Good point. On a related note, if you will allow, I have no doubt many Mohammedans do seek for truth. Much of what the gentler souls among them find beautiful and "right" about what they encounter in their own teachings, seems to me to be those things which were borrowed from Judaism, and Christianity.
With tens of millions of Catholic Christians living with Islamic swords hanging over their head the Catholic pope is not free to act with the belligerence that many Protestants do.
Even a better point IMO.
Christians of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Arabia used the name Allah centuries before Mohammed syncretized the god of Abraham with that damned meteorite.
Hmmm, Not that I'm saying you are wrong--- but I was under the impression that "Allah" was one of many "gods" followed after by pan-theists in the Arabian peninsula prior and up to mad Mo's day...
Again, not to be argumentative (for you may very well be correct), but would you have trustworthy sources for this last comment which I highlighted?
(The Maronite Liturgy is actually that of the Antiochene rite, which, according to tradition dating to at least as early as the third century, was written by St. James the Disciple, first bishop of Antioch.)
Try reading this: http://www.equip.org/articles/allah-does-not-belong-to-islam :
Arabic-speaking Coptic, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Maronite, evangelical, and Reformed Christians worship Allah, which is simply the word or term for God in another language. Islam does not hold a copyright to the term. In fact, Arab Christians existed before Islam appeared on the scene. Christians who worship Allah number in the millions, and their biblical version of Allah differs from the Qur’anic version. To demean or demonize the word for God in another language does a great disservice to believers who speak that language. Opportunities to win a hearing or dialogue between Christians and Arabic-speaking Muslims vis-à-vis Jesus Christ are also minimized.
It is time for all of us, especially Christians, to exercise caution when it comes to attacking the term for God in a language foreign to most of us. No other term exists in Arabic for the God Christians claim to be the one, true God. Western Christians do not normally use Hebrew terms for God in their languages. They cannot expect Arab Christians to use any other term or word for theirs. Allah is equivalent to the English God, the French Dieu, or the Spanish Dios... To say rather that the Muslim concept of Allah differs from the Christian concept of Allah, in my opinion, would be helpful...
...Perhaps we could better understand this error if we translate some of these judgments and criticisms into English. For example, some Christians might say, “God is not the God of the Bible.” They also might say, “God is a demonic force causing murder,” and so on. How can Christians then proclaim Christ to people who know of God by that term?
“Allah” = “Al Illah”: “The god”.
“Illah” is a Southern form of “Ilu”, which also meant “god”.
“Ilu” is an adaptation of the Sumerian god name “Anu”.
“Ilu” was worshipped as a god mainly as a mix of the characteristics of “Anu”, the Sumerian god of heaven, and “Enlil”, the Sumerian god of the air / wind / storms. All of that held true for those who worshipped the god as “Ilah” instead of “Ilu”.
The “Ilah” worshippers added some elements though. By the time “Ilah” (or “Al Illah”) got to to the time of Islam’s beginning, the characteristics of a volcano god and a moon god had been thrown into the mix as well.
So essentially, “Allah” is a mix of the characteristics, stories, and symbols of 4 different fake gods.