Airlines: MH17 brings back nightmares of MH370 -Daily Star News 

Non-Muslim pupils forced to eat in bathroom because of Ramadan

The act of segregation is condemned by politicians and Muslims. Our "religion does not dictate this," Muslim woman says. However, in many Islamic countries, non-Muslims are required to respect the eating ban during the period of fasting.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies also read here) - Non-Muslim children in a Malaysian primary school were forced to have lunch in the facility's change room whilst their classmates fasted during Ramadan. Pictures of ethnic Chinese and Indian (usually Christian or Hindu) children were posted on the internet by one of the mothers, Guneswari Kelly, causing an uproar among politicians and Muslims opposed to unhygienic segregation.

On her Facebook page, Kelly Guneswari wrote that staff at the Sri Pristana School, in suburban Kuala Lumpur, told non-Muslim children to eat in the school's bathroom and not in the canteen. "Is this fair? Can [a national school] treat [non-Muslim pupils] like this" during Ramadan?

After being informed, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin ordered an investigation into the matter, saying he would take action.

School officials have not released any statement, but Jehan Bakar, a Muslim woman lawyer and mother of two, said she was "horrified" by the segregation of non-Muslim children. Our "religion does not dictate this," she insisted.

In fact Islam does not ask non-Muslims to fast or hide, but in many Islamic countries, Christians, Hindus or people of other religions are asked (and sometimes forced) not to eat in public or are not allow to eat at all during the fasting period, which runs from dawn to dusk.

In Malaysia, there are often signs of impatience towards Islamic rules that are often applied in a very restrictive way. Recently, a Chinese couple was accused of sedition for posting online a Ramadan greeting that showed them eating pork, which is forbidden in Islam.

In 2010, the principal of a secondary school in the state of Kedah accused ethnic Chinese students of being insensitive towards their Muslim classmates because they ate at school during Ramadan, telling them to "return to China" if they could not respect the culture of other ethnic groups.

Malaysian Muslims ask Vatican to recall envoy over use of “Allah”

Islamists are now the Catholic Church' nemesis in building peace among believers. Their ignorance of history is blissful.  For the information of those who don't know, Arab Christians have used the word 'allah' (الله) long way even before the advent of Islam itself.  In pre-Islamic Makkah Muhammad's father (Islam's prophet) was named 'Abdullah' (عبد الله) --'Slave of God' or 'Servant of God -- which suggests that pre-Islamic Makkah had used the same word even before Islam came to be.

BANGKOK, Thailand (RNS) The Vatican’s first envoy to Muslim-majority Malaysia should quit and go back to Rome, angry Malaysian Islamists said after the Roman Catholic cleric said Christians may use the Arabic word “Allah” to describe God.

In an escalating confrontation, dozens of Islamists marched to the Vatican’s mission in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, after prayers at a mosque on Friday (July 19), and presented a 670-word memorandum demanding his recall.

The troubled envoy, Archbishop Joseph Marino of Alabama, arrived in the Southeast Asian country in April.

Marino’s problems began after his interview with reporters on July 11, when he spoke about the Christian Federation of Malaysia’s controversial decision to call God “Allah,” the Arabic word for God.

“It seems to be quite logical and acceptable,” Marino said in the interview.

Some Muslims complained, and the Malaysian government summoned Marino on July 16 to discuss the issue.