IRFN (February 19-27): Malaysia Permits Christian Use of Term "Allah"

Feb 27, 2009

Feature: The United States has announced that it will not attend the Durban II conference, scheduled for April 2009. The conference reprises the 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa that addressed anti-racism initiatives.  The AP has more.

1.  Malaysia: Christians To Be Allowed to Use word “Allah”

KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian government has softened an earlier ban on the use of the word "Allah" by Christian publications to refer to God and is allowing them to use it as long as they specify the material is not for Muslims, the AP reported on February 26. The government had earlier argued that the use of Allah in Christian texts could confuse Muslims, who might think Allah refers to their God. The Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald--the Roman Catholic Church's main newspaper in Malaysia, said that the revised order was issued on February 16 by Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar. Andrew said that the publication has already started printing "For Christianity" on its cover. The Herald publishes weekly in English, Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay with an estimated readership of 50,000. The ban on "Allah" concerns mainly the Malay edition, which is read mostly by indigenous Christian tribes in the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. The other three editions usually do not use the word "Allah."

2.  Azerbaijan: Both Imported and Exported Literature Now Censored

BAKU – Azerbaijan's compulsory censorship of all religious literature has started to affect the export of such materials, Forum 18 reported on February 24. In early January, Azerbaijani customs authorities confiscated religious literature from Azerbaijani citizens leaving the country. Zenchenko, head of the Baptist Union, told Forum 18 that on 4 January, two Baptists were on their way to visit fellow Baptists in Azeri-speaking villages in eastern Georgia. When they crossed the land border to Georgia at the Mazimchai crossing point, Azerbaijani customs officers seized Azeri-language Bibles and computer discs with Christian material from the two Baptists. No mention is made in Azerbaijan's laws--such as the Religion Law, or the Regulations of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations--regarding censorship of religious literature taken out of the country. Forum 18 was told on February 20 by an official of the Passenger Department at Baku Customs, that customs regulations do not discuss the matter of censorship of literary exports.

3.  Lebanon: Religious Affiliation Removed from ID Cards

BEIRUT – A recent decree by the Lebanese government has allowed its citizens to remove  religious affiliations from their identity cards, BBC reported on February 24. In a country that has lived through years of civil war and is still deeply divided along religious lines, many see this decision as a  symbolic and a important step towards much needed unity and national reconciliation. During the civil war, which lasted through the 1970s and 1980s,  militias aligned with various religious groups would set up checkpoints and ask for the identity cards of those who tried to pass. People would often be shot on the spot if their documents revealed the "wrong" sort of religious affiliation. Lebanese society, and its political system, is divided along sectarian lines: a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon could become a prime minister but never a president as that position is reserved for Maronite Christians. The speaker of the parliament can only be Shia Muslim. And when Lebanese citizens want to marry, divorce or adopt, or when they register a birth or a death, they have to refer to courts that are run by the religious sects to which they belong. Human rights groups say the government's decision regarding the ID cards is a welcome but purely symbolic step.

4.  UK: Senior Tory Seeks to Ban Polygamy

LONDON – Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a senior British politician is demanding that the government stop Muslim men from taking more than one wife, The National reported on February 22. Baroness Warsi, the Conservative Party’s shadow minister for community cohesion and a Muslim, claims that “cultural sensitivity” is preventing the government from taking action at a time when polygamy is on the increase. Baroness Warsi’s call has angered many in the Muslim community who argue that the government should not interfere with a practice that is an intrinsic part of their religion. Polygamy is illegal in Britain, but Muslim men get around it by marrying a first wife in a registered, civil law service and then taking a second, third or fourth in an unregistered religious service. Baroness Warsi is asking that the government require all marriages at religious services in the UK to be registered. Manzoor Moghal, chairman of the Muslim Forum, has countered Warsi’s attempted reforms, saying that Muslims in Britain should be allowed to pursue their religious and cultural practices without interference from the state. He said that polygamy under Islam represented “the most misunderstood subject in the West” with a great deal of invective unfairly directed at it.

5.  Somalia: Clerics Call for Moderate Islamic Law

MOGADISHU – Somali religious leaders have given the new government 120 days to declare that the Horn of Africa country will be ruled according to Islamic law, Reuters reported on February 19. A meeting of more than 100 mainly moderate clerics in the battle-scarred capital also said that African Union (AU) troops in Mogadishu should be withdrawn by the same deadline and no other foreign troops should be brought in. Somalia's new president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, faces the difficult task of bringing peace to Somalia for the first time in 18 years after being elected by parliament in January 2009. The main threat to stability comes from the hardline Islamists faction, al Shabaab. Al Shabaab and allied groups control much of southern and central Somalia and want to impose their strict version of Islamic law. Diplomats in the region hope that Ahmed, Somalia's first Islamist president, will be able to bring moderate Islamists on board and marginalize al Shabaab. Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad, head of Somali Uluma Council for Correction and Reconciliation,  said that a more moderate Islamic law should be implemented -- not the strict version that al Shabaab fighters want to impose throughout the country. "The parliament must make amendments to the current constitution, especially the parts which go against Islamic law," Salad said.

6.  UK: Baptists Protesters Denied Visas

LONDON – Reverend Fred Phelps, an anti-gay U.S. preacher, and his daughter have been barred from entering Britain as they could spread "extremism and hatred," the British government said on February 19, Reuters reported on February 19. The Reverend Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, had been due in Britain to protest at a play about the murder of a gay man. But Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to prevent Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from entering the country. A Home Office spokeswoman said, "Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behavior by inciting hatred against a number of communities. We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country." Phelps believes the United States is doomed for tolerating homosexuals and that military deaths in conflicts such as Iraq are God's punishment, and he organizes regular protests  around the country. His church achieved notoriety for picketing the funerals of U.S. servicemen.