Quoted Text

Malaysia's top court: 'Allah' for Muslims only
.


Associated Press
By EILEEN NG 1 hour ago

      
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's top court ruled Monday that non-Muslims cannot use the word "Allah" to refer to God, delivering the final word on a contentious debate that has reinforced complaints that religious minorities are treated unfairly in the Muslim-majority country.

In a 4-3 judgment, the Federal Court rejected a challenge by the Roman Catholic Church and upheld a government ban on the use of the word. Most Christians in Malaysia worship in English, Tamil or various Chinese dialects, and refer to God in those languages but some Malay-speaking people on Borneo island have no other word for God but "Allah," a Malay word derived from Arabic.
http://news.yahoo.com/malaysias-top-court-allah-muslims-only-060945018.html