KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — The unresolved tussle over “Allah” in Malaysia is continuing to take a toll on Malaysia’s moderate Muslim image abroad, the New York Times reported today.

 In a feature article on the “unique” exclusivity on the Arabic word for God that Muslims here are claiming, the US daily noted the incongruity between the image that Malaysia cultivates for itself globally and the growing Islamic conservatism taking root at home.

“Malaysia’s moderate Islam is only touted for Western consumption,” Sisters In Islam (SIS) founder Zainah Anwar was quoted in the NYT report.

“For too long this government has given almost a carte blanche to the religious authorities and the belligerent supremacists to take the lead and define what Islam is and is not.”

Malaysia’s Islamic authorities contend that non-Muslim use of “Allah” risks confusing Muslims and argue that the generic application of the word elsewhere in the world could not be applied to the unique situation here.

But Islamic scholars speaking to the NYT noted that the only unique characteristic to the contention was that it is made in Malaysia.

Indonesia, which supplies much of the Indonesian and Malay-language bibles that are periodically seized in Malaysia, has both Muslims and Christians using “Allah” without issue.

“You can’t find this idea in any previous Islamic discourse,” Yahya Cholil Staquf, a senior cleric at Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, told the NYT.

“Every language has its own word for God. Allah is just a word to acknowledge God. It’s not a word for only Muslims.”

One political analyst faulted the ruling administration for allowing the “Allah” issue to take root, saying it was in the interest of the Malay-based Umno to foster concern within the community that it is being besieged.

“The more Muslims feel they are under threat, the more Umno can maintain its political hegemony,” Wan Saiful Wan Jan of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) was quoted as saying by the NYT.

While such a move may gain support at home, Wan Saiful gave an anecdote on how the position was costing Malaysia abroad and even among Islamic nations.

“This Palestinian guy came up to me and said, ‘The world is laughing at you. I’m from an Arab country and everyone uses the word, every day.'“

The Catholic Church here recently lost its legal challenge against a Home Ministry ban on its use of the word “Allah” in its weekly, The Herald.

While authorities and the courts insist the ban and legal case are restricted to the Catholic weekly, the case has been seen as a surrogate battle between Muslims and Christians.

The application of the decision in the Catholic Church’s challenge to other legal cases and government policies has further reinforced the view that the “Allah” decision went further than is officially stated.

On October 25, the Customs Department seized 574 books comprising of 133 titles, 419 CDs and five DVDs containing the word “Allah” belonging to a Sabah Christian at the second Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA2).

The Customs officers did so on the grounds that such material was prohibited in the peninsula, before sending the seized items to the Home Ministry.

The seizure of the Christian materials that describe God as “Allah”, an Arabic word which Malaysian Muslims deem exclusive to Islam, is the latest to demonstrate the unresolved quandary stemming from regulatory prohibitions against non-Muslim use of the word in the peninsula but not in Sabah and Sarawak.

The Home Ministry later said it will return the items to the owner.