Assalamu'alaikum,

It's true..there must be an agenda for non-Muslims to use the word 'ALLAH'....If not, how come this issue did not crop up hundreds of years ago.
Please pass on this to others Muslim Brothers and Sisters.
wassalam,

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From: < >
Date: Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 9:13 AM
Subject: Fw: Please read....& Professor Al-Attas answered regarding usage of the word Allah by non-Muslims

Subject: Fw: Professor Al-Attas answered regarding usage of the word Allah by non-Muslims

On December 13, 2009, during the Worldview of Islam Seminar organized by the Assembly of Muslim Intellectuals or Himpunan Keilmuan Muda (HAKIM), there was a question being posted to Professor Al-Attas regarding the polemical
usage of the word "Allah" by the non-Muslims.

Below is the transcript of his brief-but-yet- concise enlightening remarks. As a word of caution, though, one must
not only rely on this brief transcript alone to understand the whole spectrum of Prof. Al-Attas' view about this
theological matter. Further thorough elucidation of his thought can be found in numerous works of this great
Muslim scholar of this age, such as Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam, Islam and Secularism, Islam dalam
Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Melayu and A Commentary on Hujjat al-Siddiq of Nur al-Din al-Raniri

Question: The using of kalimah “Allah” by other people in this country
Answers by Prof. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas:

Well I have been talking about this long time ago. I remember about this in ISTAC, when we first established ourselves
(late 80’s and early 90’s), I think the Arcbishop of Penang was asking this question. And I have answered that.

And then we had a meeting with the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur and about all the representatives of Christianity,
including the ministers, we had a meeting at ISTAC. And I said, “Why you want to use the word ‘Allah’ for yourself?”

They said “we going to pray in Bahasa Malaysia”

That’s the way they put it. So my answers to them, “Why you have to change praying into Bahasa Malaysia. You have
been praying in English all the time. Why suddenly change into Bahasa Malaysia?”

Ok, so they said they want to change so that it more patriotic. Then in that case I’m saying that “why don’t you use
Tuhan while praying in Bahasa Malaysia? Because you are talking about God isn’t it?…God is not just a name…”Allah”
is a name of this Being whom you called God… and in fact a Being whom even higher than what you called to be God”

And then I said, “ …and “Allah” is not from Bahasa Malaysia. It is not a national language. It belongs to the language
of Muslim all over the world. Therefore your argument using this for the word “Allah” does not fit into your idea of God. Because “Allah” does not have a son, It is not one of three (Trinity), that is why out of respect to Allah we can’t allow
you to use this.“

But when we Muslim, when we write in English we say God, or when we talk to people we say God but we mean “Allah”…
but they cannot say when they speak about God it means “Allah” as they don’t mean it.

So in this particular respect, we have to be clear about this, not was-was (hesitate).. .whomever responsible in our
governing, they have to be clear about this and to explain to others.

We agree you want to use God, then use Tuhan as we also use that…but we understand in the Malay language that
Tuhan is not a translation of Allah..that is why we say “tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah” not “tiada Tuhan melainkan Tuhan”.
We don’t say “there is not God but God”..at least the ulama’ among the Muslim Malays, we understand what is the
meaning of that (word “Allah”).

So “Allah” cannot be translated as no language has translated Allah. The Arabs themselves they only use that after Islam..although the word existed (before)..the Christians Arab they also did not use Allah (in theological, epistemological
and ontological sense in the same manner as the Muslim)..if they say that it is just a language..they talking about language..because they say “Allah” like the Muslim when they (melatah)…

So it appears they want to do that in order to confuse the Muslim into thinking that all the same..that is why I say one
of the problems about religion is the nature of God..about who Allah is..that is why in Arkanul Iman (The Pillars of Faith),
the first thing is “amana billah”.

“Who is this Allah?” and that need to be explain at higher institution in a proper way…
So we have answer the question. It is not proper to allow them using this, since they asking us and there is no point
bringing this to court since this is not a matter of court to decide it whether they have the freedom to use it or not.
It is up to the Muslims.

But then if they used it and said “in Indonesia they have use it, why can’t we?”…but it is because of the Muslims..
if Muslims don’t care they will go on and use it..and in Indonesia they are using not only that, other things they even
call it “choir” as “selawat”. Choir is not a “selawat”, as “selawat” is for Prophet..it’s not singing hymn..

And they also talk about...in Indonesia they are also confuse..Muslims..that is why this thing happen. Sometimes the
language when you come across English words like “Prophet of Doom” in Indonesia they said “Nabi celaka”.
How can there be “Nabi celaka”? What is meant by the “Prophet of Doom” is…even the word Prophet in English does
not mean “Nabi” only…it means “yang meramalkan malapetaka”..that what it means…so the “Prophet of Doom” means
“yang meramalkan malapetaka”, not “Nabi celaka”.

They (the Muslims in Indonesia) seem not to bother about this. What we can say is that ultimately well they say
“God is not Allah”...well if you want to use the word God, we are saying we also use the word God, we refer to Allah
as we know and we are not saying that your God ultimately will not refer to Allah. You can’t run away from Allah.

You can only escape Him and so in the Qur’an (surah An-Naas) says: “Qul aAAoothu birabbi annas, Maliki annas,
Ilahi annas”. He (Allah) is saying “ I am the real Ilah (God) of naas (mankind)”, although mankind (non-Muslim)
does not interpret it that way.
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Emotions Are A Part Of Life

Life is like an unsolved puzzle. No one can define what life is because it is a very complex thing.

Life is something that makes you happy and proud at times and

makes you feel so low at times that you say to yourself,
"Why was I born?"
But whatever it is, it is real fun.

In Life, in every moment, something new happens; something that

you never expected, something that you were waiting from a long while

to happen and something you were expecting to happen.

It is a combination of happiness, sorrow, joy, love, anger,

enjoyment, loneliness, fear, excitement and many other emotions.

The definition of the word life can't be completed

without using the word emotions.

Some people work in emotions whereas others work with emotions.

So it's very important to understand how people are using their emotions.

If they are letting emotions get control over them, then they'll be dragged

by others and situations all the time. But, if he is controlling his emotions

in a proper way, then no one will ever have control over him.

The way a person uses his emotions is what we call attitude.

Someone has correctly said, "Your attitude determines your altitude in life".

Attitude, as I already defined, is the way an individual uses his emotions

and directly related to the psyche of a person.

Some people use their emotions in a positive way

and some people do it in a negative sense.

When people use emotions in a positive way we call it positive attitude

and when they use it in a negative way we call it negative attitude.

It's up to an individual to decide how he uses his emotions.

Which way will you decide ?