KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysia’s top court has weighed in on the country’s longstanding fight over the word “Allah,” saying non-Muslims cannot use it to refer to God. But the government said hours later the judgment applied only to one newspaper at the center of the case, adding still more confusion to a divisive debate over religious freedom in the Muslim-majority country.
In a 4-3 ruling, the Federal Court upheld a government ban on the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims in a case against The Herald, a Catholic Malay-language weekly. The court did not elaborate on its ruling, but the government issued a statement saying it only applied to The Herald and that Malaysian Christians can still use the word Allah in churches.
Earlier this year, 300 Malay-language Bibles containing the word Allah were seized by Islamic authorities from the office of a Christian group.
An umbrella group of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches in Malaysia said Christians will continue to use the word Allah in their Bibles and worship.
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