International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 2017, Vol. 7, No. 8 ISSN: 2222-6990 451 www.hrmars.com Understanding The Christian Community’s Stance towards the Muslim Community in Sabah: After the Ban on the Usage of the Term Allah Abd Hakim Mohad¹*, Yusten Karulus¹, Saini Ag Damit¹ Mohd Sohaimi Esa¹, Dayu Sansalu¹, Ros Aiza Mohd Mokhtar¹ Ahmad Tarmizi Talib², Sarjit S. Gill² ¹ Center for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. ² Department of Government and Civilization Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. * Corresponding author Email: abdhakimmy@yahoo.co.uk DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i8/3248 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i8/3248 ABSTRACT The Muslim-Christian relationship dates back to more than 1400 years. Over the years, many incidences have contributed to the fluctuation in the relationship between the two religions. In the Malaysian context, the practice of different religion is allowed, as defined in Article 3(1) of the national constitution “Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation”. Nevertheless, the Muslim- Christian relationship has entered a new phase when on 22 October 2013, the Court of Appeal has decided that the Catholic Church’s publication, Herald – The Catholic Weekly (Herald) has been banned from using the term Allah. This issue has garnered local and international attention because it will shape the future of the Muslim-Christian relationship. Even though this issue has affected the Christian community in West Malaysia, specifically, it has also left an impact on the other Christian communities including those in Sabah. Thus, this brings forth the discussion of the Christian community’s stance towards t he Muslim community in Sabah post 22 October 2013. This research employs both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. The outcome of the research shows that the Christian community demonstrates a positive attitude towards the Muslim community and they conduct their daily activity without any animosity or negative reaction. Keywords: Religion, Muslim, Christians, Tolerance, Sabah INTRODUCTION The Sabahans are renowned to be tolerant and amicable people. When the term unity in diversity is being discussed, the image of Sabah and its people who live harmoniously despite their diverse beliefs and ethnicity come to mind. This is not simply the view of the researcher