WE end another crazy year with a bizarre tale from Malaysia, where an unholy row has broken out over the word “Allah”.

“Allah”, according to one Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit, refers to the Muslim God, and no other.

According to World Wide Religious News, Che Din said:

Christians cannot use the word ‘Allah’. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people.

He was referring to the fact that The Herald, official newspaper of Malaysia’s Catholic Church, had been referring to “God” as “Allah”.

He explained:

This is wrong. The weekly should, instead, use the word ‘Tuhan’ which is the general term for God, he said.

Che Din said Christians don’t use the word “Allah” when they worship in English, so they shouldn’t use it in the Malay language either. There are four Malay words that must not be used by other religions: “Allah” for God, “solat” for prayers, “kaabah” for the place of Muslim worship in Mecca and “baitula” the house of Allah.

And with the explanation came a threat. If the Herald persists in using “Allah”, it will be shut down.

The Rev Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, disagrees, saying that the weekly’s use of the word “Allah” was not intended to offend Muslims.

We are of the view that we have the right to use the word ‘Allah’. We follow the Bible. The Malay-language Bible uses Allah for God and ‘Tuhan’ for Lord. In our prayers and in church during Malay mass, we use the word ‘Allah’. This is not something new. The word ‘Allah’ has been used in Malaysia for a long time. There is no confusion.

The row escalated this week when an evangelical church and the Herald announced that they are to sue the government for banning them from using the word “Allah,” alleging that the prohibition is unconstitutional and against freedom of religion.

These are the first legal challenges against the mainly Muslim government’s decision, and they come amid minority groups’ increasing concerns that their rights are being trampled upon.

The Sabah Evangelical Church of Borneo took legal action this month after authorities banned the import of Christian books containing the word “Allah,” the church’s lawyer, Lim Heng Seng, said.

The decision to declare “Allah” as only for Muslims, categorising this as a security issue, and banning books with the word “Allah” is unlawful, he claims.

Both organisations named the internal security minister, a post held by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as a co-defendant.

In an affidavit, Sabah church pastor, Jerry Dusing, said customs officials had confiscated three boxes of children’s education material from a church member at the Kuala Lumpur airport in August.

Dusing said he was told the publications were banned because they contained the word “Allah,” which the government feels could raise confusion and controversy among Muslims. The government classified the matter as a security issue, he said.

Dusing added that Christians in Sabah on Borneo island have used the word “Allah” for generations when they worship in the Malay language, and the word appears in their Malay Bible.

The Christian usage of ‘Allah’ predates Islam. ‘Allah’ is the name of God in the old Arabic Bible as well as in the modern Arabic Bible.

He added that “Allah” was widely used by Christians in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Indonesia and other parts of the world without problem.

The Herald, which has a circulation of 12,000 copies for its members, publishes reports in four languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil.

Religious issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the 27 million people are Malay Muslims. Ethnic Chinese, who follow Christianity and Buddhism, account for 25 percent of the population. Indians, who are mostly Hindus with a sprinkling of Christians and Muslims, are around 10 percent.

The minorities have often complained that they don’t have full freedom of religion even though the constitution guarantees everybody the right to worship. The minorities cite the difficulty in obtaining permission to build their places of worship, and the Hindus have been particularly angered by the demolition of temples by government authorities in recent months.

UPDATE - January 1, 2008: The Malaysian government has reversed its decision to ban The Herald, easing a row that threatened to strain racial harmony in the multi-ethnic country. In a surprising about-turn over the New Year period, the government renewed The Herald’s 2008 permit without any conditions, said its editor, the Rev Lawrence Andrew.