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I gave this speech during our latest Vista Penang Toastmasters Club meeting:

Oh my God!!! This is a very popular phrase used by many throughout the world. But lately in Malaysia, new phrases are getting more popular such as “ Don’t use my God’s name” and “I want to use your God’s name”.

My fellow Toastmasters & Guest,

In my speech today, I don’t have any intention to criticize or offend anyone about this issue of using the name Allah by the Roman Catholic in their publications, The Herald. My sole intention is to share with all of you the standpoint of a Muslim like myself since the name of Allah is commonly known as the God in Islam. I felt it is my religious obligation to share with all of you today.

I would like to start with the meaning of the name Allah which is an Arabic word which consist of the word Al which means “The” and Ilah means God. Hence Allah means The God. Whatever religion which uses Arabic as their main language tends to use the word Allah to represent their God because that is the meaning in their language. However in Islam, Allah is the only God that we worship and it is a hugh sin if we worship others than Allah.

In the teaching of Islam, fundamentally a Muslim has to acknowledged that Allah is the only God and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is His messenger and also practice the basic 4 activities such as 5 times prayers every single day, fasting in the holy month of Ramadhan, pay Zakat similar to paying tax and perform Haj if affordable. All this activities entirely done because of Allah not because of anything or anyone else.

However in the context of Malaysia, there is too much hidden political agenda which may be taking advantage with the situation we are facing now. The usage of the word Allah is already been used in the Bible translation in Arabic & Bahasa Indonesia. For me it is not a big deal if the Bible translation or any Christian publications in Bahasa Malaysia or English also want to use the name Allah as long the intention is just to represent God and nothing else. It will also be a positive thing to do since Islam & Christianity will be sharing the same God by His name.

So if that is the case why many of us making a big fuss about it. Putting political reason aside, the basic knowledge of religions among Malaysian is in a very poor situation. Obviously, many do not know much about other religions and worst even their own religion. Sadly even some of our leaders also have the same deficiency. Something has to be done in our education system to introduce basic knowledge of multiple religions in schools, colleges & universities. At the same time, for those who have left school, intellectual & matured dialogues and sharing sessions should be encouraged to close the knowledge gap about comparative study on religions in Malaysia.

On top of that, we as Malaysian has been living in a very harmonious country for the past 52 years. We should bear in mind that this misunderstanding in our community is an opportunity for us to learn more about ourselves and also compromise with each other needs. The 13-May 1969 tragedy is something that we do want to happen again but unfortunately there are some crazy and (my apologies to use this word) idiotic people taken actions out of norm as a civilized human being. There are some attempts to burn down churches & suraus and most recently putting pig heads in several mosques in Selangor. Well I do not know what stupidity going to happen next but stent actions have to be taken to those responsible to stop any unwanted tragedy to happen.

Regardless whatever religion we believed in, I’m sure all religions teach us to do good deeds and avoid bad deeds. On top of that, our Gods also do not want us to fight with each other just because of what name we should call our Gods. The most important is we should strive to be a better follower of the teaching of our Gods rather than wasting time arguing with each other.

I hope what I’ve shared with be beneficial to all of us. Just remember that, God created us with a reason to worship Him not to fight over His name.

Thank you.