Between "God Save The Queen" And "Allah"

Mr. Lim Kit Siang raised this question in his blog: "Have three generations of Malaysians, particularly non-Muslims in the seven states of Johore, Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu done wrong and been offending the sensitivities of their Muslim contemporaries in using the name of Allah to bless and protect and the Sultan and people when singing the respective state anthems?"

And I here reproduce the lyrics of the well-known national anthem of the United Kingdom, once our colonial master for Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, Singapore and Malaya, "God Save The Queen":

God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,

God save the Queen:

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us:

God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,

Scatter her enemies,

And make them fall.

Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks,

On Thee our hopes we fix,

God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,

On her be pleased to pour;

Long may she reign:

May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause

To sing with heart and voice

God save the Queen.

During our early years of independence from British colonial rule, the lyrics of our new state anthems were re-written along the same spirit, that the subject of the Malay Rulers should now seek divine protection on our new Malay Rulers by praying to the God, "Allah", to protect the Malay Rulers and His Majesty's government, laws and subjects.

Instead of using the word "God" in English, the composer of the anthems used Malay and the natural replacement or choice for the word "God" in Malay was "Allah".