Ulil Abshar Abdalla - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Mon, 20 Oct 2014 03:08:30 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Ulil Abshar Abdalla - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Scholar says term ‘Allah' predates Islam https://cathnews.co.nz/2014/10/21/scholar-says-term-allah-predates-islam/ Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:05:30 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=64612 An Indonesian scholar says Muslims who believe the term "Allah" is exclusive to Islam are "confused". Ulil Abshar Abdalla said the word predates Islam and is a general Arabic term used to refer to God. Malaysia has declared the word "Allah" should only be used by Muslims, exclusively. Ulil was denied entry into Malaysia earlier Read more

Scholar says term ‘Allah' predates Islam... Read more]]> An Indonesian scholar says Muslims who believe the term "Allah" is exclusive to Islam are "confused".

Ulil Abshar Abdalla said the word predates Islam and is a general Arabic term used to refer to God.

Malaysia has declared the word "Allah" should only be used by Muslims, exclusively.

Ulil was denied entry into Malaysia earlier this month.

"The term ‘Allah' comes from two words which are ‘Al' ‘and ‘Ilah' which means God. . . . The people of Mecca also used the word ‘Allah' before Islam came," Ulil said in a recent interview.

Ulil's view of the "Allah" controversy echoes that of Muslim scholars and clerics, both in Malaysia and worldwide, who have criticised the ban of the use of the word among non-Muslims.

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Scholar says term ‘Allah' predates Islam]]> 64612