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The ultras come from both sides of the divide
Published:  Oct 21, 2013 10:33 AM
Updated: 8:01 AM

YOURSAY ‘PAS leaders Haron Din and Harun Taib are two personalities who are apt to come out with statements not congruent with the rest of the party.'

'Allah' exclusive to Islam, fight continues, says Haron

Proarte: What PAS syura council deputy chief Haron Din should be asking is why Christians have not banned him and fellow Malay Muslims from using the word ‘Allah'?

If the argument is that the Christian concept of God is different to that of the Malay Muslims and hence there should be differential terminologies for God, surely it is the Malay Muslims who should find a different term for 'Allah' because the Arab Christians referred to their God as 'Allah' long before Prophet Muhammad and Islam came on the scene.

Let us not forget that not all the Arabs who came to this part of the world were Muslims. There were Christian Arabs as well and they worshiped Allah.

The earliest known Malay Bible was translated about 400 years ago and since the Malay word for God was 'Allah' and also because it was well-recognised to be a generic term for God in the Arab world common to the three Abrahamic faiths, there was a logic and consistency in the usage of the word 'Allah' in the Malay Bible. It was not viewed as a Christian 'conspiracy' by Arab Muslims.

The sad fact is Malay Muslims have increasingly been brainwashed into thinking that the word 'Allah' has been hijacked by Christians. This is historically incorrect as the term 'Allah' has been used by Arab Christians long before the advent of Islam. Did Christian Arabs deny Muslims the right to call their God 'Allah'?

This lends weight to the fact the term 'Allah' is a generic term for God in the Arab world. Arab words constitute about 20 percent of the Malay language - 'maktub', 'mahkamah', 'Jumaat', 'sahih', 'izin', 'wujud', 'saat', 'reda', 'rela', 'khabar', including 'Allah' - the list is endless.

To deny Malay-speaking Christians the use of the word 'Allah', shows historical, religious and cultural ignorance as well as plain stupidity.

Ferdtan: Haron Din has time to dabble about politics to Utusan Malaysia all the way from Mecca while performing the Haj? Utusan must be desperate enough to get his unsurprising views to coincide with Umno's to call him thousands of miles away from home.

It is not that we want to be biased against Haron's views but have you noticed that he had never once agreed with his party's as well Pakatan Rakyat's views? Not once. He seems to agree with Umno's views all the time; even supporting the unity talks with Umno.

So Haron, PAS is not the party for you as you seem to disagree with the central party committee's views most of the time. You always share the same views with Umno and we wonder why you are wasting your time in PAS. Join Umno now.

Sali Tambap: Haron must remember that he throws the first stone by saying this. The Dayaks word for this is 'mungkal'. The one who 'mungkal' will be 'tulah', in other word, God's retribution will befall on him. It will come in the least expected time.

The word 'Allah' has been used hundreds of years by the natives of Sarawak even before he was born. It is not a translation; it is their language. 'Allah Taala' means God and that's it. If there is repercussion as a result of what he said, he must know that he starts it all.

Odin: Haron Din, I am certain that your idea of the triune God is wide off the mark and hence your opposition to Christians using of the word 'Allah'. Obviously, you are not alone.

If you and others like you would humble yourself and seek information from any of the church leaders close to your location, I am certain that you will see the light. After all, you must be a fairly intelligent person as well as one filled with a reasonable amount of wisdom acquired with age.

You need to sit down with a church leader to learn about the subject and not trawl the Internet or read print literature. Why not?

This is because certain words do not mean what they are commonly taken to mean, such words being translated from languages used during as well as long before the time the old texts were translated to produce the present King James Bible.

For example, 'person' does not mean 'orang' in Malay. So, you find the Holy Trinity being described as one God existing in three 'persons'. This does not mean that there are three persons (or individuals) and, therefore, three Gods. Not at all.

The phrases 'father' and 'son' also have nothing to do with procreation or biological reproduction. They are merely symbolical words.

It is beyond the scope of this comment to explain further. Suffice it to inform you that Christians believe in only one God and not three. The fact that there is only one God is stated many times in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Acts of The Apostles.

Having said all that, it is up to you and others like you to decide what stance you want to assume. You all have two options.

Option 1: Be arrogant, obstinate, confrontational and cow the Christians in your country. If you choose this option, no one wins.

Option 2: Be humble, keep an open mind, and seek to be friends. Choosing this option will result in a win-win situation. Your move, tuan.

Malaccan: This just confirms ultras can come from both sides of the political divide. That Utusan (which tends to lie more than report the truth) quotes him and that Haron Din does not give any basis for his personal views, it's probably better to wait and hear the explanation or counter arguments.

PAS leaders Haron Din and Harun Taib are two personalities who are apt to come out with statements not congruent with the rest of the party. Perhaps they see it as their role as the party ideologues. Strangely not so, Nik Aziz Nik Mat.


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