| Is Allah, GOD? | Added: Feb-23-04 |
Dr. Arthur Jeffery, one of the foremost Western Islamic scholars in modern times and professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at Columbia University, notes:
"The name Allah, as the Quran itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa."
The name "Allah" comes from the compound Arabic word,al-ilah. Al is the definite article "the" and ilah is an Arabic word for "god." It is not a foreign word. it is not even the Syraic word for God. It is pure Arabic. Neither is Allah a Hebrew or Greek word for God as found in the Bible. Allah is a purely Arabic term used in reference to an Arabian deity.
Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics states:
"Allah is a proper name, applicable only to their [Arabs'] peculiar God.
According to the Encyclopedia of Religion:
"Allah is a pre-Islamic name...corresponding to the Babylonian Bel."
Allah was known to pre-Islamic Arabs as one of the many Meccan deities. Allah-worship as well as the worship of Ba-al (Bel), were both astral religions in that they involved the worship of the sun, the moon, and the stars. In particular, the moon god was called by various names, one of which was Allah. While the moon was generally worshipped as a female deity in the Ancient Near East, the Arabs viewed it as a male deity due to the influence of their prophet, Muhammad.
The Quraysh tribe into which Muhammad was born was particularly devoted to Allah, the moon god, and especially to Allah's three daughters who were viewed as intercessors between the people and Allah. The worship of the three goddesses, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat, played a significant role in the worship at the Kabah (the temple in Mecca). The first two daughters of Allah had names which were feminine forms of Allah.
The literal Arabic name of Muhammad's father was Abd-Allah. His uncle's name was Obied-Allah. These names reveal the personal devotion that Muhammad's pagan family had to the worship of Allah, the moon god. Since the idol of their moon god, Allah, was at Mecca, they prayed toward Mecca.
Muslims use the cresent moon and the sword as universal symbols. The use of the crescent moon as the symbol for Islam, which is placed on the flags of Islamic nations and on the top of mosques and minarets, is a throwback to the days when Allah was worshipped as the moon god in Mecca. Whereas the circle could easily be mistaken for something other than the moon, the crescent moon is used as a symbol of the moon god, Allah. Islam was born in military conquest, and has historically made converts with the sword. Muhammad said, "The sword is the key of Heaven and Hell." This is in stark contrast to the teaching of Jesus which teaches us to seek peace with and pray for people everywhere.
The Bible does not speak of Allah. Arabs claim that the name Allah is found in the biblical word allelujah. The "alle" in the first part of the word was actually "Allah" according to Muslim supporters. However, the Hebrew word allelujah is not a compound Hebrew word. That is, it is not made up of two or more words. It is one single Hebrew word which means "praise to Yahweh." The last part of the Hebrew word is jah, which has reference to Yahweh or Jehovah. The name Allah simply cannot be found in that word.
When Jesus was on the cross he cried out, "Eli, Eli," which Muslims claim He was actually saying, "Allah, Allah." This is not true either. The Greek New Testament at this point gives us the Aramaic, not the Arabic translation of a portion of Psalm 22:1. Jesus was saying, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me" because God the Father could not look upon sin, which Jesus became for us. It is a far cry to go from "Eli, Eli," all the way to "Allah, Allah." It simply cannot be done. Even some of them that stood at the cross when Jesus cried out thought Jesus had cried, Elias, Elias, meaning Elijah the prophet (Mark 15:35). This, again, is a far cry from "Allah, Allah."
As a matter of historical record, it was impossible for the authors of the Bible to speak of Allah as God. Why? Up until the seventh century when Muhammad made Allah into the "only" God, Allah was the name of a pagan deity! Moreover, until the time of Muhammad, Allah was simply one pagan god among many, his name a particular name for the moon god as worshipped in Arabia. The biblical authors would never have confused Allah with Jehovah any more than they would have confused Ba-al with Jehovah.
Many Westerners assume that Allah is just another name for God. This is due to their ignorance of the differences between the Allah of the Quran and the God of the Bible and also due to the propaganda of Muslim evangelists who use the idea that Allah is just another name for God as an opportunity to convert Westerners to Islam.
The Bible and the Quran are two competing documents that differ in their concept of deity. This fact cannot be overlooked just because it is not in conformity with the present popularity of religious relativism.
The answer to the question at the beginning of this study should be obvious. Allah is not the God of the Bible. Neither is Jesus, the Son of God, a prophet of Allah. This, in light of the above, is blasphemous and an abomination to the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac.