KNOWING ALLAH

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Allah is the Arabic term for "God" in Abrahamic religions, and is the main term for the diety in Islam.

Most Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians and Jews (including the Teimanim, several Mizraḥi communities and some Sephardim) use "Allah" as the proper noun for 'God.' "Allah" is found in the Qur'an and in Arabic translations of the Bible. In the Qur'an, it refers to The Only God.

Outside the Arab world, Allah is associated with Islam, and is used to refer specifically to the Islamic concept of God. It is the same as the Jewish conception of God [1][2] , but differs from the Trinitarian Christian conception of a single God.

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

Etymology
Most linguists believe that the term Allah is derived from a contraction of the Arabic words al (the) and ʾil?h (deity, masculine form) - al-il?h meaning "the god". Also, one of the main pagan goddesses of pre-Islamic Arabia, All?t (al + ʾil?h + at, or 'the goddess'), is cited as being etymologically (though not synchronically) the feminine linguistic counterpart to the grammatically masculine All?h. If so, the word All?h is an abbreviated title, meaning 'the deity', rather than a name.

Both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars often translate All?h directly into English as 'God'; and Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians refer to God as All?h. However, some Muslim scholars feel that "All?h" should not be translated, because they perceived the Arabic word to express the uniqueness of "All?h" more accurately than the word "god", which can take a plural "gods", whereas the word "All?h" has no plural form. This is a significant issue in translation of the Qur'an.

Centuries before Muhammad, the word "Allah" was used by pagan tribes in the Arabian peninsula to signify the chief deity in the Kaaba in Mecca. Along with Allah, the pre-Islamic Arabs believed in a host of other gods, such as Hubal and 'daughters of All?h' [the three daughters associated were al-L?t, al-`Uzzah, and Manah]" (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, "The Facts on File", ed. Anthony Mercatante, New York, 1983, I:61). (Pre-Islamic Jews referred to their supreme creator as Yahweh or Elohim.) This view of Allah by the pre-Islamic pagans is viewed by Muslims as a later development having arisen as a result of moving away from Abrahamic monotheism over time. Secular historians, meanwhile, have postulated that monotheism is the result of an evolution from henotheism, the belief in a supreme deity as well as various lesser divinities. (See Judaism.) The pagan Arabians also used the word "All?h" in the names of their children; Muhammad's father, who was born into pagan society, was named "`Abdull?h", which translates "servant of All?h". "`Abdull?h" is still used for names of Muslim and non-Muslim Arabs. Pre-Islamic Christians also used the word, as testified by the Zabad inscription.

[ Last edited by  peret at 21-7-2006 02:33 PM ]

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The word All?h is always written without an alif to spell the ? vowel. This is because the spelling was settled before Arabic spelling started habitually using alif to spell ?. However, in vocalized spelling, a small diacritic alif is added on top of the shaddah to indicate pronunciation. One exception is in the pre-Islamic Zabad inscription, where it is spelled الاه.

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

Also In Abjad numerals, The Name Of Allah (الله ) numeric value is 66. The word Allah had been used in the Arabic tongue in the Jahleyyah period (time period before Islam), and Arabic classical poetry contains that word.

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

[ Last edited by  peret at 21-7-2006 02:35 PM ]

peret

From the point of view of traditional Islamic theology, Allah is the most precious name of God because it is not a descriptive name like other ninety-nine names of God, but the name of God's own presence. Muslims believe that the name Allah existed before the time of Adam, and that Allah is the same God worshipped by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and other prophets recognized by the Qur'an. In the Qur'an, rabb (English: Lord) is also one of the usual names of God.

The emphasis in Islamic culture on reciting the Qur'an in Arabic has resulted in All?h often being used by Muslims world-wide as the word for God, regardless of their native language. Out of 114 Suras in the Qur'an, 113 begin with the Basmala ("Bismi 'llahi 'r-rahmani 'r-rahim" بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم which means "In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful".

Muslims, when referring to the name of Allah, often append the phrase "Subhanahu wa Ta`ala", sometimes abbreviated SWT, (english: "Glorified and Exalted is He") as a sign of reverence. "`Azza wa Jalla" (عز و جل) is also sometimes appended in this way. The entire religion of Islam is based on the idea of getting closer to God.[citation needed] Although commonly referred to as a "He", God is considered genderless, but there is no epicene gender to express this in the Arabic language. When Greek or other polytheistic deities are discussed in Arabic, it is customary to use the expression ilah, a "deity" or "god"; sometimes the word ma`b?d, literally meaning "worshipped [entity]", is used instead.

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Uses of "Allah" in phrases
There are many phrases that contain the word Allah:

La ilaha illallah (لآ اِلَـهَ اِلاَّ لله ) (There is no god but God)
Allahu Akbar (الله أكبر ) (God is most great/God is the greatest / God is Greater)
A'uzu billahi min ash shaitani r rajimi (أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم) (I seek refuge in God from Satan, the accursed)
Bismi-llah (بسم الله) (In the name of God)
In sha' Allah (إن شاء الله) (If God is willing)
etymological origin of the Spanish interjection "Ojal

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The name Allah was used in pre-Islamic times by Pagans within the Arabian peninsula to signify the supreme creator. Pre-Islamic (as well as Islamic-era) Jews referred to God as Adonai(as well as El, YHWH, and other names). (God is also referred to as Elohim, literally "the Gods", in the Tanakh, possibly implying polytheistic roots). The pagan Arabs recognized "Allah" as the supreme God in their pantheon (as was El in the Cana'anite pantheon); along with Allah, however, the pre-Islamic Arabs believed in a host of other gods, such as Hubal and 'daughters of Allah' (the three daughters associated were al-L?t, al-`Uzzah, and Manah) (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, "The Facts on File", ed. Anthony Mercatante, New York, 1983, I:61). This view of Allah by the pre-Islamic pagans is viewed by Muslims as a later development having arisen as a result of moving away from Abrahamic monotheism over time. Some of the names of these pagan gods are said to be derived from the descendants of Noah, whom later generations first revered as saints, and then transformed into gods. The pagan Arabians also used the word "Allah" in the names of their children; Muhammad's father, who was born into pagan society, was named "`Abdullah", which means "servant of Allah". "`Abdullah" is still used for names of Muslim and non-Muslim Arabs.

One of the earliest surviving translations of the word Allah into a foreign language is in a Greek translation of the Shahada, from 86-96 AH (705-715 AD), which translates it as ho theos monos[2], literally "the one god". Also the cognate Aramaic term appears in the Aramaic version of the New Testament, called the Pshitta (or Peshitta) as one of the words Jesus used to refer to God, e.g., in the sixth Beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see Al?ha." And in the Arabic Bible the same words: "طُوبَى لأَنْقِيَاءِ الْقَلْبِ، فَإِنَّهُمْ سَيَرَوْنَ الله"

Wallahualam

[ Last edited by  peret at 21-7-2006 02:43 PM ]