Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 281,529 playable programmes from the BBC

Heart and Soul

The Forbidden Word for God

The Forbidden Word for God

Duration: 27 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC World Service OnlineLatest broadcast: on BBC World Service Online

The word Allah is an Arabic word for God widely used by both Muslims and Christians in the Middle East and in parts of south-east Asia. But recently, a court in Malaysia banned Christians from using the term. The dispute over who should be allowed to use the word Allah has led to attacks on churches and some Muslim prayer halls in the multi-faith country. Now, Christians are fighting for the right to use it. Church leaders say that Malay language bibles have used the word Allah to refer to God for centuries. Some Muslims, however, disagree and fear its use could encourage their followers to convert to Christianity. There are around 2.6 million Christians in Malaysia from a population of 29 million. Show less

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More