Malaysian authorities have confiscated more than 15,000 Bibles in recent months because they referred to “God” as “Allah,” a translation that has been banned in this Muslim-majority country, Christian church officials said Thursday.
The alleged seizure of the Bibles, imported from neighboring Indonesia, is certain to reignite complaints by religious minorities that their right to practice their faiths freely has come under threat as the government panders to the Muslim majority.
A growing sense of discrimination among the minorities is chipping away at Malaysia’s reputation as a harmonious multiethnic nation that practices a moderate brand of Islam.
The Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, said authorities seized a consignment of 10,000 copies sent from Jakarta to Kuching in Sarawak state on Sept. 11 because the Indonesian-language Bibles contained the word “Allah.”
