the meaning of "ALLAH"?

born_again

The word Allah, according to several Arabic lexicons, means "the Being Who comprises all the attributes of perfection", i.e. the Being Who is perfect in every way (in His knowledge, power etc.), and possesses the best and the noblest qualities imaginable in the highest degree. This meaning is supported by the Holy Quran when it says

"His are the best (or most beautiful) names." (17110; 208; and 7180)
Contrary to popular belief, the word Allah is NOT a contraction of al-ilah (al meaning 'the', and ilah meaning 'god').

Had it been so, then the expression ya Allah ('O Allah!') would have been ungrammatical, because according to the Arabic language when you address someone by the vocative form ya followed by a title, the al ('the') must be dropped from the title. For example, you cannot say ya ar-rabb but must say ya rabb (for 'O Lord'). So if the word Allah was al-ilah ('the God'), we would not be able to say ya Allah, which we do.

Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (which is based on classical Arabic dictionaries), says under the word Allah, while citing many linguistical authorities

"Allah ... is a proper name applied to the Being Who exists necessarily, by Himself, comprising all the attributes of perfection, a proper name denoting the true god ... the al being inseparable from it, not derived..."
Allah is thus a proper name, not derived from anything, and the Al is inseparable from it. The word al-ilah (the god) is a different word.
The word Allah is unique among the names of God in all the languages of mankind, in that it was never applied to any being other than God. The pre-Islamic Arabs used it to refer to the Supreme Being, and never applied it to any of the other things they worshipped. Other names of God used by mankind, such as "lord", "god", "khuda", etc. have all also been used for beings other than God. They have meanings which refer to some particular attribute of God, but "Allah" is the name which refers to the Being Himself as His personal name.

The Holy Quran itself refers to the uniqueness of the name Allah when it says

"Do you know anyone who can be named along with Him?" (1965)
Arabic is the only language, and Islam is the only religion, that has given the personal name of God (as distinct from attributive names such as lord, god, the most high, etc.) There are clear prophecies in previous scriptures (the Bible, the Vedas etc.) about the man who will come and give the name of God, which in previous religions was regarded as a secret.

David prophesied
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Psalms 11826).
This is also repeated in the Gospels (Matt. 219, etc.), and was fulfilled by the Holy Prophet Muhammad whose first revelation was "Read in the name of thy Lord" (the Quran, 961).

Zechariah prophesied
"And the Lord shall be king over all the earth, in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one." (Zech. 149)
All Muslims, anywhere on the earth, speaking totally different languages, recognise the name "Allah", thus fulfilling this prophecy, "his name one". (All Christians, to take an example, do not recognise a single name of God, and therefore do not fulfil this prophecy.)

Isaiah prophesied
"And in that day shall you say, Praise the Lord, call upon His name." (Isaiah 124)
So Muslims say repeatedly exactly this al-hamdu li-llah, and call upon His name Allah.
An objection answered.
The following objection has been raised regarding the name Allah
Al -'The', lah - 'God'. It means the God. It was one of the gods worshipped by the Arabs. His female equivalent was Allat, al- 'the', Lat 'goddess'. Muhammed's followers did not like the concept of worshipping a female diety.
Answer.
"Allah" was NOT "one of the gods" of the pre-Islamic Arabs, but was recognised by them as the supreme, abstract God. There was no idol which they called "Allah". The Quran quotes the idol-worshippers as presenting the argument that
"We worship them (i.e. the idols) only so that they may bring us nearer to Allah." (393)
Obviously then, "Allah" was not just one of the gods.
It is also entirely wrong to say that Al-Lat was a feminine form of Allah. Besides Allah, the different tribes of the Arabs believed in their tribal gods. "Al-Lat" was the tribal god of the Thaqeef tribe who lived in the city of Taif (where there was a shrine with an idol of Lat). The Quraish worshipped Uzza as their tribal god, and similarly with other tribes.

So it is simply incorrect to say that the Arabs regarded Lat as being a female equivalent of "Allah". "Allah" was, as said above, regarded by them as their supreme God. Lat, Manat etc. were believed in as tribal gods.

Moreover, Lat, Manat and Uzza were believed by them to be daughters of Allah, as the Quran says

"Have you then considered Lat and Uzza, and the third, Manat? Are the males for you and for Him the females" (5319-21).
The Quran is here pointing out the contradiction in their beliefs, that they ascribed daughters to Allah, but preferred to have sons themselves! So Lat being believed as a daughter of Allah, could not possibly be regarded by them as the female equivalent of Allah.
In Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon the words ilah (god) and Allah occur under the root A-L-H, but the word Al-lat is given under an entirely different root L-T. Therefore, "Al-lat" is not the feminine form of the word Allah (for in that case it would occur under the same root as for "Allah"), but is derived from a completely different root with a totally different meaning.

The root from which al-lat comes means (among other things) "to moisten". Lane quotes several reports on how the idol came to be so called. It is named after a man called Al-Lat. Sometime before Islam, there was a man who used to give pilgrims a barley meal (known as saweek), moistened with either water or clarified butter. He thus became known as Al-lat. After he died, the rock where he was buried came to be worshipped and was known by his name. And thus there came to be the idol named Al-lat.

REFERENCE http//www.muslim.org/islam/allah.htm

yfn123

Greetings,

Had it been so, then the expression ya Allah ('O Allah!') would have been ungrammatical, because according to the Arabic language when you address someone by the vocative form ya followed by a title, the al ('the') must be dropped from the title. For example, you cannot say ya ar-rabb but must say ya rabb (for 'O Lord'). So if the word Allah was al-ilah ('the God'), we would not be able to say ya Allah, which we do.

Is there any reference to "ya Allah" in the quran?

Anwar Azim

Riz

Elat, Alaha, Allah, Elohim(plural of Eloah I believe) all signify unity. From what I understand, Al-Lah means The One. Same with Alaha which is the Aramaic version which Jesus would have spoken. Alaha literally means Sacred Unity. Kind of ironic that Jesus would have refered to God as the Sacred Unity yet the Christians preach a trinity.

sytalls

In my mind, there is a definitely a difference in God and god. The capital letter carries the distinction in and of itself. Using "the" makes no difference and is poor grammar...actually conveying the opposite of what is intended.

If you wanted to make some sort of larger distinction, using the English language, you could refer to God as "The Almighty." Then the "the" does make a difference, but it really should be capitalized to show the highest respect.

For the sake of clarity, I recommend being careful in using capital letters (which I know often get dropped in internet discussions). But this is how God is distinguished and shown reverence in the English language--where His name is capitalized along with all pronouns (or descriptive nouns and adjectives) that refer to Him. Using "he" or "him" to refer to God isn't an appropriate sign of respect.

Same for "most merciful" and "Most Merciful," by way of example. God is Most Merciful, while a mere mortal might have been the most merciful amongst a group of people who were doing hospital volunteer work one afternoon. God is Great is appropriate in conveying respect for The Almighty; God is great isn't.

I know this might be difficult for some of you who've been blessed to be Muslims all you lives to understand, but God is the same to me as Allah, and the same One I worshiped as a Christian.

Riz

I agree with sytalls in that God is God. Whether you call him Varuna as the ancient hindus did, or Ouranos like the ancient Greeks, or God, or Khuda, or Allah or Alaha or Yahweh. Its the same concept. The supreme being. The uncaused Cause. The one who is, who was, and always will be.

This is just another case where the Sunnis speak from their own ignorance lack of understanding and study of the previous scriptures. God does not have a name. You can call God by whatever name as long as you acklowledge God. As it says in the Quran to the people of the book in 2946 "Our God and your God is one." And again, "Whatever name you call Him by, Allah or Ar-Rahman, all His names are beautiful." 17110

Elke

peace

concerning the meaning of allah i once heard of an interpretation that really pleased me, although i was unable to verify, not being a scientist

it's based on the arabic writing

the alef ( I ) is supposed to mean "gravity"
the double lam with shedda above would be long and short waves
the ta marbouta would represent electromagnetism

and these forces are what holds the universe together...

sorry i don't have the time to search for the caracters.
what are your're thoughts?

Elke

unknownuser

Allah is thus a proper name, not derived from anything, and the Al is inseparable from it. The word al-ilah (the god) is a different word.

".. monasteries, churches, synagogues, and masjids - where the name of GOD (Allah) is mentioned frequently"

Please prove for us that "Allah" (proper Name according to your source) is mentioned frequently in churches, monasteries and synagogues....

Mosques are the only place out of those four where the NAME of God (Yehweh) is NOT mentioned.

David prophesied
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Psalms 11826).

You've been fooled by looking at a wrong translation of the hebrew word (YHWH). The hebrew word for Lord is adon not YHWH. Now I will give the proper translation

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of YHWH (Yahweh, yehovah)"

The hebrew datagram "YHWH" (Yehweh) can not be translated into any other language, it is Gods personal name and no one knows what it means.

Isa 428 I am Yahweh that is my name and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images"

Exodus 202 "I am Yahweh your God (Elohim)"

..

Andya_Primanda

The key phrase in 2240 is 'ismu Allah'--'Name of God'

And nowhere in the Qur'an is God called YHWH. So we can safely ignore Albion's post above this wink

But wait! Could this be YHWH (or something similar) in the Qur'an?

1121
Qul Huwa Allahu ahad

Say, He is God, the One.

...oops sorry, wrong reasoning. My fault. I thought Huwa=YHWH. But on closer examination truns out that it's just a 'He'.

marie

Peace,

For me, Allah is originated from al-ilah which becomes alilah then allah.
In english, maybe linguistically it is not correct but I prefer to say the God instead of God, The God is closer to Allah and
more accurate than God .

Fore more information Le dieu, en arabe al-lah (French site)

And He is the God, there is no god but He. To Him belongs all praise in the first and in the last, and judgment belongs with Him, and to Him you will be returned.
Wa huwa Allahu la ilaha illa huwa lahu alhamdu fee al-oola waal-akhiratiwalahu alhukmu wa-ilayhi turjaAAoona

I think there is no god but He is a good definition for ALLAH

= LA / There is no

= ilah / God / divinity

= illa / but/except

= Hu / He

The God knows best

unknownuser

Peace be upon you,

Allah = the God.

It is not a name, it is a descriptioon like the rest of the God's descriptions. The God is above DEFINITIONS(that which seperates the HWOLE into parts).

the word "god" is like saying the word "governor"

sytalls

In english, maybe linguistically it is not correct but I prefer to say the God instead of God.

And this makes all the difference...since we all have the desire to show reverence in the best and most complete way possible. Which is ultimately the best and most complete answer to the original question.

As to that pesky grammar, my French is entirely pitiful and mostly forgotten these days, but I think your language uses articles more than English. We're somewhat less sophisicated in structure, so we drop "the," "a" and "an" for a lot of nouns.

=====

As for your comment, idolfree, I disagree. While "god" and "governor" are both common nouns, "God" (with a capital G) is a proper noun and refers to Allah.

I might say that Pataki is the governor of New York, but when I refer to him with his full and proper title, he is Governor Pataki (with a capital G). Which is the point I was trying to make about using "the" in front of "God." The governor of NY isn't as specific as Governor Pataki--one is more general than the other. That capital letter carries a lot of meaning in English and is, therefore, quite descriptive.

While how we each refer to God is an individual spiritual choice, I am surprised at the number of errors in most English translations of the Quran. Does anyone know why the publishers are so careless? Paperback mystery novels have fewer mistakes. As a writer, I wouldn't let even a brochure go out with so many errors, since they indicate to everyone who reads the brochure, "This information isn't important enough to proofread and correct." Why then such carelessness with a far more important publication such as the Quran?

Fahad1

salam all .
thank u all for ur replies . i think born_again's explaination makes the most sense . thank u for such a detailed reply, b_a .

Fahad1

Allah = the God.

al-ilah = The God , right ?
salam.

sytalls

Allah = the God.

al-ilah = The God , right ?
salam.

Maybe born again can addess this specific translation point, but I think al-ilah = the god,
while Allah = God

Peace.

mquran

Salaamun alaikum,

an alternative approach I would suggest is. Rather than bring English (my mother tongue) to the Quraan, lets bring Al-Quraan to English.

Take the word 'Allah'. Sure you can translate the word to god, God, The God, Gott, Deus, Theos, Khuda, Bhagwaan, Tuhaan etc etc. Allah is the most mentioned name in al-quraan, btw.

My approach is, use the word as an unknown, like 'x'. As you go along in your reading, slowly impregnate 'x' with meaning. For example

These are among the (precepts of) wisdom, which thy Lord has revealed to thee. Take not, with Allah, another object of worship (ilaahan akhara), lest thou shouldst be thrown into Hell, blameworthy and rejected (17/49)

So here, we can see a role of Allah is as giver of wisdom, previously explained in 17/23-38. So this helps 'impregnate' our understanding of the word 'Allah'.

Al-Quraan is a very theo-centric book. If we read it as such, imho, we could come to a better understanding.

thanks and peace.

yfn123

Greetings,

It appears that you don't understand. God has beautiful names. Call God, the Almighty, or the Creator or any other beautiful name of God, it is the same. You are still calling God.