In my previous letter Why not ‘Elohim’? I started off by stating that I wasn’t going to argue over the legal, etymological or historical use by Christians of the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God, and for a good reason. By pursuing those lines, we only encourage intransigence to set in on both sides as each demands recognition of their rights.

Why don’t we take an alternative path and rather than scream ‘It’s our right…our right…our right’ like a defectively stuck record, let us examine instead the fears, real or otherwise, of the other side.

Noted political scientist Farish Noor has lambasted both the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat for exploiting the issue with a regrettable outcome, where due to their polemics, the religious and racially driven anger has gone from bad to worse.

He stated: ‘Right now, we are seeing Malaysian politics at its worst — parochial-like politics which only aim for short-term, narrow-minded interests. We still project this ‘kampung-like’ mentality...and I place equal blame on both the opposition parties as well as the government.

‘Both sides are playing up the issue when neither has the guts to admit that we have to learn to live with this contradiction.’ So how do we live with ‘this contradiction’ pointed out by Farish Noor?

No doubt each of us, including Farish Noor, has his own views. Well, mine is that instead of being obsessed in asserting one’s rights (like that defectively stuck record), we should strive to understand and respect the fears of the other side, more so when we have an alternative ‘means’ to fall back on.

Do I hear outraged cries of ‘Surrender’, ‘Sell out’ and ‘Subservience’? Then please recall, the aim of this exercise is to see how we may deal with the fears of the other side, not their greed for power.

I am sure we can differentiate between fear and greed, but I concede that the opportunistic proclivities of our political parties and our intrinsic prejudice and our anger, instigated by populist polemics, have often clouded our ability to objectively distinguish those motives.

Let us begin by asking, ‘What is it that Christians fear?’ Would it be the old fear where giving ‘them’ an inch will end up in their demanding a mile? Or would it be that the majority may get the idea they can dictate to the minority? Remember again, I am not talking about rights but fears. I hope to learn from my Christian friends.

At this point, let us take stock and remind ourselves what really are the critical factors that have upset the Muslims and by Muslims I mean also those who have publicly supported the Catholic ‘Herald’s’ use of ‘Allah’, perhaps for political solidarity, but in private expressed their grave concerns at the Catholic Church’s insistence to use ‘Allah’ to refer to its God.

Yes, much as PAS party president Haji Hadi Awang might have delighted the pro-Catholic ‘Herald’ camp by coming out unequivocally to support the weekly newspaper, his public stance is not shared by some in PAS.

Dzulkefly Ahmad has eruditely informed us that among PAS’ top ‘ulama’ leaders, there exists two opposing positions or two schools of thought regarding the Christian use of ‘Allah’. He is the MP for Kuala Selangor and a member of the PAS central working committee.

Dzulkefly admitted that ‘Simply put, the opposing stance has come to be reached because both ‘schools’ have chosen to treat the subject from different methodological approaches, premised on two different perspectives. Little wonder, the apparently diverging conclusions.

‘More interestingly, despite seemingly diverging stance and consequences, they are both within the Islamic worldview and, to a large extent, ‘right’ in their own perspectives.’

I am in no doubt that the division within PAS on the issue reflects those of the general Malay community, particularly in the Peninsula.

I believe that Hadi Awang in giving his nod to the Catholic ‘Herald’, perhaps grudgingly, has grasped the political necessity of compromising to achieve PAS’ objectives in its ‘bigger picture’, in as much as Dzulkefly Ahmad would like to assure us PAS has done so not because it is appeasing voters from non-Muslims constituencies and that PAS is now an Islamist party that understands the politics and needs of a multi-religious and multi-cultural society in a democracy.

So let us return to the question of ‘What do Muslims fear’?

Perhaps we can use the Sikhs’ case to swiftly identify the crucial factors that have caused them considerable anxieties. In their prayers, the Sikhs do refer to ‘Allah’ but they do so in the Punjabi language. I can tell you that no Muslim has been nor is worried about that.

Therefore, we may say that the aggravating factors would be Christians using the ‘Allah’ word to refer to ‘God’ in a Malay-language publication, prayer or preaching.

The Muslims, including a significant number of those who might have publicly supported the Catholic Church on this issue, are suspicious and fearful that the Christians will exploit this to convert Malays to Christianity. And it is in the use of the Malay language (and not Punjabi, Chinese, Tamil or English) which enables this. Proselytisation!

As I stated previously, let us not forget that both Islam and Christianity are evangelistic missionary religions with an obligation on the faithful to convert the non-believers. There has been ample evidence of Christian evangelistic proselytising going on in the Muslim world, even in Islamic strongholds like Jordan, Algeria and Iraq.

Malaysiakini columnist Helen Ang said wisely in her article : ‘The convention of 'Allah' belongs to Islam. Heightened ‘sensitivities’ currently prevailing is premised on this plain understanding, particularly among ordinary Malays in the peninsula […] The reality is that Malays are angry over this issue and it's not an altogether manufactured syndrome, Umno's visible hand in the instigation and agitation notwithstanding. […] Their disquiet on the basis of theology is a legitimate sentiment...’

But the solution is clearly not in sight, with the situation muddied by the political imperatives of both sides of politics, as mentioned by Farish Noor.

The fact is today, our nation is severely divided, not unlike the politico-ideological chasm that existed in the US during George Bush’s misrule, between the Red and Blue camps. Thus it’s hardly surprising that there is a convenient propensity to blame the usual suspects for creating the acrimonious confrontation over the ‘Allah’ issue, and miss reading the genuine fear of the Muslims..

Highly respected Farish Noor has bravely defended Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak by stating the obvious, that Najib, being a realist, is acutely aware such acrimonies arising out of sensitive religious issues do not favour the government because of the adverse fallout.

No one will then want to invest here, and worse, there may be a flight of capital if the acrimony exacerbates any further. I think it is time for more sober heads on both sides to take over and stop the petty strutting.