La ilaha illAllah - No God except Allah?

[meedo]

I looked at your link and it does not say that Allah is a name. It just says that it means the One God. Is Allah really used as a name like John? I can not imagine that anyone would dare to call themself God.

You are correct though that Allah comes from the Aramaic, “Elaw” which also meant God. .

My Link has the Topic of the name that i referenced to . Just because it changed a bit between Aramaic and Arabic doesnt mean that its a different name.

The name is used by both to refer to the God of Abraham as written in the link. The word God is ‘‘Elah’’ . While specifically the God of Abraham is referenced to be ‘‘Allah’’ in arabic or ‘‘Alaha’’ in aramaic . This mean that it is a noun. A name that is given to this specific God . The God Of Abraham.

The Word '‘Elah’ is a god . Any God . The Word Allah is the specifric God of Abraham.

Thanks for listening.

meedo

 

[jcaz]

I’m sorry if the original post has already been answered. But i read the first 10 posts and then skimmed the rest and did not see an obvious, simply answer.

First of all, to the thread starter, and anyone else who is interested, the word “ilah” does NOT mean God with a capital “G”. The word “ilah” DOES mean “god” with a lowercase “g”.

In arabic, as in english, we have definite and indefinite. Simple reminder of English: to make an indefinite noun definite, simply add the word “the” in front of it. And likewise, in Arabic, an indefinite noun is made definite by adding the two letters alif and laam in front of the word (“al”). Lastly, it is also obvious in both languages that a person’s name is also definite.

So with regards to the statement “laa ilaaha illa allaah”, an EXACT, literal translation would be: “No god except the god.”

God with a capital “G” is synonymous, according to english speakers, with the two words “the god”. That is why you will sometimes see the translation as “no god except God.”

And yes it is true, that if you open an Arabic BIBLE, you will see, in arabic of course, the word ALLAAH whereever your English Bible says God.

Hope this helps.

Jonathan

 

[Eden]

You are correct. I wrongly assumed that you were implying that Muslims worship some god other than God. Perhaps that is because I have seen these “moon god” accusations all over the web and they are being made by people who are asserting that Christians and Muslims worship diffferent gods. As a Catholic, I can not believe this.

In re-reading what you actually wrote you state that there is no unanimous agreement on the origin of the word Allah. With that I would agree.

O.K. Understood. Thanks!

 

[chart9891]

Allah is God in arabic so is alloho God in aramaic.
I as a maronite catholic from lebanon call God allah and alloho since our litrugy is based on aramaic.

You should understand that arabic is not like english or any other language. Different vowels or pronounciations can lead to different meanings. let me illustrate, Allah mean God, illahy means my God, illah mean a god, illah in another pronounciation can also mean God, allah-ha means the God and so on…

I hope i got to the point
In Christ our only saviour,
Charbel Touma

 

[Ghosty]

I worship with Maronite and Melkite Catholics all the time, and I can attest that “Allah” is the word used for God. I never knew that the al- is for the article “the”, while il- is basically “a”, or an indefinate article, but that makes perfect sense of the Liturgies now that I know it. I always wondered why sometimes we said “illah” and sometimes “allah”, but the former is always said when the word is used in an indefinate sense.

Allah is a completely Catholic term, and was used by Catholics long before Mohammed came along. The matter of his errors is something totally different from the word itself; the former are heretical, the latter is completely Catholic, and is used in Catholic Liturgies.

For example, in every Melkite (Arabic Byzantine) Liturgy we say:

Quddusun Allah! Quddusun al-qawi! Quddusun al-adhi, la yamut irhamna.

Which is “Holy God! Holy Mighty One! Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.” This Liturgy predates Islam by a few hundred years.

Peace and God bless!

 

[meedo]

I worship with Maronite and Melkite Catholics all the time, and I can attest that “Allah” is the word used for God. I never knew that the al- is for the article “the”, while il- is basically “a”, or an indefinate article, but that makes perfect sense of the Liturgies now that I know it. I always wondered why sometimes we said “illah” and sometimes “allah”, but the former is always said when the word is used in an indefinate sense.

Allah is a completely Catholic term, and was used by Catholics long before Mohammed came along. The matter of his errors is something totally different from the word itself; the former are heretical, the latter is completely Catholic, and is used in Catholic Liturgies.

For example, in every Melkite (Arabic Byzantine) Liturgy we say:

Quddusun Allah! Quddusun al-qawi! Quddusun al-adhi, la yamut irhamna.

Which is “Holy God! Holy Mighty One! Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.” This Liturgy predates Islam by a few hundred years.

Peace and God bless!

Thanks Ghosty.

Allah is not an invention of Islam . Its the God of Abraham as arabs before Islam understands him. And thats the name they always knew of him even befroe Jesus . So it is actually predates both Islam and Christianity.

thanks

 

[meedo]

Quddusun al-adhi, I]

Holy Immortal One

QUOTE]

I think this one isnt quite correct. Immortal in arabic means ''Khalid ‘’ or ‘‘Daem’’ I dont know about al-adhi.

Al- adhia means ‘‘the sacrifice’’.

thanks

 

[Ghosty]

Ghosty;1520452:

Quddusun al-adhi, I]

Holy Immortal One

QUOTE]

I think this one isnt quite correct. Immortal in arabic means ''Khalid ‘’ or ‘‘Daem’’ I dont know about al-adhi.

Al- adhia means ‘‘the sacrifice’’.

thanks

I just pulled it from an Arabic transliteration of the Trisagion. The actual Arabic (which I can’t read) is:

قدوس الله، قدوس القوي، قدوس الذي لا يموت ارحمنا

Another transliteration I’ve found is:

Quddouson (Qudooson) Allah! Quddouson ul-qawee! Quddouson ulladhee la yamout! Irhamna.

All I know is the sounds we pray, since I don’t actually speak nor understand Arabic

Peace and God bless!

 

[Ghosty]

Thanks Ghosty.

Allah is not an invention of Islam . Its the God of Abraham as arabs before Islam understands him. And thats the name they always knew of him even befroe Jesus . So it is actually predates both Islam and Christianity.

thanks

Indeed. Catholics should not be troubled by its use. Like I said, I say it in Catholic prayers when praying in Arabic Liturgies (Masses).

 

[murtad]

The word for God in arabic is ilaha, if you are heaing allah-ha, chances are they are saying the word ilaha.

Perhaps, you are confusing Arabic and Aramaic? We, Aramaic-speaking Christians say Alaha as that is the common noun for God in Syriac, the natural language of Jesus our Lord. OTOH, the proper noun for God in Syriac is Marya, which corresponds to the Hebrew, Yahweh.

But Muslims actually use the word Allah, and the phrase La ilaha illAllah, which translates there is no God but Allah.

Muslims being Arabised certainly use Arabic proper noun “Allah”. However, Middle Eastern Christians were, are and will always be Syriac-speaking, such as Chaldean Catholic Church where I worship in. In Aramaic, the general word for God is Alaha, while special word for God is Marya. The Peshitta text of the Aramaic New Testament uses this pronounciation.

It’s interesting, I always thought Allah was just the Muslim word for God but it isn’t. I also didn’t know Allah was one of the many pagan Gods’ during Muhammed’s time.

Allah is certainly a Muslim word for God, however, Middle Eastern Christians use Arabic because their mother tongue, Syriac (and Coptic) became dead languages. It is only very recently (since March 2003) the Iraqi government declared Syriac (Aramaic) one of the four official languages of Iraq, side-by-side Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish.

Also, the Islamic Shahada is correctly translated into English as “there is no deity but God”, as Allah means God, while ilaha means deity. However, Muslims hate all languages except their founders own language, so that is why they like Jews idolise one particular language.

 

[murtad]

Some of the Catholics in my school who come from the middle east call God “Allah-ha”.

If your Catholic friends come from Lebanon or Iraq, then they are actually Arameans–either Maronites or Chaldeans. Their liturgical language is Aramaic (Syriac), which is the natural language of Jesus our Lord. Arabic is used mainly for sermons and personal Bible study.

Of course, lot has changed after Saddam was overthrown in March 2003. Today, Syriac is one of the 4 official languages of Iraq.

In Aramaic, when I pray, I use Alaha, which means the same as God in English.

 

[murtad]

Ok. The Word Allah is a Name . Its the name given to the God of Abraham in two languages .

Aramaic and Arabic. This word is not invented by Muslims. Nor was Muslims the sole users of thsi word to refer to the God of Abraham.

You are wrong because in Aramaic, which I am quite fluent, the proper name for God is Marya, while the general name for God is Alaha.

Alaha is used for both the true God and also false gods. However, Marya is always used for the true God in the sense like the Hebrew word, Yahweh.

 

[chart9891]

Since im a Maronite from lebanon
Aramaic:
Qadishat alloho, Qadishat hayontono, Qadishat lumoyuto, itraham 'alayi.
Arabic:
Quddusun allah, Qaddusin al Qawi, Quddusun althi la yamout, irhamna.

They do sound pretty close…

 

[chart9891]

i know a bit of aramaic, but isn’t moryo or marya, My lord? or Lord? Which is Rab not allah in arabic!

 

[murtad]

Allah is not an invention of Islam .

Its true that Allah is not an invention of Islam–it was an invention of the Arab pagans.

Its the God of Abraham as arabs before Islam understands him. And thats the name they always knew of him even befroe Jesus . So it is actually predates both Islam and Christianity.

No, Allah is NOT the God of Abraham, who was a Hebrew. Also, it is really inaccurate to call Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanonese (both Christians and Muslims alike) as Arabs for they are of the Syrian race and their mother tongue was Aramaic.

However, the racist Islamic imperialists banned Aramaic and force converted many Arameans from Christianity to Islam via discriminatory taxes called Jizyah and Kharaj.

Its only Arabists and Islamists who will call themselves Arabs and take pride of Arab identity, eventhough Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanonese as a people are NOT Arabs racially but Syrians racially.

Take a look at a Saudi man and then another look at a Palestinians/Lebanonese/Syrian man, and you will be surprised they look very very different, eventhough all speak Arabic!

 

[Ghosty]

Its true that Allah is not an invention of Islam–it was an invention of the Arab pagans.

No, Allah is NOT the God of Abraham, who was a Hebrew. Also, it is really inaccurate to call Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanonese (both Christians and Muslims alike) as Arabs for they are of the Syrian race and their mother tongue was Aramaic.

However, the racist Islamic imperialists banned Aramaic and force converted many Arameans from Christianity to Islam via discriminatory taxes called Jizyah and Kharaj.

Its only Arabists and Islamists who will call themselves Arabs and take pride of Arab identity, eventhough Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanonese as a people are NOT Arabs racially but Syrians racially.

Take a look at a Saudi man and then another look at a Palestinians/Lebanonese/Syrian man, and you will be surprised they look very very different, eventhough all speak Arabic!

Ahhh, the true hotbed of Middle Eastern identity politics comes to the fore, something that many Western people have no sense of.

I’m of Armenian descent, my family being from Mid-Southern Turkey, so I’m familiar with these issues. I’m not intending to poke fun at the matter at all, just highlighting that many non-Middle Eastern people are completely unaware of these things

Back to your regularily scheduled thread!

Peace of God be with you!

 

[inJESUS]

i know a bit of aramaic, but isn’t moryo or marya, My lord? or Lord? Which is Rab not allah in arabic!

one thing is sure to Arabic speaking Christians. Allah is not a proper name.

As to Moryo, well it reminds me of the Alif Lam Mim in the beginning of some Quranic Suras. Muslims do not know there meaning and think it has some “mystery” in it when in fact the the ancient patriarches used these same letters Alif Lam Mim in the begining of their writings to denote Amara Li Moryo = God told me.

Regarding Christian Lebanese and Syrians, well many take it as offence to be called “Arab”. In some cities in Syria, Aramaic is the language used, and if you tell a Christian : master ( common arabic word to say : Mr), a Christian might reply : we have only one Master, Jesus Christ.

 

[jcaz]

I’m sorry if the original post has already been answered. But i read the first 10 posts and then skimmed the rest and did not see an obvious, simply answer.

First of all, to the thread starter, and anyone else who is interested, the word “ilah” does NOT mean God with a capital “G”. The word “ilah” DOES mean “god” with a lowercase “g”.

In arabic, as in english, we have definite and indefinite. Simple reminder of English: to make an indefinite noun definite, simply add the word “the” in front of it. And likewise, in Arabic, an indefinite noun is made definite by adding the two letters alif and laam in front of the word (“al”). Lastly, it is also obvious in both languages that a person’s name is also definite.

So with regards to the statement “laa ilaaha illa allaah”, an EXACT, literal translation would be: “No god except the god.”

God with a capital “G” is synonymous, according to english speakers, with the two words “the god”. That is why you will sometimes see the translation as “no god except God.”

And yes it is true, that if you open an Arabic BIBLE, you will see, in arabic of course, the word ALLAAH whereever your English Bible says God.

Hope this helps.

Jonathan

Saint_Michael,

I keep revisiting this thread just to know if you felt my reply did indeed answer your question. If it did, could you please advise.

Thank you.

Regards,
Jonathan

 

[Lance]

If Allah is the Arabic word for God, how does this phrase “La ilaha illAllah” make sense? ilaha means God in arabic, why don’t Muslims say La ilaha ill ilaha? That would translate there is no God but God. But the phrase La ilaha illAllah specifically names the Muslims God as ‘Allah’. We know from Jewish scripture God’s name is YHWH or Yahweh, not Allah. Allah was one of hundreds of God’s worshipped pre-Islam before Muhammed brought Islam to the Arabian peninsula.

I just found this very interesting as I always heard “there is no God but God”, and just assumed it would translate “there is no Allah but Allah”. I never realized Allah was the name of the Muslims God and not the word for God.

MY son in law is a Christian from Lebanon and he refers to God in Arabic as Allah. He assures me this is the Arabic word for God. I have many, many disputes with and doubts about Islam but this is not one of them.

 

[pumpqeen]

1 - God that Moses spoke to, loved the Jews. But the being that muhammad met in the dark Hira cave can’t wait to kill the jews and christians.

Bible – Isai 54:8 8 In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment,
but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love,"says the Lord your Redeemer.

Qur’an – Sur 5:51 “Believers, take not Jews and Christians for your friends.” Hadith : The Hour [Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. And the Jews will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, this is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!

1. The Jewish God strictly forbids His people from taking blood, and blood taking is an abomination! But Allah praises even blood-sucking insects, like mosquitoes!

Bible - Ge 9:4 - But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Quran - Sur 2:26 - Allah does not shy away from citing any kind of allegory,* from the tiny mosquito and greater. As for those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their Lord.

1. The Jewish God appeared personally to Moses in a burning bush during the day and descended as a dove on Christ in full view of the public. But Allah’s ‘gabriel’ appeared in the dark in the Hira cave alone (without witnesses) with Muhammad who later freaked out in pain (according to hadiths and an admission by Muhammad’s own foster mother).

Bible - Ex 3:2 - And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Wikipedia - Hira or the Cave of Hira is the location where Muhammad, according to Islam, received his first revelations from Allah (God).

Very clearly then, the being that met muhammad in the dark Hira cave was NOT the same as the one that Moses saw at the burning bush. Plus of course, the quran recorded not a single miracle by muhammad nor prophesy unique to islam. In other words, allah unlike the God that met Moses was unable to perform any great works. If muhammad was the greatest prophet greater than even Moses or Enoch why was he inferior in miraculous power to them? Why was Moses buried by God, Enoch brought up to the heavens by God, Jesus resurrected, but Muhammad still rotting in Mecca?

Sorry for the bluntness, but these are facts. So, even if allah literally means god, nobody should say “there is no god but allah” cos that is the same as saying “there is no fish but fish”, cos that is oxymoronic. Now if allah is a NAME, then we ought to ask, why did God refuse to tell Moses His name when Moses asked? But God instead replied with “I am”. None of the prophets in the bible knew God by name cos God never gave His namecard.

Now, if a criminal comes up to you and say “hey, here’s God’s namecard, take it and worship”. What would you say? Let’s not be deceived.