PETALING JAYA, 8 Jan: PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang expressed regret towards Umno-BN for continuing to use the ‘Allah’ word as a polemic in their election campaign, ignoring various religious misunderstandings in the pluralistic society in this country.
For the issue of the usage of the word ‘Allah’, Hadi said that PAS has a consistent stance regarding this issue.
This is in reference to a media statement on 4 January 2010 which included a research paper at the seminar organised by the Institute of Islamic Understanding (IKIM) in 2010 which was published as a small book titled: “Allah: Kamimah yang Benar, Tujuan yang Salah” (Allah, the True Word, the Wrong Purpose).
According to him, the word ‘Allah’ in the original meaning of Al-Quran (Dia Sahaja Tuhan Yang Maha Esa; He is the only one lord) cannot be translated exactly in any other languages.
“The word ‘Allah’ should not be abused by other faiths towards Muslims, resulting in further confusion on the issue.”
“Hence, Muslims of various races still say the word ‘Allah’ (without translation) when translating the Al-Quran into their own language when performing prayers,” he said during the press conference at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Meeting.
He added that the Al-Quran mentions the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims with the explanation in Surah Ali-Imran, verse 64:
“Say (O Muhammad): O People of the Scripture! Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him (Par priests, monks and leaders), and that none of us shall take others for lords besides Allah. And if they (people of the Scripture) turn away (refuse to accept it) , then say: “Bear witness that we are Muslims.” (Ali-Imran: 64)
This issue is again being manipulated by Umno-BN when accusing DAP Secretary General, Lim Guan Eng in urging for the word ‘Allah’ be allowed to be used by Christians in Malaysia, when he only wanted the word ‘Allah’ to be allowed to only be used in Sabah and Sarawak.