Malaysia Confiscates Christian Books

Malaysian authorities confiscated Christian children's books, claiming the illustrations of prophets such as Moses and Abraham violate Islamic Sharia law.
The independent news agency Malaysakini reported the Internal Security Ministry confiscated the literature from bookstores in two cities and one small town in mid-December. The Malaysian Embassy declined to comment on the news service's Jan. 11 report. The Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Malaysian Council of Churches, confirmed the report and accused the government of persecuting Christians.

"The officials have offended the sensitivities of Christians because their publications and depictions of their Biblical personalities have now become targets of unscrupulous Moslem officials bent on curtailing religious freedom in the country," Mr. Shastri said. "Immediate steps should be taken to amend administrative rules and regulations, especially in the Internal Security Ministry, that give a free hand to enforcement officials to act on their whim and fancies," he said. Christians, Hindus and other religious groups in Malaysia say they are increasingly being targeted as the nation gradually cedes jurisdiction to Sharia courts.
The U.S. State Department estimates that about 60 percent of Malaysians are Moslem, with the remainder being Christians, Buddhists, Hindus or belonging to other sects. The books confiscated from Johor Bahru, Senawang and Ipoh offended the sensibilities of Moslems, officials say, because Islam forbids the depiction of prophets.

Islam forbids images of the prophet Muhammad, but other images such as portraits of early Moslem leaders Ali and Hussein, the prophet's son-in-law and grandson, respectively, are common in Shi'ite Islam. The books were confiscated by officials from the Publications and Koran Texts Control Department, a division of the Internal Security Ministry headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

The prime minister is an Islamic scholar who promotes the concept of "Islam Hadhari" or "Islamic Civilization." Bernama, the Malaysian National News Agency, reported last week that Mr. Badawi stated the West should acknowledge there are civilizations today that continue to uphold religious values in the public sphere, even if many Western governments and societies do not. In remarks to a forum in Madrid called the Alliance of Civilization, he also said Islam is a religion that respects religious and cultural diversity.

The Malaysian government last month also banned the use of the name "Allah" in any religion other than Islam, local press reports said. Allah, the Arabic word for "God," is used by both Christians and Moslems throughout the Arab world. Christian and Sikh religious literature in Malaysia often uses Allah to refer to God.

Church leaders have filed complaints in civil courts arguing that the Allah rule infringes on religious freedom. A string of prominent religious conversion cases recently has been criticized for granting special privileges to Moslems in the multiethnic and ostensibly secular nation.
Article 3 of the Federal Constitution states the official religion of Malaysia is Islam, but Article 11 protects the right to religious freedom.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled Friday that the wife of a Christian Malaysian who died Dec. 30 could be buried by her husband. The ruling overturned a decision by the Federal Islamic Territorial Council, which claimed the woman converted to Islam six days before she died.
The High Court hearing marked a departure from civil court precedents in which Islamic matters are typically ceded to Sharia courts. Angela Wu, the International Law Director of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, called the procedure a "horrible Catch-22."

"The civil courts are saying they aren't competent to decide whether someone is a Moslem where Islamic interests are invoked," Ms. Wu said. "Only the Sharia courts can decide whether you are a Moslem and the Sharia courts will not hear the testimony of non-Moslems."

Oh my Allah! I don't believe it! Religious oppression and persecution in a Moslem country, how can this be? The Moslems, Liberals, and Leftists are always telling us about religious tolerance in Islamic societies and that we have nothing whatsoever to worry about if the Moslems take control of a Western country I mean after all they are a peaceful and just religion. right? We've always heard that Malaysia and Turkey are shining examples of secular democratic and Moslem states. Now maybe I missed something along the way so I have a question...how can a secular state have an official religion?

The Moslems have been telling us forever that they worship the same God that we do and he is called "Allah" so why then are non-Moslems not allowed say that? I have never believed that concept and I don't think that Christians or Jews should ever refer to God as Allah only Moslems should. The Allah of Islam is evil, deceptive, cruel and unjust, he is the antithesis of our God Yahweh. So now maybe the Moslems are finally admitting that we worship two different deities.

Another thing I am curious about...if illustrations of prophets violate Islamic Sharia law and they consider Jesus a prophet I wonder how much longer it will be before pictures of Jesus and crucifixes are banned. It sounds like a trend to me folks. Another trend that we are seeing is the gradual radicalization of supposed moderate Moslem countries. I actually heard a Ron Paul neo-Lib on the radio say that the Moslems are too divided to be a threat to us and we shouldn't worry. How someone in their right mind could believe that is beyond me in light of current events and what happened on 9/11.

Sure Moslems are killing each other and fighting amongst themselves, haven't they always? Does that negate the fact that Islam is inexorably taking over the world? No it doesn't and when it comes to fighting the infidel they are very much united. When the twin towers in NY fell the Shi'ite and Sunni celebrated together. When the Dutch published the cartoons considered to be insults to Islam we saw every Moslem faction together rioting and protesting throughout the world their infighting was gone.

I don't think it will matter to the free people in Europe which faction of Islam takes over because anyone who is not a Moslem will suffer and the fact that Moslems are fighting amongst themselves won't mean spit to them because they'll be living under Sharia law. Will there be a difference if that Sharia law comes from Sunnis or Shi'ites? Look around you folks, what is happening in the moderate Moslem countries could happen in Europe if it's not stopped and I mean stopped very soon. Remember this...if Europe falls to the Moslems that means that all of the nuclear weapons there will be in their control and if that isn't a nightmare then I don't know what is!