We want Fatwa Council to decide on Allah issue, says PAS

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS has urged the National Fatwa Council to end the conflict over whether or not non-Muslims could use the word “Allah” to refer to God.

Party information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar said both Muslims and non-Muslims had been left confused over conflicting state and federal stands on the matter.

“We want the Fatwa Council to decide which is correct,” said Mahfuz at the PAS headquarters.

He said while the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 prohibited non-Muslims from using the term the Cabinet had allowed Christians from Sabah and Sarawak to use the term.

(The Federal Government had issued the 10-point solution to allowed Christians in East Malaysia to use “Allah” in the Al-Kitab prior to the 2011 Sarawak Elections.)

Mahfuz said he both the Selangor and Federal governments must have consulted religious authorities before arriving at their decisions.

He said the Fatwa Council should decide once and for all.

“This must be resolved or Islam will be seen as practising double standards. It creates the perception that Islam is unfair to non-Muslims,” he said.

Mahfuz described the Jais raid and the subsequent calls from three DAP state legislators to amend the 1998 Selangor Non-Islamic Religions Enactment as “hasty”.

Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara Utama), Rajiv Rishyakaran (Bukit Gasing) and Lau Weng San (Kampung Tunku) had proposed the amendments to ensure that Muslims’ and non-Muslims’ rights were protected.

PAS central working committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the DAP was entitled to voice its views but Pakatan Rakyat’s stand should be reached by consensus.

He called for a parliamentary bipartisan committee to also be set up to resolve the crisis.