Church: ‘Allah’ been used since 18th century

5 March 2014, Malaysiakini While thousands of Christians in Malaysia pray and fast in the holy season of Lent which begins today, Ash Wednesday, they also wait with bated breath for the Federal Court gearing of the Catholic Church’s appeal over the use of the word ‘Allah’. Lawyers for the archbishop of the Catholic Church are hoping to gain leave (permission) to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s controversial decision barring the Church from using the word ‘Allah’ in the Bahasa Malaysia section of THE HERALD weekly. The Church’s counsel Mr. Benjamin Dawson submitted before the seven-man bench of the Federal Court that in 1982, the word ‘Allah’ is allowed to be used for the word ‘Tuhan’ in the Al-kitab. He further showed that a 1984 Christian prayer book which featured the word ‘Allah’, along with another  publication in Malay from 1895 where the word ‘Allah’ appears. ‘This,” said Mr. Dawson, “shows the word had been in use by 18^th and 19^th century Christians.”

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