More than 43,000 Malaysians protested online over a court ruling allowing a Catholic paper to use the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God, signaling growing Islamic anger in this mostly Muslim Southeast Asian country.
A group page on social networking site Facebook was drawing 1,500 new supporters an hour on Monday as last week's court ruling split political parties and even families. [Reuters] Read more
'Allah' Ruling May Challenge Malaysia If a Malaysian High Court ruling stands, Roman Catholics here can resume using the word "Allah" as their translation for God in their local language.
The court on New Year's Eve overturned a three-year-old government ban that prevented the Catholic Church from using the term Allah in its literature. The Arabic word has been used by various faiths in this Muslim-majority nation for centuries, and the church argues that it is the only suitable way to denote God in the Malay language. [The Wall Street Journal] Read more
Malaysian court rules non-Muslims may call God Allah A court in Malaysia has ruled that Christians have a constitutional right to use the word Allah to refer to God.The High Court said a government ban on non-Muslims using the word was unconstitutional. The court was ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Herald, a publication of the Catholic Church in Malaysia, in 2007. [BBC] Read more
