Posted on 05/10/2016 9:26:24 AM PDT by Olog-hai
“it is still clear that the name ‘Allah’ is not ‘Al-ilah’”
You are contradicting your own source:
http://www.letusreason.org/islam6.htm
“Allah is the name of the only God in Islam. Allah is a pre-Islamic name coming from the compound Arabic word Al-ilah which means the God, which is derived from al (the) ilah (deity).”
Ironically, you are in agreement with the Muslims who deny that this is the origin of the term “Allah”. But this chicken and egg argument is irrelevant. The issue is how the true God should be referenced in Arabic. I assert, along with millions of Arabic believers, many of whom died for their faith rather than deny God or Christ, that “Allah” is THE word for God in Arabic.
“The personalities of the Koranic deity and the Bible’s God are utterly divergent.”
You are changing the subject. I never said ANYTHING remotely to the contrary.
I just gave you countless Biblical passages explaining clearly from the Bible that MANY people use the correct title AND name for God while teaching and doing what is contrary to His personality, character, and commandments. That is the case of Islam. It is also the case of many who identify as Jew or Christian.
“You still haven’t proved that ‘Allah’ specifically does mean the Biblical God”
This is no different than an Arab Muslim challenging you to PROVE that “God” is a legitimate title for the Almighty Creator of the Universe.
I think rather it is up to you to support YOUR assertion. My assertion rests on the Bible. Did you not hear that repeatedly? The BIBLE.
The Arabic Bible has ALWAYS referred to God as “Allah”. It has done so since hundreds of years before there was an English Bible.
Now, many centuries later, Muslims are plaguing the planet, and you are angry, like most civilized people, and you are, out of pure emotion, asserting that Christians and Jews who speak Arabic should NEVER refer to God as “Allah” because of what the Muslims have done to abuse that title.
The reality is that you are trying to correct Bible translators and evangelists who gave their lives to bring the Gospel and Bible to Arabs. And you don’t have the ability to correct them because you do not know enough to translate the Bible into Arabic, and even if you learned that, your premise about God’s title in that language is incorrect.
And you have again ignored my question, which I am asking for the fourth post: what is the correct title for God in Arabic?
From your comments I can only guess it is one of the following:
1. you haven’t the slightest clue and don’t care to know, just want to argue what it is not
2. it is a secret you are keeping
3. you don’t know but are scrambling furiously to figure out in hopes of winning this argument and saving yourself the disappointment of having to admit to being wrong
4. you think it should be Al-ilah (i.e. the God) instead of Allah (i.e. God) in order to distinguish it from the Islamic apostasy
5. ??? I don’t know. You tell me. Is there some other option I haven’t thought of? Why won’t you answer a simple question? If you are so sure that Allah is NOT God’s title in Arabic, then what is the correct one?
I didn’t use that quote, and there is a reason for it. I quoted the secondary sources.
I am wondering if you simply glance at my posts and then just shoot a quick response without reading. So, for the fifth post I will ask you:
What word SHOULD Arabic speakers use to refer to the one true God?
I’ll settle for “al ilah”, non-contracted.
That is, since the matter is of some import to you.
“That is, since the matter is of some import to you.”
I think since Christ commanded His disciples to proclaim the Gospel to every nation and teach them the word of God, it is important to Him:
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
An essential requirement to fulfilling this is to overcome the language barriers. It was God who created the language barriers in Babel (incidentally, located in the Arabian peninsula). It was also God who broke down these barriers on the day the Church became the Church (i.e. Pentecost).
“I’ll settle for ‘al ilah’, non-contracted.”
Thank you for answering the question. There are problems with your position on this, but at least you have one.
ilah means “god” or “idol”.
alihah means “gods” or “idols”.
ilahah is the feminine version, i.e. “goddess”.
al-Lah is the gender neutral “the God”. This is the English equivalent of how “Allah” is written in Arabic. (Arabic is a cursive language that does not use the English alphabet.)
But your position has significant problems:
1. The supposed connection between Allah and the Arabian moon god presupposes that Allah is a contraction of your preferred Arabic term for God, al-ilah. You cannot simultaneously claim that Allah is NOT a contraction of your preferred term and is really a repurposed moon god. The Arabic moon god, who had three daughters, was called... (drum roll please) al-ilah.
2. You are taking the side of Muslims who say Allah is a unique name for their deity and did not derive from your preferred title, al-ilah. You are contradicting centuries of scholarship by Jewish and Christian translators who ALWAYS translated the title of God as “Allah” in Arabic.
3. Your preferred term, al-ilah, means “the god” or “the idol” to Arabic speakers. Can you imagine Arabic Muslims demanding that English speaking Christians always preface God with the article “the” because God’s title is constantly used as a curse in Western movies? Therefore, according to these Muslims, you must distinguish your God from the misuse of His title. How about if it were Arabic speaking Christians who demanded this from you? How would you feel about complying with their demand?
4. And let’s suppose you got your way, and Arabic speakers came to understand al-ilah to mean “the God” you would still be ADDING to the Bible in most places if you were to replace “God” with “the God”.
Proverbs 30:6
Do not add to His words,
Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
5. You are siding with Muslims who attack Christians. Arabic speaking Christians universally use “Allah” as the title of God. As far as I know, no Christians are being compelled by Muslims to call the God of the Bible “Allah”. When Christians are allowed to co-exist with Muslim neighbors, they distinguish the God of the Bible with terms like “Father” and Lord, etc. The only case that I know of where Christians are persecuted regarding using the term “Allah” is BECAUSE they do call the God of the Bible “Allah” in Arabic. And some Muslims are offended at this. It is illegal in Malaysia to call the God of the Bible “Allah’ (in spite of the fact that the Koran states the same). However, keep in mind that Arabic is not the language of Malaysia.
In spite of my disagreement with your insistance on Christians rejecting Allah as the Arabic term for God, I will agree that using your distinction could be useful in one case. If Muslims try to force a Christian to convert to Islam by saying the Shahada, which begins “La ilah illa Allah”, he could instead indicate “La ilah illa al-ilah” in order to distinguish his belief. But, in English, the phrase really just means, “there is no other god besides God”. This is something Christians agree with. What would be wrong is to say “there is no god but Allah”.
We agree here, but for slightly different reasons. Yours is that you have been arguing that Allah is NOT the Arabic title for God. Mine is that it IS God’s title in Arabic and not a universal name. Saying this is mixing English with Arabic, and it IS treating Allah as if the Muslims are correct and it is His universal name. So it would be wrong for Christians to assent to this.
Of course my point is not to say the Christian understanding of God is the same as that of Muslims. Nor am I advocating Christians to adopt the word Allah if they do not speak Arabic. I am simply arguing that it is wrong to denigrate the term because it is the word for God, not only for Arabic speaking Muslims, but also for Arabic speaking Christians and Jews. And it is the title that God preserved for Himself in that language.
Thankfully, we do not need to learn to speak a foreign language to come to God through Jesus Christ. Neither do Arabic speakers.
You may be banned, on the other hand, England still sucks.
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