UMNO CAWANGAN JALAN RAJA CHULAN

Kalimah Allah: Mahkamah Tolak Permohonan Gereja

PUTRAJAYA: Mahkamah Rayuan pada Khamis menolak permohonan Gereja Roman Katolik bagi membatalkan rayuan kerajaan dan majlis agama Islam berhubung kebenaran menggunakan kalimah Allah dalam majalah Herald.

Keputusan dibuat oleh panel tiga hakim diketuai Datuk Seri Abu Samah Nordin yang bersidang bersama Hakim Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim dan Hakim Datuk Rohana Yusuf.

updated: 4.00pm.

mstar.com

Part of the crowd of Muslim NGO members outside the court building in Putrajaya today. The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, August 22, 2013.

Members of various Muslim non-governmental organisations gathered in Putrajaya as the Court of Appeal began hearing the Catholic Church’s application to dismiss the government’s appeal against the landmark decision to allow non-Muslims to use the word “Allah”.

Some had arrived as early as 8am to get a place in the court’s public gallery but many were not allowed in.

Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Samah Nordin is leading the three-member panel hearing the application with Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim and Datuk Rohana Yusof.

Also spotted before proceedings began were former PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa and Perkasa vice-president Datuk Zulkifli Noordin.

Archbishop Murphy Packiam is applying to set aside the government’s appeal against the High Court decision in 2009, which allowed the use of "Allah" in Bahasa Malaysia bibles, called Al-Kitab.

On Tuesday, Perkasa said it would rally outside the court to protest the church’s attempt to use the word “Allah”, which it has maintained should be used exclusively by Muslims.

The Catholic Church called for calm, saying the matter should be left in the court’s hands.

The row about using the word “Allah” by the Catholics first emerged in 2008 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Catholic paper Herald’s permit, prompting the Church to take the matter to court.

The High Court's ruling in 2009 that the Catholic Church had the constitutional right to use the word “Allah” had shocked Muslims who considered the word to only refer to the Muslim God. - August 22, 2013.