Monday, January 11, 2010

The Leijdecker' s Original Sin: Allah in "Malay" Bibles

I never wanted to venture into the linguistic debate simply because I cannot ask anyone who had lived during the first Bible Translation into Bahasa "Melayu/Indonesia".....nor can anyone provide actual "proofs" of the fact that Allah was the Generic God in the Native Language and not the name of the Islamic One and Only God.......beside shoving into our faces their translated version of Sir Francis Bacon's KJV.......mind you none of the Bibles in the world were actually written from original text by the people who had lived and chill-out together with Jesus........

So today let us go into the debate with regards to the root of current issue facing our nation...

The use of Allah in Malay Bibles.......when did it start?

Before we go any further let us start with the original word....the arabic one of course la brader...not the "Melayu" one......

Allah?

Is it God in Arabic.....

Ilaah is God in Arabic.....but not just God but Tuhan yang di sembah......different from Raab which is Tuhan yg menciptakan, memberi dan lain lain lagi lah brader....which is why when you ask orang kafir Arab....siapa yg menciptakan langit dan bumi they'll say Allah ......but if you ask them siapa yg di sembah....that would be something else la

some might say that Allah is actually 2 words...."Al + Ilaah" = Allah meaning The God....So is it a common name like man or God or is it like proper name like satD.......

The word Allah, according to several Arabic lexicons, means "the Being Who comprises all the attributes of perfection", i.e. the Being Who is perfect in every way (in His knowledge, power etc.), and possesses the best and the noblest qualities imaginable in the highest degree.
This meaning is supported by the Holy Quran when it says:"His are the best (or most beautiful) names." (17:110; 20:8; and 7:180)Contrary to popular belief, the word Allah is NOT a contraction of al-ilah (al meaning 'the', and ilah meaning 'god').
Had it been so, then the expression ya Allah ('O Allah!') would have been grammatical incorrect, because according to the Arabic language when you address someone by the vocative form ya followed by a title, the al ('the') must be dropped from the title. For example, you cannot say ya ar-rabb but must say ya rabb (for 'O Lord'). So if the word Allah was al-ilah ('the God'), we would not be able to say: ya Allah, which we do.
Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah,Quran Surah 5 , verse 3
Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (which is based on classical Arabic dictionaries), says under the word Allah, while citing many linguistical authorities:"Allah ... is a proper name applied to the Being Who exists necessarily, by Himself, comprising all the attributes of perfection, a proper name denoting the true god ... the al being inseparable from it, not derived..."
Allah is thus a proper name, not derived from anything, and the Al is inseparable from it. The word al-ilah (the god) is a different word.
Allah the Unique Name for God, Muslim.Org


Now let us travel to the land of many Islands where all this shit started........for those who did not sleep during their history classes in Sekolah Rendah or Sekolah Menengah you would remember that Indonesia was under the Dutch influence......for quite some time.....as with all Colonialist during that era....besides trade there is always the need to propagate Religion of the home country so that the Locals would then have a similar value system embedded into their daily lives.......


Scrressssch!....Brake sekejap....

To the Muslims who are reading this and tak paham sepatah haram bahasa Arab....let me ask you how is the Shahadah.....

Ashadualla Ilaah Haillalah ....... rite .........Not Ashadualla Allah Haillalah..........

Ok....all clear??

Lets proceed...

Let us look at what is "Allah" in Bahasa Indonesia

"Allah : Nama Tuhan dl bahasa Arab" [th e name of God in Arabic] (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, which is the official gov ernment dictionary).
"Allah : Keberadaan Tertinggi dalam agama Islam " [The Highest Being in the Islamic religion] (Kamus Teologi Inggris -Indonesia by Henk ten Napel).
"Allah :tuhan bagi umat islam " [the god for the people of Islam ] (Kamus Lengkap Inggris -Indonesia/Indonesia-Inggris Plus Idiom ).
"Allah : nama tuhan orang muslim " [the name of the muslim's god] (Kamus Inggriss -Indonesia/Indonesia-Inggris)


So how did all the confusion about the name of God started.....it is very confusing when a word has a very different meaning to say 90% of the Population and means another to 8% for instance in the case of Indonesia.........

Ms Confident how now......

It is not only confusing but also WRONG for the translator to try to make the word mean something else

Now who the fuck is this translator?

Ngerti bahasa gue ngak? Kok gitu sih

Let us now look at how these people first learn the language........

Scholarly interest in the world of Southeast Asia in the Netherlands is inextricably connected with the economic, religious and political role of the Dutch in that part of the world. It is no coincidence that the first scholarly publication was written by Frederick de Houtman, who joined his brother, the shipmaster Cornelis, on his second journey to the Indies in 1598. Frederick was taken prisoner by the Achehnese in 1599 and spent two years at the sultan's court. He used this time to study the astronomy of the southern hemisphere as well as the Malay language, two essential tools for Dutch sailors and traders in Southeast Asia. His grammar and vocabulary of the Malay language laid the foundations for the study of this lingua franca for generations of Europeans to come.

During the two centuries of the VOC one can distinguish three main categories of interest on the part of Dutchmen working in the Indies. First, much information is contained in the many travelogues written and published by sailors, traders and other travellers. Many of these books were quite popular at the time, and can now be consulted in editions published by the Linschoten-Vereeniging. To this category also belong reports like Hofreizen by Rijklof van Goens, dealing with his travels to the courts of Central Java,and the quite extensive Notitie by Cornelis Speelman, the Dutchman who subjugated the kings of Goa, which presents an ethno-graphic and socio-political description of southern Celebes.

From the outset the VOC was interested in the Malay language, not only because it served as the main language for trade in this part of the world, but also because it was adopted as the principal medium for propagation of the Christian religion, especially in the Moluccas. In this second category, quite a few Dutch missionaries published grammars and dictionaries of the Malay language, partly in preparation for the translation of the Bible into Malay. Melchior Leijdecker, the translator of the Bible, also produced a major dictionary; and G.H. Werndly's grammar contains the first survey of Malay literature
Gua budget lu dah bace kat atas kan.......mau tanye sikit......
Kalu si mamat Frederick de Houtman tu kena tangkap pastu lepak kat Aceh sampai 2 tahun lu budget orang Aceh masa tu semua Kristian ke? Bukanke Aceh tu orang panggil serambi Mekah

Lu budget orang Aceh panggil tuhan ape?........satD, Elloi, Ah Beng, Yahweh .....ke Allah S.W.T ..

And if Frederick's work laid the foundation for generations to come......I would expect there would have been a very huge amount of Islamic influences in that "work".....

Before we get to the Culprit.......this mafaker called Leijdecker........

Let us look at the chronology of Al-Kitab translation.......

Gua pun cari la macam nak mampus "independent" view on this matter instead of depending on the Lembaga Al-Kitab Version of the History........

The best part of this journey now is that I will only refer to documents written by Christians Brothers who wants to SHARE the truth with us........

And guess what I found one.........


Here are some of his observations
  1. The two Bibles published by the Lembaga Al-Kitab Indonesia are probably the most corrupt and perverted translation ever made in any language, and therefore do not provide a sound spiritual foundation upon which to build
  2. One of the alarming things one notices when examining the latest Indonesian translation of the Lembaga Al-Kitab Indonesia, is the inappropriate use of Islamic terms. By this I do not mean Arabic words which have become part of the Indonesian language, as long as these words are used properly there is no problem. Rather, what is alarming is the use of 'Islamic" terms in such a wrong way as to make one suspect that Muslims were somehow involved in the translations
  3. In 1731 the first translation of the Bible into the Malay/Indonesia language was made by Dr. Melchior Leijdecker....... he was the first person to have translated God as Allah, Robert Hutchens and J.McGinnis later found approximately 10,000 words in Liejdecker's translation that were not in the standard Malay dictionary of that day, Kamus Bahasa Melayu; most of these words were Arabic and Persian
Folks enjoy reading this.......A Sharp Two Edge Sword for Indonesia by Dr Louis A Turk Missionary Baptist Church

If have read it...you'll notice that he said that a group of Churches in Indonesia changed the word Allah to Yahweh throughout the Lembaga Al-Kitab Indonesia Bible and had it printed, Lembaga Al-Kitab took this churches to courts and won the case using copyright infringement, the police entered these churches and confiscated the Bibles....

I say what the FUCK!....copyright.....takde modal lain ke nak counter argue

You know what Preacher Yeremiah Leonard then took Lembaga Al-Kitab Indonesia to court for misleading the Indonesian Christians that Yahweh is Allah......he lost the case because only Institutions can sue the Church and not individual...if you wanna see the proceeding go here, here and here

This is damn funny....his expert witness Rev Yakub Sulistyo who testified in court that the God for the Christians is Yahweh and not Allah according to the correct original script was considered as "Sesat" and was kicked out of his Indonesia Bethel Church

Fuck me who is confused now.......


To my Muslim Brothers and Sister let us now do what Munshi Abdullah could not in 1832

For bahasa version of this article go to Ondastreet here

May Allah bless his effort in translating this message

Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open. -Lord Thomas Dewer