Malaysian court rules Christians can use 'Allah'

A Malaysian court has ruled that Christians have the constitutional right to use the word Allah in reference to God.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court also said a government ban on non-Muslims using the word was illegal.

A Christian group hailed the ruling Thursday as a victory or freedom of religion in the Muslim-majority country, where the issue has become a symbol of religious grievances of minority groups.

The court was ruling on a lawsuit filed by Malaysia's Roman Catholic Church in late 2007 after the government blocked non-Muslims from translating God as Allah in their litrature.

Authorities have insisted that Allah is an Islamic word that should be used exclusively by Muslims to refer to God, and its use by other religions would be misleading.