Malaysian Sikhs join debate over use of the word 'Allah'

Malaysia's 100,000-strong Sikh community is the latest party seeking to intervene in the suit by the Catholic church over the use of the word Allah.

The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council filed an application to intervene in the suit Tuesday. In a supporting affidavit, its president Jagir Singh said the word Allah in reference to god was an integral part of the original version of the Sikh holy book, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

As such, he said, no followers of the Sikh religion would tolerate any form of obstruction on the use of the original terms taken from the holy book, The Star newspaper reported Friday.

Jagir Singh said the council, the umbrella body of some 130 gurdwaras nationwide, had an interest in the declaration sought by the applicant of the suit.

In the original suit, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Murphy Pakiam is seeking to declare that the Catholic weekly Herald is entitled to use the word Allah.

He is also seeking to declare that its usage was not exclusive to Islam. Pakiam, 70, had named the then internal security minister and the government as respondents in the application filed March 19.

The archbishop is named as an applicant in the action in his capacity as publisher of the Herald.

Other parties which have applied to intervene in the suit are the Penang Islamic Religious Council, Terengganu Islamic Religious and Malay Custom Council, Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council and Perak Islamic Religious and Malay Custom Council.

Practised by the majority Malays, Islam is the official religion of Malaysia. But it is not an Islamic state as per the constitution, which permits religious minorities to practise their respective faiths.

Multi-ethnic Malaysia has significant populations of over two million Hindu settlers from India, Buddhists and Christians of various denominations, and smaller numbers of people practising other faiths.

Malaysian Gurudwara Council approaches court to retain "Allah" word in Granth Sahib
Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Gurdwara Council has applied to the High Court pleading to intervene in a court case involving the use of the word "Allah" by Herald, a Catholic weekly publication.

Malaysian Gurdwara Council president Jagir Singh, who filed the application on Tuesday, said the word "Allah" was contained in the Sikh holy book, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. In an affidavit that contained several references to the word in the holy book, he said the Sikh scripture was from God and that not a single word in it could be changed, amended or replaced. The application was filed by Messrs Jagjit Singh and Co, reported nstonline.com.

If the application is granted, the Council would be included as respondent in the judicial review.

The Council, which represents the Sikh community, is the fifth party to apply to intervene in the matter. The Penang, Terengganu, and Perak Islamic Religious Councils, Malay Customs Council and the Federal Territory Islamic Council had also applied to intervene in the case in May and June respectively. They stated they had interest and it was within their jurisdiction to safeguard the interests of Muslims.

The case was brought up by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Murphy Pakiam, who was granted a judicial review on the use of the word "Allah" in the publication.

On March 19, Murphy had applied to declare that the Herald was entitled to use the word and that its use was not exclusive to Islam. The archbishop, as publisher of the Herald, is an applicant in this action.

source: Malaysia Sun
05/07/08

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