Is Allah for Everyone?

Recently there has been an uproar about the use of the name "Allah" by Christian missionaries in Malaysia. Here is a basic lowdown on Malaysia's religious breakdown. Malays are known to be Muslims - they are born Muslims and do not convert out of Islam (this is what is stated in the mainstream media). A fraction of non-Malays, who are mostly Chinese and Indians, are Christians. The rest are Buddhists and Hindus respectively. I would say Christinaity has be spreading widely in Malaysia. We see the church doing alot of charity and social work that allow them to be the attractive choice of "way of life."

Recently they have requested to use the name "Allah" instead of "God" in their English publications.

The government (mainly Muslim) rejected their request in order to safeguard the sanctity of Allah's name, citing that it would not befit Allah Ta'ala to have association with the Church. I can't speak for the Muslim reaction but I would guess many would be bewildered as to why Christians would want to be associated with "Allah" in the first place. "They" worship God, we worship Allah.

When I first hear about this I thought, well the Arabic Bible is written in Arabic, and God is known as Allah. That was my first reaction, which stunned many. I guess not many people know that an Arabic bible exists let alone Christian Arabs exist. At the same time, I do feel worried that such gazetted Christian publications with the reference to God as Allah and Prophet Jesus (blessings upon him) as "son of Allah" would be misleading to Muslims who lack the opportunities to pursue a fulfilling education. By reading stories or publications with such references, children especially could easily interpret that what they were reading was a Muslim message.

I don't disagree with the missionaries using the name Allah. As for as I am concerned, Allah is the work for God in Arabic, and in actual fact, Muslims worship God and God alone. Sure, I do not believe that Allah has a son - and that is why I am not a Christian - and having said that, I also do not believe that God has a son - it is exactly the same thing. I understand that Muslims revere "Allah" in a way no other religion does, I do not deny that. At the same time however, the fact that these particular group of Christians are accepting the word "Allah" as God speaks for itself.

Muslims are often represented as worshippers of Allah the God of the Moon, Allah the Arabic God, Allah the God of Something or Another - and some other extremely hurtful and atrocious names and descriptions. Na'uzubillah. I feel somehow, this change acts as silent da'wa for Muslims. Could the Christian missionaries in the long run suddenly realise that the word Allah is a word for God that can never pluralised? Allah can never represent more than one deity, let alone 3. We will see, Allah knows best.

I think it is a good thing, that after some thought, the government reversed their decision, allowing the Church to substitute God for Allah. Allah knows best, Allah knows best. He Himself preserves his religion in ways we fail to imagine.

But for Muslims, especially those who are still learning to understand Islam as the complete way of life and have not studied other religions to understand their beliefs and practices, it is a call to wake up and learn to appreciate what Islam has to offer. I speak for myself too. I believe that if I had not known about the Arabic bible I would have strongly opposed such a request by the Church.

It is not fair to blame others when brothers and sisters leave the faith. Christianity and Judaism share more similarities to Islam than differences - and we should know of both of them. There are plenty of honourable references to Christians and Jews in the Qur'an as the People of the Book.

We will see how this unravels - I am sure this has happened in other countries - the word Allah being used in other religions. If there are, let us know, it would be interesting to see how Muslims around the world react to changes like this.

Muslims still live in trees!

The common insult of a civilisation still leaving in trees probably stems from the belief of evolution, whereby man evolved from the ape. Muslims do not believe in Darwin's theory, which is full of loopholes, on the becoming of man. However, when faced with the comment or insult that Muslims still live in trees... Muslims can respond that the statement is in fact true. There are Muslims living in trees!

As much as Muslims do not believe that Man are ancestors of the money, they do believe that the many species that make up the ape-kindgom are, in fact, Muslims.

Besides monkeys that "still" live in trees, birds, bugs, bees, sloths (are the part of the ape kingdom?), koala bears and other animals that inhabituate trees are also Muslim.

"There is no animal that lives on the Earth, but forms part of communities like you. Nothing have We omitted from the Book, and they shall all be gathered to their Lord in the end."
(Al-An'am: 38)

Obviously we have left out all the other non-tree bound animals that live in the different climates and environments that have been uniquely created to suit their multiple needs and requirements.

In fact, there are plenty of special mention of animals in the Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunnah that give animals the recognition of their natural inclination to worship Allah, and Allah alone.

Prophet Sulayman (may Allah bless him) was gifted with the knowledge to decipher the speech of birds and beast alike.

"He (Sulaiman) said: O' People! We have been taught the language of the birds and have been given (abundance) of all things; this is indeed grace manifest (from Allah)." (Al-Naml: 15)

In fact, on one of his da'wa missions, Prophet Sulayman heard ants clamouring for safety in fear of being trampled upon: "At length when they came to a valley of ants, one of the ants said: 0' ants! Get into your holes lest Sulaiman and his hosts crush you without knowing it." (Al-Naml: 18)

In the story of Prophet Yusuf, Prophet Yakob (Yusuf's father) (peace and blessings upon them both), questioned his sons on Yusuf's disappearance. The boys quickly framed a wolf for devouring their younger brother. Prophet Yakob however, was enlightened by Allah that their story was false and there was no incidence of Yusuf's death, let alone had he perished in the jaws of a wolf.

In another story, the chapter Al-Kahf in the Holy Qur'an, narrates the story of a group of young men who hid in a cave away from persecutors of the Islamic faith. It is narrated that a dog stood guard for a great number of years, protecting the righteous young men from enemies.

"Thou wouldst have deemed them awake, whilst they were asleep, and We turned them on their right and on their left sides: their dog stretching forth his two fore-legs on the threshold: if thou hadst come up on to them, thou wouldst have certainly turned back from them in flight, and wouldst certainly have been filled with terror of them." (Al-Kahf: 18)

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) too, in all of his kindness, always reminded his Muslim followers to treat animals the way they would treat one another. He forbade striking animals in their faces, humiliating them, or killing them in a way that would cause horrific pain.

Prophet Muhammad's acknowledgement of the Muslim status of animals was fortified during his flee from hostile Makkah to welcoming Madinah. For fear of their lives, he and comrad, Abu Bakr (peace and blessings upon them both), hid in a cave in the vast desert as men of the Quraysh hounded them down to put a stop to Islam.

A spider sensing the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him), strive for survival, wove a web, cordoning off the opening of the cave. Upon seeing a magnificently woven web across the shelter that hid the two Muslim men, the hunters, tipped off by the Quraysh, left the mouth of the cave, deceived by the spider's flimsy piece of protection - a delicate layer of nature hiding the truth.

There is an abundance of Hadith relaying the importance of caretaking of animals. A popular one is the story of a prostitute being granted Heaven after sighting a thirst-mongered dog. She removed a shoe, collected water from a well and watered and fed the dog, saving it from an untimely death. (Bukhari)

Human Muslims are therefore required to bestow only kindness upon animals regardless of their species, regardless of their habitats. Apparently now for Muslims, "living in trees" no longer poses as an insult.

It may be distasteful for a person's home to be associated with a tree branch, but in fact, there are probably human civilisations still living in trees and who are Muslim.

Nonetheless it is important to remember that all animals too are in fact Muslim and many of them live in trees designed to suit their ecosystem.

Practicing Muslims believe that Allah Ta'ala the Creator of the Worlds has perfected the environment we live in, so much so, that all elements of nature lament in His Glory, each with their own ways of worship.

"In the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and day, and the ships which sail the seas to people's benefit, and the water which Allah sends down from the sky - by which He brings the earth to life when it was dead and scatters about in it creatures of every kind - and the varying direction of the winds, and the clouds subservient between heaven and earth, there are Signs for people who use their intellect." (al-Baqara: 164)

Food...An Icebreaker...

I just thought of something the other day. If you ever need to work with new people, a good way to break the ice is to bring them ethnic food. I have done that recently. It is a good method for them to see and taste your food. It allows that person to think, "interesting, their food is pretty good."

Food, especially that is good, tends to change a person's point of view of other cultures. I gave one of my non Arab coworkers some Baklawa. They loved it. This Baklawa was from Shatilla, a place in Michigan. I am not promoting this in any way. I don't even live in Michigan, but somewhere else in the U.S. :) My coworker was surprised. I said, why? Dearborn is the Middle East capital of USA. When they get a chance, my coworker is planning to visit Dearborn.

A little bit about myself...I live no where near Arabs, although I am one. I am surrounded by mostly non Arab and non Muslim people. Yes, my family and I have to be excellent role models. However, we do our best to help improve Muslims and Arabs reputation.