GOD by any other name … is still God. Much ado about nothing — that is what it is about really. Nothing! The argument by certain parties over the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Christian ‘Herald’ newsletter, church fire-bombings, burnings, street demonstrations, over-emo charged arguments (which withholds, again, nothing) makes the Eye ashamed to be Malaysian.
The international media is, of course, having a field day. These issues have even gone into heated arguments on air over international news channels. Utterly embarrassing!
The Eye is nevertheless proud to be a Sarawakian — we here, people and leaders alike, in Sarawak, and also Sabah, are a tolerant and understanding lot when it comes to matters of religion and God. And yes, we here have been using the word for a long time in our religious texts translated into our local dialects, if you did not already know.
Many arguments have been put forward on the use of the word — arguments from the etymology (origin) perspective of the word, arguments from personal interpretations of religion, social aspects and even politicised arguments. The Eye will not go into all these. The Eye just wants to let it be known why there is no reason to fight over the name of God.
Religion is a beautiful thing — it gives hope to those who are in despair. It becomes a guide (which is exactly what it is) for our daily lives. Each and every religion or belief, be it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism (those commonly practised in Malaysia) teaches us common principles for living life. Yes — the keyword is COMMON guides and principles in life.
As a close friend put it, “All religions teach us how to live a good and simple life, how to be tolerant, how not to hurt other living beings — basically how not to do to others what you do not want others to do onto you.”
Of course, those way-out weird cults do not count. So don’t get confused (seems that people get easily confused and emotionally charged over religion these days).
Religion is about knowledge — every religion encourages us to seek knowledge or enlightenment — knowledge in both a general sense and self-enlightenment.
There is nothing wrong with one who is non-Muslim reading the Quran. To truly understand religion and to truly seek out God, there is a need to open our minds to knowledge. The Eye and friends of various religious backgrounds have read the Quran, the Bible and the other holy books of other faiths. Does such an act make us sinners?
Those who can grasp the true teachings of the Quran, Bible, Gita, Tipitaka, the Guru Granth Sahib or any other holy book will realise the common and basic grounds for religion. They would never condemn another religion. These are the truly enlightened.
There is no such thing as a religion being exclusive or superior over another. Unfortunately, many people, regardless of the religions they practise, get lost along the way when they are swayed by overzealous man-made interpretations of religions.
Yes, a person’s judgement over another’s religion and practices is clouded by these overzealous man-made interpretations. A person who is easily swayed and poor in judgement will eventually start to find fault with another religion. No religion is ‘wrong’. That is the beauty of religion and The Almighty. Religion and God can never be wrong.
So why do we argue over what we call God? Do we have exclusivity over God? No. God in whichever faith, is here for everyone. Should God be an issue argued in a court of law? No. It is ridiculous that God has to be dragged to court. The matter on the use of ‘Allah’ should not have even come about in the first place.
Should we get irrational and over-emo over another person’s religion and how they practise it? The answer again, is simply, no. Religion and God did not teach us to be this way. God teaches us to respect one another. So, to those over-emo and supposedly righteous people, please grow up!