The Federal Court has fixed June 23 to deliver its decision on whether to grant permission for the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church to appeal on the use of the word ‘Allah’ in its Christian publication ‘The Herald Catholic Weekly’.

S Selvarajah, the solicitor for the archbishop, said he received the information today.

“The Federal Court registry sent a letter dated yesterday informing this,” Selvarajah said in a text message to Malaysiakini .

A seven-member panel led by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria ( right ) heard the leave application in the highly-charged case.

 

There are two non-Muslim judges on the bench - the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judge Tan Kok Wha.

 

The Muslim judges besides Justice Arifin are Court of Appeal President Md Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin and Federal Court judges Suriyadi Halim Omar and Zainun Ali.

'Not integral to Christian religion'

On Dec 31, 2009, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur  declared the ban by the Home Ministry on the Catholic weekly from using the word `Allah' in its Bahasa Malaysia publication as unlawful and unconstitutional .

 

However, the Home Ministry appealed. At the Court of Appeal, a three-member bench headed by Federal Court judge Md Apandi Ali, sitting with Justices Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim and Mohd Zawawi Salleh, ruled that the word ‘Allah’ is not an integral part of the Christian religion.

The decision caused an uproar, especially to the bumiputera in Sabah and Sarawak, many of whom are Christians and have been using the word `Allah' for a long time.

They asserted that it was against the 11-point agreement supported by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ( left ) in April 2011.

 

In submissions at the Federal Court in March, Cyrus Das, for the archbishop, said the international community, especially the United Nations was watching the case closely following the appellate court's decision as it affects minority rights and such a decision was pushing the country backwards.

 

However, six state religious councils submitted that the Christians could use other words like `Tuhan' and that the minister did not act `mala fide' in the decision to ban the word.

This case has also attracted protesters from several Muslim and Malay non-governmental organisations outside the huge court complex in Putrajaya.