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Muslim groups planned to rally against the Catholic Church when the religious tussle over the Middle Eastern word for god heads back to the legal arena in Malaysia.
Syed Hassan Syed Ali, secretary-general of the group Perkasa, said the planned rally was in support of the Home Ministry in its efforts to prohibit non-Muslims from referring to God as “Allah” in print materials.
“The Court of Appeal’s decision in this case is very important to Muslims,” Syed Hassan said in a statement quoted in The Malay Mail Online.
Perkasa, a vocal Malay rights lobby, has some 407,000 members throughout Malaysia, according to the group’s acting president Datuk Abd Rahman Abu Bakar.
Perkasa’s remarks came after Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said last Saturday that the Arabic word “Allah” is exclusive to Muslims, and that non-Muslims must stop challenging this “absolute right”.
Zahid also urged Muslim groups to unite and defend against what he seemed to view as an attempt by non-believers to undermine the country’s predominant religion.
Sources
Image: AFP/Al Arabiya
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