Is 'Allah' a common noun?
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A website that I came across makes an amusing (albeit retarted) claim that 'Allah' or 'God' is a common noun. The reason for such an imbecile claim is apparently faith -- looks like the Bibliolator's Bible tells him that 'YHWH' (yeah, consonants, not even Yahweh) is the proper name of God. As such, faith necessitates the dude to live out the rest of his existence as a jerk.
However, it must be clearly understood that neither god nor God is a proper noun; rather they are both common nouns, referring to someone in the case of god, to any deity; and in the case of God, to a specific deity. The common noun man is a way of referring to someone without using his name; likewise, using the common noun God is a way of referring to that unique One, without using His name.
What this valiant Bibliolator has probably always struggled with is using a dictionary. I will put up Mr. Webster's entry for 'proper noun'
a noun that designates a particular being or thing, does not take a limiting modifier, and is usually capitalized in English - called also proper name
The definition could be called a little tricky (or forced to appear tricky), but as far as 'Allah' is concerned it should not be a problem. Then why does our valiant Bibliolator take a tumble? Possibly this is why
If someone called a person man they would be correct, but generic. And if someone called him Robert they would also be correct, but personal. Now lets talk about God.
When we refer to God, the term is true and acceptable. However God is not His name, just as man is not my name. I have a name by which those who know me can call me. To others, I might be referred to as that man. Names are more intimate.
It is hard to follow the gibberish there, but what he seems to be saying is that God has a Name, and only that Name can be called a proper noun, and all other references are merely common nouns.
It's a lame attempt, but what makes it worse is the motivation behind the attempt -- faith. The dude is not employing any argument other than along the lines of "Bible tells us YHWH is God's only Name". And once he has concluded that God's only Name is 'YHWH,' he is convinced that 'YHWH' alone is a proper noun, and all other references are common nouns. What probably fails to tickle him is that the Quran doesn't even mention YHWH.
Coming back to 'Allah' or 'God,' we are making a specific reference. The dude draws a false parallel and forces a false analogy (how common is this practice) between 'man' and 'God'. A man is one among many men, but God is only One.
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Now that we have looked at the Webster entry for proper noun, let us have a go at it the other way around -- let us look at 'common noun'
a noun that may occur with limiting modifiers (as a or an, some, every, and my) and that designates any one of a class of beings or things
Plainly, man belongs to the class 'men,' and is rightfully a common noun.
What about God? Is there a class of 'gods' that God belongs to? For those believing in three gods it might make sense -- a class of 'gods'. But the Quranic understanding of Allah definitely allows no room for such a class. Possibly, our unfortunate Bibliolator will be disappointed to learn that 'Allah' is not a common noun.