ICC Note: In Malaysia it has recently became illegal for any group except Muslims to use the word Allah when referring to God. For Malay Christians this is difficult to avoid because their version of the Bible uses the Arabic word for God (Allah) to refer to God. Some believe that Islamic militant groups will use this as an excuse to persecute the Christian population. 
3/14/2013 Malaysia (MNN) – There is tension in Malaysia between Muslims and Christians, but it’s not all about religion.
“You’ve got the political, you’ve got the religious, and it becomes very difficult for those that may be suffering harm because of it,” says Greg Musselman with Voice of the Martyrs Canada.
Malaysia’s sultan recently made it illegal for any group except Muslims to call God “Allah.” But “Allah” is the Arabic word for God, and it’s used in the Malay translation of the Bible.
While the issue seems religious on the surface, Musselman suspects it has political roots. In early 2010, Muslims attacked churches on the pretense of being angered by a court decision that allowed non-Muslims to use the word “Allah” in reference to God.
“I think this is not so much a Muslim-Christian conflict, per se, but political forces taking advantage–perhaps even instigating, in a sense–artificially making this crisis for their own ends,” a listener in Malaysia told MNN at the time.
With elections currently forthcoming in Malaysia, Musselman says, “I kind of see this whole ‘use of the word Allah’ [issue] as a bit of a distraction here. And again, it could be used by those more militant aspects of Islam to try to cause problems for the Christians.”
Though Musselman doesn’t see the sultan’s decree becoming a permanent law, it could become even harder for Malays to hear about Christ when this issue is combined with existing anti-conversion laws.
“Constitutionally, to be a Malay is to be a Muslim, and you cannot convert out of that religion,” Musselman explains. “That becomes a very difficult thing for those that [want] to explore Christianity. They’re bound to stay Muslim, and if they leave Islam, it leads off into persecution.”
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