PAS vice-president Husam Musa said the authorities should enforce laws which prevented proselytisation of Muslims instead of focusing on preventing non-Muslims from using the term "Allah".
 
While acknowledging that there were concerns that the use of the term by non-Muslims would confuse Muslims, Husam argued that this was due to a lack of understanding of the Federal Constitution.
 
"The protection in the constitution is strong...
 
"In terms of concerning themselves that Muslims will be confused, the government should just enforce the constitution that prevents propagation of other religions to Muslim.
 
"That will be the end of the story," he told reporters after a function in Putrajaya this evening.
 
Husam said the Christian community in Sabah and Sarawak have been using the word "Allah" in their Bibles since they were young and the same was for the Sikh community.
 
He added that the federal government cannot have separate laws in the country by allowing the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims in East Malaysia but not in Peninsula.
 
Husam said that Muslims should instead be proud that non-Muslims want to use the word "Allah" and it would even help propagate Islam.
 
"In terms of dakwah (propagation of Islam) this is a good thing for Islam. As a Muslim, I am proud that other people want to use the name of my God," he said.
 
The debate on whether non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" intensified recently after the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia on Jan 1.
 
The incident created tension between the Christian and Muslim communities but Jais insisted that it was merely enforcing the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988, which bans non-Muslims from using the word "Allah".