Christians in Malaysia have the constitutional right to use the word “Allah” to refer to God, the country’s high court declared Thursday. In the landmark ruling, Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan announced that the word “Allah” is not exclusive to Islam and that the government’s Home Ministry is “not empowered” to ban non-Muslims from using the word.

“This … means that the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking community of the Christian faith can now continue to freely use the word ‘Allah’ without any interference from the authorities,” the Rev. Fr. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Roman Catholic Church’s weekly Malaysian publication The Herald, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur Thursday.

Malaysia’s Catholic Church had filed a lawsuit against the government late 2007 after the government threatened to revoke The Herald’s printing permit if it did not cease use of the word “Allah” in the Malay language section of its newspaper.

While Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar prohibited The Herald from using of the word “Allah” on the grounds of national security and to avoid misunderstanding and confusion among Muslims, the Catholic Church argued that the barring of non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” is unconstitutional and violates freedom of religion.

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