By Norrasyidah Arshad
SHAH ALAM, March 25 — The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) will be filing an application to intervene in the appeal by the Federal government and the Home Affairs Ministry (KDN) regarding the High Court’s decision to allow Christians in Malaysia to use the word ‘Allah’.
Its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the application through the appellate court was initiated to protect the sanctity of the word ‘Allah’ which is connected to the Islamic faith.
“Mais fully supports the move by the KDN and the Federal government to appeal the decision.
“In upholding the command by His Royal Highness Sultan of Selangor, the council is filing to be the intervening party in the case,” said Abdul Aziz.
The agency insisted that the word ‘Allah’ is a sacred word that refers to God Almighty which forms the basis of the Muslim faith and must not be used or be compared to the ‘god’ of other religions.
“Mais as an enforcement body in the administration of the Islamic religious affairs, after Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Alhaj, has the responsibility to preserve and look after the sacredness of Islam,” he said.
On Tuesday, Sultan Sharafuddin decreed that non-Muslims are not permitted to use the word ‘Allah’ in their publications and considered the party to respect the provision under the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Expansion among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
The Selangor Ruler also supported the Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar’s call to the Federal government to appeal the High Court decision.
Sultan Sharafuddin decreed that Mais also applied to the court to act as an intervening party in the appeal and urged the Islamic religious councils of other states to take the same measure.
On March 10, High Court Judge Nor Bee Ariffin ruled that the directive by KDN on December 5, 1986, to prohibit the usage of the word ‘Allah’, ‘Baitullah’, ‘solat’ and ‘Kaabah’ among non-Muslims was unconstitutional and unlawful.
The court ruled that the directive had breached the Publication and Printing Presses Act of 1984.
Following that, the Federal government had on March 15 filed an appeal for the decision.
