Ya Allah! Ya Allah! Ya Allah!

Everyone's getting emotional over this -- Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Are we surprised?
Aaaw...come one! You know this is going to be EXPLOSIVE, to borrow Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil's word.

You mean when you insist on using the word "Allah" in your newsletter by taking the government to court, you think people are not going to be incensed?

You must be so naive.

I have been reading this whole business in the newspapers and the blogs. Everyone's getting so emotional and regurgitating all the Quranic verses here there and everywhere.

You get Marina Mahathir calling Muslims who are against the High Court decision to allow the Catholic Herald to use "Allah" in their publication, "idiots" and confused and whatever whatever.

I think she should not be judgmental.

If you are smart, you WILL know that there are not-so-normal people among us with not-so-normal thinking. If you know what I mean.

Whether or not there are people who will be confused by non-Muslims, in this case, Christians, using the word "Allah", in bibles and their literature, remains to be seen.

For certain, there is unhappiness. And that will not ease.

Confusion, perhaps.

People cite the examples in the Arab countries and in Sabah and Sarawak.

PUH-LEEZ. Don't tell me you need to be told that in the Arab countries, they speak Arabic and a person called "Muhammad" could be a Christian. They have used the word "Allah" for centuries -- so we have been told -- we, in Peninsular Malaysia, have not. And for good reason. Isn't it in our federal constitution that something like this should be avoided because of our peculiarly mixed ethnic and religious composition and the fact and reality that the Malays are Muslims (although this is changing.)

And talking about peninsular peculiarity -- Did we all know that the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak call God "Allah"? No. At least not until 10 or 15 years ago when we began to be intimated with out brothers and sisters in Sabah and Sarawak.

Even if the federal government of Malaysia had known Allah was/is being used, there's little that it can and should do.

Let it be, I think is the mantra. Why?

Because in Sabah and Sarawak, the natives speak Malay. The Iban and Dayak languages are very similar to Malay. So, if you want to convert the natives, you better know Malay.

And that was what the Christian missionaries had to know, and so they learned Bahasa Melayu. . Yes. Malay. And this language was used to convert the natives.

But that's history.

In fact, the Sabahans would tell you that Sunday classes and sermons there have been conducted in Malay. But I doubt if it was or is being done all the time.

And while people claim that "Allah" has always been used in Sabah and Sarawak, I doubt it is being used all the time.

I know that "Allah" was never used in sermons in KL, PJ or elsewhere in the peninsular.
Hell...I think the word scares Christians.

So, why in heaven's name does the Catholic Herald want to use it in its newsletter?

I am soooo susssspicious.....

Don't you dare blame me!