LAWYER Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, who was slammed for his proposal that Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka (DBP) provide an official Bahasa translation of the Bible, today said his suggestion will not affect the holy texts of other religions.

He was responding to the outcry by interfaith group, the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) that other religions would lose control over their scriptures if DBP were to take over translations of holy books.

“My answer to that is simple. It’s a big no,” he told The Malaysian Insight, adding that his views were restricted to the Bible and Christians’ use of the Arabic word “Allah” for “God” in their Bahasa Malaysia texts.

“If people and the public followed my argument in court thoroughly, where I spoke of the need of the phrase of the God or Lord, to be translated with the assistance of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, they would understand that other religious scriptures are not an issue at all.

“There’s no part of my suggestion that is meant to talk about the translation of the Sikh holy scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib or the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, because they were written in their original languages and they are the original scriptures, which no one has the right to amend.”

Haniff maintained that the issue is about the translation of the Bible into Bahasa Malaysia, a language used by most Muslims in Malaysia. 

The lawyer is representing the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) as amicus curiae or a friend of the court in the suit by Sarawakian Jill Ireland against the Home Ministry and government over her constitutional right to use “Allah” in Bahasa Malaysia Christian material.

He suggested last week during the case hearing that DBP provide an official translation of the Bible to correct the alleged wrong by Christians to use “Allah” for God.

Mais, however, has distanced itself from the lawyer’s suggestions, saying it was not the council’s official stand to have DBP translate the Bible.

Haniff declined to comment on Mais’ position to distance itself from his proposal on the basis of counsel-client privilege.

He said today the English translation of the Bible does not use the word “Allah”.

He said his concerns were focused on having a translation that was accurate to the original language and not aimed at eroding the rights of Christians to practise their faith under the federal constitution.

“The suggestion, which I proposed in my submission, is in line with Article 11 and Article 3 of the constitution, in which Article 3 says Islam is the religion of the federation. Every other religion can be practised in peace and harmony. 

“The words peace and harmony mean no other person of any other faith has the choice to practise their religion in such a way that it interferes with the integral part of the Islamic faith.”

Haniff said certain translations could be construed as “blasphemous” for Muslims, for example, the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity which, when translated, would be read as “Bapa Allah, Anak Allah and Roh Allah”, which he said was blasphemous in Islam.

“If the translation of the Bible to Bahasa Malaysia goes unchecked, it will interfere with peace and harmony and the even tempo of Malaysian society.

“That is the only issue that was submitted to the court by me. There should be no fear of Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists regarding their religion and their holy scriptures because they are in their original language.” – November 21, 2017.