Is Allah God?

netWMD - The War to Mobilize Democracy ^ | June 28, 2005 | Daniel Pipes

[forty_years]

Asked if Muslims worship the same Almighty as Jews and Christians, President Bush replied some months ago, "I believe we worship the same God." The Islamic deity, known as Allah, in other words, is the same Supreme Being to whom Jews and Christians pray.

The president's statement provoked widespread dismay among Evangelicals; one poll found 79% of their leadership disagreeing with this view. Pat Robertson pungently explained why, observing "the entire world is being convulsed by a religious struggle. … whether Hubal, the Moon God of Mecca, known as Allah, is supreme, or whether the Judeo-Christian Jehovah, God of the Bible, is Supreme."

Muslims at times agree that God and Allah are different. Irshad Manji has recounted how her teachers at a madrassah in Canada taught her this. And a Jewish scholar, Jon D. Levenson, finds the claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God "if not false, then certainly simplistic and one-sided."

This debate plays out at many levels. In the American scouting movement, Muslims promise "I will do my best to do my duty to God"; their British counterparts instead do their "duty to Allah."

This might seem like a minor semantic quibble, but the definition of Allah has profound importance. Consider two alternate ways of translating the opening line of Islam's basic declaration of faith (Arabic: la ilaha illa-la). One reads "I testify that there is no God but Allah," and the other "I testify that there is no deity but God."

The first states that Islam has a distinct Lord, one known as Allah, and implies that Jews and Christians worship a false god. The second states that Allah is the Arabic word for the common monotheistic God and implies a commonality with Jews and Christians.

The first translation is 40 times more common in a Google search than the second. Yet, the latter is accurate. Mr. Bush was right. There are several reasons to use the translation that equates Allah with God:

Scriptural: The Koran itself in several places insists that its God is the same as the God of Judaism and Christianity. The most direct statement is one in which Muslims are admonished to tell Jews and Christians "We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you; our God and your God is One, and to Him we do submit" (E.H. Palmer translation of Sura 29:46) Of course, the verse can also be rendered "our Allah and your Allah is One" (as it is in the notorious Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation)

Historical: Chronologically, Islam followed after Judaism and Christianity, but the Koran claims Islam actually preceded the other monotheisms. In Islamic doctrine (Sura 3:67), Abraham was the first Muslim. Moses and Jesus introduced mistakes into the Word of God; Muhammad brought it down perfectly. Islam views Judaism and Christianity as flawed versions of itself, correct on essentials but wrong in important details. This outlook implies that all three faiths share the God of Abraham.

Linguistic: Just as Dieu and Gott are the French and German words for God, so is Allah the Arabic equivalent. In part, this identity of meaning can be seen from cognates: In Hebrew, the word for God is Elohim, a cognate of Allah. In Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, God is Allaha. In the Maltese language, which is unique because it is Arabic-based but spoken by a predominantly Catholic people, God is Alla.

Further, most Jews and Christians who speak Arabic routinely use the word Allah to refer to God. (Copts, the Christians of Egypt, do not.) The Old and New Testaments in Arabic use this word. In the Arabic-language Bible, for instance, Jesus is referred to as the son of Allah. Even translations carried out by Christian missionaries, such as the famous one done in 1865 by Cornelius Van Dyke, refer to Allah, as do missionary discussions.

The God=Allah equation means that, however hostile political relations may be, a common "children of Abraham" bond does exist and its exploration can one day provide a basis for interfaith comity. Jewish-Christian dialogue has made great strides and Jewish-Christian-Muslim trialogue could as well.

Before that can happen, however, Muslims must first recognize the validity of alternate approaches to the one God. That means leaving behind the supremacism, extremism, and violence of the current Islamist phase.

http://netwmd.com/articles/article1056.html

[Dark Skies]

USF...thx bro.

As always...

[Oberon]

God is by definition beyond definition.

Then...what are we discussing, exactly?

[epow]

Myself, I do believe that there is a being worshipped by the name "Allah," and who maybe even spun a pack of lies to a fellow by the name of Mohammed once upon a time. That does not, however, make him my God.

I believe essentially the same as you regarding Allah. I believe he is that same very powerful, purely evil, rebellious archangel known in the bible as Satan.

Although his desire to damn the entire human race to eternal separation from God was thwarted by Jesus' death on the cross, he still binds untold millions of human souls in thrall to false religions such as Islam and Hinduism. He is a powerful, highly intelligent, implacable enemy of God and of every living human being. We take him and his mortal followers lightly at our peril.

[ChicagoHebrew]

Ladino speakers are primarily from Greece and Turkey, which pronounce is as vav -- as Syrians, Morrocans and Spanish-Portugese do. But Yemenites, Tunisians, Lybians, and Iraqis all pronounce it as waw.

[skr]

Allah is a false god, a disguise for Satan. There is only one true, living and eternal God.

[Lord Nelson]

No damn way. Allah is no more God than Joseph Smith. A figure of the Moslem's cultish imagination.

[Lord Nelson]

In my opinion we do.

[Lord Nelson]

Do you remember the race that CS Lewis created in his Narnia stories? The Carlomens? They were obviously Islamics and in his last book he revealed that they worshipped a demon.

[OKIEDOC]

Funny but true.

[QuiMundus]

See the difference? Allah is no more God than is Jerry Lewis.

Interesting comparison. Don't the French regard Jerry Lewis as some sort of "god"? That would explain a lot.

[QuiMundus]

The Muslim would say, “uh oh, not this shi’ite again.”

Using "shi'ite" in that way is a very tired old joke by now, but in the context of your "analysis" it was very funny indeed! Good one!

[OXENinFLA]

There is another reason Muslim clerics and kings don’t want the Qur’an translated. By so doing, their biggest deception dissolves. Muslims protest that Allah is simply the Arabic word for God and that we all worship the same spirit. But that’s simply not true. The Qur’an says that “Ilah” is the Arabic word for “God” and that “Allah” is his name. Qur’an 3:62 “This is the true explanation: There is no Ilah (God) except Allah.” Qur’an 52:43 “Have they an ilah (god) other than Allah?” Qur’an 5:4 “Pronounce the Name of Allah, and fear Allah.” Qur’an 21:107 “Say: ‘It is revealed to me that your Ilah (God) is only one Ilah (God).” Qur’an 20:8 “Allah! There is no Ilah (God) save Him.” Qur’an 20:14 “Verily, I am Allah. No Ilah (God) may be worshiped but I.” Qur’an 20:97 “Your Ilah (God) is Allah: there is no Ilah (God) but He.” Qur’an 59:22 “Allah is He, no other Ilah (God) may be worshiped; He is Allah, Whom there is no other Ilah (God).”

[pau1f0rd]

There is no god named Allah.

I used to live in Malta and I can confirm that the Catholics there do refer to God as Allah.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I'll defer to your local knowledge.

[Bombardier]

Thank you for your post. There is no way possible that I can imagine anyone saying it any better. You stated with reason and feeling what I sometimes fail to find the words to say but feel deep in my heart. May God bless and keep you and your family.

[Oberon]

I'm not sure the moon god of the Q'aba ranks as high as you're rating him. I've always thought it possible that he was and is identified with the "prince of Persia" mentioned in Daniel chapter 10:

Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

Of course, that's just conjecture, and worth what you paid for it.

[brooklyn dave]

Mishegoyim I love it. Thanks for the reply. To step back a bit from the arena of faith (which isn't logical) I have to ask two questions. From a Jewish perspective, what were Jews' beliefs as far as the Messiah was concerned? Was he supposed to be a super prophet, another Moses-like person, someone who was quasi-Divine or was the whole idea of Messiah not really fully theologically developed? Obviously the religious leadership was scandalized at Jesus's claim as Son of God, because it took away from the Oneness of God. Second question; how did the idea of the Trinity develop? There is a tendency to connect the Holy Spirit with Shekinah. What is the Jewish interpretation of Shekinah?

[epow]

That's an interesting take on the identity of Allah, I had not thought of that before. In any case, I think we both can agree that Allah wasn't just a figment of Mohammed's overwrought imagination, he is a malevolent spiritual being.

[ConservativeDude]

The true God is trinitarian and any discussion of Him must include this acknowledgement, or at least not include any direct disavowal of the trinity.

Accordingly, Allah is not the true God. Sorry.

[avile]

Another Moses/ David like super prophet of flesh and blood which was the way the original Jewish Christians saw Jesus. The Son of G-d stuff was a later Greco-Roman adaptation to fit in with preexiting Hercules/Dionysis tales.