--- description: Malaysia’s highest court upheld a lower court’s ruling on Monday that denied a bid by the Catholic paper "The Herald" to use the word "Allah" title: Malaysia's Highest Court Upholds Ban on the Christian Use of 'Allah' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0c4cddc62134072/698698bfe53aba5c3d4d3469/malaysia-allah-disput_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [southeast asia](/tag/southeast-asia/) ## southeast asia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Malaysia's Highest Court Upholds Ban on Christians Using the Word _Allah_ by [Melissa Hellmann](/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 23, 2014 8:22 AM CUT  Muslim women sit in front of a banner reading Allah during a protest outside the court of appeal in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, on June 23, 2014 Muslim women sit in front of a banner reading Allah during a protest outside the court of appeal in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, on June 23, 2014Vincent Thian—AP Photo by [Melissa Hellmann](/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 23, 2014 8:22 AM CUT Malaysia’s highest court [upheld](https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/24296585/top-malaysian-court-dismisses-divisive-allah-case/ "undefined") a lower court’s ruling on Monday that denied an appeal by the Catholic newspaper _The Herald_ to use the word _Allah_, considered the Arabic name for God. The decision made by a seven-judge panel laid to rest a tumultuous six-year court case that catalyzed religious tension in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation. The case was originally brought in 2007 when the Home Ministry banned the use of _Allah_ in the Malay-language edition of the paper, which dovetailed with a threat to withdraw its publishing permit. Church leaders insist that _Allah_ has been used in religious literature and Malay-language Bibles to refer to the Christian God for centuries. A 2009 appeal favored _The_ _Herald_, which argued that Christians had the constitutional right to use the term — a decision that led to attacks on Christian places of worship for several years. Muslims argued that the Christian use of _Allah_ could persuade Muslims to convert and so jeopardized national security. Following a ruling in October that reinstated the ban, Islamic authorities confiscated Bibles that used the word _Allah._ In January, two petrol bombs were thrown at a Malaysian church. The federal court’s conclusive ruling on Monday was met with cheers from hundreds of Muslim activists outside the court. Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria told the courtroom that “The court of appeal was right to set aside the high-court ruling,” local papers [reported](http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/christian-paper-loses-battle-to-use-allah "undefined"). Disappointed Christians saw the decision as a threat to their religious freedom, complaining that it was only one example of increasing Islamization being pushed by the 60% Muslim majority. _The Herald_ editor Father Lawrence Andrew told AFP that the judgment failed to “touch on the fundamental rights of minorities.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2910780/malaysias-highest-court-upholds-ban-on-christians-using-the-word-allah/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2910780/malaysias-highest-court-upholds-ban-on-christians-using-the-word-allah/"},"headline":"Malaysia's Highest Court Upholds Ban on Christians Using the Word Allah","datePublished":"2014-06-23T08:22:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:33:44.932Z","description":"Disappointed Christians decried creeping Islamization as a threat to their religious freedom","url":"https://time.com/2910780/malaysias-highest-court-upholds-ban-on-christians-using-the-word-allah/","keywords":["southeast asia","Religion","Muslim","Asia","God","Malaysia","Christian","faith"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0c4cddc62134072/698698bfe53aba5c3d4d3469/malaysia-allah-disput_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Hellmann","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0c4cddc62134072/698698bfe53aba5c3d4d3469/malaysia-allah-disput_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Malaysia Allah Dispute","caption":"Malaysia Allah Dispute","creditText":"Vincent Thian—AP Photo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/southeast-asia/","name":"southeast asia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2910780/malaysias-highest-court-upholds-ban-on-christians-using-the-word-allah/","name":"Malaysia's Highest Court Upholds Ban on Christians Using the Word Allah"}}]}] ```