Religion & Society

 In his latest book, Studying the Qur’ān in the Muslim Academy , Majid Daneshgar sets out to cast the spotlight on methods and priorities in the study of the Qur’an within what he describes as “the Muslim academy.” The Introduction maps out core arguments of his book. Daneshgar identifies Muslim apologetics as the device used to ensure that “Muslims are not given access to critical non-Muslim writings about the Qurʾān and Islam while guaranteeing that a customary sectarian divide insulates Sunnis and Shiʿi from each other’s ideas and works” (2). Read on here .

The High Court of Malaysia has passed a ruling allowing non-Muslims to use the term “Allah” for God in their Malay-language worship services and literature. On face value, this should appear uncontroversial as Christians in that region have referred to God as “Allah” for 400 years, including using the term in translations of the Bible into Malay. Lond-standing dispute However, this development masks a 35-year dispute that has undermined Christian-Muslim relations in Malaysia in substantial ways. In 1986 the Malaysian government prohibited the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims. This policy is unique to Malaysia. In today’s Arab world,  “Allah” is the standard term for God among Arabic-speaking Christians of different denominations. In neighbouring Indonesia,  “Allah” is commonly used by Christians; the 1974 New Translation of the Bible in Indonesian renders the Old Testament Hebrew terms for God with  “Allah”. These usages occur in their different locations witho...