Malaysia's battle over the use of the word 'Allah’ has attracted international attention as well as ridicule, including from Islamic scholars abroad. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 23, 2015.A radical Muslim group has urged Christians in Malaysia to convert to Islam if they want to use the "kalimah Allah" following the Federal Court's decision to deny the Catholic Church a review of the ruling banning the use of the word in its weekly, Herald.In an article on their website, the Malaysian chapter of Hizbut Tahrir said Christians could use the word as much as they wanted to but only if they converted to Islam as there were thousands of kalimah Allah in the Quran."The room for Christians to use Allah has never been closed. In fact, it has always been open as wide as it possibly can. They are the ones who have closed the space."It is easy, they convert to Islam, the only Allah religion that is true. Look into Islam with a sincere heart and with a prayer that Allah SWT will show you the sign."Then convert to Islam and you can use the kalimah Allah. Read the al-Quran and there are thousands of kalimah Allah to be read and understood," the group said.Hizbut Tahrir also noted that the conditions to enter into the religion of Allah were simple and would enable Christians and those of other faiths to use the kalimah Allah."Once you become a Muslim, you will not need a court's permission to use the kalimah Allah," it said.On Wednesday, a five-man panel headed by Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong unanimously decided to deny the Catholic Church's application for a review of the apex court's earlier ruling which did not grant it leave to appeal the ban on the use of the word "Allah" in the Herald.In 2009, the High Court declared that the decision by the home minister to ban the Herald from using the word “Allah" was illegal, null and void.This led to the Catholic Church filing a judicial review application in 2009 and after a long tussle, then Court of Appeal judge, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali, who allowed the government's appeal against the High Court decision, said that the reason for the prohibition was to prevent any confusion among the various religions.He also said that national security and public order could be threatened if the publisher of the Herald was allowed to use the word "Allah" and that the government had not violated the church’s constitutional rights.Hizbut Tahrir, however, said that Muslims should not be blindly happy with the court's decision as the usage of kalimah Allah was not the issue for debate but rather which religion was true in Allah's eyes."Is Islam or Christianity true in Allah's eyes, this is the main issue that needs to be discussed. It is about life and death, the world and the end as well as heaven and hell."After debating and it is proven that Islam is the real religion and understanding that Allah SWT rules over Christians and all people, so that all convert to Islam, then the issue of the kalimah Allah and other side issues will automatically be resolved," it said.Malaysia's battle over the use of the word "Allah" has attracted international attention as well as ridicule, including from Islamic scholars abroad who hold that "Allah" is a generic name for God and open for use by both Muslims and non-Muslims, as use of the word predates Islam.Christians in Malaysia have also expressed concern that the court ruling will affect non-Muslim natives who have been using the word “Allah" in their prayers for a long time, despite the ban on the use of the word being limited to Catholic weekly Herald.
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