CAN WE USE ALLAH IN THE BIBLE ?
Here is my conclusion - you can download the whole book https://bit.ly/3lWCCl6
It is about TRUST.
It is clear that it is not only permissible to use the term Allah to refer to God in the Bible, it is exactly what the Quran wants us to do.
What an irony. I would like to thank my Christian brothers and sisters in their effort to make Allah the universal name of God and wanting the name to be the preferred reference of God in the Bible.
But, you must not stop there.
You must also strive hard to ensure that not just the Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia Bibles use the term Allah but all the other translations in the world regardless if they are in Japanese, English, Russian or Hindi uses the same term.
Malaysian Christians can lead the world of Christianity to make Allah the universal name of God with the solid support of their Muslim brothers and sisters.
Anything that can bring us closer together must be supported. A shared universal name to call our God Allah seems a most appropriate place to start. Failing to do so will create mistrust because the correct term for God in Malay is Tuhan. The Muslims will question your consistency and sincerity. Because the real issue here is Trust. Not the technicality of the term Allah, Tuhan, Elohim, Elah etc. This is where we need to focus.
This is what we need to pay attention to.
There are three levels of trust missing.
Firstly, we do not trust each other. The Muslims perceive the inconsistency of Christians wanting to use the term Allah in the Malay Bible and not the other translations as a plot to convert Malay Muslims to Christianity. And, the Christians perceive the Muslims rejection of the usage of the term as another strategy to block the spread of the Christian faith to Muslims in Malaysia. This feeling is deep in the Christian psyche as they find the lopsided law on conversion in Malaysia to be unfair (check what the Quran says about this at 83:1-3 and 5:8).
Secondly, we do not trust ourselves. The Muslims lack confidence of fellow Muslims and feel that just by using the term Allah, their faith towards Islam can be shaken. The Christians lack confidence that being Christ-like is enough to attract others to the faith. That when you turn the other cheek, you win.
Yet the deepest rot is the lack of trust in Allah or God or Tuhan or any other name with which you want to call upon Him! Both Muslims and Christians fail to trust that Allah will be with those who are true and love those who trust Him. If we do so, we have nothing to fear and nothing to grieve. Failing to trust Him, we become weak, insecure and misguided.
Peace, anas.
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