To me, one of the criteria for measuring a nation's decency is in how its religious majority treats its religious minorities. And in recent days, the Muslim majority nation of Malaysia has been failing that test.
It seems that a segment of the Muslim population objects to the use by Malaysian Christians of the word Allah as their name for god. To its credit, a Malaysian court had overturned a government ban on non-Muslim groups using the word Allah in their literature. So how did some passionate members of the Religion of Peace react to the ruling? Why, by throwing petrol bombs at Christian churches and committing other acts of vandalism such as smashing the windshields of cars that had Christian symbols in them.
It is my understanding that the use of Allah by non-Muslims is not unique to Malaysia. For example, Coptic Christians in Egypt also use Allah, given that they live in an Arab country.
Anyway, the people of Malaysia should really be embarrassed that this kind of nonsense goes on in their country. If this keeps up, I might feel obliged to go out and buy a pig and name him Allah and post pictures of him on the web. Then again, it might be cheaper and easier if I just pick out a stock photo of a pig and caption it "My pig Allah."
UPDATE:
The above is a perfect example of a kneejerk rant rather than a planned post. That's what I get for clicking on Al Jazeera before going to bed.
For a more thoughtful take on the matter from a Malaysian woman with a Muslim background, I highly recommend this post here.
11 comments:
I've been waiting for your input about this, Tommy.
Malaysian Muslims misunderstand the ruling - they think it allows all Christians to use "Allah" in daily life, whereas it only allows the word to be used in a Catholic weekly newsletter strictly for Catholics only.
And you know Muslims, everything everyone else does is to "convert" them to other religions.
Hey Karat!
Did you get to see Nine Inch Nails live?
Three times! And I got to meet Trent & Co in person.
Awesome! Good for you!
Hey. I've got a ham sandwich I named Allah.
Oh, wait. Nevermind. I ate it for lunch.
I was contemplating naming my next dog Moses. Maybe I'll name it Allah instead. Of course, in my neighborhood, that could easily get me killed.
Maybe I'd better stick with Einstein, Newton, or Darwin.
And speaking of Nine Inch Nails, for some reason, iTunes doesn't seem to have Pretty Hate Machine available. Head Like A Hole is one of my favorite songs.
Apparently someone tried to name his kid "Allah".
Apple kind of has something against NIN.
Funny. We don't have any such body here in the United States that tries to prohibit strange names, though I've encountered quite a few names that probably should not have been allowed.
The thing about iTunes though is they have just about every other NIN album available. Not having Pretty Hate Machine is just plain unconscionable!
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
damn crazy..recently is the poco dance..paranoid shit..they showed their fragile belief in their people while saying muslim this that...
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