KUALA LUMPUR: Religious groups are preparing for a long battle over the ability to use the word "Allah," or God, by all Malaysians and not only the Muslim community. Malaysia's government on Thursday won the right to appeal a court ruling that allowed the country's non-Muslim minority to use the word Allah to refer to God. Appeal hearings are scheduled to start September 10 to resolve the politically delicate dispute that prompted attacks on Malaysian churches and other places of worship more than three years ago. Allah is the Arabic word for God and is commonly used in the Malay language to refer to God. "It is the right of every citizen, whether Christian, Muslim or whatever, to be able to use the Arabic word as we like for God. It is part of a free society," one local priest told Bikyanews.com on Friday. He added that "it should not be seen as an insult if I refer to God as Allah because it is the same thing." The government, however, insists that Allah is an Islamic word and that its use by others would confuse Muslims. The Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the government could challenge a 2009 verdict by a lower court that permitted the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia to use Allah. BN
