Malaysian police say they have arrested eight people over the firebombing of a church earlier this month. No-one was injured in the incident, but it was the first in a series of attacks that have highlighted religious and political divisions.

The attacks followed a 31 December court ruling allowing non-Muslims to use the word “Allah” for God, which the government is appealing against. Tensions flared after Malaysia’s High Court ruled that a Roman Catholic newspaper, the Herald, was permitted to use the word Allah to describe God in its Malay language editions.

Some Muslim groups have argued that Christians using a word so closely associated with Islam could be a ploy to win converts. Other Muslim groups, such as the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) have said there is no bar to Christians and Jews using the word Allah.

The “Allah” ban is unusual in the Muslim world. The Arabic word is commonly used by Christians to describe God in such countries as Egypt, Syria and even nearby Indonesia, which is the world’s world’s largest Muslim nation.    »»» BBC News

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