In Allah We Trust

In Allah We Trust
A New Hope
Showing posts with label Johor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johor. Show all posts

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Word Allah: From a Malay Christian Point of View.

Allah Is The Pagan God

Allah was originally a Pagan God

Why the sudden fuss about whether the Christian Bible should be allowed to use the word Allah for God. They have been using the word Allah in Bahasa Bibles for hundreds of years. In fact, the Jews, Christians and Pagans have been using Allah for God since long before the existence of Islam. 

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin 
"Saya khuatir kebenaran menggunakan perkataan Allah ini akan menimbulkan kemarahan orang Islam, sebenarnya terjemahan perkataan god dalam bahasa Inggeris adalah tuhan bukan Allah dan Allah spesifik bagi orang Islam sahaja. Jadi kalau mereka faham, mereka akan menggunakan perkataan tuhan bukannya Allah," said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad – Utusan Malaysia (2 January 2010)

Mahathir said two things. First is that the Muslims, meaning Malaysian Malays, would get angry. This is Mahathir’s way of cautioning against triggering off another ‘May 13’, something the ex-Prime Minister has said many times since the 1970s.

Why must everything be translated into a race, and now religious riot? Is he declaring that Islam is an intolerant religion? Muslims always lament about the bad publicity Islam is getting from the western media. But is not the western media just basing its assumption on the acts and statements of Muslims themselves? And have I not said many times that Muslims are Islam’s worst enemy? Muslims are giving the western media the ‘ammunition’ to attack Islam.

The second thing Mahathir said is that the word Allah belongs to the Muslims. It does not and I shall offer you the evidence of this.

Anyway, why only now do we raise this objection to the Bible using the word Allah? The Bible has been using Allah for hundreds of years, ever since they translated the Bible into Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia. In fact, we have copies of a Bahasa-translated Bible published 200 years ago that used Allah.

So it is not something new. It is something that has been happening for centuries as the photograph below shows.

I can, if you wish, go into a lengthy cheong hei article. But not today -- today I am going to make it short. Nevertheless, if you are the type who can only be convinced by a lengthy thesis supported by scores of references from scholars, then read the two links below.

And my simple argument is as follows. Muhammad’s father was named Abdullah. Abdullah means Servant of Allah -- a combination of Abdul and Allah; so it becomes Abdul-Allah or Abdullah when joined together.

Now, logically, Abdullah was born before Prophet Muhammad was born since the father has to be born before the son can be born. In fact, Abdullah died before Muhammad was born and that was why the Prophet was raised by his grandfather, Muttalib, and later, when Muttalib died eight years later, by his uncle, Abu Talib.

Read Muhammad: From Birth to Marriage 

Now, what does this tell you? Muhammad received his prophet-hood and was ‘converted’ to Islam long after Abdullah, the Servant of Allah, died. But Abdullah was not a Muslim. Abdullah was a Pagan. So, if Muhammad’s ‘Pagan’ father was named the Servant of Allah, that means Allah was a Pagan and not a Muslim God, so to speak.

How can Muslims (meaning Malays in particular) claim that Allah is a Muslim God and therefore the name belongs to only the Muslims? If you were to research the history of Muhammad further you will know that Muhammad and his cousin Ali (who later went on to become the Fourth Caliph) indulged in idol-worshiping and animal sacrifice to Pagan Gods in Taif, a town in the suburbs of Makkah, before the time of the Revelation.

That means Muhammad the son of Abdullah was a Pagan, as was his father, the Servant of Allah. But he carried the name ‘Muhammad the son of the Servant of Allah’ long before the Revelation when he ‘became’ a Muslim. How do the Muslims (meaning Malays) explain this if they say that Allah belongs to the Muslims? The word ‘Allah’ existed before the word ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islam’.

And refer to the press statement by ISNA, one of the most respected Islamic organisations in the entire world.(Read ISNA’s press release here). Even ISNA endorses the Malaysian court ruling that the word Allah is not the monopoly of the Muslims. ISNA has far better credibility that any Malaysian organisation whether it be JAKIM, JIM, ABIM, PERKIM, or whatever. In fact, all the Malaysian organisations combined do not even come close to ISNA.

That is all I want to say about the ‘Allah’ word controversy.

FURTHER READING

http://www.themicahmandate.org/2009/03/who-was-‘allah’-before-islam-1/
http://www.themicahmandate.org/2009/04/who-was-‘allah’-before-islam-2/

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Hailed in Penang, reviled in Johor Baru, Lithuanian artist moves on with more street murals.




Not wanting to be identified by the public, Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic (pic) covers his face with a basket during a photo shoot at a cafe in Nagor Road, George Town, yesterday. – pic by Hasnoor Hussain, November 22, 2013.
His street murals have brought him fame in Penang in the past two years but last Wednesday Ernest Zacharevic became infamous when his commissioned Lego mural was whitewashed by the authorities in Johor Baru.
The 27-year-old Lithuanian artist described the incident as "not the most pleasant experience” but said it has sparked discussion on what public art was, the social understanding of art, its limits and boundaries, as well as the freedom of artistic expression, which is like the freedom of speech.
"As an artist, I will always stand for that and everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions," he told The Malaysian Insider at his Penang base in George Town yesterday.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

‘I felt only love’: Disfigured man embraced by Pope Francis speaks out about the experience

The disfigured man whose meeting with Pope Francis made headlines all over the world has finally spoken out about the experience – and said the moment left him speechless.

Vinicio Riva, 53, suffers from neurofibromatosis Type 1, a rare genetic disorder which results in painful tumours on his face and body.
Speaking for the first time to the Italian magazine Panorama, Mr Riva said the moment captured by photographers in St Peter’s Square on 6 November “all lasted not more than a minute, but it seemed an eternity”, and that it was “like being in Paradise”.
Mr Riva told the magazine he had spent a lifetime living on the margins of society in Vicenza, northern Italy, where his younger sisters and late mother also suffered from the same rare disease.
In the past he has made a number of visits to Lourdes, a Catholic shrine in France which is the site of thousands of religious pilgrimages every year, until a travelling companion this year suggested he go to Rome.
Mr Riva spoke of his shock when, after meeting Pope Francis and kissing his hand, the Pontiff then pulled the 53-year-old towards him.
“What most astonished me is that he didn’t think twice on embracing me,” Mr Riva said. “I’m not contagious, but he didn’t know. He just did it; he caressed all my face, and while he was doing that, I felt only love.
“I tried to speak, to tell him something, but I couldn't: The emotion was too strong.”
Afterwards, Mr Riva turned to his aunt who accompanied him to the Vatican and said: “Here I leave my pain.”
The interview with Panorama comes as Pope Francis’ popularity has never been higher. A YouGov poll released yesterday suggested that, since the Argentinian had taken on the highest office in the Catholic Church in March this year, he has made a sustained and positive public impression.
The survey found that only 3 per cent of people thought he had done a bad job since being made Pope, compared to the 11 per cent who though he would do a bad job when he was installed.
While 36 per cent of people said they had a negative opinion of the church before Pope Francis and still do, 17 per cent said he had made them think more positively about Catholocism.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Christian conspiracy? Outnumbered, outvoted, outgunned, but trying to take over the country???

Are We All Hitler?


WHO’S BULLYING WHOM?

• Malaysia’s 17.4mil Muslims outnumber Christians by 6½:1
• Most of Malaysia’s 2.62mil Christians are in Borneo
• Umno alone (3mil members) outnumbers Malaysia’s Christians
• Uniformed services (3.5mil) outnumber unarmed Christians
• Foreign influence: 1.6mil Muslim aliens to 0.24mil Christians
• Even the Buddhists outnumber Christians by 2:1



Allah Means God, Unless You’re a Christian in Malaysia


Allah can no longer be used by a Christian newspaper in Malaysia to refer to God after a landmark court ruling on Monday, reversing a decision made four years previously that maintained the term transcended different faiths.
“It is my judgment that the most possible and probable threat to Islam, in the context of this country, is the propagation of other religions to the followers of Islam,” said chief judge Mohamed Apandi Ali, announcing the change.
The panel of three judges was unanimous in their decision that the use of Allah by the Roman Catholic Herald newspaper constituted a threat to the sanctity of Islam, as defined in the federal constitution. The Herald editor the Rev. Lawrence Andrew said he was “disappointed and dismayed,” vowing to appeal.
We Shall Overcome For Our Lord Jesus!