Malaysia’s government has pledged to challenge a High Court ruling that Christians have the constitutional right to use the word Allah to refer to God.
The verdict has sparked protests by Muslim groups since being handed down on Thursday, raising fears of friction between the ethnic Malay Muslim majority and the large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who are mainly Christian, Buddhist or Hindu.
The Prime Minister’s Department will appeal against the verdict, Jamil Khir Baharom, a Cabinet minister responsible for Islamic affairs, said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement called for Muslims to respect the court decision and for all parties to be patient and allow the dispute to be resolved through the legal process.
The High Court’s decision struck down a government ban on non-Muslims translating God as Allah in their literature. Minorities welcomed it as a blow against what many consider to be institutionalized religious discrimination.
The verdict has divided Muslim commentators. Some agree with the government that Allah is an Islamic word that should be used exclusively by Muslims, and that its use by other religions would be misleading. However, others say non-Muslims should be free to use Allah.
Efforts by Christians to use Allah in Malay-language literature have been perceived by some Muslims “as a plot to convert Malay Muslims to Christianity,” Anas Zubedy, a blogger on social and political issues, wrote.
Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday the government should set strict conditions for the use of the word Allah to ensure the court verdict does not trigger religious tensions, the news agency Bernama reported.
“What I am afraid of is that the term ‘Allah’ might be used in such a way that could inflame the anger of Muslims, if [non-Muslims] were to use it on banners or write something that might not reflect Islam,” Mahathir was quoted as saying.
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