Allah

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For other uses, see Allah (disambiguation).

See also: Islamic concept of God

Allah is the Arabic language word referring to "God", "the Lord" and, literally according to the Qur'an, to the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" in the Abrahamic religions. It does not mean "a god", but rather "the Only God", the Supreme Creator of the universe, and it is the main term for the deity in Islam. However, "Allah" is not restricted to just Islam, but is used by Christians and Jews in some regions.

Most Arabic-speaking Muslims, Middle-Eastern Christians and Arabic-speaking Jewish Communities (including the Yemenite Jews, several Mizraḥi communities and some Sephardim) use "Allāh" as the proper noun for "God". Etymologically, the name Allah is probably a contraction of the Arabic al-Ilah, “the God.” The name's origin can be traced back to the earliest Semitic writings in which the word for god was Il or El, the latter being an Old Testament synonym for Yahweh. Allah is the standard Arabic word for “God” and is used by Arab Christians as well ^[1]. Allāh is found in the Qur'an and in Arabic translations of both the Tanakh and the Gospels and even in the Indonesian translations of the Bible. Christians believe that Allāh is ath-Thalouth al-Muqaddas - The Holy Trinity, thus whole Allāh is consisted from Abu-Father, Bin-Son, and Ruh-Spirit.

Outside the Arabic World, the use of "Allāh" is generally associated exclusively with Islam, and is used to refer specifically to the Islamic concept of God. It is nearly the same as the Jewish conception of a single God^[2][3], but differs from the Trinitarian Christian conception of God. In Islam, the concept of one God is strictly observed. The Qu'ran refers to a Jewish belief in Ezra as the Son of God, although historical Judaism is also strictly monotheistic.

Islamic scholars often translate "Allāh" directly into English as "God", especially Qur'an alone Muslims. Other scholars feel that "Allāh" should not be translated arguing that "Allāh" is the term for "the Only God" in a glorified pronunciation. This is a significant issue when translating the Qur'an.

According to the tradition of Islam there are 99 Names of God. They are the names of God revealed in the Qur'an.^[4]

Etymology

The word Allāh (ألله) is derived from a contraction of the Arabic words al- (the) and ʾilāh (deity, masculine form) — al-ilāh meaning "the god". Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic.

Muslim and non-Muslim scholars often translate "Allāh" directly into English as "God"; and Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians refer to Allāh as God. Also, it is believed that in Islam, "Allāh" means the same God that the people of Christianity and Judaism faith believe in; in other words, the three prominent religions believe in the same God. However, some Muslim scholars feel that "Allāh" should not be translated, because they perceive the Arabic word to express the uniqueness of "Allāh" more accurately than the word "god", which can take a plural "gods", whereas the word "Allāh" has no plural form. This is a significant issue in translation of the Qur'an.

The word "Allāh" had been used in the Arabic tongue in the Jāhilīyah (pre-Islamic) period; it occurs in Arabic classical poetry and was also used by Jews in certain regions (for cognate Hebrew Elōah), as well as by the pagan tribes in the Arabian peninsula to signify a chief deity.^{[citation needed]}

Along with Allāh, the pre-Islamic Arabs believed in a host of other terms to signify gods, such as Hubal and al-Lāt, al-`Uzzah, and Manah.<sup>[5]</sup> Pre-Islamic Jews referred to their supreme creator as Yahweh or Elohim. This view of Allāh by the pre-Islamic pagans is viewed by Muslims as a later development having arisen as a result of moving away from Abrahamic monotheism over time since the building of the Kaaba. In the Qur'an, Muhammad orally transmits a rebuttal to this common belief at the time in the verse "17:40 Has then your Lord (O Pagans!) preferred for you sons, and taken for Himself daughters among the angels? Truly ye utter a most dreadful saying!". Secular historians, meanwhile, have postulated that monotheism is the result of an evolution from henotheism, the belief in a supreme deity as well as various lesser divinities. (See Judaism.) The pagan Arabians also used the word "Allāh" in the names of their children; Muhammad's father, who was born into pagan society, was named "`Abdullāh", which translates "servant of Allāh". "`Abdullāh" is still used for names of Muslim and non-Muslims (e.g. Christians also used the word, as testified by the Zabad inscription). "Abdullāh" was also the name of the father of Maimon, whose son Moses is the Jewish principal Rabbi commonly known in English as Maimonides. Maimonides himself wrote his works mostly in Arabic on which his name appear as "Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdullah al-Kurtubi" ( موسى بن ميمون بن عبد الله القرطبي ).

The Hebrew word for deity, El (אל) or Elōah (אלוה, rarely אלה), was used as an Old Testament synonym for Yahweh (יהוה), which is the proper name for God according to the Tanakh. The Aramaic word for God is אלהא Elāhā (Biblical Aramaic) and ܐܠܗܐ Alāhā (Syriac), which comes from the same Proto-Semitic word (*ʾil-) as the Arabic and Hebrew terms; Jesus is described in Mark 15:34 as having used the word on the cross, with the ending meaning "my", when saying, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" (transliterated in Greek as ἐλωι elō-i). One of the earliest surviving translations of the word into a foreign language is in a Greek translation of the Shahada, from 86-96 AH (705-715 AD), which translates it as ὁ θεος μονος (ho theos monos) ^[6], literally "the lone god".

Typography

An example of allāh written in simple Arabic calligraphy.

The word Allāh is always written without an alif to spell the ā vowel. This is because the spelling was settled before Arabic spelling started habitually using alif to spell ā. However, in vocalized spelling, a small diacritic alif is added on top of the shaddah to indicate the pronunciation.

One exception may be in the pre-Islamic Zabad inscription, where it ends with an ambiguous sign that may be a lone-standing h with a lengthened start, or may be a non-standard conjoined l-h:-

• as الاه : This reading would be Allāh spelled phonetically with alif for the ā.
• as الاله : This reading would be Al-'ilāh = "the god", uncontracted, by older spelling practice without alif for ā.

The form in the inscription is shown at ^[7].

Unicode has a glyph reserved for Allāh, ﷲ‎ = U+FDF2, which can be combined with an alif to yield the post-consonantal form, اﷲ‎, as opposed to the full spelling alif-lām-lām-hā الله‎ which may be rendered slightly differently, in particular featuring a diacritic alif on top of the shadda. In this, Unicode imitates traditional Arabic typesetting, which also frequently featured special llāh types.

In Abjad numerals, The Name Of Allah (الله) numeric value is 66.

The calligraphic variant of the word used as the Coat of arms of Iran is encoded in Unicode, in the Miscellaneous Symbols range, at codepoint U+262B (☫).

For further reading, see Arabic name#Mistakes made by Europeans and other non-Arabs.

History

Allah script outside Edirne Eski Camii and woman

This view of Allāh by the pre-Islamic pagans is viewed by Muslims as a later development having arisen as a result of moving away from Abrahamic monotheism over time. Some of the names of these pagan gods are said to be derived from the descendants of Noah, whom later generations first revered as saints, and then transformed into gods. The pagan Arabians also used the word "Allāh" in the names of their children; Muhammad's father, who was born into pagan society, was named "Abdullah", which means "servant of Allāh". Abdullah is still used for names of Muslim and non-Muslim Arabs.

The Hebrew word for deity, El (אל) or Elōah (אלוה), was used as an Old Testament synonym for the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), which is the proper name of God according to the Hebrew Bible. The Aramaic word for God is alôh-ô (Syriac dialect) or elâhâ (Biblical dialect), which comes from the same Proto-Semitic word (*ʾilâh-) as the Arabic and Hebrew terms; Jesus is described in Mark 15:34 as having used the word on the cross, with the ending meaning "my", when saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (transliterated in Greek as elō-i).

One of the earliest surviving translations of the word Allāh into a foreign language is in a Greek translation of the Shahada, from 86-96 AH (705-715 AD), which translates it as ho theos monos^[8], literally "the one god". Also the cognate Aramaic term appears in the Aramaic version of the New Testament, called the Pshitta (or Peshitta) as one of the words Jesus used to refer to God, e.g., in the sixth Beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see Alaha." And in the Arabic Bible the same words: "طُوبَى لأَنْقِيَاءِ الْقَلْبِ، فَإِنَّهُمْ سَيَرَوْنَ الله"

Debates in popular media

While it is customary for people to use the word in their own language for "God," e.g. the Japanese use (神様) pronounced as "Kami Sama," and French use Le Dieu (or Dieu), a feverish debate about reference to "God" in the Tanakh and the Gospels using the Arabic Qur'an term "Allāh" has been waged in the aftermath of September 11th (begun in the United States and followed by repercussions in most of Western Europe). It has been particularly associated with the televangelist and media producer Jerry Falwell, and the televangelists Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson, who hosts the 700 Club.^[9]

The 700 Club presented Ergun Caner, an ex-Muslim and a native of Turkey. Soon after, Jerry Falwell formally recruited Caner to speak at conferences. Recently Caner has been appointed dean of the Liberty Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, VA., which was founded by Jerry Falwell.^[10] From his new position, Caner further proclaimed not only is Allāh not the God of the Bible, but Allāh is not God,^[11] a proclamation that met and exceeded the televangelist's expectations. Consequently, Jerry Falwell can now state that "Allāh is not God" without fear of repercussions.

Other beliefs

• Jews for Allah is a group of Muslim former Jews who convert Jews to Islam.

• The Nation of Gods and Earths, one of the many sects created as the result of black separatist movements in the United States, holds that the word Allāh is the name of the original black man and stands for "Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head".^[12],^[13], which is an English abbreviation. As the word Allāh is universally understood to be an Arabic term, those familiar with the origins and history of Arabic and English would consider this a false etymology. This concept also differs dramatically from mainstream Islam thought which strictly opposes any attempt to portray Allāh as a human or in any other way.

• The Bahá'í Faith, whose scriptures are primarily written in Arabic and Persian, also uses Allāh to mean God, though typical practice is to use the customary word for God in the language being spoken. In certain specific uses Allāh is not translated, rather the whole Arabic phrase is used. The chief example of this would be the customary Bahá'í greeting Alláh'u'abhá, which is commonly translated as God is the All Glorious. They also believe that Allāh should not have any pictures drawn of him.

See also

• Alaha
• Elohim
• God
• Islamic concept of God
• Islam
• Qur'an
• 99 Names of God
• Muhammad
• Monotheism
• Names of God
• Names of God in Judaism

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia - Allah
• The Concept of Allāh according to the Qur'an
• For Mainstream/Traditional Classical Islamic Teachings
• An Orthodox Traditional Islamic Information Website
• ServantsofAllah.org - For those who desire to be in the servitude of Allāh

Bibliography

• Samuel M. Zwemep - The Moslem Doctrine of God (Originally published in 1905) ISBN 184664478X
• Ian Richard Netton - Allah Transcendent (1994) ISBN 0700702873

References and notes

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