KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Islamic authorities on Thursday seized hundreds of Bibles from a Christian group and questioned two of its officers, one of them said, amid tensions over the use of the word “Allah.” A court in October barred a Malaysian Catholic newspaper from using “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in its Malay-language edition — a verdict which was welcomed by Muslim conservatives but which sparked concern among Christians, a minority in the multi-faith country. After the verdict, Prime Minister Najib Razak, walking a tightrope between pleasing his conservative Muslim ethnic Malay base without alienating non-Muslim minorities, assured Christians the practice of their religion would not be threatened. But Islamic officials from the central state of Selangor on Thursday seized 16 boxes containing more than 300 Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia, said the society's president Lee Min Choon. Lee said he and a colleague were also detained “under a state law, which prohibits the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims.” They were later released but must meet authorities again next week. — AP
