 The government of Malaysia in 2007 outlawed usage of the term Allah in any other but Muslim contexts , but the Malayan High Court in 2009 revoked the law , ruling that it was unconstitutional . While Allah had been used for the Christian God in Malay for more than four centuries , the contemporary controversy was triggered by usage of Allah by the Roman Catholic newspaper The Herald . The government appealed the court ruling , and the High Court suspended implementation of its verdict until the appeal was heard . In October 2013 , the court ruled in favor of the government 's ban . In early 2014 , the Malaysian government confiscated more than 300 <unk> for using the word to refer to the Christian God in <unk> Malaysia . However , the use of Allah is not prohibited in the two Malaysian state of <unk> and <unk> . The main reason it is not prohibited in these two states is that usage has been long @-@ established and local <unk> ( Bibles ) have been widely distributed freely in East Malaysia without restrictions for years . Both states also do not have similar Islamic state laws as those in West Malaysia . 
