Simple But Meaningful Answer by Prof Al Attas Regarding the Polemical Usage Of The Word "Allah" by Non-Muslim

On December 13, 2009, during the Worldview of Islam Seminar organized by

the Assembly of Muslim Intellectuals or Himpunan Keilmuan Muda (HAKIM),

there was a question being posted to Professor Al-Attas regarding the

polemical usage of the word "Allah" by the non-Muslims.



Below is the transcript of his brief-but-yet-concise enlightening remarks.

As a word of caution, though, one must not only rely on this brief

transcript alone to understand the whole spectrum of Prof. Al-Attas' view

about this theological matter. Further thorough elucidation of his thought

can be found in numerous works of this great Muslim scholar of this age,

such as Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam, Islam and Secularism,

Islam dalam Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Melayu and A Commentary on Hujjat

al-Siddiq of Nur al-Din al-Raniri.




Question: The using of kalimah "Allah" by other people in this country

Answers by Prof. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas:



Well I have been talking about this long time ago. I remember about this

in ISTAC, when we first established ourselves (late 80's and early 90's),

I think the Arcbishop of Penang was asking this question. And I have

answered that.


And then we had a meeting with the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur and about

all the representatives of Christianity, including the ministers, we had a

meeting at ISTAC.



And I said, "Why you want to use the word 'Allah' for yourself?"


They said "we going to pray in Bahasa Malaysia "


That's the way they put it. So my answers to them,"Why you have to change

praying into Bahasa Malaysia .You have been praying in English all the

time. Why suddenly change into Bahasa Malaysia ?"

Ok, so they said they want to change so that it more patriotic. Then in

that case I'm saying that "why don't you use Tuhan while praying in Bahasa

Malaysia ? Because you are talking about God isn't it?.God is not just a

name."Allah" is a name of this Being whom you called God. and in fact a

Being whom even higher than what you called to be God"

And then I said, " .and "Allah" is not from Bahasa Malaysia . It is not a

national language. It belongs to the language of Muslim all over the

world. Therefore your argument using this for the word "Allah" does not

fit into your idea of God. Because "Allah" does not have a son, It is not

one of three (Trinity), that is why out of respect to Allah we can't allow

you to use this."

But when we Muslim, when we write in English we say God, or when we talk

to people we say God but we mean "Allah".but they cannot say when they

speak about God it means "Allah" as they don't mean it.

So in this particular respect, we have to be clear about this, not was-was

(hesitate)...whomever responsible in our governing, they have to be clear

about this and to explain to others.

We agree you want to use God, then use Tuhan as we also use that.but we

understand in the Malay language that Tuhan is not a translation of

Allah..that is why we say "tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah" not "tiada Tuhan

melainkan Tuhan". We don't say "there is not God but God"..at least the

ulama' among the Muslim Malays, we understand what is the meaning of that

(word "Allah").
So "Allah" cannot be translated as no language has translated Allah. The

Arabs themselves they only use that after Islam...although the word existed

(before)..the Christians Arab they also did not use Allah (in theological,

epistemological and ontological sense in the same manner as the

Muslim)..if they say that it is just a language..they talking about

language..because they say "Allah" like the Muslim when they (melatah).

So it appears they want to do that in order to confuse the Muslim into

thinking that all the same..that is why I say one of the problems about

religion is the nature of God..about who Allah is..that is why in Arkanul

Iman (The Pillars of Faith), the first thing is "amana billah".


"Who is this Allah?" and that need to be explain at higher institution in

a proper way.
So we have answer the question. It is not proper to allow them using this,

since they asking us and there is no point bringing this to court since

this is not a matter of court to decide it whether they have the freedom

to use it or not. It is up to the Muslims.

But then if they used it and said "in Indonesia they have use it, why

can't we?".but it is because of the Muslims..if Muslims don't care they

will go on and use it..and in Indonesia they are using not only that,

other things they even call it "choir" as "selawat". Choir is not a

"selawat", as "selawat" is for Prophet..it's not singing hymn..

And they also talk about..in Indonesia they are also

confuse..Muslims..that is why this thing happen. Sometimes the language

when you come across English words like "Prophet of Doom" in Indonesia

they said "Nabi celaka". How can there be "Nabi celaka"? What is meant by

the "Prophet of Doom" is.even the word Prophet in English does not mean

"Nabi" only.it means "yang meramalkan malapetaka"..that what it means.so

the "Prophet of Doom" means "yang meramalkan malapetaka", not "Nabi

celaka".

They (the Muslims in Indonesia ) seem not to bother about this. What we can say is that ultimately well they say "God is not Allah"...well if you want

to use the word God, we are saying we also use the word God, we refer to

Allah as we know and we are not saying that your God ultimately will not

refer to Allah. You can't run away from Allah. You can only escape Him and

so in the Qur'an (surah An-Naas) says: "Qul aAAoothu birabbi annas, Maliki

annas, Ilahi annas". He (Allah) is saying " I am the real Ilah (God) of

naas (mankind)", although mankind (non-Muslim) does not interpret it that

way.