KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The Negri Sembilan mufti has warned that Muslims who dare to challenge last week’s Court of Appeal ruling on the “Allah” controversy were at risk of abandoning their faith in Islam and turning into apostates.

Datuk Mohd Yusof Ahmad said Muslims who dispute the decision were as good as equating their God with the Christian God, stressing his point that existing rules purportedly state that only Muslims may use the word “Allah”.

“After all, Christians themselves have stressed all this while that their God is also known as Elohim and Yahweh is different from Allah.

“Therefore if any Muslim purposely tries to equate Allah with the Christian belief based on the Trinity concept when he has understanding about it, then it’s a big sin and can lead to apostasy,” Mohd Yusof was quoted as saying by Malay-language daily Sinar Harian today.

Mohd Yusof’s views were similar to former Johor mufti Datuk Nooh Gadut, who had last Tuesday warned Muslims that they could turn into infidels and apostates if they questioned the Court of Appeal’s judgment.

“If it is fated that those who dispute it are Muslims, they can become infidels and apostates if (the disputing statement) was made intentionally,” the current adviser to the Johor Islamic Religious Council (MAIJ) was quoted saying in Utusan Malaysia.

In the same report in Utusan Malaysia, Nooh Gadut also said disputing the court’s ruling would be tantamount to questioning the Muslim’s holy book Al-Quran’s statement that “Allah” is exclusively for Muslims.

Today, Mohd Yusof reportedly also said that the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims could lead to confusion.

“(It’s) not impossible, there are some that think all religions are the same since there’s no difference in the name of their gods

“Our advice to the public, don’t be easily led by the actions of quarters who try to heat up the issue and then make statements as they wish because it involves the issue of faith,” Mohd Yusof said.

A week after the Court of Appeal’s decision on the “Allah” issue, debate on its impact on the rights of the Christian community and other religious minorities has continued to rage on, with religious and political leaders taking opposing stands to the matter.

The Court of Appeal had adjudged that the use of the word “Allah” was not integral to the Christian faith and would have caused confusion in the Muslim community, but critics such as civil rights lawyer Nizam Bashir have said that such a judgment reinforces the “misconception” that the word is for the exclusive use of Muslims.

In response, Iranian-American Muslim scholar Dr Reza Aslan recently said the Court of Appeal’s ruling barring non-Muslims from referring to God as “Allah” only showed Malaysia’s folly.

The ruling was also criticised in several international publications, such as Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post, which recently wrote an editorial that “those who claim exclusivity to God undermine their own faith, and inadvertently or not, preach polytheism”.

After the Court of Appeal’s decision, churches in Sabah and Sarawak have said they will continue to use the word “Allah”, while the Sikh community also said they will not stop using the Arabic word which is also contained in their holy book.

According to a 2010 census, Muslims are Malaysia’s largest religious group, followed by Buddhists. Christians are the third-largest at 2.6 million, which comes up to about 10 per cent of the entire Malaysian population.

Bumiputera Christians, who form about 64 per cent or close to two-thirds of the Christian community in Malaysia, have used the word “Allah” when praying and speaking in the national language and their native tongues for centuries.

On Monday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak moved to reassure the Christians in East Malaysia that they will be able to continue using the word “Allah” in their religious practice, while his Cabinet ministers have also said that the Court of Appeal ruling was restricted to the Herald.

“Recently, when the Appeals Court made its decision on the use of the word Allah, it did not at all touch on the practices of Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, in fact the 10-Point Agreement is still being maintained,” Najib said, pointing to Putrajaya’s 10-point solution in 2011 that allowed Christians to publish, import and distribute Malay-language bibles containing the Arabic word.