Janadas Devan, son of former Singapore president, Devan Nair, makes his usual etymological exposition in the Singapore Sunday Times of January 13 2008; concluding that the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) all called their God ela, ala or some variation of these.
Are the Malaysian religious officials confused about their claim for the exclusive use of Allah for Islamic texts and publications only, as Janadas Devan strongly implies. Maybe not. Some must surely have attended Al-Ahzar university in Cairo and understand quite well the origins of the name Allah.
Far from being confused, their objections to the use of Allah in the weekly newsletter of the Catholics in Malaysia, are meant to confuse malay-Malaysians. They know that the translation of "God" in English into "Allah" in Malay (or more accurately, Arabic) is sanctioned by all Malay language scholars and over 20 years of usage in this newsletter.
So are the malay Muslims of Malaysia so easily confused? Or are the religious officials confused about their ability to confuse them?
Confused by all this? Me, too.
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