Malaysians Flock Online Over God's Name

Malaysians are flocking online to debate a contentious court ruling that allows local Roman Catholics to use the word Allah as a translation for God.

The Internet is one of the few means of expression that isn't tightly controlled by the state in Malaysia, and ethnic-Malay Muslims as well as minority ethnic-Chinese and Indian Malaysians have been logging on in droves to comment on the New Year's Eve high court ruling. The deluge underscores the importance of the Internet to political debate in Malaysia, as well as the depth of feeling that the verdict has provoked in the Muslim-majority country.

The ruling overturned a three-year-old government ban on the Catholic Church using the Arabic word Allah as a translation for God. The government Sunday said it would file an appeal.

A Facebook group formed to protest non-Muslims using the word Allah has attracted over 36,000 members in just a few days. The page describes itself as a group for "awakened Muslims" pushing back against Christian efforts "to confuse the Islamic community." One member of the group is Mukhriz Mahathir, deputy trade minister and son of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, according to an aide.

Meanwhile, hackers attacked the Web site of the Roman Catholic Church's weekly newspaper, the Herald, on Sunday. The publication is at the center of the linguistic battle. Visitors were blocked from accessing the paper's Web site, said its editor, the Rev. Lawrence Andrew. The Web site was working normally Monday.

The Arabic word Allah was first introduced to Southeast Asia by Muslim traders and was quickly adopted by local converts to the faith because they didn't have their own local word for a single deity. Today, the word Allah is widely used by Christians in Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as by Christians in Arabic-speaking countries such as Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.

Moderate Muslims and non-Muslim Malaysians took to the country's various online-based publications to defend the right of Christians to use the term Allah. In some cases, political parties and even families are split over the issue. Marina Mahathir, sister of the deputy trade minister and daughter of the former prime minister, posted a lengthy article on the Malaysian Insider Web site saying that confident Muslims have no need to feel threatened by the court ruling.

"A confident Muslim will not walk into a church, hear a liturgy in Malay or Arabic where they use the word "Allah" and then think that he or she is in a mosque. A confident Muslim knows the difference," Ms. Marina wrote.

Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com