POPULAR MYTH VS FACTS: CASE STUDY: ARE ALLAH & JEHOVA THE SAME GOD? [Descendant of Muhammed]

[Qx note: I added more paragraphing for ease of reading. Therefore, the pages listed in the Contents will likely be out of kilter. Otherwise, his text is unchanged. English is his 3 or 4th language, BTW]

Are you aware that we are being sold faulty information on a daily basis? Let’s take for example TV commercials! Do you think that they present us all the facts in order to help us make a sound decision based on our needs? Or do they simply try to convince us that we need their products? You may argue that is how business works, and I will agree with you. However, what about politics or religion? Do you examine all the necessary details before you adopt a view, or do you follow your feelings and the voice who sells an idea the loudest?

I was fooled many times, because I was trained, or more accurately brainwashed, to absorb whatever information I was given. For instance, I was raised to believe that my race and religion were superior to the others. Of course, I was supplied with countless supporting arguments, which were all one sided, but I was never exposed to what the other parties had to say in their defense.

Then there came a point in my life when I discovered that my beliefs were based on a series of myths rather than truth. This was a sour experience, but it taught me to never let myself get swayed again by phony claims, no matter how popular they might be. I learned to develop critical thinking skills the hard way.

One of those topics where I was deceived had to do with the belief that Muslims and their counterpart, Christians and Jews believe in the same God. My thorough research led me to the very opposite conclusion and therefore conversion from Islam to Christianity.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the above erroneous notion has been gaining huge popularity and spreading rapidly. Consequently, it has become my mission to help people know all the hidden facts behind this idea and spare them from deception. Therefore, I use this case as an example of practical methodology to evaluate, challenge and refute false beliefs.

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………2 Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………….3 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..4 Review of the Literature…………………………………………………………………......5 - 7 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………….7 - 14 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………14 - 15 References…………………………………………………………………….…………...16 - 17

An important skill in critical thinking is the ability to find loopholes in evidence in order to discover what might have been overlooked or avoided from being shared. If you have ever seen a magic show, it may not be obvious to you that the spectators are set, facing the platform, so that they can see only what was meant to be seen by the performing artists. If some spectators were to sneak into the side or the back of the stage, they would immediately discover that the so called magic is nothing but a combination of clever tricks.

The principles of magic arts are not limited to entertainment; in fact they are integrated in rhetoric, advertisement, education, and science. We are constantly and continuously stormed by information which could actually be closer to fiction rather than fact.

Unfortunately, we often fall in to the trap of deception and thus believe without questioning. However, we live in a world where all sorts of opinions and information cannot be hidden. If we really want to know the truth, it simply boils down to the degree of our sincerity and our ability to discern between ambiguous and solid evidences.

In this paper, we will look at a series of statements and arguments that look from the surface very convincing, yet once examined properly, the evidence leads to the opposite conclusion. As a case study, I chose the widely accepted view that the Koran Allah and the Bible Jehovah are the same God. I will demonstrate how such a popular perception is at best fiction rather than truth.

The goal of this research is twofold; first to cause awareness among the public to watch out for what they are being told and manipulated to believe, and second, to help train them to become skilled critical thinkers, able to thoroughly scrutinize and analyze information before rushing into conclusions, or to some degree falling prey to propaganda.

It is a widely accepted notion to consider Allah—the deity of the Koran and Islamic faith, and Jehovah—the deity of the Bible and Judeo-Christian faith, as the same divine being or God. Such stance has been officially endorsed by the most acknowledged bodies in various capacities.

Supposedly, encyclopedias are well renowned for being secular and neutral in their approach and definitions. Their role is to supply the public with accurate data.

According to Wikipedia (2006), “Allah is the Arabic term for God in Abrahamic religions, and is the main term for the deity in Islam. Most Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians and Jews use Allah as the proper noun for God”.

In Encyclopedia Britannica (2006) Allah is described as, “(Arabic: ‘God’), the one and only God in the religion of Islam. Etymologically, the name Allah is probably a contraction of the Arabic al-Ilah, ‘the God.’ Allah is the standard Arabic word for “God” and is used by Arab Christians” (p. 1).

Seminaries and evangelistic organizations represent the voice of their faiths and are meant to educate their adherents and reach out to the outside world.

The name of God in Arabic. It is a compound word from the article, 'al, and ilah, divinity, and signifies "the god" par excellence… The notion of Allah in Arabic theology is substantially the same as that of God among the Jews, and also among the Christians, with the exception of the Trinity, which is positively excluded in the Koran… Let it be noted that although Allah is an Arabic term, it is used by all Moslems, whatever be their language, as the name of God. Meanwhile, on behalf of main stream Muslims as stated in their propaganda brochure, The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (1988) explained:

It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are used in reference to God and sometimes to lesser deities. This is not the case with Allah. Allah is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender… It is interesting to notice that Allah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and a sister language of Arabic (p. 1).

Such statement echoes the claims of Muhammad’s revelations—the foundation for all Islamic doctrines (i.e. Koran 29:46).

Although politics, especially in secular governments and international venues, are supposed to stay away from theological issues, some leaders find religiously painted rhetoric very helpful to gain further sympathy and support.

Such interventions can be very damaging when they misrepresent the facts. For instance, in one of his press conferences, Bush (2003, November 20) announced: “I believe we worship the same God”. It was in response to a journalist’s question, if he believes that Muslims and Christians share in the same God. Many people see Bush as the leader of the free world and Christian Protestants, and thus immediately trust his comments.

The King of Jordan, a Muslim world leader and partner in the war against terrorism, backed Bush’s view during his speech in the U.S. national prayer breakfast. Ibn-Hussein (2006, February 2) remarked:

Islam, like Christianity and Judaism is a monotheistic religion: Muslims believe that there is only One God; that is the basis of everything in Islam. The Holy Qur’an says: He it is who is God in Heaven and God on earth. He is the Wise, the Knower. (Al-Zukhruf, 43:84). Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, believes in the Abrahamic Scriptures. The Holy Qur’an says that God hath revealed the Torah and the Gospel (Aal-‘Imran, 3:1).

Based on the kind of information shared above, it might seem conclusive to an average reader that indeed Allah and Jehovah are One God. As a parallel illustration, on the surface, both the waters of a lake and an ocean look very similar! Rationally, would such an observation be enough to conclude that the two are identical? Of course not! Nevertheless, that’s exactly what those folks were telling us. They used sweeping statements and played on common terminologies, but neglected to address their meanings and backgrounds from different angles.

From a critical thinking standpoint a true evaluation should explore and disclose what lies beneath the surface. Sweeping statements and definitions should not be perceived as an end, but rather as hints to conduct a thorough investigation. In this section of the paper, those generic arguments will be analyzed from within and according to various criteria.

While it appears that Allah and Jehovah share many similarities, those are actually similar words with totally different theological meanings. The following are three types of examples which reflect the following contrasts:

From a Judeo-Christian perspective, Jehovah is called Father—an attribute which summarizes creator, provider and discipliner. Lewis (2001) expressed: “No doubt we are sons of God already. I mean, God has brought us into existence and loves us and looks after us, and in that way is like a father” (p. 157).

Furthermore, especially according to the New Testament, denying God’s fatherhood and Christ’s sonship and deity is viewed as evidence for deviation from the faith and rebellion against Jehovah (1 John 3:22 and 4:3). By contrast, in the Koran though, Fatherhood is blasphemous to Allah for two reasons: 1- It is a term limited to a man responsible for the reproduction of a child.

A typical argument brought by Muslims in this regard states Allah does not resemble any of his creation in any way and can’t be a man (i.e. Father) or a woman (i.e. Mother) because he doesn’t have a partner or anything can be equal to him (Koran 112); and 2 The doctrine of the Trinity is strongly rejected.

Considering Allah as a tri-personal deity, with Jesus as the second person in the Godhead, is blasphemous (Koran 2:116 and 4:171).

Another theological contrast is that one of Allah’s most beautiful names is Al-Mutakabbir (in English, The-Prideful-one.) Meanwhile Jehovah is portrayed as humble and meek (Matthew 11:29) and encourages his children to display the same character (1 Peter 5:5).

Never in Judeo-Christian theology had the attribute of “prideful” been rendered to Jehovah. Pride is actually a sin; even the most serious one and which caused the arc-angel Lucifer to fall into disgrace and eternal damnation (Ezekiel 28:11-18), and thus become the devil.

The third contrast speaks of Love, which on the other hand, is not simply a character of Jehovah, but the essence of his very nature (1 John 4:8). Thus, Jehovah’s love is unconditional and extended to all who he has created, the righteous or the sinners alike (John 3:16-17).

That’s not the case with Allah, whose love is simply a response to those who favor him (Koran 3:31). When it comes to sinners and unbelievers, Allah hates them (Koran 2:276 and 3:32).

The clashing of these three major doctrinal differences points to contradiction rather than similarity between Allah and Jehovah. Theologically speaking, Allah and Jehovah cannot possibly be the same being or God. Therefore trying to reconcile the two concepts and merge them together is an impossible task. That would be like combining water based and oil based paint; the mix will be a mess!

A very essential and largely avoided detail in this debate is the linguistic aspect of the names Jehovah and Allah. This is an area of great misunderstanding and a key card used to manipulate facts. Unfortunately, even scholars get confused in this area, due to the complexity of Semitic languages and of their grammar and lexicon. Three essential facts need great consideration:

Jehovah (originally YHWH in Hebrew, a.k.a. the Tetragrammaton) is defined in the Bible as God’s very personal, unique and everlasting name (Exodus 3:14-15). One of the top conditions for a prophet to be speaking on behalf of God is to explicitly use Jehovah’s name (Deuteronomy 18:18-20).

To confirm this, whenever a prophet in the Bible would prophesy, the name—Jehovah was always included (i.e. Isaiah 43:14 and Zachariah 12:1).

Meanwhile the name Allah is never found to refer to Jehovah, or even any of the common nouns that stand for god or deity. The only exception, a verse in the Hebrew Old Testament (Joshua 24:26) where allah is used as a noun to refer to oak tree. (Blue Letter Bible, 2004)

In the Koran, one will see that Allah is a special name for Muhammad’s God (Koran 3:18). As a fact, every chapter of the Koran begins with the sentence: In the name of Allah. When a person embraces Islam, the first requirement is to proclaim: ‘I testify there is no god (ilaah) but Allah.’ No other name is permissible, including Jehovah!

Every Muslim knows that the key to Paradise is the statement, ‘There is none worthy of worship except Allah.’ … Obviously, a testimony about something that one does not have any knowledge about is absolutely unacceptable.

Allah says in the Quran, ‘Save him who bears witness unto the truth knowingly’ (Qur'an, al-Zukhruf 86). Now this condition probably sounds obvious. If someone said to you, ‘There is no God except Allah,’ and then said that what he meant by Allah was Jesus, you would immediately tell him that this shahadah is nonsense (Zarabozo 1994, p. 21).

Another Muslim scholar also argued that Allah cannot be interchanged with any other name:

It is ALLAH, not God! Yet, it is never a name for a god! There is no god to be worshipped, there is only ALLAH! This statement also reveals that: ALLAH is not a GOD…Nobody can comprehend what the Religion of Islam is about and why it has ever come, unless one fully understood the difference in meaning between a concept of god and the name ALLAH signified.

Due to this, one can keep misinterpreting the matter of religion (Islam)! I have tried to make it clear that any idea that the word god implies is completely different in meaning than the name ALLAH implies. These are two different words with completely different meanings. The word god is a common adjective, yet ALLAH is a proper noun for a unique essence (Hulusi 2004, p. 16).

Historically, the main reason behind Arabia’s Jews refusal to believe in Muhammad’s God is his failure to evoke the name of Jehovah (or Yahwah in Arabic). Not even once did the personal name of Jehovah ever appear in the Koran or Hadeeth (Muhammad’s sayings), a strong indication that the prophet of Islam never had any connection with the Bible God.

The Judeo-Christian understanding of the word Allah is totally different than the Muslim’s. It is interpreted and used according to its pre-Islam definition, not as the personal name of God but a generic noun:

We are well aware that the name Allah is used by Arab speaking Christians for the God of the Bible. In fact, the root from which the name is derived from, ilah, stems from the ancient Semitic languages, corresponding to the Mesopotamian IL, as well as the Hebrew-Aramaic EL, as in Ishma-el, Immanu-el, Isra-el.

These terms were often used to refer to any deity worshiped as a high god, especially the chief deity amongst a pantheon of lesser gods. As such, the Holy Bible uses the term as just one of the many titles for Yahweh, the only true God.

Yet the problem arises from the fact that Muslims insist that Allah is not a title, but the personal name of the God of Islam. This becomes problematic since according to the Holy Bible the name of the God of Abraham is Yahweh/Jehovah, not Allah: God spoke further to Moses and said to him, ‘I am Yahweh (YHVH) and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty; BUT BY MY NAME, YAHWEH, I did not make myself known to them’ Exodus 6:2-3. Therefore, Christians can use Allah as a title but not as the personal name for the God of the Bible (Shamoun, 1999).

Pre-Islam Allah and the Koran Allah are actually homonyms rather than synonyms. For instance, in the Arabic Bible, Allah is explicitly used to refer to Jehovah’s generic names (i.e. el, elohim, eloah, and theos), but never as his personal name. Therefore, whoever uses these cards as a basis for argument to associate Jehovah with Allah is either under educated in linguistics or otherwise has been deceptive.

There have been several attempts to etymologically link Allah to generic names attributed to the divine, nevertheless all of them so far have been speculative and conflicting.

It seems unlikely that the name Allah comes from al-ilaah ‘the God’… The etymological derivation of ‘Allah’ as a contraction of ‘al-ilaah’ is popular etymology and surely not historic. It would be rather strange that especially the ‘i’ should have been disappeared due to neglect of the speakers, since the syllable ‘il’ is the most important in ‘al-ilaah’: ‘il’ or ‘el’ is the Semitic word for God since times immemorial (Heger, 1998a).

Heger believes that Allah is a direct twist from the Aramaic word for god—alaha and henceforth from Hebrew—eloah (Heger, 1998b). This theory might have been a possibility if the word allah wasn’t strictly used for oak tree in the Old Testament (Joshua 24:26).

A very likely scenario is that Allah evolved from the shape of the human hand, based on anthropological evidences correlated according to myths and superstitions that occupied Arabia as far as Persia since ancient times to this present day. As a Chinese proverb emphasized, a picture is better than a thousand words! The following pictures reveal and reflect Muslims and the area’s culture and way of thinking and also the connection between the human hand, Allah, charming, the crescent, pentagram, Hubal—moon god, and Islam symbol of excellence—Crescent Pentagram (Hand, 2001):

Demonstrating how those different symbols and artifacts are interlinked and related to Allah is beyond the scope of this paper. In summary; however, there is plenty of conclusive evidence that Allah’s origin was rooted in paganism and mythology before Muhammad revolutionized.

1) According to Herodotus, a 5th century B.C. historian and explorer who visited Arabia, as Powell (1938) cited: They (referring to Arabs) have but these two gods, to wit, Bacchus and Urania; and they say that in their mode of cutting the hair, they follow Bacchus. Now their practice is to cut it in a ring, away from the temples. Bacchus they call in their language Orotal, and Urania, Alilat (p.200).

Thousands of inscriptions from walls and rocks in northern Arabia have also been collected. Reliefs and votive bowls used in worship of the "daughters of Allah" have also been discovered. The three daughters, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat are sometimes depicted together with Allah the moon-god represented by a crescent moon above them (p.331).

3) Another Anthropologist who dedicated his research to studying Islam and Arabian cultures, Zwemer (1905) attested that,

History establishes beyond the shadow of doubt that even the pagan Arabs, before Mohammed's time, knew their chief god by the name of Allah and even, in a sense, proclaimed his unity...Among the pagan Arabs this term denoted the chief god of their pantheon, the Kaaba, with its three hundred and sixty idols (p.24).

From a biblical point of view, whether as pronoun or common noun, Allah is not a name that falls into the category of names suitable for Jehovah. Instead, it should be put in the same list as Baal and Zeus, two names of idols that have been rejected by the Hebrew and Greek Bible writers (Jeremiah 2:8 and Acts 17:23).

The evidence against the popular view, that Allah and Jehovah are one and the same God, is overwhelming and strong. All of the arguments brought by those who promote such a view were easily exposed and refuted.

As a matter of fact, if Islam and the Judeo-Christian faith would agree on anything, it would be that Allah and Jehovah cannot possibly be the same Creator. The differences between the two are irreconcilable and even in immediate clash and opposition with one another.

Therefore, Allah and Jehovah are adversaries, far from being even friends. Moreover, technically the word Allah doesn’t resonate with titles given to Jehovah. Incorporating the name Allah in the Arabic translations of the Bible and among Arab Christians and Jews has been damaging and confusing. The same can be said about incorporating the word God in the English translations of the Koran.

No matter how an entity or resource might be labeled and revered, there is always risk that it might not be well informed on a particular topic. There is always a chance of third party influence that might slip into the resource and thus render it biased or a propaganda tool rather than informational.

A rule of thumb, never trust but always verify the validity and credibility of the data presented. Since we live in the age of information and the internet, we are the most fortunate generation that ever lived when it comes to acquiring knowledge. We have no excuse to let ourselves get seduced and therefore deceived and manipulated by particular interests.

The goal of this paper was to help learners to exercise critical thinking. The process we used to investigate the topic of Allah versus Jehovah was in itself a practical methodology; these principles and analogies could be reused to search the validity of other popular or perhaps unpopular views.

Wikipedia. (2006). Allah. Retrieved July 31, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2006). Allah. Retrieved July 31, 2006, from http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005770

Butin, R. (2003). The Catholic Encyclopedia, Allah, Retrieved July 31, 2006, from New Advent http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01316a.htm

Institute of Islamic Information and Education. (1988). III&E Brochure Series, (2).

Bush, G. (2003, November 20). The White House. President Bush, Prime Minister Hold Joint Press Conference. Retrieved August 1, 2006, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031120-3.html

Ibn-Hussein, A. (2006, February 2). Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Remarks by His Majesty King Abdullah II National Prayer Luncheon. Retrieved August 9, 2006, from http://www.jordanembassyus.org/hmka02022006.htm

Lewis, C. (2001). Harper San Francisco. Mere Christianity, Book IV – Beyond Personality, 157. Blue Letter Bible. (2004). Retrieved August 5, 2006 from http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1154801344-734.html#26

Zarabozo, J. (1994, February). The Prerequisites of the Declaration of Faith, Al-Basheer Magazine, 7(5), 21. Hulusi A. (1999), Kistan, Religious Misunderstandings, 16.

Shamoun, S. (1999). Is Allah the God of Bible?. Retrieved August 4, 2006, from Answering-Islam http://answering-islam.org.uk/Shamoun/god.htm

Heger, C. (1998a). The Origin of the name "Allah”. Retrieved August 4, 2006, from Answering-Islam database http://www.answering-islam.de/Main/Quran/Sources/alaha.html

Heger, C. (1998b). The Origin of the name "Allah". Retrieved August 4, 2006, from Answering-Islam database http://www.answering-islam.de/Main/Quran/Sources/alaha.html

Hand. (2001). Retrieved August 6, 2006, from www.road-to-heaven.com/pics/hand.jpg

Drivers, H. (1978). Études Preliminaries Aux Religions Orientales Dans L'Empire Roman (Leiden, Brill, Ed.). Iconography and Character of the Arab Goddess Allat, 331.

I remember initially, when we were still in Asia trying to soften my Friend's stance on this issue. He was fierce. He had done his homework and would not be dissuaded.

I think he's right.

Blessed be The NAME OF THE LORD--THE "I AM" JEHOVAH; THE GOD ABOVE ALL GODS; THE GOD OF THE ANGEL ARMIES.

Allah is based on an Arabic word meaning "God" simply because Islam is a syncretist cult based on its founder's visions, which combined the three religions found in the ME at that time - Judaism, Christianity and paganism - into one violent, predatory cult with him and his family, remarkably enough, as the leaders and beneficiaries.

His "visions" managed to grab a bit of Jewish ritual law and the concept of monotheism and prophets, a bit of the Christian concept of a religion that was not blood-related but could be spread by proselytism, and many pagan concepts and sites, including the meteorite enshrined in Mecca with the strange, vagina-shaped silver-framed entrance. And of course he added tribal Arabic caravan-attacking economic system, and he was in business.

It is a really, really good analysis.

But may I offer an important critique? Never, EVER, use Wikopedia as a reference for anything more important than Elvis' jacket size.

You lose all credibility out of the gate.

But that doesn't undermine your thinking.

Just a spot of advice.

Uhhhh, this is not my article.

I didn't write it.

My former Muslim friend; now Christian Brother who roomed with me over a year in Asia wrote it for one of his college classes--for English, I think. He's majoring in IT in the midwest.

I suspect his professor has told him of the weaknesses of Wikipedia.

Thanks for your exhortation.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.