A book I couldn't put down

Infidel, My Life

by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I got to know about Ayaan Hirsi Ali when I watched a debate in YouTube and I've been impressed with her every since. I found that she wrote several books and I got a copy of Infidel, My Life to read. 

I started reading and I could not put it down. 

She wrote about growing up in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya. She was blessed to be born in a well-known family line but her young life was harsh and hard. She was arranged to be married to a man she haven't met before and in her travel to her new home, she escaped to Netherlands and sought for asylum. She gained citizenship, graduated in political science and began working in the Dutch parliament. However, she soon had to be placed under high security because her partner in producing a movie was murdered as a result. She now lives in America. 

The book received much praise. I found these accolades from Wikipedia:

The launch of the book in the Netherlands was considered a success, with the initial print run selling out in two days. A review in de Volkskrant concluded that "anyone who discovers Hirsi Ali's tumultuous history can only sympathise with her". The German edition of the book, Mein Leben, meine Freiheit ("My Life, My Freedom"), debuted in the top 20 of the bestseller list of Der Spiegel. 

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum, writing in The Washington Post, said "Infidel is a unique book, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a unique writer, and both deserve to go far." A review in The New York Times described the book as a "brave, inspiring and beautifully written memoir".  In an interview, Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria described it as "an amazing book by an amazing person".

pearlie 

YouTube Weekend

I spend the entire weekend with videos in YouTube by CBN and Answering Islam.

As much as I have no conversion experience, being a third generation Christian, I could experience it vicariously through the testimonies of people in those videos. They were amazing.

pearlie

My Buddhist temple experience

Comparative religion is a subject that has always interest me, living in a multi-cultural country, and I have taken two of such subjects under my Masters of Christian Studies: Ministry in a Pluralistic Context and Religion in Malaysia - Islam. Interestingly, my course of work has brought me to two encounters with Buddhism and Islam.

I don't think I have blogged about my very interesting encounter with Buddhism before but here it is.

Several years ago, I was to go for a meeting with my firm's partner with a client in Melaka. He is a very staunch Buddhist and in my assignment on Buddhist Meditation, he actually spent two to three hours with me as I interviewed him on the subject to fulfill the requirement for my paper, God bless him. Anyway, before we went to Melaka, he called my colleague and I into his room.

"I need to make a detour to a Buddhist temple in Melaka for a meeting and they will be serving lunch. I understand both of you are Christians, would you mind eating in a temple?" he asked.

I wasn't expecting this at all but before I could do anything, my colleague chirped, "Sure! Not a problem at all!"

I found myself in a quandary. I only had 2 seconds to to work out the whole chapter 8 of First Corinthians as well as to tackle these two questions: if I say no, will I be given time to qualify and explain myself? And if I do that, how will I explain my colleague's enthusiastic yes?

Two pairs of eyes were on me. I did not have time to think. I have to make a quick decision.

"That should be alright," I replied, but I am sure he noticed my hesitancy. What he did not hear was my silent qualification and continuation to my statement. "Alright for now, but I will reassess it when we are there," I thought to myself.

The drive to Melaka was a worrying one. The what-am-I-going-to-do phrase must have went through my mind several thousand times in the one and half hour journey.

We soon arrived at the temple situated in the core zone of the Malacca Unesco World Heritage Site. It is a typical Chinese temple but it is quite a temple. We were led through the main door, crossed over the main worship area, into a very nice landscaped corridor, passing through another worship area with a huge ballast of idols and urns for joss sticks into a moderately large meeting room.

There was only one old but huge conference table and we were all directed there for a seat and inadvertently I became a temple meeting attendee. I told myself I have to tell my dad this, that I actually attended a Buddhist temple executive committee meeting! (I was then in my church's Local Church Executive Committee and my dad was the Chairman several years before and subsequently the church's lay-leader.)

The meeting evolved around the topic of taxation. The committee wanted advise from my firm's partner on income tax pertaining to the rental they received from houses that devotees donated to the temple. They began referring to an official letter sent by the income tax department to the temple. The person referring to the letter was seated next to me and I noticed that the letter looked old...really old...I leaned over for a closer look and saw the date in the letter...it was in the year 1945...Wow...

"How many houses are we talking about?" the partner asked.

"48."

I hope no one saw the expression on my face. I was expecting two, or five at most, but 48? Wow...

It is one experience I will never forget.

Then it was lunch time.

"We have gotten some really nice food from Melaka town. The famous ones. Come, come. Help yourselves."

It was a casual spread and some of the food is still contained in the take-away packages, hence I deduced these were not food that has been offered to idols. I did not at that time have much of a deeper understanding on 1 Cor 8 (not that I do now as well) and I thought to myself (1) food was not idol offerings and (2) the context of lunch was not religious, and so it should be okay, and went ahead and ate together.

But I still wonder to this day if I have made the right decision. I am quite certain I have, but I am not 100% sure.

pearlie

People of the Book: A Novel

People of the Book, A Novel
By Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2008)

Words do not do justice to how I feel about reading this book. Just that of all the novels I have read in my entire life, this is certainly one of the most amazing one. The intrigue, the mystery, the inter-connections between the stories are astounding. And if you are a lover of historical fiction, I fully recommend you this book.

The story is wrapped around a real book or manuscript, the Sarajevo Haggadah.

A Haggadah is an illuminated manuscript that contains the illustrated traditional text of the Passover Haggadah, a Jewish text that used during the Passover meal. It contains the narrative of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, special blessings and rituals, commentaries from the Talmud, and special Passover songs. An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decorations, illustrations and usually decorated with gold or silver.

Very little is known about the Sarajevo Haggadah. From the little known facts about the manuscript, Brooks has woven an amazing story around it. It revolves around a manuscript conservator as she was assigned to conserve the Haggadah. As she worked with the manuscript, she extracted "history" from in it, in the form of an insect wing, a feather, wine stains, salt stains, and a piece of white hair. The story of the Haggadah is then interwoven with the people in five stories of different times. I love the mystery and intrigue they tell.

And I must say that People of the Book this is a big volume; big not in the sense of the length of the book, it is after only 372 pages in print, but big in terms of the subject it holds. I learnt much about life as it was in Sarajevo with its religious diversity, with adherents to Islam, Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Judaism coexisting there for centuries. You will be amazed at how the people coexist there and how they hang on to their relationship despite their differences, the sacrifices the made,and the sufferings they had to endure. And yet, they held on to their friendship, with one another even though their differences and similarity of beliefs can steer them to unbelievable atrocities as it did happen in various levels in various parts of the world over the last few centuries. I also learnt, as I diverted here and there (to Wikipedia mostly), about the Spanish Inquisition, manuscripts preservation, and anthropodermic bibliopegy amongst others.

From the beginning of the book, I was mesmerized when the story was intensely into the conservation of the manuscript. It was interesting to get acquainted with the inks and the colours that we take for granted. Let me quote this paragraph in the book:

I turned a page. More dazzle. The illuminations were beautiful, but I didn't allow myself to look at them as art. Not yet. First I had to understand them as chemicals. There was yellow, made of saffron. That beautiful autumn flower, Crocus sativus Linnaeus, each with just three tiny precious stigmas, had been a prized luxury then and remained one, still. Even if we now know that the rich color comes from a carotene, crocin, with a molecular structure of 44 carbon, 64 hydrogen, and 24 oxygen, we still haven't synthesized a substitute as complex and as beautiful. There was malachite green, and red; the intense red known as worm scarlet -- tola'at shani in Hebrew-- extracted from tree-dwelling insects, crushed up and boiled in lye. Later, when alchemists learned how to make similar red from sulfur and mercury, they still named the color "little worm" -- vermiculum. Some things don't change -- we call it vermillion even today.

I just love how Brooks has put hard facts and delightful fiction together. It is a reader's haven. If you are into manuscripts, text, lives of the Jews, Muslims and Christians, mystery and intrigue, this book is for you.

One more thing about fiction that gets to me -- the ending -- it has to be perfect. And this book does not disappoint. It is not perfect perfect, but it was satisfying.

I will definitely read it again, and this round I will be able to recognize the "aha" portions, and I am looking forward to it.

pearlie

Poetry to God

I learnt a bit about the Sufi when I took Ministry in a Pluralistic Context last year and we touched on it again today. I was reminded of my life as a Christian as well - there is a lot to learn from them. For one, the Sufi put themselves under the tutelage and guidance of a shaik or spiritual leader - it will be hard to find any such person in our churches these days whom we can call our mentors. They are ascetic, simple and quiet in their way of life. They were not content with just an exterior life of being a Muslim - it must also be lived out in their inner life.

They are also well-known for the poetry they wrote:

So long as we do not die to ourselves,
and so long as we identify with someone or something,
we shall never be free.
The spiritual way is not for those wrapped up in exterior life.

~ Farid ud Din Attar

The Jesus of your spirit is inside you now.
Ask that one for help, but don't ask for body-things...

Don't ask Moses for provisions
that you can get from Pharaoh.

Don't worry so much about livelihood.
Your livelihood will turn out as it should.
Be constantly occupied instead
with listening to God.

~ Rumi, Mathnawi II:450-454

Go sweep out the chamber of your heart.
Make it ready to be the dwelling place of the Beloved.
When you depart out, He will enter it.
In you, void of yourself, will He display His beauties.

~ Mahmud Shabistari - 'Rose Garden of Mystery'

My joy --
My Hunger --
My Shelter --
My Friend --
My Food for the journey --
My journey's End --
You are my breath,
My hope,
My companion,
My craving,
My abundant wealth.
Without You -- my Life, my Love --
I would never have wandered across these endless countries.
You have poured out so much grace for me,
Done me so many favors, given me so many gifts --
I look everywhere for Your love --
Then suddenly I am filled with it.
O Captain of my Heart
Radiant Eye of Yearning in my breast,
I will never be free from You
As long as I live.
Be satisfied with me, Love,
And I am satisfied.

~ Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya

And this has become my favourite:

O my Lord,
the stars glitter
and the eyes of men are closed.
Kings have locked their doors
and each lover is alone with his love.

Here, I am alone with you.

~ Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya

pearlie

Recitations

This is not new to me but I am learning to appreciate it. The Arabic language is regarded as a highly perfected language. I have yet to really take in what it means to have a "highly perfected language" but I think it means a language that is highly developed, one that is pure and not borrowed, one that is beautiful and that has captured every sound.

I have grown up hearing the azan or call-to-worship every now and then as I was driven past mosques or when I watched television in my childhood days. With satellite TV though, there is less of it these days. For old time's sake, I went to check it out in YouTube and found this. Doesn't it sound lovely?



I also found this - a recitation of Surah 36:1-12 of the Qur'an. This boy's voice is wonderful and his recitation incredibly well done.



pearlie

TEE on full throttle

I have been blogging about my TEE classes as I went about in the past 4 years (oh my, have I really been blogging that long?) but ever since I went reticent in 2010, I have not talked about them - wish I did.

I am back into being more hardworking this year as far as my theological study is concerned. After the Ministry in a Pluralistic Context module I took in July/August 2009, the following modules I attended were Pastoral Leadership & Ministry in May 2010, 1 Corinthians in June/July 2010 and Biblical Theology in August 2010. I am about to complete my Pastoral Leadership & Ministry assignment but I have not touched anything on the other two.

And today is the first day of the Major Religion in Malaysia module. We had the introductory session today and it was really very, very interesting to learn about Islam in Malaysia. For one, it is one of the fastest growing religion in the world right now and one very important realisation about the religion is that to the Muslims, the Qur'an is the very direct word from God -- and therefore it is infallible, it does not need any analysis (like we do our Scriptures), or any criticism (talk about our textual criticism, source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, socio-historical criticism, and what-more-have-you!). It made me realise how different it is when they talk about the Qur'an compared to when we talk about the Bible. We turn it upside-down-inside-out to discover its beauty and truth whilst they simply treat it as-is being the very pure word directly given by God. And that to me is really very, very profoundly interesting.

pearlie

Buddhist Meditation

Ah! I have finally managed to complete my paper on Buddhism and submitted it this morning. I was so sure I was going to forgo this one again as I have given up on the last two, one on "Paul Perspective on Justification" and another on "History and Theology of the Exile". I didn't mind not completing the one on justification but I wished I stuck with the exile paper. But never mind ... it was tough going at that time.

I picked the topic on meditation, got some books and journal articles, did some reading, and interviewed two practising Buddhists, one from Mahayana Buddhism and the other from Theravada Buddhism - I have certainly learnt quite a bit about the subject and the religion. I started off wondering what Christian meditation is too! And ended off concluding that we are no where near them in terms of it being a discipline.

I don't publish my paper online but if you would like to have a read, you could pm me.

pearlie

Meditation - the Christian's and the Buddhist's

The Foundations of Buddhism
Rupert Gethin

I finally managed to get a copy of this book. Apparently, it is the textbook for Buddhism, but a pretty small one at that. Now I can get back to reading and figuring out how to tackle my paper on this topic. I cannot even remember what the assignment question is! But I do know I wanted to so something on meditation.

I find the Buddhist meditation very interesting and quite unlike what I do in meditation as a Christian. I have only read the first thirty over pages of this book, but I remember Gethin saying that meditation is like attaining a state of altered existence - I may have gotten the words wrong ... but I think not. When I compare my meditation in practice with the Buddhist meditation, at least from what I read, I find that whilst I meditate on Scripture or on God, my aim is so that I can understand my God better. I desire to know Him more and enjoy His presence, and in turn know what I must and should do as His child.

For a Buddhist, it is the attainment of an altered state of the mind. It is a concentration on something or nothing, until the mind is free from externalities - that is what I think it is at this point of time. I have much more work to do to figure this out.

pearlie

A Clogged Drain and A Controlled Mind

And so we stayed at home, Calvin with his computer as usual, and I with the laundry and a clogged drain. I have tried using chemicals to unclog it but it hadn't work. And the laundry has to be done and so I had to improvise and use buckets instead to drain the water. I think I burned quite a lot of calories washing several loads of laundry today. And I still have to figure out how to unclog the drain.

Meanwhile I have been viewing some videos in YouTube.com on Buddhism, more particularly on Meditation in the Discovering Buddhism series.

Buddhist meditation is about transforming the mind, the discover what the mind is really all about and from that find out what what life is all about. It involves a lot of concentration on a targetted object, be it the breath or Buddha. This is my preliminary understanding of meditation in the Buddhist worldview. Christian meditation on the other hand is prayer and the study of Scripture.

The ultimate of Buddhist meditation, I think, is the meditation of emptiness, but I have not really understood what they meant by emptiness, which is something abhorred by Christian and yet embraced by Buddhist. Emptiness to them is said to be not merely voidness but that it contains cognizance. How emptiness can contain cognizance is beyond me. If it does contain anything, it wouldn't be emptiness now, would it?

One of my reactions in the studying of Buddhism is having mixed feelings about it. While the more I read and learn about Buddhism the more I find it a very attractive religion, I also learnt several things that are so far from the Christian truth.

Buddha was a man who attained enlightenment and was freed from the so-called cycles of life. And so it is every Buddhists' goal to emulate this man who found the path and who has shown them the path to attain enlightenment and to be freed as well. As such, the religion is quite self-centered. Although they made it a requirement that one's motivation must be right, i.e. it is not only for self but for the world at large, I find it hard not to notice that it is still very much a self-attainment thing for them. Also, it very important for them to find a real-life guru to follow. It is not only a book, they need to find someone who has attain it to help them attain it as well.

When it comes to meditation, as Christians we pray and let the Holy Spirit guide us on what to say and what to pray and think about. We study Scriptures and let the Holy Spirit reveal God's truth to us. Buddhists on the other hand, use much effort to practice and control their mind to concentrate on their object of meditation. To them, it is a reality that it is all in the mind - the mind is a powerful thing that can change anything it will to change.

I find that hard to believe. Can a person trust his mind all the time? Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things (Prov 23:33). To me, the overarching question is this: what is Buddhism's good based on? What is good? By what standard is good measured by? How do you know that you are good in your mind? How do you know that you are doing something that is good, to yourself or to anyone?

You'd notice that my mind isn't so coherent at the moment, i.e. I'm all over the place. The Buddhist would comment that I have yet to master the art of meditation to help me focus and concentrate my mind. But I'd say that I am searching, and when I am searching, I let my mind wander and it may happen on something I have not realised before. And the only standard that my mind is put up against is God himself: Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind (Psalm 26:2).

pearlie

History Channel's Inside Islam

I came back from church today and switched on the TV, which is a rare thing. I turned to the History Channel only to discover that I have missed "Inside Islam". It would be good to watch as a follow up of the Ministry in a Pluralistic Society lectures.

So what the next best thing to do? YouTube, of course!

Check it out here if you are interested (there are 9 parts of about 10 minutes each). But be warned of two things:

1. I think the videos are "censored" in at least 3 sections. If I remember correctly, one on the Sufis, another on the American muslim lady's comments on the covering of head and another on the attack of the Ottoman Turks. If you watch it, let me know if I am right.

2. As they always say it, history is not "pure" history, in that they are presented in the context and interest of the historian. These videos are made as a response to the 9-11 catastrophe.

Let me know what you think.

pearlie

Ministry in a Pluralistic Context - Day 6

We discussed about Islam today, its three major sects, the Sunni, Shi'ite and Sufi. The Sufi sect is quite interesting -- they are the mystics of the Islam religion. Their thoughts and activity as a result of their belief can be quite beautiful.

Ruth showed me this poem written by a 7th century Sufi:

If I worship you in fear of Hell, burn me in it
If I worship you in hope of Paradise, exclude me from it
But If I worship You for your own Being,
don't withhold from me your everlasting beauty
~ Rabiah Al-Adawiyah

Now, isn't that so beautiful?

pearlie

Ministry in a Pluralistic Context - Day 5

We did another case study today, which involves a true account of an American Christian missionary in Japan. She spent many years in Japan, living with the people there, learning their customs and language. She made close friends including a lady who soon passed away. The daughter of the Japanese lady invited her to attend the funeral service and requested her to speak at the service. This is where the problem begins -- the rites were carried out with incense and priests, and the people who speaks at the funeral speak to the picture of the deceased and not the people. What was she to do in order to preserve her close relations with the family and yet not compromise her beliefs?

This account is not strange to us in Malaysia. There are those of us whose families are not Christians and funeral rites are a challenge to us. What can we do and what can we not do? What kind of witness would we show to those around us, Christians and non-Christians alike?

In the case study, we concluded that the missionary must accept the invitation but she also must have a word with the deceased daughter, together with the priests, to explain to them her predicament, where whilst she is more than willing to be there because of their special friendship, there are some things she cannot do because of her faith in her God. And to ask if she can be allowed to do somethings different, for example, to give a eulogy addressing the people attending the service.

In our real lives, the same can be done - we can have a discussion with the head of the family and find out ways where we can be a part of the service and yet be faithful to God. For example, whilst the ceremonies are ongoing, we can stand at the side, i.e. being there and yet not actually participating.

Being a God-fearing Christian and a fervent witness for the Lord is not an easy thing but by faith and by grace, the Lord will provide us a way when we seek for His help.

pearlie

Ministry in a Pluralistic Context - Day 4

We were given an introduction about Buddhism and in the video clip we watched, I realised a few things about my encounters with the Buddhists.

It dawned on me that when we dialogue with a Buddhist, the way we talk about Christianity and its main tenets have no way of latching on to their train of thought.

For one, Buddhism teaches the value of all kinds of life and therefore it is not right from them to kill any living things. And here we go talking about sacrifices in the Old Testament and the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

The Buddhists have a thoroughly different concept of sin. They do not believe there is a God and therefore there is no judge. They do good and as long as they do not hurt anyone, they do not sin. So they do not have an understanding of falling short of the glory of God.

One of the main tenet of Buddhist beliefs is that salvation or Nirvana is the responsibility of one's own self. It does not make sense to them to have someone else do that on their behalf.

We have much to know about the other religions before we can even dialogue with them and share to them about Jesus.

pearlie

Logical tetralemma?

I am still reading Timothy Tennent's Christianity at the Religious Roundtable. I have started on the section on Buddhism and I am now utterly confused.

Consider this logical tetralemma:
A is true
A is not true
A is both true and not true
A is neither true nor not true

Huh? I am lost.

pearlie

Postscript (on 30/7/09)
Now that I read further on the part of the Buddhist-Christian dialogue I have a slightly better understanding and where they are coming from with regards to the tetralemma. Ultimately, the "Christian God and the Buddhas seem to function in their own separate universe" ... and these two religions are fundamentally different. (Tennent, 113)

Whilst we Christians believe in an objective, personal God, the Buddhist two main schools of thought, the Yogacara and the Madhyamika, focus on philosophical idealism (all reality is in the mind) and philosophical nihilism (there is no reality or meaning at all) respectively. (Tennent, 102)

Ministry in a Pluralistic Context - Day 3

We spent time on two things today: (1) a video on Hinduism and (2) a case study on a true account of a missionary in India.

The video on Hinduism gave a very good introduction to a very complex religion, which in actuality is more of a way of life than religion. One new thing I discovered was this: according to the Hindu, the worship of the figurine of deities do not result in idolatry. They explain that they are worshipping what the idols represents and not the idols themselves. This is interesting to me because if this is so, then the discussion on the subject and approach of worshipping with a Hindu will take a different turn. I have yet to further reflect on this.

As such I might take up a comparative study of the different ways of worship as my essay topic. I wonder if comparing the worship practices of all four religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam - would be too much for a 3,000-word essay paper.

The case study that we did on Hinduism was a very interesting one - I highly recommend that you read a short version of the work of Roberto de Nobili (1577-1656) here. Nobili is now termed as the Roman Catholic Brahmin as he adopted customs and practices of the Brahmin caste in his personal lifestyle. He believed that it was the only way in which the Christian faith could be presented to the Hindus.

The lecturer forced us to vote - if we were the leaders of the church council, would we allow Nobili to continue with his work or call him back? To me, there were more questions than answers, but since we have to vote, I voted for the latter, though with qualifications. I felt that based on the information give in the case study, he had gone a tad too far in it. Had he kept to a certain limits, or even presented a more forward looking plan, he would be impactful in his work -- e.g. he formed a Brahmin church because the Brahmin caste Christian would not worship in the same place as the rest of the castes. It would have been better if he had planned for the assimilation of the differnt "caste-churches" through time. He might have, I don't know. But what's more glaring is the fact that he did not criticise the custom of suttee. If he were to have continued, would it result in an assimilated Christian faith with practices that are not Christ-like?
However, I also see that if he had continued with his work, he could have made an great impact with the Hindus and converted more and something could have been worked out to trim down his practices.

He was apparently called back and the spread of the gospel among the Hindus fell back.

pearlie

Ministry in a Pluralistic Context - Day 2

We had a full day of lecture today going from a look at Acts 10 on Cornelius the Centurion to the tripartite nature of mission studies.

There were a lot of stuff but what stood out for me was the purpose of dialogue and encounter with followers of the other religions. Everyone comes with a worldview that shapes the belief system that form their values that orders their outward behaviours. And like the saying which goes, Christianity can spread a thousand miles wide but only an inch deep, we may spend a lot of time on evangelism, we focus less on discipleship. Even though there is some form of discipleship, we may not have the capacity to address the underlying worldviews.

The other one thing that stood out for me is the fact that even before we reach out to another person with the good news, God may have already gone before us.

pearlie

Ministry in a Pluralistic Context - Day 1

We started our class today on Ministry in a Pluralistic Context lectured by Dr Tan Kang San, formerly with OMF and now a lecturer in Redcliffe College, UK.

Ministry in a Pluralistic Context may sound foreign to some but very relevant to us in Asia, particularly in South Asia. We live in a society rich with layers over layers of traditions and different religions. There is such a blend that it would not be uncommon to find a Hindu, Buddhist and Christian, all living together in a home. With such an environment how do we as Christian engage with those of the other religions without reducing their beliefs and practices to something that is meaningless, when it is not. We need to find a platform that will allow us to discuss and talk about our practices and faith in a more respectful manner.

The lecturer stresses on having dialogues with believers of the other religions and not to encounter them from a reductionist approach, where we reduce the values of their beliefs and practices. All religions are complex and they exist because people are seeking after God. We have much to learn from them as much as they have to learn from us.

pearlie

Ownership of a word?

Recently, the Malaysian government rescinded their decision for the use of the name "Allah" by Christian publications and reinstated the ban.

Malaysia to restore 'Allah' ban for Christians
By EILEEN NG, Associated Press Writer Eileen Ng, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 1, 4:19 am ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The Malaysian government will issue a new decree restoring a ban on Christian publications using the word "Allah" to refer to God, officials said Sunday.

Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said a previous Feb. 16 decree that allowed Christian publications to use the word as long as they specified the material was not for Muslims was a mistake, the national Bernama news agency reported.

The about-turn came after Islamic groups slammed the government and warned that even conditional use of the word by Christians would anger Muslims, who make up the country's majority.

A senior ministry official confirmed Syed Hamid's comments, saying there were "interpretation mistakes" in the Feb. 16 decree that led to the confusion.

"'Allah' cannot be used for other religions except Islam because it might confuse Muslims. This is the ministry's stand and it hasn't changed," the official, who declined to be named citing protocol, told The Associated Press.

The official said the ministry was likely to issue a new decree to annul the old one and effectively re-impose the ban.

The dispute has become symbolic of increasing religious tensions in Malaysia, where 60 percent of the 27 million people are Muslim Malays. A third of the population is ethnic Chinese and Indian, and many of them practice Christianity.

Malaysia's minorities have often complained that their constitutional right to practice their religions freely has come under threat from the Malay Muslim-dominated government. They cite destruction of Hindu temples and conversion disputes as examples. The government denies any discrimination.

The Herald, the Roman Catholic Church's main newspaper in the country, had filed a legal suit to challenge the government ban on non-Muslims using the word.

The Herald argued that the Arabic word is a common reference for God that predates Islam and has been used for centuries as a translation in Malay.

Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, said Sunday the publication had not been notified of the government's change in policy.

"Unfortunately the apparent relief that we imagined we were able to enjoy has been short-lived," he said.
________________________________________________

Allah. Dieu. El. Eli. Elohim. God. Gott.Shen. Theos.  Can anyone claim sole ownership to a word? Or even a name? What about the name Yahweh?

Some may not think it matters. But think about it, what if you have always called your God, "God" and suddenly you can't anymore?  What are you going to do? What if you have always been importing bibles with the use of "God" but you can't anymore?

Back in mid 2008, when the issue was first brought up, the Sikhs also use the word "Allah" on "numerous occasions" in the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib. They joined the legal battle with the Christians over the ban of the word.  But there is no news now with regards to their use of the word.  Is the ban only resinstated for Christian publications?

pearlie

A Sikh Wedding

I attended a colleague's wedding wedding today - a Sikh wedding. It was the most colourful event I have ever been to.

Getting the groom ready.


We were served breakfast.


Hear ye, hear ye.


Here comes the bride.


The bride being led in by her brother.


The bride and her proud mom, or was it her sister?


The seating in the Sikh temple was segregated into the women and the men, which became a photographer's delight. Just look at the colours!


The group of women seated around me were so elegant and beautiful. I was snapping away much to their and my delight.






And this is my most favourite shot of the lot!


At the end of the wedding ceremony, blessings were given out when I caught this shot.


I was packing up my gears by the time lunch was served, but not until I get a shot of this girl seated just across me.


pearlie
Photos (c) 2009 Pearlie Ng