Daily Times

Sir: I really felt sad on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s statement wherein he supported a court’s judgment banning non-Muslims (read Malaysian Christians) from using the word Allah in the Bible and in church services. As per the court, only Muslims can use the word Allah and Malay-speaking Christians have to forego their centuries-old practice of calling God Allah. What do you call this, the authorities’ attempt to distract Malay Muslims’ attention, who constitute 60 percent of the population, from subsidy cuts and rising cost of living, or is it simply a case of narrow-mindedness to pit various religious groups against each other to perpetuate the grip over power. Since the ban was imposed there have been a number of violent protests followed by arson incidents. Christians have refused to abide by the ban and have vowed to continue using the word Allah in church services. This means things are moving towards a showdown.

Regardless of any falsified justification, it is a regrettable action and shall be condemned across the board. Malaysians should learn from Pakistan how the state has lost by pitching various religious and sectarian groups against each other. Such narrow-mindedness has created monsters of ignorance and death. Today no one in Pakistan knows how to put this uncontrolled genie back into the bottle.

We hope better sense will prevail in Malaysia. For the rest of the Muslim world, Malaysia used to be an island of peace and tolerance.

Masood Khan

Jubail,

Saudi Arabia