What's in a name? When the name is the
name of God, there is a lot. The
Malaysian government has seized 10,000 Christian Bibles for daring to use the name "Allah" (a generic name for God in many languages related to Arabic) for God.
The Bibles contain the word "Allah," which is banned by the government for use by non-Muslims in an apparent bid to appease Muslims.
Church officials say the word "Allah" has been used for centuries to refer generally to God in both Indonesian and Malaysian languages, which are similar. The Roman Catholic Church is challenging the ban in court.
The government maintains that the Arabic-origin word "Allah" is an Islamic word and its use by Christians and others will upset Muslims.