the meaning of "ALLAH"?

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.