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Date: April 17, 2006 at 21:04:00
From: Linguistics, [c-67-174-63-63.hsd1.ca.comcast.net]
Subject: Re: Rise of evil Islam and future Atomic war |
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Linguistics
Introduction:
There is a language gap in between Christians and Muslims in the use of theological terminology. That gap is causing misunderstanding and cross communication and confusion to both sides. In regard of bridging it, in this chapter (article), we are going to investigate and analyse the name Allah and compare it with other terms that are used to refer to the divine from a linguistic approach. We are to go beyond the scripts and sounds and focus instead on the linguistic technical aspects. We are to find out how each side think and what they exactly mean when they use those different terms and also how others receive and understand them. We have to draw a line between the similarities in regard of making a sound judgement about the use of Allah as name for God.
1. Contextual analysis and comparison of scriptures:
1.1. The Quran:
1.1.1. A look into English translation and the original terms with lexical application:
[1:1-3] In the name of Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) Most-Gracious, Most-Merciful. Praise be to Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) the-Lord (rabbi) of the worlds, Most-Gracious, Most-Merciful.
Allah = allaah = n. (noun) pr. (proper), dei. (deity), Lord = rabb = n. m (masculine). s. (singular)
[2:26] Surely Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) is not ashamed to set forth any parable—a gnat or any thing above that; then as for those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their-Lord (rabbihim), and as for those who disbelieve, they say: What is it that Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) means by this parable…
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[2:163] Your-God (‘ilaahukum) is the only one-God (‘ilaahun); there is no god (‘ilaaha) but He…
God/god = ’ilaah = n. m. s.
[7:85] And to Madyan their brother Shu’aib. He said: O my people! Serve Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) you have no god (‘ilaahin) other than Him; clear proof indeed has come to you from your-Lord (rabbikum)…
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., god = ’ilaah = n. m. s., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[9:31] They have taken their doctors of law and their monks for lords (arbaaban) besides Allah, ( q_^||‘| ), and the Messiah son of Mariam and they were enjoined that they should serve God (‘ilaahan) only, there is no god (‘ilaaha) but He; far from His glory be what they set up.
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., lords = arbaab = n. m. pl., God/god = ’ilaah = n. m. s.
[11:53~56] They said, “O Hood, you did not show us any proof, and we are not abandoning our-gods (‘aalihatinaa) on account of what you say. We believe that some of our-gods (‘aalihatinaa) have afflicted you with a curse.” He said, “I bear witness before Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) and you bear witness as well, that I disown the idolaters… Surely I rely on Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) my-Lord (rabbiy) and your-Lord (rabbikum); there is no living creature but He holds it by its forelock; surely my-Lord (rabbiy) is on the right path.
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., gods = ’aalihat = n. m. pl., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[12:39~41] O my two mates of the prison! Are many lords (arbaabun) better or Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) the One, the Supreme?… "O my two companions of the prison! As to one of you, he will pour out the wine for his-lord (rabbihi) to drink: as for the other, he will hang from the cross, and the birds will eat from off his head.
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., lords = arbaab = n. m. pl., lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[16:51] Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) has proclaimed: “Do not worship two-gods (‘ilaahayni); there is only one-God (‘ilaahun)…”
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., God = ’ilaah = n. m. s., gods = ’ilaahyn = n. m. du. (dual number)
[18:15] Here are our people setting up gods (‘aalihatan) beside Him… Who is more evil than the one who fabricates lies and attributes them to Allah, ( q_^||‘| )?
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., gods = ’aalihat = n. m. pl.
[21:22] If there had been in them any-gods (‘aalihatun) except Allah, ( q_^||‘| ), they would both have certainly been in a state of disorder; therefore glory be to Allah, ( q_^||‘| ), the-Lord (rabbu) of the dominion, above what they attribute.
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., gods = ‘aalihat = n. m. pl., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[22:34] For each congregation we have decreed rites whereby they com- memorate the name of Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) for providing them with the livestock. Your- god (‘ilaahukum) is one-God (‘ilaahun)…
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., God/god = ’ilaah = (indef.) n. m. s.
[29:46] … and our-God (‘ilaahunaa) and your-God (‘ilaahukum) is one…
God = ’ilaah = n. m. s.
[38:5] Did he make the-gods (al-‘aalihata) into one-god (‘ilaahan)?…
gods = ‘aalihat = n. m. pl., god = ’ilaah = n. m. s.
[40:28] A believer, a man from among the people of Pharaoh, who had concealed his faith, said: "Will ye slay a man because he says, 'my-Lord (rabbiya) is Allah, ( q_^||‘| )?- when he has indeed come to you with Clear signs from your-Lord (rabbikum)? and if he be a liar, on him is his lie: but, if he is telling the Truth, then will fall on you something of the calamity of which he warns you: Truly Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) guides not one who transgresses and lies!
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[73:8-9] And remember the name of your-Lord (rabbika) and devote yourself to Him with devotion. The Lord (rabbu) of the East and the West—there is no god (‘ilaaha) but He—therefore take Him for a protector.
god = ‘ilaah = n. m. s., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[81:29] And you do not please except that Allah, ( q_^||‘| ) please, the-Lord (rabbu) of the worlds.
Allah = allaah = n. pr. dei., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
[114:1-3] Say: I seek refuge in the Lord (rabbi) of men, King of men, God (‘ilaahi) of men
God = ‘ilaah = n. m. s., Lord = rabb = n. m. s.
Remarks:
From the above Quranic examples and lexical contexts of terms used for deities, we notice that:
allaah (Allah) was used uniquely for the Quran-God and always as his very personal name (noun proper masculine singular).
‘ilaah (God/god) was used in various forms as a noun (common name or title) to either refer to the Quran-deity or to other deities.
rabb (Lord/lord) was used in various forms as a noun (common name or tittle) to either refer to Quran-deity or other deities or even men (i.e. Pharaoh).
‘ilaah nor rabb, as singular nouns, have never been used once with the definite article al (the) in the original Arabic.
For reference and extra verification, check the recognised English translations of the Quran, i.e. the versions of Yusuf Ali, Marmaduke Pickthall, Shakir, Zohurul Hoque, Taqiuddin Al-Hilali & Muhsin Khan.
1.1.2. A Look into different translations of the Quran:
* allaah (Q.1:1):
Arabic: bismi allaahi arrahmaani arrahiymi.
Turkish: Rahman ve Rahim olan Allah'in Adiyla
English: In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
French: Au nom d'Allah, le Tout Miséricordieux, le Très Miséricordieux.
German: Im Namen Allahs, des Gnädigen, des Barmherzigen.
Spanish: En el nombre de Alá, el Compasivo, el Misericordioso!
* ‘ilaah (Q.2:163):
Arabic: wa ‘ilaahukum ‘ilaahun waa7idun laa ‘ilaaha ‘illaa huwa
Turkish: Sizin ilahiniz tek bir ilahtir; O'ndan baska ilah yoktur;
English: And your-God is One God. There is no god but He,
French: Et votre-Dieu est un dieu unique. Pas de dieu à part lui,
German: Und euer-Gott ist ein Einiger Gott; es ist kein Gott außer Ihm,
Spanish: Vuestro-Dios es un Dios Uno. No hay más dios que Él,
* rabb (Q.37:126):
Arabic: allaaha rabbakum wa rabba ‘aabaa’ikumu al’awwaliyna.
Turkish: Allah ki, sizin de Rabbiniz, önceki atalarinizin da Rabbidir.
English: Allah your-Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old.
French : Allah, votre-Seigneur et le Seigneur de vos plus anciens ancêtres?
German: Allah, euren-Herrn und den Herrn eurer Vorväter?
Spanish: a Alá, Señor-vuestro y Señor de vuestros antepasados?
Remarks:
From the above examples of the various translations of the Quran into different languages we notice that:
allaah was never translated into common/generic names of deities but simply transliterated (i.e. Allah or Alá).
‘ilaah in its various forms was always translated into the respective synonyms or common names of deities in those other languages. When the synonyms for ‘ilah referred to the Quran-deity they were capitalised (i.e. God or Dios), but when they were used to refer to other deities they were not capitalised (i.e. god or dios).
rabb in its various forms is always translated into the respective synonyms or titles in those other languages. When the synonyms for rabb referred to the Quran-deity they were capitalised (i.e. Lord or Herrn), but when they were used to refer to other deities they were not capitalised (i.e. lord or herrn).
1.2. The Bible:
1.2.1. A look into Arabic translation (romanized) and the original terms with lexical application:
* Old Testament:
[Gen.1:1] fee al-bad'i khalaqa allaahu ( ‘elohiym ) as-samaawaati wa al-arda.
allaah = ‘elohiym = n. m.
[Gen.2:4] hada wasfun mabda’iyyun li assamaawaati wa al’arda yawma khalaqahaa arrabbu ( YHWH ) al’ilaahu ( ‘elohiym )
al’ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Gen.14:19] wa baaraka abraam qaa’ilan: li takun 3alayka ya abraamu barakatu allaahi ( ‘el ) al3aliyyi maaliku assamaawati wa al’ardi."
allaah = ‘el = n. m. s.
[Gen.41:38] wa qaala fir3awnu li3abiydihi: “hal najidu nadhiyra hada rajulan fiyhi rou7u allaahi ( ‘elohiym )?”
allaah = ‘elohiym = n. m. pl.
[Exo.20:2-3] ‘anaa arrabbu ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahukum ( ‘elohiym ) alladiy ‘akhrajakum min misra min bayti al3uboudiyyat. laa yakun lakum ‘aalihatun ( ‘elohiym ) ‘ukhraa ‘amaamiy.
‘aalihat = ‘elohiym = n. m. pl., ‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Exo.3:14-15] fa'ajaabahu allaahu ( ‘elohiym ): ’ahyah alladhi ‘ahyah ( hayah-hayah ) {wa ma3naahaa alkaa’in alladiy kaa’in} wa adaafa: "hakada taqoulu libani ‘isra'ela: yahwah ( YHWH ) howa alladi arsalani ilaykum." Wa qaala aydan limousaa: "haakadaa taqoulu lil’isra’eila: alkaa’inu ( hayah ), ‘ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) ‘aabaa’ikum, ‘ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) ‘ibraahiyma wa ‘ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) ‘is7aaqa wa ‘ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) ya3qouba qad ‘arsalani ‘ilaykum. hadaa huwa al’ismu alladi ‘ud3aa bihi min jiylin ‘ilaa jiylin”
allaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., ‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., yahwah = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Exo.6:3] wa qad dhahartu li-‘ibraahiyma wa ‘is7aaqa wa ya3qouba ‘ilaahan ( ‘el ) qadiyran 3alaa kulli shay’in. ‘ammaa bi-‘ismiy yahwah ( YHWH ) falam ‘u3raf 3indahum.
’ilaah = ‘el = n. m. s., yahwah = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Exo.15:3-4] arrabbu ( yahh ) quwwatiy wa nashiydiy wa qad saara khalaasiy. haadaa ‘ilaahiy ( ‘el ) fa’umajjiduhu. ‘ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) abiy fa’uraffi3uhu. arrabbu ( YHWH ) rajulu al7arbi. arrabbu ( YHWH ) ‘ismuhu
‘ilaah = ‘el = n. m. s., ‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Exo.18:11-12] "al’aana a3lamu ‘anna arrabba ( YHWH ) huwa ‘a3dhamu min jamiy3i al’aalihati ( ‘elohiym ), li’annahu 3aamalahum bimithli maa baghou bihi." wa qaddama yathrounu 7amou mousa mu7raqan wa dhabaa’i7a li-‘ilahi ( ‘elohiym ) wa ja’a harounu wa jamiy3u shuyoukhi ‘isra’ila liya’kulou ta3aaman ma3a 7amiy mousa fi 7adhrati allaahi ( ‘elohiym ).
al’aalihat = ‘elohiym = n. m. pl., allaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Exo.34:6] fanazala arrabbu ( YHWH ) fi assa7aabi. fawaqafa 3indahu hunaaka wa naadaa bismi arrabbi ( YHWH ). fa’jtaaza arrabbu ( YHWH ) quddaamahu wa naadaa: “arrabbu ( YHWH ) arrabbu ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahun ( ‘el ) ra7iymun wa ra’oufun batiy’u alghadabi wa kathiyru al’i7saani wa alwafaa’i.
‘ilaah = ‘el = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Deu.6:4-5] isma3ou ya baniy ‘israa’iyla: arrabbu ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahunaa ( ‘elohiym ) arrabbu ( YHWH ) waa7idun. Fa’a7ibbou arrabba ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahakum ( ‘elohiym ) min kulli quloubikum wa nufousikum wa quwwatikum.
‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Deu.10:17] li’anna arrabba ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahukum ( ‘elohiym ) huwa ‘ilaahu al‘aalihati ( ‘elohiym ‘elohiym ) wa rabbu al’arbaabi ( ‘adown ‘adown ) al’ilaahu ( ‘el ) aljabbaaru almahiybu alladhiy la yu7aabiy wajha ‘a7adin, wa la yartashiy.
al’ilaah/’ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., al’aalihat = ‘elohiym = n. m. pl.,
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., rabb = ‘adown = n. m., al’arbaab = n. m. pl.
[Deu.18:15~21] yuqiymu laka arrabbu ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahuka ( ‘elohiym ) nabiyyan min wasatika min ‘ikhwatika mithliy lahu tasma3ouna… wa ‘ammaa ‘annabiyyu alladiy yutghiy fayatakallamu bi-‘ismiy kalaaman lam ‘uwsihi ‘an yatakallama bihi ‘awi alladiy yatakallamu bi-‘ismi ‘aalihatin ( ‘elohiym ) ‘ukhraa fayamuwto dhalika annabiyyu. wa ‘in qulta fiy qalbika kayfa na3rifu alkalaama alladhiy lam yatakallam bihi arrabbu ( YHWH ). Famaa takallama bihi annabiyyu bi-‘ismiy arrabbi ( YHWH ) wa lam ya7duth wa lam yasir fahuwa alkalaamu alladhiy lam yatakallam bihi arrabbu ( YHWH ) bal bitughyaanin takallam bihi annabiyyu fala takhaf minhu.
‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., ‘aalihat = ‘elohiym = n. m. pl., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[1Sam.12:22] li’annahu laa yatruku arrabbu ( YHWH ) sha3bahu min ‘ajli ‘ismihi al3dhiymi.
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Psa.110:1] qaala arrabbu ( YHWH ) li-rabbiy ( ‘adonay ) ijlis 3an yamiyniy 7attaa ‘adha3a ‘a3daa’aka mawti’an liqadamayka.
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., rabb = ‘adown = n. m. s.
[Psa.115:18] laysa al’amwaatu yusabbi7ouna arrabba ( yahh ) wa la man yan7adiru ‘ilaa ‘ardhi assukouti. ammaa na7nu fanubaariku arrabba ( yahh ) mina al’aani wa ‘ilaa addahri. hallilou-yaah ( yahh )
arrabb = yahh = n. pr. dei.
[Jer.10:10-11] ‘ammaa arrabbu ( YHWH ) fahuwa al’ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) al7aqqu al’ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) al7ayyu, wa almaliku assarmadiyyu… wa hadaa maa taqoulounahu lahum: "’inna al’aalihata ( ‘elaahh ) allatiy lam tasna3i assamaawaati wa al’arda…"
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., al’ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., al’aalihat = ‘elaahh = n. m. pl.
[Isa.12:2] huwa dhaa allaahu ( ‘el ) khalaasiy fa’atma’innu wa la ‘arta3ibu li’anna yaaha ( yahh ) yahwaha ( YHWH ) quwwatiy wa tarniymatiy wa qad saara liy khalaasan
allaah = ‘el = n. m. s., yaah/yahwah = yahh/YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Isa.26:4] tawakkalou 3ala arrabbi ( YHWH ) ‘ila al’abadi li’anna fiy yaaha ( yahh ) arrabbi ( YHWH ) sakhra adduhouri
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., yaah = yahh = n. pr. dei.
[Dan.6:20] falammaa danaa minhu naadaa daaniy’ala bisawtin 7aziynin qaa’ilan: "yaa daaniy’alu, 3abdu allaahi ( ‘elaahh ) alhayyi, hal ‘ilaahuka ( ‘elaahh ) alladi ta3buduhu da’iman istataa3a ‘an yunajjiyka mina al’usoudi?"
allaah = ‘elaahh = n. m. s., ‘ilaah = ‘elaahh = n. m. s.
[Dan.9:3-4] fattajahtu binafsiy ‘ilaa allaahi ( ‘elohiym ) arrabbi ( ‘adonay ) ‘abtahilu ‘ilayhi bissalaati was attadharru3aati wa assawmi wa irtidaa’i almas7I wa atta3affuri bi arramaadi. wa sallaytu ‘ilaa arrabbi ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahiy ( ‘elohiym ) wa i3taraftu qaa’ilan: ‘ayyuhaa arrabbu ( ‘adonay ) al’ilaahu ( ‘el ) al3adhiymu almahoubu, 7afidhu al3ahdi wa arra7mati limu7ibbiyhi wa 3amiliy wasaayaahu.
al’ilaah = ‘el = n. m. s., allaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. m., arrabb = ‘adonay = n. m. s.
[Hos.13:4] ‘anaa huwa arrabbu ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahuka ( ‘elohiym ) mundu ‘an kunta fi diyar misra, wa lasta ta3rifu ‘ilaahan ( ‘elohiym ) ghayriy, wa laa munqida laka siwaaya.
arrabbu = YHWH = n. pr. dei., ‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m.
[Mic.4:5] li’anna jamiy3a asshu3oubi yaslikouna kullu waa7idin bismi ‘ilaahihi ( ‘elohiym ) wa na7nu nasliku bismi arrabbi ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahinaa ( ‘elohiym ) ‘ilaa alddahri wa al’abadi.
Arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., ‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m. s.
[Mal.2:16] wa yaqoulu arrabbu ( YHWH ) ‘ilaahu ( ‘elohiym ) ‘isra’ila: ‘inniy ‘amqutu attalaaqa wa ‘amqutu ‘an yughattiya arrajulu zawjatahu bijawrihi kamaa yughatti huwa bithawbihi…”
‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
* New Testament:
[Mat.4:7] fatal lahu yasou3: wa qad Kayaba ‘aydhan: la tujarribi arrabba ( Kurios : YHWH ) ‘ilaahaka ( Theos : ’elohiym ) [in reference to Deu.6:16]
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., ‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. pr. m.
[Mat.22:37] fa’ajaabahu: ’a7ibba arrabba ( Kurios : YHWH ) ‘ilaahuka ( Theos : ‘elohiym ) bikulli qalbika wa kulli nafsika wa kulli fikrika. [in reference to Deu.6:5]
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., ‘ilaah = ‘elohiym = n. m.
[Mat.22:44] qaala arrabbu ( Kurios : YHWH ) li rabbiy ( Kurios : ’adown ): “ijlis 3an yamiyniy 7attaa adha3a ‘a3dhaa’aka mawtinan liqadamayka.” [in reference to Psa.110:1]
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei., rabb = ‘adown = n. m. s.
[Mat.23:39] fa’inni ‘aqoulu lakum ‘innakum lan tarawniy mina al’aana, 7atta taqoulou: mubaarakun al’aatiy bi’ism arrabbi ( Kurios : YHWH ) [in reference to Psa.118:26]
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Luk.1:30-32] fa qaala lahaa almalaaku: “laa takhaafee, yaa maryam, li-annaki qad wajadti ni3matan 3inda allaahi ( Theos ) wa haa ‘anti sata7baliyna wa talidiyna ibnan wa tusammiyhi yasou3a. ‘innahu yakounu 3adhiyman ibnu al3aliyyi yud3aa wa yamna7uhu arrabbu ( Kurios ) al’ilaahu ( Theos ) 3arsha daawuda ‘abiyhi.”
al’ilaah = theos = n. m. s., allaah = theos = n. m. s., arrabb = kurios = n. m. s.
[Luk.6:5] thumma qaala lahum: “li’anna ibna al’insaani huwa rabbu ( Kurios ) assabti.”
rabb = kurios = n. m. s.
[Joh.10:34-36] …fa qaala lahum yasuo3u: "’alaysa maktoubn fi shariy3atikum: ‘anaa qultu innakum ‘aalihatun ( theos : ’elohiym )? fa’idaa kaanati ashshariy3atu tad3ou ‘uolaa’ika alladiyna nazalat ‘ilayhum kalimatu allaahi ( Theos ) ‘aalihatan ( theos ) a alkitaabu laa yumkinu ‘an yunqada fahal taquolouna liman qaddasahu al’abu wa ba3athahu ‘ilaa al3aalami: ‘anta tujaddifu, li’annaniy qultu: ‘anaa ‘ibnu allaahi ( Theos )?… [see Psa.82:6]
‘aalihat = ‘elohiym/theos = n. m. pl., allaah = theos = n. m. s.
[Joh.20:28] fahatafa toumaa: “rabbiy ( kurios ) wa ‘ilaahiy ( Theos )”
‘ilaah = theos = n. m. s., rabb = kurios = n. m. s.
[Act.2:21] wa yakuwnu kullu man yad3ou bi’ismi arrabbi ( Kurios : YHWH ) yakhlusu. [in reference to Joe.2:32]
arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Act.17:23-24] …wajadtu ma3badan maktouban 3alayhi: “li-’ilaahin ( theos ) almajhoulin” fabihaadaa al’ilaahi ( theos ) alladiy ta3budounahu wa laa ta3rifounahu, ‘anaa ‘ubasshirukum. ‘innahu allaahu ( theos ) alladiy khalaqa alkawna wa kulla maa fiyhi. huwa rabbu ( kurios ) assamaawaati wal’ardi…
al’ilaah/’ilaah = theos = n. m., allaah = theos = n. m. s., rabb = kurios = n. m. s.
[1Cor.8:4-6] na7nu na3lamu ‘anna assanama laysa bi ’ilaahin ( theos ) mawjoudin fi alkawni, wa ‘annahu la wujouda illaa li ‘ilaahin ( theos ) waa7idin. 7attaa law kaanati al’aalihatu ( theos ) almaz3oumatu mawjoudatun fi assamaa’i ‘aw 3alaa al’ardi wa maa akthara tilka al’aalihata ( theos ) wa al’arbaabi! falaysa 3indanaa na7nu ‘illaa ‘ilaahun ( Theos ) wa7idun huwa al’abu alladiy minhu kullu shay’in, wa na7nu lahu, rabbun waa7idun huwa yasuo3u almasiy7u alladiy bihi kullu shay’in wa na7nu bihi… ‘illaa ‘anna atta3aama laa yuqarribunaa ‘ilaa allaahi ( Theos )
al‘aalihat = theos = n. m. pl., ‘ilaah/allaah = theos = n. m. s.,
[1Cor.10:26] fi’inna al’arda wa kulla maa fiyhaa li-rrabbi ( Kurios )
arrabb = kurios = n. m. s.
[Rev.4:8] …quddousun quddousun arrabbu ( Kurios : YHWH ) al’ilaahu ( Theos : ‘el ) alqaadiru alladiy kaan wa alkaa’inu ( ho on : hayah ) wa alladiy ‘aatiy. [in reference to Exo.3:15 & 6:3]
al’ilaah = theos/’el = n. m. s., arrabb = YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Rev.11:17] na7maduka ‘ayyuhaa al’ilaahu ( Theos : ‘el ) alqadiyru alkaa’inu wa alladiy kaana ( ho on kai en : hayah hayah ), li’annaka al’aana qad taqalladta quwwataka al3udhmaa wa baasharta mulkaka.[in reference to Exo.3:14 & 6:3]
al’ilaah = theos/‘el = n. m. s.
[Rev.19:5-6] wa kharaja mina al3arshi sawtun yaqoulu: "sabbi7ou ‘ilaahanaa ( Theos : ‘el ) yajamiy3a 3ibaadihi alladhina yattaqounahu sigharan wa kibaaran!”... hallilou-yaah ( allelu-ia : hallel-yahh ) fa’inna arrabba ( Kurios : YHWH ) al’ilaaha ( Theos : ‘el ) alqadiyra 3alaa kulli shay’in qad malaka, [see Psa.150 & Exo.6:3]
al’ilaah/’ilaah = theos/’el = n. m. s., yaah/arrabb = yahh/YHWH = n. pr. dei.
[Rev.19:16] wa qad kutiba 3alaa thawbihi wa 3alaa fakhdhihi: maliku almulouki wa rabbu alarbaabi ( Kurios kurios : ‘adown ‘adown ) [see Deu.10:17]
rabb = kurios/‘adown = n. m., alarbaab = kurios/’adown = n. m. pl.
Remarks:
From the above examples of the Arabic translation of the Bible and original lexical contexts of terms used for deities, we notice that:
‘ilaah was used as a generic name for both the Bible-deity and the other deities as well. Under several forms it was used as synonym for ‘el, ‘elohiym, ‘eloah, ‘Leah and theos, in the same way the English translations, for example, used god and God.
for some “convenience” purposes, allaah was used as a variation of al-‘ilaah. Both allaah and al’ilaah were used as common nouns or generic names or titles for the Bible-divine.
in no circumstance allaah was used in the Arabic Bible as personal name for the Divine, as synonym for YHWH.
at least in two occasions, Gen.41:38 and Act.17:24, allaah was used in a context which could refer either to the Bible-deity (God) or to false-deities (gods). The same comment can be made about al’ilaah in Act.17:23-24.
rabb was used as an attribute (descriptive name) for both the Bible-deity and other deities. Under several forms it was used as synonym for ‘adown, ‘adonay and kurios, in the same way the English translations, for example, used lord and Lord.
arrabb as a defined singular noun was used only for: 1- God the Father and as a substitute/render for His pronoun and covenant name, YHWH (Jehovah). 2- Jesus as His title.
YHWH is the only proper name the Bible-deity has, which is unique to Him and which the Bible does not attribute to any other being or thing.
For reference and extra examination, check the Van Dyke and the Book of Life Arab translations of the Bible.
1.2.2. A look into different translations of the Bible:
* YHWH the name (Exo.6:3):
Hebrew: ra’ah ‘abraham yitschaq ya3qob ‘el shadday shem YHWH yada3
Greek: kai ofthen pros Abraham kai Isaak kai Iakob Theos on ayton kai to onoma mon YHWH ( Kurios )…
Latin: qui apparui Abraham Isaac et Iacob in Deo omnipotente et nomen meum Adonai (YHWH) non indicavi eis
English: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah…
French: Je suis apparu à Abraham, à Isaac et à Jacob comme le Dieu Tout-Puissant, mais mon nom de Yahvé…
German: Ich bin Abraham, Isaak und Jakob erschienen als Gott, der Allmächtige; aber mit meinem Namen Jahwe…
Spanish: Y aparecí á Abraham, á Isaac y á Jacob bajo el nombre de Dios Omnipotente, mas en mi nombre Jehova…
Arabic: dhahartu… ‘ilaahan qadiyran 3alaa kulli shay’in. ‘ammaa bi-‘ismiy yahwah falam ‘u3raf 3indahum.
* YHWH (‘adonay) - ‘adown (Mat.22:44):
Hebrew: YHWH ( ‘adonay ) na’um ‘adown yashab yamiyn shiyth ‘oyeb ladom regel
Greek: YHWH ( Kurios ) epo mou-kurios kathemai ek mou delixios…
Latin: dixit Iehovae ( Dominus ) Domino-meo sede a dextris meis donec…
English: Jehovah ( the-LORD ) said unto my-Lord, Sit thou on my right hand…
French: le-Segneur ( Yahvé ) a dit à mon-Seigneur Siège à ma droite…
German: Der-Herr ( Jahwe ) sprach zu meinem-Herrn Setze dich zu meiner Rechten…
Spanish: Dijo el-Señor ( Jehova ) á mi-Señor Siéntate á mi diestra…
Turkish: Rab Rabbime dedi ki, Ben düþmanlarýný senin…
Arabic: qaala arrabb ( yahwah ) li rabbiy: ijlis 3an yamiyniy…
* YHWH (’adonay) ‘elohiym (Deu.6:5 & Mat.22:37)
Hebrew: ‘ahab YHWH ‘elohiym lebab nephesh ma3od
Greek: agapao Kurios ( YHWH ) sou-Theos en holos sou kardia kai en holos sou psuche kai en hols sou dianoia
Latin: Diliges Dominum Deum-tuum ex toto corde tuo et in tota anima tua et in tota mente tua
English: Thou shalt love the-LORD ( Jehovah ) thy-God with all thy heart, and with all thy sou…
French: Tu aimeras le-Seigneur ( Yahvé ) ton-Dieu de tout ton cœur, de toute ton âme et de tout ton esprit
German: Du sollst den-Herrn ( Jahwe ), deinen-Gott, lieben mit deinem ganzen Herzen…
Spanish: Amarás al-Señor ( Jehova ) tu-Dios de todo tu corazón, y de toda tu alma, y de toda tu mente.
Turkish: Tanrýn olan Rabbi bütün yüreðinle, bütün canýnla ve bütün aklýnla sev.
Arabic: ’a7ibba arrabba ( yahwah ) ‘ilaahuka bikulli qalbika wa kulli nafsika wa kulli fikrika.
* ‘elaahh (Dan.6:20):
Hebrew: … daniy’el 3abad chay ‘elaahh ‘elaahh palach tadiyra’…
Greek: …Daniel o doulos tou theou tou zoulos o theos-sou o su latreuis endelechos…
Latin: …Daniel serve Dei viventis, Deus tuus, cui tu servis semper…
English: …O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy-God, whom thou servest continually…
French: …Daniel, serviteur du Dieu vivant, ton-Dieu que tu sers avec persévérance…
German: …Daniel, Knecht des lebendigen Gottes, hat dein-Gott, dem du ohne Unterlaß dienst…
Spanish: …Daniel, siervo del Dios viviente, el-Dios-tuyo, á quien tú continuamente sirves…
Arabic:…yaa daaniy’alu, 3abdu allaahi alhayyi, hal ‘ilaahuka alladi ta3buduhu da’iman…
Remarks:
God’s proper name:
Hebrew Tetragrammaton, YHWH, is the personal name of the God of the Hebrews. It is also called the covenant name of the Divine Almighty. Only the God of Israel can have it but no one else.
Latin Jehovah is a hybrid name, combining the vowels of ‘adonay with the consonants of YHWH. The people who produced this name were medireview Christian Hebrew scholars.
In the old translations YHWH is either kept intact or transliterated, but rarely substituted with the attributes, synonym to Lord.
Hebrew 'adown and its plural ‘adonay, mean one possessed of absolute control, majesty, owner(s) or ruler(s). From a superstitious reverence for the name YHWH, the Jews, in reading their Scriptures, whenever that name occurred, always pronounced it 'adonay as a verbal substitute.
Greek kurios, which means supreme master, is invariably used for YHWH and 'adonay in the Septuagint (LXX.) The New Testament writers also followed on it. However, in some as early Septuagint manuscripts, the Tetragrammaton YHWH have been kept intact in Hebrew. The only difference is that when readers come across it they read kurios instead and therefore follow the Jewish tradition.
For language convenience purposes in addition to the tradition, YHWH and Jehovah has been rendered in the new English Bible LORD. ‘adown, ‘adonay and kurios have been translated into Lord. However, those titles are never meant to officially replace the Divine name. When a Christian or Jew use one of those titles, in his mind He knows that he is referring to YHWH and the same is for his Christian or Jewish audience
Arabic rabb (arrabb) is the translation/synonym of lord, kurios, ‘adown. The definite article al plays a similar role as the capitalisation in Roman scripts so that it can be distinguishable as Lord and LORD. In other words, arrabb is used as a substitute for YHWH only out of tradition purposes. It is never meant to be a synonym of YHWH.
In new translations, the form YHWH (Jehovah) is often retained in Ex. 6:3, Psa.83:18, Isa.12:2 and Isa.26:4 so that God’s name won’t be undermined. The Arabic bible translators have kept that principle too.
God’s common names (titles):
Hebrew ‘el, ‘eloah and ‘elohiym are common names for the divine. They might be derive from the same Semitic root ‘el, which means power or might. The three forms are used both for YHWH and for idols of paganism.
Aramaic ‘elaahh is probably a derivation form ‘el or more likely the transliteration of ‘eolith. It is used also for both YHWH and idols.
Out of the four terms, ‘elohiym is used the most in the Old Testament as noun referring to YHWH. ‘elohiym is a plural noun. Some Bible scholars (Christians) argue that the reason for using this plural form gives a strong hint about the Trinity. Others (Jews) argue that the plurality is simply a form of plural majesty that isn’t literally to be taken as referring to more than one person.
Greek theos, which means deity or supreme divinity, is invariably used for ‘el, ‘eolith, ‘elohiym and 'elaahh in the Septuagint (LXX.) The New Testament writers also followed on that principle.
When Paul visited Athens and preached to the Areopagus, he purposely used theos as term for the Divine, which was a common noun for all the deities, but avoided to use Zeus, which was considered as the name of highest peculiar deity among the Greek. Zeus was never used in the New Testament.
Those common names of the Bible-deity have been translated to deus-Deus (Latin), dieu-Dieu (French) gott-Gott (German), god-God (English), tanri-Tanri (Turkish), etc.
In the Arabic versions of the Bible, ‘ilaah, which mean the worshipped one or deity, have been used as translation for God and idols common names and as a synonym for ‘el or god. Meanwhile, al-‘ilaah has been purposely used as a synonym for ‘eolith/God to distinguish between the true God and false gods, and ‘elohiym/allaah as a synonym for GOD to emphasise the majesty of God. There was another factor involved as well and that has to do with the grammars and where each of those terms can technically fit the best. It is more of a matter of convenience more than anything else.
The first time the name allaah was canonised by the Church as name for YHWH was during the 8th century AD when Christians in Muslim occupied territories (i.e. Egypt and Syria) were forced to use Arabic as official language and allaah as name as well.
Using allaah as name for God in the Bible and Church is becoming the more a controversial matter in Arab and Muslim countries. For example, Persian Christians are now shifting to khouda, Turkish to tenri and Malay to tuhan rather than allaah.
Additional notes:
Before the “revelation” of the Quran and the victory of Islam, Allah was a familiar deity’s name among the Arabs and one of his main attributes rabbu al-bayti (lord of the house/kaaba), which was preserved in the Quran (Q.106:3). Allah, the lord of the Kaaba, was also known by the name of Hubal.
The reason why Muhammad picked up Allah as name for his “God” is because he noticed that the monotheists in Arabia used it commonly as name for their highest deity(s). He also promoted it from a common name to the personal name of his god, which became the official name of him in the Quran.
God’s biblical unique personal name, YHWH (the covenant name) has never been mentioned in the Quran, although Muhammad claimed to have received his “revelation” from Him and to “confirm” the Bible. In fact, one of the main reasons why the Jews and Christians refused to support Muhammad’s message is because he failed to mention or know the proper name of the divine, YHWH, which is one of the essential requirement for a true prophet to know and use (Deu.13:1-3, 18:20-22). Instead, he kept insisting that Allah is the name, which contradicts the Bible.
Christians, who translated the Bible into Arabic, used Allah as generic name for Jehovah based on the pre-Islamic context of its use and tradition of Christians and Jews who were living in Arabia before the rise of Islam. In other terms, they use it in its pagan (Jahiliya) context not its Islamic one, which prevailed and almost destroyed the oldest meaning.
In the Bible, God’s names are divided into three categories:
Generic names or titles: 1-‘el, ‘elohiym, ‘eolith, ‘elaahh and theos, which are variable and translatable and can be used for any other deity. Their Arabic synonym is [al]‘ilaah. Those titles are family or category titles, i.e. Man, Animal, Tree, Aeroplane, State… 2- ‘adown, ba3l (in early Hebrew) and kurios, which are also variable and translatable and can be used as titles for other deities or men. Their Arabic synonym is [al]rabb. Those are titles of honour, i.e. Sir, Excellence, Majesty…
Attributes: shaddai / Almighty / qadiyr, qadush / Holy / qudduws, ‘ab /Father / ’ab, rachuwm /gracious / ra7iym, channuwn / compassionate / ra’uwf, etc., which are variable and translatable and can be used for other deities or men. Those are terms, which express/portray the character and nature of the Divine.
Personal name or the-Name: YHWH (the tetragrammaton), which is sacred and unique and fix. Its abbreviation (in compound names) and poetic form is Yahh. YHWH can only be transliterated but it can’t be literally translated. In Arabic YHWH is transliterated as YHWH (unchanged) and pronounced yahwah. The closest translation of it can be something like al-kaa’in (the One who Is forever) or al-khaalid (the-Eternal) or al-khaaliq (the-Creator). Those translations though are only to help us to understand the original meaning of the word YHWH but not to replace it. In the Bible only the Creator is referred to with such name. Here are some Forms of YHWH in different languages: Awabakal – Yehóa, Bugotu – Jihova, Cantonese – Yehwowah, Danish – Jehova, Dutch – Jehovah, English – Jehovah, Fijian – Jiova, Finnish – Jehova, French – Yahvé, German – Jehova, Hungarian – Jehova, Mandarin – Yehohwa, Maori – Ihowa, Motu – Iehova, Nembe – Jihova, Polish – Jehowa, Portuguese – Jeová, Sotho – Jehova, Spanish – Jehová, Swahili – Yehova, Swedish – Jehova, Tagalog – Jehova, Venda – Yehova, Zulu – uJehova.
It is important to notice that Allah was used in the Arabic Bible translation as a second category name or title, a fact that Muslims ignore or try to avoid and undermine, because there is where their grave is dig!
1.3. Allah according to Muslims:
1.3.1. The Orthodox view:
Muslims see Allah as the unique and proper name of the Quran-deity. It is very sacred to them and it should not be used for any other deities. For Muslims, Allah occupies the same place as the Tetragrammaton YHWH (Jehovah) occupies among the Jews and Christians. The only reason why Muslims allow Christians and Jews to use Allah as name for the Bible-deity is because they believe that Muhammad preached to them a message from the same divine being (Q.29:46). However, only as long as the Bible Believers would not contradict what Muslims believe about their Allah as Muhammad proclaimed it in his Quran. According to Islamic laws, if a Bible Believer would state that Allah is a father or that he has a son in contradiction to Quran (i.e. Surat 112), he can be executed for “blaspheming” Allah. Muslims would never allow someone like a Buddhist or a Hindu to use Allah as name for his supreme deities. From the Islamic view, it is impossible that there are two distinct Allahs (Q.16:51). Only their deity can have such “privilege” name (Q.3:2 & 18).
The following are two orthodox Muslim definitions of Allah, which emphasise the most common understanding:
"Who is Allah?" World Assembly of Muslim Youth (III&E Brochure Series, no.2)
It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are used in reference to God and sometimes to lesser deities. This is not the case with Allah. Allah is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender. This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word god, which can be made plural, gods, or feminine, goddess. It is interesting to notice that Allah is the personal name of God in Arabic. Allah is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates with God. To a Muslim, Allah is the Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to Him.
Another Muslim statement copied from a Muslims web site
According to Islam, the personal name of God is the Arabic word Allah. Personal name means that it is the name, which refers only to Him, and to Him rather than to any particular quality that He possesses. The word Allah denotes that God is the One who possesses all the perfect attributes. The Quran itself gives this meaning when it says: "Allah has the most excellent names (or qualities)." (Q.7:180). The names of God in other languages, such as God in English, or Khuda in Urdu, only convey some particular attribute of the Divine Being, and they are also used for those other than God (as in god, gods, goddess, etc.). Allah, however, has only ever been applied to God (of Islam) Himself.
The following are two other examples of statements by Orthodox Muslims, which try to explain clearer and in detail why Allah can’t be used in any other context or defined rather than the personal name of their Quran-deity:
Muhammad’s Allah: ALLAH is not a GOD, by Ahmad Hulusi
It is "ALLAH," not "God!" Yet, it is never a name for a god!… There is no god to be worshipped, there is only ALLAH! This statement also reveals that: "ALLAH is not a GOD…" Nobody can comprehend what the "Religion of Islam" is about and why it has ever come, unless one fully understood the difference in meaning between a concept of "god" and the name "ALLAH" signified. Due to this, one can keep misinterpreting the matter of religion (Islam)!… I have tried to make it clear that any idea that the word "god" implies is completely different in meaning than the name "ALLAH" implies. These are two different words with completely different meanings... The word "god" is a common adjective, yet "ALLAH" is a proper noun for a unique essence… The original Religion of Islam" in effect is fully based on the meaning implied by the name "ALLAH."
Koran Interpretation, by Hamdi Yazir of Elmali (Religious Affairs Directory, Vol.1, p.24-25)
The word ALLAH has never been applied to any other than ALLAH, neither in proper form nor in common. Take the names such as "ilah" and "huda," for example; none of them is a proper name as "Allah." They imply a concept of "god" or "lord." It has been said "gods" as the plural form of "god," "lords" as for "lord," etc. Unlike, it has never been said "Allahs" and can never be so… So, the common name God is not synonymous for the proper noun "Allah," and is not an equivalent for "Allah." "God" is a very common name! Therefore one should never translate the name "Allah" as "God."
In all the contexts of application of the term allaah, it is always used as a proper name for the Muslims deity. There is not even one Quranic example where it was used as a common noun. Meanwhile the term ‘ilaah is the term that was always applied for common nouns for all deities. Despite the fact that the Bible clearly states that God’s name is Yahweh, orthodox Muslims insist that only Allah is the valid and personal name for the Divine as the Quran and Muhammad claimed. Yahweh is not even accepted as one of Allah’s names. It doesn’t figure out among the 99 Muslim names for Allah. Furthermore, when a person converts to Islam and no matter what language would be his, he should make the confession of faith in Arabic and states that there is no god but Allah. It is out of question to replace it by any other name and most of all by Yahweh.
1.3.2. The radical view:
When Muslims started targeting the West and trying to islamise it, they were compelled to review their orthodox concepts and make some compromises so that their message would be heard and be received. One of the major changes they had to make is concerning the definition of Allah. They needed to westernise it and to make it conform the maximum possible with the biblical teachings and terminology for the Divine.
The following example is a Muslim propagandist’s argument where he attempts to prove that Allah is the same as Yahweh (God) and where he also tries to undermine the orthodox view:
Submission.org, the word “ALLAH” by Abu Iman Robert Squires
The linguistic breakdown of Allah is "The/Al God/Lah"… I've come across some Arab brothers who insist in using only the word "Allah". Most of the translations and writings done back in the 1940's and 1950's used the word "God", which is a perfectly good translation of the word Allah in Arabic. M.M. Pickthall being the main exception, since he seemed to have used "Allah" in all of the translations that I've seen. The change came, I believe, as a result of Nasserite Arab Nationalism. Many Arabs I know over here still don't know the difference between Islam and Arab Nationalism! They seem more interesting in defending their pride heritage than really spreading the message. But this is in no way limited to Arabs, I've dealt with Pakistanis, Malaysians, Turks and Afghanis that have the same hangup.
Nevertheless, only for tactical and political reasons this type of Muslims they preach such sermons… When it comes to conversions, they will act in the same way as the orthodox and wouldn’t accept any other name but Allah from the new convert. Theologically, they are obligated to have the convert recite the confession in Arabic and use Allah as name. Only a Muslim who knows nothing about Islam and who belongs to a radical cult would dare to take such risk, i.e. a member of the Nation of Islam or the Ahmadia sect.
1.3.3. The orthodox reaction to the radicals:
No matter what excuse propagandists use to justify their tactics in regard to the name Allah, the orthodox Muslims, even the non-Arab ones, are not quiet happy with those changes, but they re-insist that Allah’s name can never be interchanged with any other name. They go as far as sharply condemning such radical propagandists and their "Islamically" heretical claims and teachings, as in the following statement:
Muhammad’s Allah: ALLAH is not a GOD, by Ahmad Hulusi
A group of people who deliver theories about the "Religion" based on their hearsay and false information, have been employing the word "GOD" instead of the name "ALLAH," being unaware of the mater and thinking that these words both carry the same meaning, and also relating it with their patriotism according to their whims…
Note: Both, Helusi and Yazir are Turks and are in agreement with the Turkish Religious Affairs, which is one of the very authoritative non-Arab Islamic organisms and who have a long Islamic heritage. The Muslim Turks are not very pro-Arabs or supporters of Arab nationalism. Instead, they are against such movements and they are generally very resentful toward the Arabs and their culture. However, they insist that the name Allah can’t be translated to any other common name, including their national Turkish noun for deity, Tanri. If Allah is only a common noun in Islam as Squire claim, those Turks would have been among the first Muslims to translate it into Turkish and encourage non-Arabs to do the same, and according to their respective languages. They oppose its translation, because they believe that it is the very personal name of their deity, the deity of Islam.
1.3.4. The secular view:
In the Arabic dictionaries and encyclopaedias the word allaah is defined as the personal and unique name of the Divine. Meanwhile al-‘ilaah is defined as a synonym of the term deity or god. In the other hand, the name YHWH, which is the biblical personal name of the Divine is often or perhaps never mentioned at all. Not only that, but even the closest Arabic translations of Yahweh, i.e. alkaa’in or addaa’im or alkhaalid or al’azaliy are never used to refer to the name.
The following are extracts from al-munjid, one of the most famous and recognised Arabic dictionaries in the whole Arab world:
Al-munjid fi allugha wali3laam, p.16, p.243
allaah (q_^||‘|): ‘ismu addhaat alwaajib alwujoud. [1]
al-ilaah (q_\| ,||‘|): alma3boud mutlaqan. [2]
arrabb: assayyid, almaalik, min asmaa’i allahi ta3aalaa. [3]
(Translation: [1] The name of the physic and the obligatory presence of the divine or the absolute name of the divine. [2] The supremely deified or the-god or God. [3] The master, the king, one of the almighty Allah’s names.)
In al-munjid dictionary YHWH is not even mentioned once and arrabb is viewed only as one of a title attributed for the Divine. It says nothing about why and how Christians use it as a substitute for YHWH. In other words, the name allaah is somehow technically regarded as an equal term for Yahweh, but not as a synonym of ‘elohiym or God!
1.4. Allah according to Christians:
To the majority of Christians the name Allah is no more than a “special” common name or title for the Divine in Arabic. It is not sacred or inapplicable for other deities. For more detail about the three different main Christian approaches about Allah, see the former chapter, “What Christians believe about Allah.”
1.5. Exposing the gap of misunderstanding:
Very often both Muslims and Christians do not see and understand the difference in context (definition) and application of the term Allah, which is really important and crucial. Here is an example, which shows that the Muslim apologist is either totally confused or purposely playing a crafty and deceitful tactic:
The Word ALLAH in the Arabic Bible, by Abu Iman Robert Squires
The images below, with the exception of the first image, were taken directly from a translation of The Holy Bible in Arabic. Referred to in Arabic as "al-Kitaab al-Muqaddas," this is the scripture, which is used by Arabic-speaking Christians (of which there are still about 15 to 20 million in the Middle East). So that those unfamiliar with Arabic script have something to compare these images with, the first image below is a verse from the Qur'an - which is the Muslim scripture. In the images, the Arabic word "Allah" is underlined in red so that it can be easily identified. Upon comparing the images, one should be able to clearly see that the word "Allah" appears in both the Qur'anic verses and Bible verses. Indeed, the word "Allah" appears throughout Arabic translations of the Bible, since it is simply the Arabic name for Almighty God. The examples below will help quell the doubts of those who have been duped into believing that "Muslims worship a different god" - either by the hostile media or by Christian missionary propaganda. We hope that this serves as enough documentation for those who still have doubts about this. We could think of no other way to prove this point, except to encourage everyone to do further critical and open-minded research on their own.
[Gen.1:1] "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth . . . "
"Fee al-badi' khalaqa Allahu q_^||‘| as-Samaawaat wa al-Ard . . . "
[Joh.3:16] "For God so loved the world, that He gave . . . "
"Li-annhu haakadha ahabba Allahu q_^||‘| al-'Aalama hataa badhala . . . "
[Luke 1:30] " . . . Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God."
" ...Laa takhaafee, yaa Maryam, li-annaki qad wajadti ni'amat(an) 'inda Allahi q_^||‘|."
[Luk.3:38] " . . . the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God."
" . . . bini Anoosha, bini Sheeti, bini Aaadama, abni Allahi q_^||‘|."
[Mat.19:17] " . . . there is none good but One, that is, God"
" . . . laysa ahadun Saalihaan illa waahidun wa huwa Allahu q_^||‘|"
[Q.1:1] "In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Compassionate"
"Bismi Allahi q_^||‘| ar-Rahmani, ar-Raheem"
This argument above is displayed in several Muslim web sites (i.e. submission.org) and often used by internet Muslim propagandists in their attempt to convince Western Christians to believe that Allah and Yahweh are basically the same God, since Arab Christians use the term Allah in the Arabic Bible.
Now lets read a portion of the rebuttal of those claims by a Christian who is probably very familiar with those kind of Muslim arguments, based on twisting words and contexts:
Answering-Islam site, a response to Abu Iman, by Andrew Vergo
Abu Iman 'Abd ar-Rahmaan Robert Squires attempt to convince us, for reasons unknown, that the God of the Bible and Qur'an are the same since both Muslims and Arab Christians use the word "Allah" to address God. This is partially true. In Arabic, the word Allah (or the (al) - God (`ilah)) is the masculine form of the noun for the name of God. The feminine form is al-`ilat. The noun "Allah" predates Islam and comes to the Arabic language from Syriac… Our Arab Christian brothers and sisters use the name "Allah" for the God of the Bible. Once again, Allah is simply the Arab word for god. In the Arabic Bible, the Word Elohim (Hebrew for God) or Theos (Greek for God) is always translated as Allah. Incidentally, the Arab Christians called God "Allah" LONG BEFORE THE BIRTH OF MUHAMMAD AND ISLAM! The author is confusing terms and concepts. There is no doubt, or argument, that the Arabic word "Allah" means God! Before the advent of Islam, the Arabs referred to Pagan deities, such as Hubal (the major god of the Kaa'bah and the city of Mecca), as "allah". Hubul, however, WAS NOT the same "Allah" preached by Muhammad. Likewise, the English term "god" can refer to the God of the Bible or to other deities such as Brahma, Osiris, Shiva, or Krishna who ARE NOT the same as the God of the Bible. The problem raised by this discussion is that the God (or Allah) of the Bible has radically different attributes and gives mankind a completely different message than the God (or Allah) of Islam. Therefore, in spite of a common name, they cannot be the same! The God (or Allah) of the Bible revealed His message of salvation and love, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to humankind and, as it is often said, God knows best!
From this response we can clearly notice that the Christian concept of the term Allah among Christians has a different meaning then the Muslims, both theologically and linguistically. The Muslim apologist above failed to notice that God’s personal name, Yahweh, in that same Arabic translation he used for his argument has never been translated or substituted with Allah. He and his friends must have no clue regarding the different types of names that the Bible-deity has, unless if they are deliberately using that as a snare of deception! Nevertheless, both sides seem to agree on at least one point, and that is allaah and al-‘ilaah are basically the same word. Unfortunately that is not linguistically and etymologically correct. It is a trap where the majority from both sides stumble and fall and miss two key points:
When Islam rose it didn’t only revolutionised religious believes in Arabia but the whole language.
allaah and al’ilaah are simply homonyms but not synonyms.
Those two key points will be explored and in detail later on in this analysis.
1.6. The source of the Muslim Christian differences:
1.6.1. Divine origin:
In their main approach, Muslims put all their emphasis on the Islamic theology/doctrine for defining Allah without caring much about the secular approaches except when they suit them and serve their interests. For them, Allah is a name, which was given by “Divine” to Himself and which was revealed by Him to men. They consider it as a name of heavenly origin. The followings are the main arguments on which they usually base their claim that Allah is the proper name of “God”:
The Quran (i.e. Surat al-faatihah or al-'ikhlaas),
The opening verse (basmalah): “In the name of Allah, the merciful and compassionate.”
The creed of confession (shahadah): “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.”
Whenever a rational approach and no matter how correct it might be contradicts their claims, they simply reject it and turn to the Quran as “proof” to undermine it. Often Muslims refuse to admit that Allah’s name goes back to the Arab age of ignorance (Jahiliya) and that Muhammad hired it from the pagans. Even when Arab tradition tells us that Muhammad’s own father’s name was Abdu-Allah (slave of Allah) they still deny it. In other words, Muslims put truth after claims of the Quran and Islamic traditions and refuse it whenever it goes against those claims or challenge them.
1.6.2. Human origin:
Christians base their definition of Allah on secular/rational means, i.e. linguistics, etymology and archaeology. But the main problem, there is a lack of evidence to accurately trace back the original root of the word Allah. That lack of strong evidence pushes Christians to often turn toward developing speculative theories, which very often lead them to contradict each other’s views. However, they all agree that basing Allah‘s definition only on what the Quran and Muslims claim is not authoritative enough and is in violation of some foundational biblical principles and history. They simply see Allah as a name or title which men developed and then assigned for the Divine, a mere name of earthly origin.
Partly because of the bold claims by the Muslims and the weak and controversial secular arguments by Christians that the Muslims approach prevailed and almost totally undermined the Christians, especially among the Muslims. As we already shown, even in Lebanon (a 50-50% Muslim-Christian nation), where al-munjid was produced, we notice that the Muslims approach had the last word!
2. Analysing the speculations:
2.1. A technical note regarding transliteration:
For technical reasons and clearer accuracy in this linguistic chapter, we use an uncommon method of transliteration, but which is closer to the reality of the Arabic scripts and sounds.
2.1.1. Characters:
a: fatha (a: short vowel)
i: kasra (i: short vowel)
o/u: damma (o: short vowel)
aa: fatha with alif (a: extended vowel) <=> \
iy: kasra with ya (i: extended vowel)
ou/ow: damma with waw (o: extended vowel)
e: sukoun (soudless/quite)
E: alif (A: consonant) <=> |
E': alif with hamzah (A: consonant) <=> ‘|
L: lam (L: consonant) <=> _|
Ll: lam with stress (LL: double consonant) <=> ^|
H: Ha (H: consonant) <=> q or o
T: Ta (T: consonant) <=> ”q or ._”.
2.1.2. Transliteration of key words:
Romanisation Arabic
Allah : al-laah [sound] and E’aL-LlaaH - ELLH [script] <=> q_^||‘|
Allat : al-laat [sound] and E’aL-LlaaT - ELLT [script] <=> ._”. ^\||‘|
Al-Ilah : al-'i-laah [sound] and E’aL-E'i-LaaH - ELE'LH [script] <=> q_\| ,||‘|
Al-Ilahat : al-'i-laahat [sound] and E’aL-E'i-LaaHaT - ELE'LHT [script] <=> ”q o_\| ,||‘|
Alaha : alaha [sound] and E’aLaHa - ELH [script] <=> q_|‘|
(NB: Arabic scripts are written and read from right to left.)
2.2. Speculations based on semantics: allaah (q_^||‘|) verses al’ilaah (q_\| ,||‘|) and ‘alaha (q_|‘|)
2.2.1. allaah is the contraction of al-‘ilaah:
Most Christian and secular sources, in their definition of allaah, refer to it as being the contraction of al‘ilaah. Here are a few examples from dictionaries and encyclopaedias:
Dictionary.com, Allah
Al·lah n. God, especially in Islam. Arabic Alla
h : al, the + ’ila
h, god.
Sierra's Reference Encyclopaedia
ALLAH, the name of the Supreme Being in the Islamic religion. The word is a contraction of the Arabic al-ilah ("the God")…
Encyclopaedia Mythica, Allah
Allah: The exclusive monotheistic deity in Islam. The name is derived from 'al-ilah', which literally means "the god". The Prophet Muhammad declared him the one and only god (of the Islam) in the 7th century CE. In pre-Islamic times, Allah was the supreme creator-god of the Arabs. The goddesses Allat, Manat, and al-Uzza were considered to be his daughters.
The Catholic Encyclopaedia, Volume I, R. Butin
Allah is the name of God in Arabic. It is a compound word from the article, 'al, and ilah, divinity, and signifies "the-god" par excellence.
There are two theories how al-‘ilaah might have been contracted into allaah.
Theory 1:
Answering-Islam site, Andrew Vergo
In Arabic, the word Allah [or the (al) - God (`ilah)] is the masculine form of the noun for the name of God. The feminine form is al-`ilat.
Such theory is totally foreign to the Arabic language. Here are some solid arguments, which definitely rule out such speculation and it must be rejected as a possibility:
The spelling and pronunciation of allaah and al-‘ilaah are more complicated and different than the popular romanisation makes them look. If we accurately romanise them, the correct transliterations can be something similar to Ea-LLlaaH for allaah and Ea-LeE'i-LaaH for al-‘ilaah. The common transliterations of those two words (ALLAH - ALILAH) are not correct and should not be used in any linguistic analysis or argument. Notice the difference between the original differences in the Arabic forms and the romanized ones:
Romanisation Sound Transliteration Arabic
Allah al-lláh E’aLLlaaH q_^||‘|
Alilah al-i-láh E’aLE’iLaaH q_\| ,||‘|
There are no capital letters and small letters in Arabic scripts, there are no A and a or I and i or B and b. The alif ( ‘i : | ) in ‘ilaah is a capital consonant ( E : | ), not a vowel. As a matter of fact, it is one of the three consonants ( alif, lam, ha : q _| | ) that compose the root verb ‘alaha (E'a-LaHa : q_|‘|) from which the noun ‘ilaah (E'i-LaaH : q_\| ,| ) derives and is formed. Altering one of those consonants will definitely change the whole word and its meaning. If we alter the first consonant (alif : | ) from ‘ilaah, the meaning of the word will be totally lost. There is absolutely no word or prefix such as laah (LaaH : q_\| ) in the whole Arabic vocabulary.
This method of contracting has never been applied to any other word in the whole Arabic vocabulary. Several scholars totally reject it (as bellow) and the rest who accept it admit that it is only a possibility but not a fact.
Answering-Islam site, Christopher Heger
It seems unlikely that the name Allah comes from al-ilaah "the God"… The etymological derivation of "Allah" as a contraction of "al-ilaah" is "popular" etymology and surely not historic. It would be rather strange that especially the "i" should have been disappeared due to neglect of the speakers, since the syllable "il" is the most important in "al-ilah": "il" or "el" is the Semitic word for God since times immemorial. Instead, the word "Allah", as a lot of other words, especially words of the religious sphere, was imported…
Claiming that ALLAH q_^||‘| is the contraction of AL-ILAH q_\| ,||‘| can be compared in English to:
Arguing that BAR is the contraction of BEAR or HOLY is the contraction of HOLLY
Contracting THE-GOD into THEODD or THE-LIFT into THEFT
As such two types of examples are to be considered as non-sense in English so does the claim that ALLAH is the contraction of AL-ILAH in Arabic. Any person who makes such assumptions proves that he has no solid knowledge of Arabic or Islam or both!
When Muslims feel the heat regarding the negative effects of linking allaah to al-‘ilaah and when it doesn’t suit their plans, they immediately reject the contraction theory as in this example:
Answering-Christianity site, “GOD” in Arabic and Aramaic sound the same, Yishan Jufu
…the use of such statement as "The God" (al-ilah) is to denote the fact that "Allah" is The Only True God The Creator, and not to mean literally "The God".
Yet, such excuse does not spare them but just make them sink deeper in their heresies and contradiction of the Bible Scripture.
Theory 2:
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Hartman, I:302, Gibb, I:406, Schacht, II:1093
By frequency of usage, al-ilah was contracted to allah, frequently attested to in pre-Islamic poetry.
There are two main problems with this theory:
Having both allaah and al’ilaah used simultaneously does not necessarily mean or approve that they are the same word. This will be discussed later in more detail in this chapter.
Arabic language and literature scholars like Dr. Taha Hussein doubted the validity of the so-called pre-Islamic poetry. There are several evidences that such poetry was a fabrication of post-Islamic era, which main goal was to protect the so-called “miraculeousness” of the Quran.
The Arabic used today is a language, which grammar and vocabulary were developed after the Quran and not the classical tribal dialects.
Terminology depends on the factor of time and geography. What a word may have meant centuries ago in a community, may not remain necessarily the same forever. For example, Mercedes used to be a Latin name, now it is universally known as the brand name of a famous German car. Since it was used for humans in the past so should we know declare that car a human being? That makes no sense!
Therefore, this theory can not be considered as historically genuine fact or etymologically valid assumption, on which a person can relay and build a definition and make conclusions. Trying to separate the meaning of Allah from the Quran and Islam’s definition of it is unthinkable and unacceptable, mostly to a Muslim, as in this argument:
Muhammad’s Allah: ALLAH is not a GOD, by Ahmad Hulusi
…These are two different words with completely different meanings... The word "god" is a common adjective, yet "ALLAH" is a proper noun for a unique essence… The original Religion of Islam" in effect is fully based on the meaning implied by the name "ALLAH."
2.2.2. allaah is a derivation from the root verb ‘alaha ( to adore / to deify ):
This theory makes a little bit more sense than the former one, but the problem is, it doesn't flow or fit with the grammatical rule of derivation in Arabic, known as wazn alfi3l (verb-scale). Often in Arabic and Semitic languages in general, nouns derive from root verbs. For example:
The proper name of God, YHWH in Hebrew, derives from the verb HaYaH (to be).
The word for book in Arabic is kitaab, it derives from the root verb kataba (to write).
In regard for the EaLLlaaH (allaah) to be validated as a derivation of E’aLaHa (‘alaha), it must conform to one of the verb (Fa3aLa) streams. Unfortunately, EaLLlaaH does not match with any of the verb Fa3aLa derivations. There is no stream such as EaLF3aaL or Fa333aaL. Therefore, EaLLlaaH can not possibly be a derivation of E’aLaHa, but a term from another root or even probably an imported one. Moreover, when someone claims that allaah mean in Arabic “he who is worshipped/deified” he is totally in mistake for two reason: 1- allaah does not derive from ‘alaha, 2- the correct term for “the one who is deified” and according to the verb stream must be almu’allah (EaLMaE’LlaH).
Meanwhile, when applying the same method to EaLE’iLaaH (al-‘ilaah : q_\| ,||‘|) it works perfectly, which confirms that EaLE’iLaaH is a derivation of EaLaHa (alaha : q_|‘|) and consequently proves that it is an Arabic word of an Arabic origin.
Important note:
There is a further proof why allaah can't be linguistically related to neither the noun al‘ilaah nor the verb ‘alaha. The feminine form of allaah and without any argument is allaat ( EaLLlaaT : ._”. ^\||‘| ). The problem though is the fact that such form of feminine is an exception, which does not conform to the general rule. Such rule suggest that the feminine form of allaah must be allaahat ( EaLLlaaHaT : ”q_o_^||‘| ) not allaat ( EaLLlaaT : ._”. ^\||‘| ). This also backs up the theory that allaah may not even be an original Arabic term.
Meanwhile, the feminine form of al-‘ilaah is al’ilaahat ( EaLE’iLaaHaT : ”q_o_\| ,||‘| ), which conforms to the feminisation rule in Arabic and smoothly flows with the verb streams and therefore prove that al-‘ilaah is an authentic Arabic word and derivation from an Arabic verb. Claiming that allaat ( EaLLlaaT : ._”. ^\||‘| ) is the contraction of al-‘ilaahat ( EaLE’iLaaHaT : ”q_o_\| ,||‘| ) is just another non-sense theory, which can be compared to arguing that SUN is the contraction of SATURNE!
2.2.3. Resolving the puzzle:
The reason why most of people, mostly non-native Arabic speakers, fall into these "booby traps" is because the name allaah and the noun al-‘ilaah are a very unique kind of homonyms (homonyms are words, which are pronounced and spelled very closely but are semantically different).
What makes allaah and al-’ilaah so special is the fact that both share in common meaning, yet are still lexically different because one is inclusive while the other is exclusive. When we read or hear the name allaah, we can confidently say, allaah is ‘ilaah (god) or al-‘ilaah (the-god). But when we hear or read al-‘ilaah, that can be either allaah or some other deity. It can be Jehovah, Buddha, Brahman, Zeus, Baal, Ra or Mammon. Technically we can say al-‘ilaahu allaahu, al-‘ilaahu yahwah or al-‘ilaahu ba3lu, but we can never say, allaahu zousu, allaahu brahmaanu or allaah yahwah. That sounds weird, like saying I have a Mercedes Mazda or I was born in Monaco Morocco or I have a Dinar Dollar… That makes absolutely no sense!
To clarify it better we decided to include the following example of English homonyms GAY verses GUY: a- GAY, which has become a proper name and a title for male homosexuals, b- GUY, which is commonly use as a synonym of man. When we hear or read the name GAY we automatically know that he is GUY (man). But when we hear or read the word GUY we can't say for sure if he is a GAY or even think about it! It is that simple in Arabic with the terms allaah and al-‘ilaah, ALLAH (allaah : q_^||‘|) can be lexically portrayed as a parallel of GAY (a homosexual), while ALILAH (al-‘ilaah : q_\| ,||‘|) can be lexically portrayed as a parallel of GUY (a man)!
This is the other reason why the Muslims approach has been the prevailing one! Technically and from the Arabic prospective, allaah can not be a common noun, but only a proper name only. This is not to be seen though as a victory for the Muslims. Instead it is the source of great troubles for them, as we will demonstrate later.
2.3. Speculations based on linguistic comparisons of biblical languages:
2.3.1. The Arabic al in allaah is the same as the Semitic-Hebrew ‘el :
Encyclopaedia.com, Allah
Allah [Arab.,=the God]. Derived from an old Semitic root referring to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the Biblical Elohim,
This theory can not be support even within Hebrew, since scholars cannot confirm if 'elohiym truly derive from ‘el.
The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible (NIV), OT Lexical Aids p.1504
466. ‘elohiym : God, god. The most common Hebrew word translated God… Scholars are divided on whether ‘elohiym has an etymological connection with ‘el (446).
If such theory is not workable for sure in Hebrew, so how can we apply it to link Hebrew terminology to Arabic? There are other concerns, which discredit such theory as well, as follow:
The al in allaah doesn’t even sound the same as 'el (god in Hebrew). The al sounds like AL in Alexander (a name) and 'el sounds like English EEL (a kind of fish).
Arabic allaah’s only logical and appropriate application is as a personal name. Meanwhile, Hebrew ‘el has seven different applications and definitions depending on the pronunciation and context. Only in one context ‘el refers to God or gods.
If Arabic al (EaL) stands for Hebrew ‘el (EeeL), so what is the implication of laah (LlaaH)? Is it a prefix or what and what it means?
al (E’aL) in Arabic is a definite article and has no other application. Meanwhile, al (EaL) in Hebrew and Aramaic also can be used as a negative adverb (no, not) or a definite article (the).
Although Aramaic and Hebrew are very close languages and were both used to write the Scriptures, ‘el in Aramaic is used as a pronoun demonstrative plural (these) only and never as a term which refers to deities.
If this theory is valid and logical then we should consider each word, which start with AL or EL as a derivation from the Semitic-Hebrew ‘el (god) and therefore we should add it to God’s names! Since it is not even applicable within Hebrew and Aramaic, which are languages used to write the original Scriptures, then it can’t be applicable to link allaah to ‘el. Otherwise, we should also assume and conclude that Toyota is Toshiba, Armenia is Arabia and Allah is Allegation!
2.3.2. Arabic allaah (al-‘ilaah), Hebrew ‘eloahh and Aramaic ‘elaahh are the same word:
What is His Name? Ahmed Deedat (p.25)
The suffix "IM" of the word "ELOHIM" is a plural of respect in Hebrew. Hence ELOHIM = ELOH + IM. El in Hebrew means god, and Elah or Eloh also stands for the same name - god… El, Elah and Elohim are not three distinctly different words. They all represent the single Arabic word Allah. This is not my wishful thinking. Please see below. It is a photostatic reproduction of a page from the English Bible, edited by Rev. C. I. Scofield D.D., with his Bible Commentary This Doctor of Divinity is well respected among the Bible Scholars of the Christian world… Please note that in their comment No. 1 below left, they concur that - "Elohim, (sometimes El or Elah meaning God)" and alternatively spelled "Alah."
In his effort, the famous Muslim apologist committed several ironies, which only a blind and a deaf can be justified for committing, unless he was purposely using his usual “gift” of deception! Lets look at those ironies one by one:
allaah is not a contraction of al-‘ilaah. As a Muslim “scholar” who knows Arabic very well, he must have been well aware of the difference between those two terms in accordance with the Quran and Islamic teachings.
‘ilaah (E’iLaaH) is not a transliteration of Aramaic ‘elaahh or Hebrew ‘eolith, but a derivation from the Arabic root verb ‘alaha (to deify).
If ‘ilaah (E’iLaaH) is the same word as Hebrew ‘elaah (EeeLaaH) or ‘alaah (EaaLaaH) then Arabic ‘ilaah is in trouble! ‘elaah (oak) and ‘alaah (oath/curse) have never been used in the Bible as term for neither false gods nor God. Note also that ‘al (EaL) in Hebrew is the negative adverb (no or not).
Dr. C.I. Scofield made a huge mistake in his note in the footnote of “The Scofield Reference KJV Bible,” under Genesis 1:1. He cited that ‘el was combined with ‘alah to give the name of God, yet the two words do not contract into ‘elohiym! Deedat picked up Scorfield’s mistake (a quicksand ground) and build on it a doctrine (holy shrine)!
Allah Divine or Demonic, Steven Van Nattan (p.90)
Dr. Scofield says that "EL" is combined with "ALAH" (sic) to give the name of God, which is bizarre, since the two words do not contract into Elohim, as any primary student can see! "ALAH" supposedly gives the concept of an oath to the name of God. First, "ALAH" is a plain Hebrew word, not a contraction as with "Allah" of Islam, which comes from "AL ILah," and thus the double "LL." So, "ALAH" in Hebrew has no relationship linguistically to the Allah of Arabic and the Koran. Second, there is no record in the history of the Hebrew language that "ALAH" is part of the concept of "EL" or "Elohim." This is why the revised edition of the Scofield Reference Bible omitted the note on "ALAH." Ahmed Deedat has been very helpful to use Schofield's erroneous note…
The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible (NIV), OT Lexical Aids p.1504
466. ‘elohiym: God, god. The most common Hebrew word translated God… Scholars are divided on whether ‘elohiym has an etymological connection with ‘el (446). There is an apparent relationship between ‘elohay (a form not found in the OT) and ‘eloah (468), a singular word for God or a god, but its exact nature is not clear. Some scholars regard ‘elohiym (466) as a derivative of ‘eloah (468) while others reverse the connection. 468. ‘eloah: a god, God. Most of its occurrences appear in poetry. Since it occurs only in the singular, some scholars have concluded that it is the implied singular of ‘elohiym (466) God, god, but the exact relationship between the two words is uncertain.
(NB: For further references check page 1905, strong 440-468 and page 2035, strong 10031-10034.)
The only case where allaah can biblically be considered as a proper name is if we identify it with ‘elaah (Elah : EeeLaaH) a man’s name i.e. Esau’s son (Gen.36:41) or with a valley in ancient Israel (1Sam.17:19). Is Deedat and his guru’s god named after a man or a valley? That is what his argument proves anyway!
If we disregard all of the above and trust that Deedat was genuine and honest in his attempt to link Arabic allaah to the Bible, then it must actually be translated to either: god-oak, god-curse, no-oath, not-god... but never to ‘elohiym or God.
allaah and ‘eloah and ‘elaah are not so close as Deedat assumes. Lets look at the accurate transliterations and sounds:
EeeLaaHh e lá hh (Aram.)
EaLllaaH al llá h (Arab.)
EeLaWHh e lo a hh (Heb.)
Deedat and his friends need to go learn how to transliterate correctly from Hebrew to Roman alphabets. The way he spelled Elah, Alah, Eloh are wrong and misleading. He simply tried to take advantage of the limitation of Roman scripts and make them fit his theories. What he did can be compared to transliterating English myth and meat to Arabic mayyit (dead) or English at and French et to Arabic ’eth (hair)! Instead of proving that Allah is biblically God’s name, Deedat and those who follow his path ended up proving that their god named after a man, a valley or an oak.
2.3.3. allaah is the same as the Aramaic ‘eloi or ‘eli:
What Is His Name? Ahmed Deedat
Please memorise the words - "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani." (Eli - pronounced like L and I in English) Utter the words - ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI; ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI, to your Christian friends and neighbours and ask them whether these words - "Eli, Eli," sounds like "Jehovah, Jehovah!" to them? No! is the answer if they are not deaf. Ask further, whether "Eli, Eli," sounds like "Abba, Abba!" (meaning father, father! in Hebrew) to them! Again the reply will be "No!" if they are not deaf. Can't they see that the cry is to Allah? "Eli, Eli - Elah, Elah, Allah, Allah!" Let them hear these words from your lips and watch their reactions… Unbiased Christians will not fail to recognise Allah as none other than his - El, Eli, Alle, Elah, Alah, Allah.
Allah in The Bible? by Ishaq Zahid
ALLAH - for Muslims the greatest and most inclusive of the Names of God, an Arabic word of rich and varied meaning, denoting the one who is adored in worship, who creates all that exists, who had priority over all creation, who is lofty and hidden, who confounds all human understanding. It is exactly the same word that the Jews, in Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the word, which Jesus Christ used in Aramaic when he prayed to God.
This word play only gets more ludicrous as Mr. Deedat does and his students try to have Jesus saying the name of their god. Before, refuting this other insane invention, lets look at what Jesus really said and from where in the Scripture He was quoting and how it was translated in the Arabic version of the Bible?
Blue Letter Bible, Mark 15:34
[Mar.15:34] And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi (1682) Eloi (1682), lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [in reference to Psa.22:1]
[Psa.22:1] My-God (0410) my-God (0410), why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
* Lexicon for Strong Number 1682 (Greek)
1682 ‘eloi [ELWI] of Aramaic origin, 0426 with pronominal stuff.; n m
AV - Eloi 2; 2; Eloi = "my-God"; 1) Aramaic for the phrase "my-God"
* Lexicon for Strong Number 0410 (Hebrew)
0410 'eli [EeeLi] TWOT - 93a; n m
AV - God 213, god 16, power 4, mighty 5, goodly 1, great 1, 240; 1) god, god-like one, mighty one 1a) mighty men, men of rank, mighty heroes 1b) angels 1c) god, false god, 1d) God 2) mighty things in nature 3) strength, power
Remark: The New Testament was partly written and partly preserved in Greek, however it points out that Jesus was speaking in Aramaic language.
Kitaabu Al-Hayaat (Arabic Translation of the Bible)
[Mar.15:34] wa fi assaa3ati atthaalitati, sarakha yasou3 bisawtin 3adhiymin: ‘alowiy ‘alowiy, lamaa shabaqtaniy? ‘ay: ‘ilaahiy ‘ilaahiy, limaadhaa taraktaniy?
[Psa.22:1] ‘ilaahiy ‘ilaahiy, limaadhaa taraktaniy? limaadhaa tabaa3adta 3an khalaasiy wa 3an samaa3i sawti tanahhudaatiy?
Remark: Even though those who translated the Bible into Arabic and used allaah as a term for God, did not translate Eloi and ‘eli into allaah but respectively used ‘elowiy and ‘ilaahiy.
Contrarily to what Deedat tried to make the readers believe and to persuade them to agree with him, the reality is that no matter how we spell Eloi or ‘eli, they can never sound or appear like allaah or ‘elaah. Even if they might have been coming from the same root and have the same meaning they will still be spelled and pronounced differently. Only somebody who might have some serious damages in his ears and eyes and maybe brain as well or perhaps an illiterate naïve farmer or a brain washed Muslim fanatic would honestly accept his argument.
Because of the weakness of his argument and his total awareness of it, instead of presenting a rational explanation based on linguistics and by presenting some references, he chose to gamble and play on a very different note. Notice how the above attempt of his is totally based on using psychological tactics, in which he uses manipulation, intimidation and insults for anyone who may try to oppose his view or argue with him. In other words, he relayed on the old preaching methods of the fanatical Imams and Mullah.
If Deedat and his team would try to persuade Hawaiians to believe that aloha originally meant allaah, before it was turned into a form of greeting (i.e. hello), there is no need to be surprised! Yet, we would like also to ask them to consider showing us how allude, allusion, elude, elusion, illusion and ill are all deriving from the same source Allah!
Furthermore, when Mr. Zahid states that allaah is God’s greatest name and then he equals it with ‘el, first, he contradicts himself and second he exposes his poor knowledge of the Bible’s terminology for the Divine, since ‘el, ‘eli and ‘eloi are common titles. Some Muslims are very similar to parrots, they just pick up what their gurus claim and repeat them without verification.
2.3.4. allaah is found in halleluya:
What Is His Name? Ahmed Deedat
Then what is Alleluya! The last syllable "YA" is a vocative and an exclamatory particle in both Arabic and Hebrew meaning "OH!" In other words YA = OH, (the vocative); and YA = (!), a note of exclamation, or an exclamatory particle, or as is more commonly known an exclamation mark. The Semite, both Arab and Jew, begin with the exclamatory particle or exclamation mark. The Westerner, in his language ends with the exclamatory particle or exclamation mark, e.g. Stop! Go! Fire! Bang! Let us repeat the above Tasbih (words of praise) as an Arab or a Jew: ALLE-LU-YA will be YA-ALLE-LU because, as explained above, YA is always at the beginning in both Arabic and Hebrew. YA ALLE LU would be YA ALLA HU: Meaning, "OH ALLAH!" (You are the Only Being Who deserves worship and Praise).
In his disparate attempts to prove that Allah is in the Bible, “Dr. Deedat” invented the most ever ridiculous and silly argument that even a lunatic can come with. No wonder that some people claim that between wisdom and foolishness there is only a hair dividing line! The guy deserves to receive a D. D. (Doctorate in Dumbness) for the above argument, since in all his knowledge, cleverness and craftiness, he ended up disclosing the extremeness of his folly. Lets explore how many stupid and monstrous errors he has made and how many basic logical principles he has violated in the following remarks:
Alleluia or Alleluyah or Alleljah is the transliteration of Hebrew hallelu-yahh. It is a compound term or statement: a- hallel is a verb, which stands for praise and adoration; b- yahh is the poetic form of YHWH (Yahweh), the personal name of the Almighty.
Deedat didn’t explain how the H in Hallelu disappeared and the E has been converted to A and the third L has been converted to an H? Lets bear in mind that hallel in Hebrew and hallil in Arabic are both verbs, which have an similar meaning, therefore, no need to claim that the Quran hired the statement and transliterated it from Greek or Latin rather than Hebrew. That would only be another foolishness and a cord around Muslims neck! Anyway, this particular irony prove that the guy either suffers from a serious dyslexia or simply a manipulative liar and a mocker of people and linguistics.
ya is not an exclamatory prefix, whether in Hebrew or in Arabic. There is no meaningful term ya in Hebrew and ya or yaa in Arabic is an interjection similar to hey in English. Deedat didn’t prove to us only his ignorance of Hebrew but also of Arabic, the “authoritative” and original language of his “holy Quran” which he must know f he is truly to be considered as a Muslim scholar.
ya-‘allaah and according to Deedat’s own principles should be identified with Hebrew ya’alaah, which as a proper name is a woman’s name and as a noun means an animal, either a goat or an ibex or a deer.
If ya-allaah’s definition is “You are the Only Being Who deserves worship and Praise” as he claims, so what is the root verb of allaah? Deedat didn’t give any explanation or reference to backup his claim. Bean in mind, that in Arabic “to worship” and “to praise” are two different verbs respectively 3abada and hallala. To our knowledge there is no Arabic verb, which combines them together.
Before making such irresponsible assumptions, Deedat should have at least checked dictionaries and made sure that they go along with his claims and that he is not contradicting linguistic rules and logical principals. Instead of proving anything beneficial for his Allah, unexpectedly, he ended up in the other direction by dishonouring the name of his god and even proving through his methods that Allah, most probably and from a medical point of view suffers from hallucination more than anything else! In other words, it was Deedat’s hallucination and illusion that lead him to come out with such ridiculous argument and expect that Christians would naively accept them and convert to his hallucinated master’s religion. Lets not forget also that based on the mistake of a mere man, a certain Dr. Scofield, Deedat and his disciples built doctrines to link their Quranic-Allah with the Biblical-Yahweh.
2.3.5. allaah is hired from the Syriac word, 'alaha (god-the):
Answering-Islam site, Christopher Heger
It seems unlikely that the name Allah comes from al-ilah "the God", but rather from the Aramaic Syriac alaha, meaning 'God' or 'the God'. The final 'a' in the name alaha was originally the definite article 'the' and is regularly dropped when Syriac words and names are borrowed into Arabic. Middle-eastern Christianity used 'alah' and 'alaha' frequently, and it would have often been heard. But in the Aramaic Syriac language there are two different 'a' vowels, one rather like the 'a' in English 'hat' and the other more like the vowel in 'ought'. In the case of 'alah', the first vowel was like 'hat' and the second like 'ought'. Arabic does not have a vowel like the one in 'ought', but it seems to have BORROWED this vowel along with the word 'alah'. If you know Arabic, then you know that the second vowel in 'allah' is unique; it occurs only in that one word in Arabic… the word "Allah", as a lot of other words, especially words of the religious sphere, was imported from the Syriac (Aramaic) language: "alaha" - with three long a - vowels, is the Aramaic word for the (Christian) unique God. The last (long) "a" characterises the status absolutus in the Aramaic language and was duly omitted by the Arabs like case endings in the Arabic vernacular, whereas the understanding of the first syllable of "alaha" as an article was a common misunderstanding like for instance in "al-Iskandar" from Greek "Alexandros" etc. The doubling of the "l" is irrelevant, since the doubling sign is a very late invention of Arabic orthography, centuries after Muhammad."
Although Dr. Heger’s argument appears to be rational and the closest to linguistically link Allah to the Biblical-God, it is just another speculation, which ignores certain basic principles and ethics, as we will disclose:
Heger’s transliteration method is not accurate and misleading. A correct transliteration and pronunciation reveals that Syriac ‘alaha and Arabic allaah have several spelling and utterance differences as follow:
(Syr.) EaLaaHa a lá há |_o_\|‘|
(Arab.) EaLLlaaH al llá h q_^||‘|
The two terms actually appear and sound much more different than what Heger claim.
The stress in the middle of allaah is very significant in Arabic and should never be neglected. Dropping or adding it into a word changes the whole meaning and lexicon as well, i.e. BaTaLun = hero (a noun) and BaTtaLa = to cancel (a verb) or in English but = instead (a conjunction) and butt = end (a noun).
Long before the invention of Arabic articulations (vowels and stress) Arabs were able to correctly read Arabic writings without the help of those symbols. In fact, up to this day most of native Arabic speakers do not use those symbols in their daily writings. Having the stress on the second L of allaah or not having it is irrelevant and although the symbol was added later to the scripts that doesn’t mean that stressing alphabets was not in use earlier.
Syriac alaha transliterated to Arabic it turns into ‘alaha the verb (to deify), which has no relation with allaah. Besides, it is illogical to compare a noun in a language with a verb in another language and assume that they must be the same term since they simply sound alike. This also proves that Heger’s method of comparison is a fraud.
The Arabic vocabulary has already its word for deity, 'ilaah, which derives from an Arabic root verb ‘alaha. So why would the Arabs import a foreign word to replace a word that they already have in their local language?
Syriac is not a Bible language. Those who translated the Scriptures into Syriac were common clerics. Even if they might have used allaah as title for the Biblical-God, their terminology is not authoritative and therefore it cannot be used as a measuring rule or evidence.
Today’s Arabic is based on the Quran and allaah in it is a personal name unlike ‘alaaha, which is only a common noun.
Therefore, Mr. Heger’s attempt to link allaah to alaaha is nothing but another failure. Furthermore, if his theory is somehow a sound one than we should start making crazy statements such as the French verb MANGER (to eat) is the same as the English noun MANGER (a box) or the French adjective FOU (crazy) is the same as the Chinese noun FU (father)…!
3. What are the closest term to allaah and al’ilaah in the Bible?
If we would like to trust and relay on the linguistic comparative method that those different “advocates of Allah” use for their arguments, logically, we must start looking for the closest matching terms and not just pick up what sounds fitting with our ideas. If we want to be honest, we need to make our ideas conform to the reality and not the opposite. Thus, we should look for biblical term(s) that appear and sound the closest possible to both allaah (ELLH : EaLLlaaH : al llá h) and al’ilaah (ELELH : EaLE‘iLaaH : al i lá h).
3.1. allaah (Allah)
3.1.1. allaah in the Bible and Hebrew means oak tree:
While checking the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, we came across the verse below, which uses a term very close to Allah, the name that the Quran uses as personal name for its “author” who claims to be the same author as of the Bible:
Blue Letter Bible, Joshua 24:26
Hebrew: Yahowshuwa` kathab dabar cepher towrah 'elohiym laqach gadowl 'eben quwm 'allaah miqdash YHWH.
English : And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there
under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of Jehovah.
* Lexicon for Strong Number 0427 (Hebrew)
0427 'allaah (ELH - EaLlaaH); variation of 0424; TWOT - 100a; n m
AV - oak 1; 1; 1) oak 2) terebinth (poll)
The closest term to Arabic allaah (ELLH : EaLLlaaH : al llá h) is Hebrew ‘allaah (ELH : EaLlaaH : a llá h). Both terms are pronounced identically and the only difference they have is in an extra L in the Arabic. Hebrew ‘allaah though is not only a noun but also a feminine one and it means oak (a tree). Notice also that in the same verse two other terms are used to refer to the Divine, the title ‘elohiym and the name YHWH. Meanwhile, in Aramaic there is no biblical term, close to allaah.
Why those “Allah’s advocates” could miss such detail? Or is it just because it doesn’t fit into their agendas they preferred to ignore it? How could they dare to neglect such crystal clear evidence and yet eagerly seek to use manipulation to make the Bible terminology fit with their arguments? Any apologist who want to linguistically link Allah with the Scriptures terminology for the divine, he should first stop by this case and ponder on it before moving on to any other term.
3.1.2. allaah is evidence against Islam:
What is more interesting is that Muhammad, who claimed to have received his “eternal” Quran from Allah and that his Allah is the same author who revealed the Scriptures, actually proved himself to be an ignorant and a liar when he said that Allah is the Biblical-God and he is his messenger. Here are evidences which prove his falsehood and of his god:
If Allah (allaah) is all knowing, so how could he forget that ‘allaah in Hebrew means oak? Or is it that both Allah and his messenger are ignorant of Hebrew and the Bible?
If Allah is transcendent in time and he is the Divine, who sent his word to the prophets, so why didn’t he command them not to misuse the name ‘allaah by using it for a tree rather than him? Or is it that Allah didn’t exist or wasn’t around when the OT was written?
If Muhammad as he claimed to have come to “rectify” the Scriptures, so why Allah didn’t refute that verse in Joshua and add to the Jews accusations that they misused his name for a tree? Or is it that Muhammad came to make foolish mistakes and cause confusion rather than clarity?
Why would the Divine tell the Hebrews that His name is YHWH and forbade them to pray to oaks (‘allaah) then later on go to the Arabs and tell them to worship him by using that very term? Or is it that both Muhammad and his god are mere deceivers and authors of confusion?
If Allah is the name of the Author of the Bible and is it supposedly eternal, so why it is never used in the Scriptures once for the Divine? Why the Bible uses a variety of terms ‘el, ‘elohiym, ‘eolith, ‘elaahh and theos and yet only as titles? Or is it that Allah has nothing to do with the Bible and the Creator?
The simple answer to all these questions and wonderings is the fact that the term allaah is an evidence against the case of Islam and prove that its inventor is no more than ignorant and a liar, who made some huge claims, which he couldn’t backup with facts. One of those major failures lays on this fact that the author of Islam picked up a wrong term to be the most sacred name in his invented religion.
3.2. al‘ilaah (the-deity):
It is irrelevant to consider the first two letters (E and L) because they are simply a prefix, the definite article (i.e. the). The focus will be limited to ELH (‘ilaah).
3.2.1. ELH in Hebrew:
Blue Letter Bible (Online Bible Software)
[Eze.6:13] Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak [0424], the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
[Has.4:13] They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms [0424], because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
* Lexicon for Strong Number 0424 (Hebrew)
0424 'elaah (ELH - EeeLaaH); TWOT - 45h; n f;
AV - oak 11, elm 1, teil tree 1, 13; 1) terebinth (poll), terebinth tree
The closest term to Arabic ‘ilaah (ELH : E’iLaaH : i lá h) is Hebrew ‘elaah (ELH : EeeLaaH : é lá h). Both terms are spelled identically. The only difference they have is in the pronunciation. Hebrew ‘elaah is: 1- a feminine noun, which means oak, tree or post, 2- a proper name for persons or locations.
Despite the fact that ‘ilaah and ‘elaah are almost identical in pronunciation and spelling, they have two distinct meanings. From one hand, there is no link in Arabic between ‘ilaah and any term for oak, tree or post and from the other there is no link in Hebrew between ‘elaah and any term for deity.
3.2.2. ELH in Aramaic:
Blue Letter Bible
[Ezr.5:1] Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God [0426] of Israel, unto them.
[Dan.2:47] The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God [0426] is a God [0426] of gods [0426], and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.
* Lexicon for Strong Number 0426 (Aramaic)
0426 'elaahh (EeLaaHh) corresponding to 0433; TWOT - 2576; n m
AV - God 79, god 16; 95; 1) god, God 1a) god, heathen deity 1b) God [of Israel]
The closest term to Arabic ‘ilaah (ELH : E’iLaaH : i lá h) is Aramaic ‘elaahh (ELH : EeLaaHh : e lá hh). Both terms are spelled the same, but have a slight different pronunciation at the beginning and the end. Both are masculine nouns and both have a similar meaning, which refers to deity. However, ‘ilaah is a derivation from the verb ‘alaha, therefore, it is not a transliteration or derivation from ‘elaahh. The similarities are more likely a matter of chance. ‘ilaah and ‘elaah are synonyms, but still not the same word.
(Note: For further checking of references see NIV “The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible;” p.1905, strong: 440~468; p.2035, strong: 10031~10034.)
3.3. Putting up with reality:
From the above examples of comparison of Arabic (Islamic) terms to Hebrew and Aramaic (biblical) terms, it becomes more obvious and clear that the method of linguistic comparison based on scripts and sounds does not prove anything, especially in favour of Allah’s advocates. Such method is unscientific and useless. It is barely a tactic, which depends primarily on luck, the same as gambling. Those who relay in their apologetics, in defence of Allah, on such tactic should reconsider their calculations and perhaps forget about their crafty manipulations and face the truth.
Allah is not a biblical name of the Divine but a name, which belongs to paganism and which should be approached only as an unbiblical term like any other terms in other languages. Otherwise, these advocates would have to face the accurate linguistic challenge and put up with the fact that Allah is either an oak tree, a man or a valley before they come up with any ideas or speculations in support of their claims.
4. The dilemmas of the Muslims:
4.1. Allah is the proper name of the Divine:
When Muslims insist that Allah is the very personal and unique name of the Creator, they automatically contradict the very basic and foundational teachings of the Bible rather than confirm it as they assume and their religion claim. If their Quran-deity would have been indeed the true Creator, the same being as the Biblical-God, they would have never claimed that Allah is His proper name. They would never have used Allah in the basmalah and shahadah but YHWH (yahwah) as the name. According to the Scriptures, only YHWH can be considered as the Creator’s personal, holy, universal and everlasting name, which is to be used for Him alone and the only name by which a prophet can speak on His behalf, as the following verses testify:
[Exo.3:14-15] And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: YHWH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is My memorial name to all generations.
[Exo.15:3] YHWH is a man of battle; YHWH is His name.
[Exo.20:2~7] I am YHWH your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me…you shall not take the name of YHWH your God in vain, for YHWH will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
[Deu.18:20-22] But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word, which YHWH hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of YHWH, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the YHWH hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
[Psa.83:16] Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O YHWH.
[Micah 4:1~7] But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of YHWH shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of YHWH, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of YHWH from Jerusalem… for the mouth of YHWH of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of YHWH our God for ever and ever. In that day, saith YHWH, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and YHWH shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
[Mar.12:29] And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel; YHWH our God, YHWH is One.’” [in reference to Deu.6:4]
Therefore, those “orthodox” Muslims, who make such statements, put themselves in a dilemma and confirm the fact that Allah is just another foreign god. No matter how “great” and famous his name might have become, he remains a deity of a pagan nation, a false god and a pretender.
* Refuting the latest allegations of the Muslims in defence of Allah as the Divine’s proper name:
In an attempt to turn the situation around, the Muslim “apologist” and webmaster of Answering-Christianity’s web site, posted an article called: “But Allah sounds different than the Hebrew Yahweh!” However and usually as his gurus, he repeated their old manipulations. In the following rebuttal we will expose point by point his deceptive tactics and let the truth shine and speak of itself:
Ossama: One thing that many non-Hebrew speaking Jews and Christians mistake about is the name of GOD Almighty in the Bible. "Yahweh" in Hebrew means "The LORD" or the "The GOD". It is not a name.
Al-Gharib: 1- Hebrew Yahweh is a derivation from the verb hayah, which means to be. Meanwhile, LORD is an equivalent of ‘adown / ‘adonay, and GOD is an equivalent ‘el,‘elohiym,’eloah,’elaahh and theos. It’s only because of Jewish tradition and for language convenience that translators have rendered the Divine’s name LORD. The capitalisation is merely a matter of translation technique to distinguish between the reference to YHWH and the translation of ‘adonay and Kurios, Lord. Both GOD and God stand for the same thing, the common name of the Divine. Contrary to what Ossama claims, Yahweh does not mean “The LORD” or “The GOD.” His view actually reflects his poor knowledge of the Bible translators’ terminology and technicalities. For reference and more detail, see, for example: 1- The Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible (NIV), page 1504~1540, strong 446, 466, 468, 2118, 3378 and 6610. 2- The New Open Bible – Study Edition NASB, p.70, 675, 1028, 1478.
2- The Bible clearly states that YHWH is the Divine’s personal name. We already have shown in the verses above a series of examples, which clearly state that YHWH is the personal name of the Divine. Furthermore, the Jews and according to the Scriptures and their tradition and still to this day use ha-shem (The-Name) as term besides ‘adonay to verbally refer YHWH (the Tetragrammaton). Here again Ossama exposes his own lack of biblical knowledge and his confusion. He is the poor guy in error and who needs to be corrected and taught, not the Christians and non-Hebrew Jews.
Let us look at the following quotations from Christian and Jewish resources: "Judaism teaches that while God's name exists in written form, it is too holy to be pronounced. The result has been that, over the last 2000 years, the correct pronunciation has been lost." (Mankind's Search for GOD, p. 225). Here we clearly see that the pronunciation for the original name for GOD Almighty had been lost, and the Jews have no idea what the exact pronunciation is from their Holy Scriptures and resources.
1- The resource Ossama uses is a Jehovah Witnesses (Watchtower) material. Apparently, he does not know that Jehovah Witnesses are a separate sect, whom both Christians and Jews do not recognise as part of their bodies or he is purposely using deception. Furthermore, the Jehovah Witnesses, whom he and many Muslims love to quote from, reject Allah under any form as a name for the Divine. In both cases Ossama is the only loser. If he doesn’t know the difference between those groups, he proves his ignorance and if he is simply playing ignorance he exposes himself as being a deceiver, who is following the Devil’s path of craftiness.
2- Not all Christians and Jews nor even all of the JWs agree that the Divine’s name have been lost. The real situation is whether there is a controversy over which pronunciation is the correct and the identical one to the original. Yet most of those parties agree that there is no magic behind the probable accurate vocalisation of YHWH, except some mystics, i.e. the Kabalistic Jews, who are fanatical about it. Although the pronunciation is controversial, the name is still the same and preserved as it was written on the stone tablets that the Divine passed to Moses. Furthermore, all the Bible believers, whether they might be Christians, Jews or radical sects (i.e. JW, Mormons, Kabala), agree that the Divine’s name is indisputably the tetragrammaton: Y-H-W-H and that the vocalisation is ‘adonay.
"About 3,500 years ago, God spoke to Moses, saying: 'Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: The LORD [Hebrew: YHWH], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: This shall be My name forever, this My appellation for all eternity.' (Exodus 3:15; Psalm 135:13)" (Mankind's Search for GOD, p.225). "....the four Hebrew consonants YHWH (Yahweh) that in their Latinized form have come to be known over the centuries in English as JEHOVAH." (Mankind's Search for GOD, p.225). So the word "YHWH" or "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" is not the ORIGINAL name, but the appellation (title) for the Almighty GOD.
1- All Bible believers, mostly the scholars, know and agree that JEHOVAH is a hybrid name, combining the vowels of ‘adonay with the consonants of the tetragrammaton YHWH into YeHoVaH and then JeHoVaH. The original use of this hybrid name though was meant to guide the readers to say the word ‘adonay aloud while reading the Scriptures in synagogues and passing by the tetragrammaton YHWH. That tradition passed later to Latin and then to English and other languages. Meanwhile, Yahweh is one of the possible forms of pronunciation of the tetragrammaton YHWH. The main point that Ossama neglected is the fact that no matter how YHWH is pronounced and written, i.e. Yahweh, Yehovah, Jehovah, Iehovah, or even LORD, the audience and readers alike are always aware that the word refers specifically to the personal name of the Divine, YHWH acceding to the Scriptures.
2- If YHWH, Yahweh and Jehovah is simply the appellation or title of the Divine, so what is the original name, which was used in the Scriptures uniquely to refer to Him? There is absolutely no other term, which can compete with YHWH. Even if we consider the Arabic translation of the Bible, only YHWH pass the test while Allah, Ossama’s “promoted” term fails, at least twice, in Genesis 41:38 and Acts17:24. Therefore, Ossama, instead of justifying anything he just made his argument worst and a statement against himself.
This is perfectly fine, because Jews, Christians and Muslims call on to GOD Almighty as "The LORD" or "The GOD", which means "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" in Hebrew and "Al-Rab" in Arabic. "Al-Rab" in Arabic and "Yahweh" in Hebrew and the other translations in all other languages are indeed GOD Almighty's title. But they are NOT His original Name!
1- As we already explained, LORD is not a synonym or equivalent of Yahweh, but merely a man’s invention and a term, which used in translations to refer to the Divines name, YHWH. GOD has no direct or indirect technical connection with YHWH. It is always used as a common name or noun, which refers to the Divine. Ossama is totally confused and showed his failure to distinguish between the different types of terms used for the Divine.
2- Al-Rab (arrabb) is the Arabic equivalent of ‘adonay and plays the same role in the Arabic translation of the Bible as the English LORD. In other words, it is not a translation of Yahweh or YHWH. Moreover, Al-Rab (ism 3alam) was never used in the Quran. The Quran uses Rab, which is a non-defined noun (ismu nakirat) and in the context of master or lord. In other word Al-Rab and Rab have two different definitions and applications, which Ossama overlooked, since they contradict his claim. There is absolutely no example in the Quran and the Hadith, which links Rab to Yahweh, unlike in the Greek New Testament where we find verses from the Old testament that indicate that YHWH have been rendered Kurios, i.e. Mark 12:29 verses Deuteronomy 6:4 and Acts 2:21 verses Joel 2:32.
3- Yahweh is not a Hebrew translation of the Divine’s name, but a vocalised Latin-Hebrew transliteration of the Tetragrammaton. YHWH’s closest translation is alkaa’in in Arabic and I AM in English. Ossama succeeded again in proving his poor knowledge of Arabic/Hebrew/English vocabulary and ignorance of basic linguistics.
4- Ossama needs to carefully read and do a little Bible study of Exodus 6:2-3 and check its terminology and lexicon:
And God [0430] spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I [am] the LORD* [03068]: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by [the name of] God [0410] Almighty [07706], but by My name [08034] JEHOVAH [03068] was I not known to them.
Lexical and Vocabulary Aid: (Blue Letter Bible Online – Strong Search)
0410 'el: n m; God, god, power, mighty, goodly, great, idols, might, strong
0430 'elohiym: n m p; GOD, God, god, judge, goddess, great, mighty, angels, exceeding, godly
03068 YHWH: n pr dei; LORD, JEHOVAH; Jehovah = "the existing One", the proper name of the one true God, unpronounced except with the vowel pointings of ‘adonay.
07706 shadday: n m dei; Almighty
08034 shem: n m; name, the Name (as designation of God), renown, fame, famous, named, memorial, monument
Footnote: (The New Open Bible – NASB – Study Edition, page 72.)
* Heb., YHWH, usually rendered LORD.
From the above example and references, we can easily see that Ossama is totally lost and mixed up to a degree where everything looks backward to him. Notice also that there is no “allaah” in the statement. In other words, none of the patriarchs knew the Divine by the name Allah as Muslims claim about Abraham.
Let us look at what Exodus 3:15 and Psalm 135:13 from the NIV Bible say: "God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD [Notice that they didn't write Jehovah. "The LORD" in only a title], the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. (From the NIV Bible, Exodus 3:15)" "Your name, O LORD, endures forever, your renown, O LORD, through all generations. (From the NIV Bible, Psalm 135:13)" So as we clearly see from the above Verses from the NIV Bible, the original name for GOD Almighty is not "Yahweh". The title "The LORD" is only a title and a nick name (if you will) that we give to GOD Almighty. But "Yahweh" is definitely NOT THE ORIGINAL NAME for GOD Almighty.
1- NIV is only one of various English translations of the Bible. It is not accurate and many Christians, mostly native English speakers do no use it for several reasons, one of them is the huge amount of inaccuracies. NIV is not an authoritative translation and as any translation is not inspired Scriptures. Nevertheless, some editions of the NIV, in their commentaries, they offer an explanation why they used LORD and point out that it is not the Divine’s name, but simply a technical term and substitute. For reference, see The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible-NIV, footnotes in page 71~74 and the OT lexical aid no.3378, p.1520.
2- In the Hebrew (original language of the OT) Masoretic Text and in the early Septuagint (translation to Greek), the name of the Divine was kept intact, the Tetragrammaton, in its original Hebrew. In other words, if we return back to those early Texts, which are the closest and perhaps 99.9% replicas of the original OT, the words used for the Divine in Exo.3:15 and 135:13 are the Tetragrammaton, Hebrew YHWH, and not the late 17th Century invention LORD. Ossama didn’t dare to dig enough and go back to the roots and deal with the matter in honesty and for the sake of truth. He has shown that he has no concern for truth, except when it suits his own convictions.
3- In a last attempt, Ossama tries to convince the readers that since LORD is originally a title from a semantic point of view, then Yahweh must be a title also. The mathematical rule, if A=Z and B=Z then A=B, that he applied to his final argument, is not always valid and applicable, especially in linguistics and terminology. According to the way he used it, he turned it into manipulative tactic, which is well known as a common logical fallacy, which Muslims often use in their apologetics. In other words, the guy analogy is similar to the analogy of sugar verses honey, as follow:
The analogy of sugar verses honey:
A sugar dealer may argue that since sugar is sweet and honey is sweet, then sugar and honey are the same product. He can use the mathematical rule of three (if A=Z and B=Z then A=B) to prove his argument or even go as far as melting his sugar and turning it to look like honey. Every person, who have never been familiar with the pure honey and knowledgeable about how it is produced, could be easily fooled by that dishonest dealer and not only believe him but also buy his sugar and even at the price of honey. When a dealer of honey comes along and exposes the swindler and shows people the real honey, how would the dishonest dealer react? He will try every possible deception to keep selling his sugar. He will put a lot of emphasis on the “99.9%” sweetness of his sugar and make sugar looks greater than honey if that would be possible. Like drogue dealers, he might even take the risk to distribute his sugar for free in hope that his consumers would get adapted and addicted to his sugar and be blinded by its sweetness and forget once about honey and its nutritious and healthy qualities. The sad thing, the majority of those consumers won’t wake up from the deception till they find themselves struck with diabetes and face to face struggling with death. And if someone comes along and asks for honey, the dishonest dealer, out of fear and insecurity, will do all he can to prevent such thing from happening. He may go as far as denying that honey exist or ever existed and go back to exalt his sugar and claiming that it is the only “real” sweet food that can be obtained!
Like that dishonest trader, Ossama and his associates, are doing all they can to get their deity promoted under every possible label that might attract the consumers, but not based on truth, because the truth can only be one and it is not at their side. Since the truth/facts says that YaHoWaH is the Divine’s proper name, so they simply reject and deny it and replay the same old scenarios about Allah and his name.
"Allah" on the other hand is a name. It is the name of GOD Almighty. Below, you will see ample proofs from the Aramaic language that the name of GOD Almighty was indeed "Allah".
1- Yes, Allah is indeed a name, but not of the Creator’s. From a historical point of view, Allah can only be the name of a pagan deity and from a biblical terminology point of view, it can only be an oak or a man or a valley.
2- The fact that Allah is the name of the chief/supreme deity of the pagan Arabs, doesn’t make it necessarily the name of the true Deity. From one hand and according to Ossama’s “theological” reasoning, every chief pagan deity should be identified with Allah. Therefore, Zeus of the Greek, Buddha of the Buddhists, Brahman of the Hindu, Baal of the Canaanites and Huw of the Egyptians are all the same deity as Allah. Even according to Islam’s orthodoxy this is heresy, which may cost Ossama his head. From the other hand according to his “linguistic” reasoning, Allah is a common name and therefore he contradicts what he tries to prove all along.
3- In Aramaic, the term ELLH / Allah / allaah / alláh does not exist at all. Even if allaah is the transliteration of ‘elaahh, it is to be considered simply as a common name for the Divine and it was used also for false gods, i.e. in Daniel 2:47. Therefore and after his long argument and manipulation, Ossama ended up contradicting what he wanted to approve and worst proving that Allah is a man made word, which doesn’t even come from Arabic, the language which the Quran claims to be divine and eternal. His final accomplishment then is proving that the “revealer” of the Quran was actually a copier from men and a liar.
4- For more detail regarding this speculation, get back to sections 2.3. and 3.2.
Since Muslims claim that their prophet came to “confirm and correct and restore what was supposedly lost” in the Scriptures and if the Divine’s name or its pronunciation were lost, so wouldn’t it have been one of Muhammad’s primary duties; the restoration of the Divine’s name and its correct pronunciation? This is another dilemma that Ossama successfully has created for himself and his religion’s claims. He gave evidence that Muhammad was a liar and false prophet, who couldn’t fulfil what he claimed to come to accomplish. If Muhammad had no knowledge about the Divine’s name YHWH and the controversy regarding its pronunciation among the Jews and Christians, which dates from before his era, how can any Bible believer accept his message when he failed to “fix” that important and basic detail? That simple failure is a huge piece of conviction against him and Islam. Finally, Ossama and his team deserve some praise for their amazing contribution in exposing their religion’s frauds and controversies: THANK YOU and CONGATULLATIONS!
4.2. Allah is the common name of God in Arabic:
When some Muslims argue that Allah is the common name of the Divine in Arabic, and in their attempt to escape the orthodox Muslims dilemmas, they trap themselves into another dilemma, which might be worst. They leave their god without a personal name and therefore without a proper identity. They prove that he is a myth, which lives only in their minds under different labels. When they pretend that his name is Yahweh, on one hand, they contradict their Quran, the basic Islamic teaching and trample on the Arabic language and its grammars. On the other hand, they can’t provide any solid argument to back that up, either etymologically or thelogocally.
4.3. Allah is the Divine’s name in Arabic while Yahweh is His name in Hebrew:
When some other Muslims claims that Allah is the Arabic name of the Divine, the equivalent or synonym of Yahweh, they simply prove that they have no solid knowledge of Arabic and the Quran nor Hebrew and the Bible. Any attempt they may try to justify their argument would lead them to fall into one of the dilemmas above and at worst cause them to be ex-communicated by both Muslims and Bible believers. Instead of having both, they end up having none at all.
4.4. God doesn’t need to have a name:
When still some Muslims simply try to deny that the Divine has a personal name to possibly avoid any confrontation and rebuttal, they lead themselves toward another type of dilemma. To justify their position, they have to relay on notions based on Greek mythology and as the former group they end up having none.
4.5. The dilemma of dilemmas:
No matter what argument and invention the Muslims can come with, their greatest dilemma is the fact that the case of their religion was over some 13 centuries ago. When Muhammad claimed that he was sent by the God of the Jews and Christians and yet failed to know and use His name, YHWH, according to the Law and the Divine’s terms and conditions for prophets (i.e. Deu.18:20-22), he could only possibly belong to the category of false prophets. Furthermore, and even if Muhammad may have known Yahweh’s name, he didn’t perform any miracles and the worst he made many heretical statements about the Divine, in both the Quran and the Hadith. In other words, the Biblicial-God and the god of Muhammad are unreconciliable and it is the second who claims to be the first and never vise versa, which prove that he is the fake one and the pretender.
5. Summary (II):
The name Allah is used in two contexts. The Quran and Most of Muslims use Allah in the context of the personal name of their god, a name, which can belong only to him, a name of heavenly origin. In Arabic and among the majority Muslim Arabs, it is also regarded as a proper name. Muslims and Arabic base their use on the context of the Quran. Meanwhile, Christians and in their Arabic translation of the Bible use Allah simply as a translation of God’s common names or Arabic title, which can be applied to both the true God and false god, a name of earthly origin, which was developed by men. Christians base their use on the pre-Islamic probable etymological context and origin.
Muslims generally believe that since Christians use Allah as a term to refer to the Biblical-God, that isn't enough proof that they believe in the same God. This actually prove that those Muslims have no clue about the difference between types of names that the Bible uses for God and do not know that only YHWH (Jehovah) is valid as God’s proper name. They probably never notice that YHWH (Jehovah), the personal name of God is never translated to Allah but either kept intact or rendered arrabb (the-Lord).
allaah and al-ilaah are a unique and tricky type of homonyms. By failing to notice that detail, Christians trapped themselves in a series of erroneous speculations, on which they try to linguistically link Allah to the Semitic Biblical common names of God and consider it as Arabic transliteration or derivation of those tittles.
Muslim propagandists took advantage of the Christian ironical speculations and build on them deceitful arguments in favour of their god and religion and used them to deceive Christians and make them believe that Allah is the same deity as YHWH. However, a careful analysis of their crafty arguments would easily turn the situation upside down and put them in a series of dilemma and prove that their god is indeed not what they claim and desperately want him to be. Therefore, as Christians we should be very thorough in checking every little detail regarding what those propagandists claim, not only from a Biblical prospective but also from the Islamic prospective and expose their deceptions and manipulations.
From a grammatical-lexical point of view, allaah doesn’t comply with the rules and its root still remains mysterious and unidentifiable, while, al-ilaah conforms perfectly with the rules and its root verb ‘alaha means to deify. Therefore al-ilaah is the accurate common name of the divine and Arabic translation of ‘eloah, ho-theos and God. The only option where Allah could be used is if it was a translation or synonym of either YHWH or ‘adonay. All the odds go against such possibility and rule out the option.
Up until now, the meaning of Allah is still a mystery! We have been able to understand why technically it is not a valid name for the Divine, either as a proper name or a tittle, yet its origin and root are still undisclosed. The next article will be dedicated to the search of the possible and real meaning and origin of the name Allah.
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