Allah?

Regardless of name origins, the simple fact is, "God" is the english word for the Almighty, "Allah" is the arabic word for the same, and "elohim" is the Hebrew word for the same.

NOTE: In Hebrew, there are several words that are used. These words don't exists in the same form in Elglish, Arabic, or Greek. Here are just a few:

Elohim: "God" in an ordinary sense, as in "supreme being". "In the beginning, God created..." -Gen1

Yhvh: one who is self-existent. Usually translated by KJV as "Lord": "This is the day the Lord has made..." -Ps118

Adonai (Adonay): "Master", or "the one in control". Sometimes tranlated "God", sometimes translated "Lord" in KJV. Traditionally used in proper case: "...Moses replied...'Lord, I am slow of speech and of slow tongue..." -Ex4

 

Dear Helen,
thankyou for your research! There is a good booklet called, "Allah, is he God?" by an Arab Christian (I've loaned out my copy so cant give you the author's name). In it, he looks at the characteristics of Allah as derived from Islam, and contrasts these with the God of the Bible. He determines very clearly that the god described in Islam could not possibly be the God of the Bible.

All the best, Colin

 

The early Christians would never EVER EVER use the name of an idol for God. That much I can guarantee. And the fact that Allah was the name of the moon god would have eliminated that possibility from the get-go. There is no possible way that is true except in the propaganda people have been fed.

The Jews, also, when they refused to convert (and it wouldn't have been a conversion if the two deities were the same) were slaughtered by Muhammad and his followers.

They knew the difference then. Why are we having such a hard time with it now?

 

Mark, YHWH is the tetragrammaton, the 'unpronounceable name of God.' It is based on the Hebrew verb 'to be' and is explained by Moses as "I AM that which I AM." It is the name/title of the eternal God.

LORD, with capital letters in our Bibles today indicates the term YHWH. Generally it is printed in all capitals to differentiate it from Adonai, which means lord in the sense of an acknowledged leader. When the two names stand together in the Old Testament, they are rendered in the NIV as Sovereign Lord. This would be roughly the same as Lord of lords, King of kings.

The two words are different.

"ilah" is the generic term for god. "al-ilah" [the god] contracts to 'allah' and is not a word used in Hebrew, Greek, Syrian, or any other language other than Arabic. There is no way Jews or Christians would have used a purely Arabic word, and in particular one naming a false god, in place of the titles of God which they knew from revelation and history.

The long quote I gave on the first page of this thread is NOT one man's opinion! It is the conclusion which must be reached after research into both Middle Eastern writings themselves and the work of scholars who have specialized in the Middle East. Please read it again, and then check the footnotes that I posted a couple of posts later.

 

It seems many have simply glossed over what I said about the meaning of "allah". Go back and read what I said. Saying "Allah" is an idol name is like saying "God" is an idol name.

There is no other word in Arabic for "God" except "Allah", because it means "God". It has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with the Arabic language. The same is true for Aramaic, which Jesus spoke.

The Hebrew "Elohim" is the "generic" word for deity, just as "God" is in english. If "Allah" is an idolitrous statement, then so is "Elohim".

Mark is right when he says that the Almighty has not assigned a name to himself. We mortals simply do the best we can with our limited languages. Picking on the Arabic speaking people simply because their language is not the same as the Hebrew speaking people is an unchrist-like potshot.

 

There is no generic word for God in arabic but ALLAH ,check any arabic dictionary and you will see that AL-Ilah and Allah are the same words,there are even written slightly the same but without a letter called hamza for Allah and it's purely a grammatical thing,because the hamza can be omitted while writing classical arabic.
Any person who speaks arabic knows that.

All the christian and copt and syrian christians used the name ALlah when they pray,all the versions of arabic bible use the word Allah too,all the hymns written in arabic use the word allah too,all the arab christian writings before muhammed use the word allah.
the problem with the jews and the christians,on his time was an issue of him being a prophet or no,never an issue of the name of god.
we studied arabic grammar and history all of our lives,and never ever heard the moon god story before .

 

A lot of good information here.
Helen is right in her post. Allah is historically the moon-god of Mohammed, and thus of the Muslims.

However, it is an Arabic word meaning "god." The same Arabic word "Allah" found in the Koran (Surah 1:1) is found three times in John 1:1 of my Arabic Bible. To the Arabic speaking Christian, the word "Allah" is simply "God." How does one differentiate then? Is it confusing? No, not really.
Think of it this way. I believe in God. My God is defined by the Bible. When I say I believe in God, I know it is not the same as when a J.W. says he believes in God, or worse a Hindu, an Aboriginal (Mohawk or Cree), etc., Everyone says they believe in God, but that doesn't make it true, or it doesn't mean that they believe in the same God that I believe in--the God of the Bible.

The Islamic God, Allah, is a cruel, capricious god, one who is impersonal and cannot be reached. He stands aloof from his creation. It is a fatalistic religion. Allah will decide in that final day if you are deserving of paradise. No one has any assurance of going there except as a martyr. There is no forgiveness of sin. If Allah wills, then it will be so; if not, then too bad. It really doesn't matter how much good you do in this life. It is all up to the whim and will of Allah in the end. Fatalism. Please don't ever equate "this god" with the God of Abraham." They are not the same.
DHK

 

The Arab-Christian poets like Umru al Qais, Bin Yagoth,Yazid Ben Abdel Madan,Hthala Al Tai', Hatem Al Tai',Al Hareth Bin Abbad,Adi Ben Yazid,Zuhair Ben Abi Sulma, Al Nabiga Al Thoubiani,Antara Al Absi and many many others used the word Allah before Islam as refering to God,how do you explain that?

The Koran was written with the Arab characters which were created by the Arab Christians of Hira (See Arabiyya, C. Rabin, in Encyclopedie de l'Islam, 2nd Edition, Leyde et Paris,
1960, pp.579a-622b), (See also The History of Arabs before Islam, Jawd Ali, Vol. 8, pp.178-179; vol.
9, p. 689).
that explains everything where the word Allah came from.

Plz remember we are talking about names here not about if they really design the same God or no.

 

"Fi al bid' kan al kalima wa kanat al kalima ALLAH" john 1:1 in the arabic bible.

 

Mark --

I would not normally bring this up, but since this
thread is about correct names, I will.

Mark, these words, YHVH and Adonai, are
absolutely different words as spelled out in the
Hebrew Bible. "YHVH" is the tetragramation of
the name our God said was His name, and I am
sure He was not mistaken. 8o) When we read the
Scriptures in Hebrew my synagogue, and we
come to this name, we either read out the lettters
of the name (pronounced "YODE HAY VAHV
HAY) or we say "Hashem," which means, in
Hebrew, "The Name." Much has been done to
protect this name, because we no longer know
the actual pronunciation of it. No one in the
synagogue would even try to pronounce The
Name, because our God is a holy God, high and
lifted up, and we do not wish to mispronounce
the name He said was Hhis own.

But the day is coming when we wil all know His
name.

"Adonai" simply means "lord" in Hebrew, which
is the same as what we commonly understand
as "lord" or "Lord" or "mister."

His original name was similar to "Y'shua" (my
favorite spelling) or "Yeshua" or "Y'shu," each
successively pronounced "YEH-shu-ah,"
"YEH-shoo-ah" and "Yeh-shoo" I am sure
you know that there is no "J" letter-equivalent
or sound in biblical Hebrew, so you will agree
that no angel ever pronounced, "Thou shalt call
His name 'Jesus.'" Rather, the angel said that
His name would be called by one of the names
in the first part of this paragraph, "because He
shall save His people from their sins." In
English letters, the Hebrew word for "salvation"
is transliterated "yeshua, pronounced YEH-
shoo-ah."

What a rich and significant heritage!

[ October 09, 2002, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

Mark --

I accidentaly hit the wrong button. This is the
correction and addition I was attempting tp make:

Much has been done to
protect this name, because we no longer know
the actual pronunciation of it. No one in the
synagogue would even try to pronounce The
Name, because our God is a holy God, high and
lifted up, and we do not wish to mispronounce
the name He said was Hhis own.

But the day is coming when we wil all know His
name.

"Adonai" simply means "lord" in Hebrew, which
is the same as what we commonly understand
as "lord" or "Lord" or "mister."

"Elohim" is the name given in Genesis for Him.
It is Scriptural, in the Hebrew Bible, and there
is nothing wrong with it being there. In English,
they translate it "God," because "El" and "el"
mean "God" and "god."

[ October 09, 2002, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

Crude reference deleted

[ October 10, 2002, 02:01 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Bob Griffin ]

 

Mark --

Please pardon me for accidentally quoting
myself above when I hit the wrong button.
Please see my correction above your latest
post.

Mark, there IS difference in their meanings! How
can we deny this when it is a simple linguistic
difference? YHVH does not mean Lord! The
base words for both are totally different! The
base words for YHVH roughly mean, in English,
"The One who always was and always shall be,"
"One without beginnning or end."

Mark, people who call Him Jesus, because that
is what is in their Bibles and that is what they
have been taught, are NOT idolators. You call
Him by His English-given name; I call Him by
His Hebrew name. Neither give either one of us
any prestige, Mark.

Mark, I am going to basically ignore this final
statement, because I believe you thought I was
attacking you and your beliefs. Just so you will
know, I was not. I have no desire to, Mark. 8o)

Yes, I love the Hebrew language. I have learned
how rich it really is because of the amazing
things I have learned about our God through it.

[ October 09, 2002, 09:24 AM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

Abiya,
some tolerance never hurt

[ October 10, 2002, 02:03 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Bob Griffin ]

 

King, it was Pinoybaptist who made that rude remark, not Abiyah. Pinoybaptist is not known for his diplomacy here...

I have to admit I was rather stunned to learn that "Allah" had been used for "God" in the translation of the New Testament. That REALLY bothers me, to tell you the truth, because all that can do is lead to massive confusion regarding the Islamic Allah and the God of the Bible.

Mark, I think you are misunderstanding about the name of God part of this thread. "Lord" is a title. It is not a name. Deos, Theos, and even Zeus are all derivatives of the same word which simply meant 'god' as in 'deity.' Those, except for Zeus, which became a proper name later, are very generic terms. The term elohim is also somewhat generic, as it is simply the plural (more than two in this case) of the generic 'el' which is found in a number of names, such as Samuel and Daniel.

But YHWH is the name by which He refers to Himself to Moses.

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses, " I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, 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."

And today, if someone speaks of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we know exactly who is being referred to.

The other thing that needs to be mentioned is that 'name' also referred to character, as in "he has a good name in our town." Today we name kids for the sound of the names, rarely for the meaning. In the times before ours, every name had a meaning, and when God gives His 'name' He is not giving a name as we think of it today, but He is describing His character and identity historically.

"I AM" describes the eternality of God.

"Messiah" means "the Anointed One"

In the last two Bible studies below, the idea of what 'name' means was brought out very clearly in Exodus 33 and 34. In Exodus 33, God tells Moses, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence."

"LORD" there is YHWH, the I AM.

Now, go to chapter 34, where the Lord does indeed pass by Moses while Moses is protected by a cleft in the rock:

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." (The full quote and a discussion of it can be found in the Bible study forum.)

Thus does God tie in His character with His name.

Adonai, on the other hand, it NOT a name, but a title, thus meaning something entirely different. It is found today in the title Lord in England, and bears approximately the same meaning: a respectful title for an esteemed person. In England it has to be bestowed by the crown, which is a little different, for in Israel, any esteemed person might possibly be addressed by that title. It is generally translated as Lord with the three last letters in lower case to distinguish it from LORD in all capitals, which is the only actual name God has given Himself -- but which nevertheless presents the concept of His eternal nature in the original language. It carries, in fact, the same meaning that Jesus told John in Revelation: "I AM the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end."

Still, a name describing a characteristic is quite different from a title. LORD is the first, and Lord the second. The fact that Greek and English may be somewhat deficient in vocabulary where needed here does not take away from the original intent and meaning.

Hope that helps, at least a little!

[ October 09, 2002, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Helen ]