Haron: I’ll never agree to allow non-Muslims use 'Allah'

PETALING JAYA: PAS deputy mursyidul am Datuk Dr Haron Din says he will never agree to any decision allowing the use of “kalimah Allah” by non-Muslims.

“Kalimah Allah dominates every surah in the Quran, while the word Allah cannot be found anywhere in the Bible,” he said.

He said this in response to the resurfacing of the contentious issue after DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said recently that Christians should be allowed to use the word “Allah” in the Malay version of the Bible.

The PAS Syura Council meeting on Saturday is expected to be highly charged as many of the religious scholars in the party are not agreeable to Pakatan Rakyat's consensus to allow non-Muslims to use “kalimah Allah”.

Some members of the Syura Council were caught by surprise over the decision that was made without consulting the supreme body of the Islamist party.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said on Tuesday that Islam did not forbid non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” but it should not be abused.

Dr Haron described as kufur (disbelievers) those who allow non-Muslims to use the word “Allah”, as it could lead to syirik (shirk) when the word is used on the cross and other prayer paraphernalia.

PAS Ulama chief Datuk Dr Harun Taib had also expressed shock over Pakatan Rakyat's claim that a consensus had been reached.

In an immediate response on Tuesday, Harun said that as far as he could remember, the Syura Council had never made a decision on the matter.

PAS mursyidul am (spiritual leader) Datuk Seri Nik Abdul Aziz was quoted in a Malay daily as saying that on a personal basis, he believed non-Muslims should be allowed to use “kalimah Allah”, as it could be the first step to preach Islam to them.

However, Nik Aziz said he would abide by the Syura Council's decision.

Meanwhile, Selangor Barisan Nasional coordinator Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Mohamed hit out at Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for defying the Selangor Sultan's advice to abide by a fatwa barring non-Muslims from using “kalimah Allah”.

Mohd Zin said Anwar, who claimed to be adviser to the Selangor Government, should be ashamed for being ignorant of the fact that the ruling prohibiting the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims for the propagation of other religions apart from Islam was stipulated in Section 9 of the Non-Islamic Religion Enactment (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) 1988.

“What kind of message is he trying to send?

“Is he trying to instigate Pakatan supporters to commit sedition?” he asked.