I wonder why can’t we be a normal breed; just behaving like normal people, unbiased of other cultures and religions? In 2013, Malaysian Federal Court declared only Muslims could use the term ‘ Allah’ — means Malay-Christians, who have been using the word ‘Allah’ in speech and publications for ages, were barred to call ‘their’ God as Allah. Is He not the same Creator Muslims, Christians and other ‘People of Book’ (Ahl-e-Kitab) refer to in their holy scriptures? This display of narrow mindedness is not limited to one nation — it’s catching up fast!
One may consider that in the wake of religious extremists such as Taliban, Daesh, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and Al-Shabab, need of the time is to present a soft, tolerant and inclusive image of Islam, not an exclusive, rejective and bias behavior. Pakistani government has approved a list of various religious terms such as ‘Allah’, ‘Masjid’, ‘Salaat’, and ‘Rasool’ — now on these and other religious terms can’t be translated (and used) in English. Contrary to Malaysian Federal Court, it’s the other extreme of narrow mindedness wherein Pakistani Christians and other religious minorities will be forced to use Arabic terms instead of whatever they have been using for centuries.
Not long ago a military dictator changed the course of Pakistani mindset by replacing the Urdu phrase of ‘Khuda hafiz’ (in English it’s the same as ‘good bye’) by ‘Allah hafiz’ — now his reminiscent have once again proved that Zia-ul-Haq has not died. He is still enjoying while watching the seeds of extremism he sowed in 80s have now grown into tall fruit bearing trees.
What a waste of energy, resources and tax-payers money on a non-issue which would further divide the nation and alienate the minorities. 5th July is remembered as the darkest day in Pakistan history when General Zia took over the country in 1977; now Nawaz Sharif, often called as Zia’s spiritual son, will also be remembered for issuing Arabic terms notification on 5th July. What an irony of history!
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
