Muslim leaders insist that “Allah” must be restricted for usage in Islam, else “young or unsuspecting Muslims” might get confused and convert to Christianity. That “argument” is impossible to take seriously. If some Muslims are confused about the meaning of words used by Islam, the real problem is inadequate teaching by Muslim imams. Why penalise Christians because Islamic clerics can’t or won’t teach their own followers?

This BCC report has it right: This controversy is about religious freedom far more than it is about language.

h/t: Persecuted Church Weblog

The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) has now banned the Indonesian song ‘Allah Peduli’ (Allah Cares) because of the word Allah in its lyrics.

MAIS chairman Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa said today the song by Indonesian singer Agnes Monica used the word ‘Allah’ when referring to Jesus Christ and anyone found playing the song can be fined up to RM1,000 under the Non-Muslim Religious Enactment 1988.

Under the edict, non-Muslims who use the word “Allah” are subject to unspecified “action”.

MAIS also doesn’t want anyone discussing the ruling: the council has objected to two online polls regarding the usage of “Allah” by non-Muslims.

Mohamad Adzib said the ban is in place to prevent Muslims from being confused.

Mr Adzib is the one who’s confused: Arabic-speaking Christians have referred to God as “Allah” for centuries.

h/t: International Christian Concern

MUSLIM women around the world are facing a “growing crisis” as Islamic governments fail to honour commitments to end inequality and violence against them, a senior UN official has warned.
[…]
“There is no time left to lose any more as this is a growing crisis,” she said after a speech which dealt with the issue at an international conference on “Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family.”

“Women must demand that their governments implement agreements on women’s equality, rights and an end to violence against women, which have been signed but have yet to be carried out,” she said.

“In these countries, those who speak on behalf of Islam still justify things like stoning or killing a woman for this or that reason as being part of their religion. I have heard this at the most official of levels,” Erturk said without specifying which countries were to blame.

The conference is being held in Malaysia. As if to confirm Ms Erturk’s charges, a Malaysian Muslim leader condemned the conference, saying its purpose is to challenge “many Islamic principles… which had been agreed upon and passed by qualified council of Muslim scholars”.

In related news, the first official study of domestic violence in Turkey found that 40 percent of women are beaten by their husbands, and that barely 10 percent of abused wives seek help from any organisation.

h/t: International Campaign Against Honour Killings

State authorities carry out raids each year on Valentine’s Day in this Muslim-majority country, where sharia laws make it illegal for unmarried Muslims to meet behind closed doors, Mr Badaruddin said.
[…]
“We don’t agree with Muslim couples celebrating Valentine’s Day because it’s not Malay culture,” he said. “Every Valentine’s Day, many couples come here and they commit big mistakes under Islam.”

By the standards of Sharia, Muslims commit “big mistakes” every day of the year.

From the UNODC’s press release:

The number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing, especially in a handful of countries. Yet most countries’ conviction rates rarely exceed 1.5 per 100,000 people. This is even below the level normally recorded for rare crimes (like kidnapping in Western Europe), and proportionately much lower than the estimated number of victims. “Many criminal justice systems belittle the seriousness of this crime”, said Mr. Costa. Indeed, as of 2007/08, two out of every five countries covered by the UNODC Report had not recorded a single conviction. “Either these countries are blind to the problem, or they are ill-equipped to deal with it, or both”, said the head of UNODC. “Furthermore, some countries – including a few very big ones – do not even inform us about the problem in their midst. Either they are too disorganized to collect the information, or they are unwilling to share it – perhaps out of embarrassment”, said Mr. Costa.

Despite eyewitness accounts of abuse and complicity in trafficking of Burmese refugees by government officials, Malaysia and Thailand are among those in denial.

The Malaysian government denies outright all allegations of human trafficking. The home minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, has dismissed the reports as “wild accusations”, and so far refuses to mount an impartial and transparent investigation. But now the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is examining these claims and the stonewalling may not work. Too many people have provided detailed testimony that is strikingly similar in nature to dismiss this evidence of collusion.

As for Thailand, at best its authorities are turning a blind eye to what is happening on the border, but in a number of cases it appears that its officials are similarly complicit in the trafficking of deported migrants.

Another disturbing trend noted in the UNODC report: Women are becoming leaders in the trafficking business.

WOMEN are emerging as the pimps of the global trade in humans with a third of countries reporting more female traffickers than male, a United Nations study shows.

The first international report into the scope of human trafficking, published yesterday, found a disproportionate number of female perpetrators, more than in any other crime, selling other women into slavery in countries including Australia.

Women make up a majority of human traffickers in 30 percent of reporting countries.
The above chart, showing the proportion of females among those convicted of Trafficking In Persons (and, for comparison, all crimes) in selected European countries, is from page 7 of the Executive Summary. (Click on chart for larger view.)

It is a tragic irony that on the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the man who emancipated slaves in the United States, slavery seems to be a bigger problem than ever.

“US Senate foreign relations committee staff are reviewing reports of extortion and human trafficking from Burmese and other migrants in Malaysia, allegedly at the hands of Malaysia government officials,” a committee staff member told AFP. Myanmar’s previous name was Burma.

“The allegations include assertions that Burmese and other migrants — whether or not they have UNHCR documentation — are taken from Malaysian government detention facilities and transported to the Thailand-Malaysia border,” the official said.

At the border, they alleged, “money is demanded from them, or they are turned over to human traffickers in southern Thailand.”

A committee staff member said that thousands of refugees from Burma may have been threatened with being sold into slavery.

In related news, a Burmese labour activist says he was kidnapped and beaten in Malaysia for speaking out against human trafficking.

Ye Min Tun, who served seven years in jail in Burma for opposing the government before fleeing to Malaysia a decade ago, said two colleagues escaped as several men seized, bound, and gagged him and drove to an unidentifiable area with huts and tents.

He was then repeatedly beaten, he said.

After colleagues paid a ransom of about US$1100, he was released, bound and gagged, near his office in Kuala Lumpur.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, over 30,000 Burmese refugees live in Malaysian immigration camps at the mercy of human traffickers who operate “with the full knowledge of Malaysian and Thai immigration officials”.

The Pahang Government has appointed three pensioners as bloggers to thwart slanderous comments and allegations posted on the Internet.

State Information, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin said the bloggers, who would be paid allowances, would be provided with computers and the Internet access in their homes.

Sounds like a great gig.  Where does one apply?

Malaysian blogger Lillian Chan, aka The Obnoxious 5xmom, points out the obvious: The government can pay geezers pensioners to blog, but it can’t make readers believe what they write.

h/t: Global Voices Advocacy

Citing the case of Lina Joy’s renunciation of Islam, Faiza said the high court in its decision ruled that a Malay under Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution remained in the Islamic faith until his or her dying days.

He also claimed that non-Muslims in Malaysia enjoy great religious freedom

He said non-Muslims in the country had wide religious freedom and that the primary limitation on non-Muslims applied to those whose beliefs and religious practices included the propagation of their faith.

Since Jesus told his followers to “make disciples of all nations”, Christians consider evangelisation an essential aspect of the faith and would regard legal impediment against converting to Christianity as a fundamental infringement of religious freedom.  In fact, the case of Lina Joy proves that it is Christians, not Muslims, who suffer religious discrimination in Malaysia. The high court’s refusal to recognise her renunciation of Islam and conversion to Christianity does not change the fact that, in the eyes of God, she resolved to leave Islam and follow Jesus.

I doubt that Malaysian law places any restrictions on pro-Muslim proselytisation.

h/t: Persecuted Church Weblog

According to the chairman of the National Fatwa Council, Abdul Shukor Husin, many young women admire the was [sic] men dress and behave, which is a denial of their femininity and a violation of human nature.

“It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle including dressing in the clothes men wear,” he complained, adding, “(Masculine behaviour) becomes clearer when they start to have sex with someone of the same gender, that is woman and woman.”

“In view of this,” Dr Abdul explained, “the National Fatwa Council which met today have decided and taken the stand that such acts are forbidden and banned.”

Male homosexual behaviour is against the law in Malaysia, but there appears to be no law regarding lesbianism.

A 2006 fatwa by Malaysian clerics condemned house husbands as unIslamic.