Who is Allah by Iman ar-Rahman Robert Squires

[Guest guest]

" Who is Allah?

 

By Abu Iman Abd ar-Rahman Robert Squires. © Muslim Answers

 

Some of the biggest misconceptions that many non-Muslims have about

Islam have to do with the word " Allah " . For various reasons, many

people have come to believe that Muslims worship a different God

than Christians and Jews. This is totally false, since " Allah " is

simply the Arabic word for " God " - and there is only One God. Let

there be no doubt - Muslims worship the God of Noah, Abraham, Moses,

David and Jesus - peace be upon them all. However, it is certainly

true that Jews, Christians and Muslims all have different concepts

of Almighty God. For example, Muslims - like Jews - reject the

Christian beliefs of the Trinity and the Divine Incarnation. This,

however, doesn't mean that each of these three religions worships a

different God - because, as we have already said, there is only One

True God. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all claim to be " Abrahamic

Faiths " , and all of them are also classified as " monotheistic " .

However, Islam teaches that other religions have, in one way or

another, distorted and nullified a pure and proper belief in

Almighty God by neglecting His true teachings and mixing them with

man-made ideas.

 

First of all, it is important to note that " Allah " is the same word

that Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews use for God. If you pick up

an Arabic Bible, you will see the word " Allah " being used

where " God " is used in English. (Click here to see some examples of

the word " Allah " in the Arabic Bible.) This is because " Allah " is

the only word in the Arabic language equivalent to the English

word " God " with a capital " G " . Additionally, the word " Allah " cannot

be made plural or given gender (i.e. masculine or feminine), which

goes hand-in-hand with the Islamic concept of God. Because of this,

and also because the Qur'an, which is the holy scripture of Muslims,

was revealed in the Arabic language, some Muslims use the

word " Allah " for " God " , even when they are speaking other languages.

This is not unique to the word " Allah " , since many Muslims tend to

use Arabic words when discussing Islamic issues, regardless of the

language which they speak. This is because the universal teachings

of Islam - even though they have been translated in every major

language - have been preserved in the Arabic language.

 

It is interesting to note that the Aramaic word " El " , which is the

word for God in the language that Jesus spoke, is certainly more

similar in sound to the word " Allah " than the English word " God " .

This also holds true for the various Hebrew words for God, which

are " El " and " Elah " , and the plural form " Elohim " . The reason for

these similarities is that Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic are all

Semitic languages with common origins. It should also be noted that

in translating the Bible into English, the Hebrew word " El " is

translated variously as " God " , " god " and " angel " ! This imprecise

language allows different translators, based on their preconceived

notions, to translate the word to fit their own views. The Arabic

word " Allah " presents no such difficulty or ambiguity, since it is

only used for Almighty God alone. Additionally, in English, the only

difference between " god " , meaning a false god, and " God " , meaning

the One True God, is the capital " G " . In the Arabic alphabet, since

it does not have capital letters, the word for God (i.e. Allah) is

formed by adding the equivalent to the English word " the " (Al-) to

the Arabic word for " god/God " (ilah). So the Arabic word " Allah "

literally it means " The God " - the " Al- " in Arabic basically serving

the same function as the capital " G " in English. Due to the above

mentioned facts, a more accurate translation of the word " Allah "

into English might be " The One -and-Only God " or " The One True God " .

 

More importantly, it should also be noted that the Arabic

word " Allah " contains a deep religious message due to its root

meaning and origin. This is because it stems from the Arabic verb

ta'allaha (or alaha), which means " to be worshipped " . Thus in

Arabic, the word " Allah " means " The One who deserves all worship " .

This, in a nutshell, is the Pure Monotheistic message of Islam. You

see, according to Islam, " monotheism " is much more than simply

believing in the existence of " only One God " - as seemingly opposed

to two, three or more. If one understands the root meaning of the

word " Allah " , this point should become clear. One should understand

that Islam's criticism of the other religions that claim to

be " monotheistic " is not because they are " polytheistic " in the

classic sense, but because they direct various forms of worship to

other than Almighty God. We will discuss the meaning of worship in

Islam below, however, before moving on it should be noted that many

non-Muslims are unaware of the distinction between simply believing

in the existence of only One God and reserving all worship for Him

alone. Many Christians are painfully unaware of this point, and thus

you often find them asking how Muslims can accuse the followers of

Jesus, peace be upon him, of being " polytheists " when they were

all " monotheistic Jews " . First of all, it should be clarified that

the word " polytheist " doesn't really sound right in this context,

since to many it implies simply believing in the existence of more

than one God. So in an Islamic context, " associators " , " man-

worshippers " or " creature worshippers " might be more accurate and

appropriate terms - especially since Christians believe Jesus to be

both " 100% God and 100% man " , while still paying lip-service to

God's " Oneness " . However, as we're previously touched upon, what is

really at the root of this problem is the fact that Christians - as

well as the members of other religions - don't really know

what " monotheism " means - especially in the Islamic sense. All of

the books, articles and papers that I've read which were written by

Christians invariably limit " monotheism " to believing in the

existence of " One Sovereign and Creator God " . Islam, however,

teaches much more than this.

 

Suffice it to say that just because someone claims to be

a " monotheistic " Jew, Christian or Muslim, that doesn't keep them

from falling into corrupt beliefs and idolatrous practices. Many

people, including some Muslims, claim belief in " One God " even

though they've fallen into acts of idolatry. Certainly, many

Protestants accuse Roman Catholics of idolatrous practices in

regards to the saints and the Virgin Mary. Likewise, the Greek

Orthodox Church is considered " idolatrous " by many other Christians

because in much of their worship they use icons. However, if you ask

a Roman Catholic or a Greek Orthodox person if God is " One " , they

will invariably answer: " Yes! " . This lip-service, however, does not

stop them from being " creature worshipping " idolaters. The same goes

for Hindus, who just consider their gods to be " manifestations "

or " incarnations " of the One Supreme God.

 

Everyone should be aware of the fact that throughout the long

history of the " Abrahamic Faiths " , there have people who, while

believing in " One God " , have adopted beliefs and practices that

completely nullify their claim to " monotheism " . This is the Muslim

view of Christians. We're well aware of the fact that they claim

belief in " One God " with their lips, but this doesn't mean that they

don't nullify their claim in other ways. This is because many people

simply haven't been taught everything that Pure Monotheism entails.

From an Islamic point of view, " monotheism " can be nullified in many

ways. For example, simply believing that it is permissible to rule

by Western " liberal " and " democratic " laws in lieu of the Divinely

Revealed Law of Almighty God makes one a " polytheist " . Certainly, a

person who does such a thing, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim,

doesn't ever believe that there is another Almighty Creator and

Sovereign Lord. However, for all practical purposes, such a person

has take another " god " , whether they choose to admit it or not. In

this way they are associating partners with Almighty God (Arabic:

shirk), and thus become a " polytheist " in a practical sense,

regardless of their lip-service to " monotheism " . This holds true

even if the person doesn't believe what they are doing is " worship " .

For example, Roman Catholics who pray to the Virgin Mary will

staunchly deny that they are " worshipping " her. They instead call

it " adoration " or some other watered-down term. However, from an

Islamic point of view, what is worship if not this? Islam teaches

that prayer and supplication are the marrow of worship, so if one

directs their prayers to an intermediary (even if the pray

is " ultimately " meant for God), then what is left of worship?

Additionally, how can someone who believes in Almighty God follow

man-made laws instead of God's Law, without admitting that they've

begun worshipping other than God? Do they know better than God?

 

Additionally, the Old Testament makes it perfectly clear that making

a " graven image " of any created thing (not to mention ones which are

supposed to " represent " Almighty God) is prohibited. Please see

Exodus 20:4-6, Leviticus 26:1 and Deuteronomy 4:16, 23, 25, 5:8 and

Nehemiah 9:6 for some statements in regards to this point. Without

addressing the issue that Christians commonly violate the

unambiguous commandment not to even " make " representations of

anything that is in the " heavens above or on the earth beneath " ,

these verses not only teach that worshipping idols is prohibited,

but also that Almighty God is eternally distinct from His creation

and thus nothing in His creation can represent Him. To believe

otherwise is to be a de facto idol worshipper - even if one claims

belief in one, and only one, " True God " . In Exodus 20:4-6 and

Deuteronomy 4:16, Almighty God - who is a " Jealous God " - makes it

perfectly clear that He is distinct from His creation.

 

By giving such clear and merciful guidance to human beings, God is

establishing a universal and eternal Truth for the benefit of

mankind. This eternal Truth is the bedrock of religious guidance,

since once people begin to believe that Almighty God mixes with or

can be represented by His creation, they can be duped into believing

almost anything. Once someone accepts that God has

become " incarnate " in His creation, or that someone or something is

a " manifestation " - and thus representation - of Him, the floodgates

are open and " Truth " becomes a matter of subjective guesswork. Once

the first and most basic concept is violated - regardless of how

complicated and sophisticated the rationale for it might be - it is

very easy to fall further and further away from the Eternal Truth of

Pure Monotheism. In the final analysis, it is not a question of

whether God is capable of becoming a man, but rather a question of

whether one bases their beliefs about God on clear, unambiguous and

authentic guidance. Once it is left up to the human mind to decide

what Almighty God can and cannot do, the stage is set for

misguidance to take root. Human speculation about God only ends up

leading to misguidance and despair, since no clear conclusions can

ever be reached. For example, is God capable of creating an object

so heavy that He is incapable of moving it? If not, does that mean

that He is incapable? It is because of misguided questions like this

that Islam clearly teaches that mankind should only say about God

what He has said about Himself. This means all of our ideas about

God must be based on Revelation - not human speculation. In short,

the final prophet of Islam - Muhammad - was sent by Almighty God to

preach the same Pure Monotheism that was practiced by Noah, Abraham,

Moses, David and Jesus - peace be upon them all. This Pure

Monotheism means not only believing that there is only One God in

existence, but realizing that He is transcedent above His creation

and that all worship is due to Him alone.

 

Before concluding, we should probably address the practice of those

Muslims who insist on using the Arabic word " Allah " even when

speaking English. Even though this practice certainly is not to be

condemned when it is done around those who understand the meaning of

the Arabic word " Allah " , it is my experience - both during my years

as a non-Muslim and my years as a Muslim - that such a practice can

(and usually does) breed misunderstanding. It seems that often

times, many of the Muslims who use the word " Allah " in lieu of the

word " God " , even when trying to attract people to Islam, are unaware

of the severe misunderstandings that many non-Muslims have about

Islam (and the distorted way which Islam has been portrayed in the

West). Insisting on using the word " Allah " only fuels the flames of

misunderstanding - so there's no good reason to do it. I've often

wondered what value some Muslims think that using the word " Allah "

adds to the Pure Message that they are trying to convey. ( . . . and

I'm still waiting for an answer!) Unfortunately, those Muslims who

insist on using the word " Allah " even when addressing non-Muslims

who are unfamiliar with Islam and the Arabic language, do both a

disservice to themselves and their religion. Unfortunately, this

practice is usually based on the false assumption - by a non-native

speaker of English - that the word " God " in English is incapable of

expressing a pure and proper belief in Almighty God. This is

certainly false. If someone says that the English word " God " cannot

be used to express the Pure Islamic Belief in Tawhid, they are wrong

not because they don't understand Tawhid, but simply because they

don't understand the English language. Many people who insist on

using the Arabic word " Allah " usually don't realize this, because in

reality, they are not so much affirming the word " Allah " as they are

rejecting the word " God " as unsuitable - based on incorrect

assumptions. For someone to assume that the word " God " presupposes a

certain theological point-of-view (such as the Trinity) is simply

Wrong - and that's Wrong with a capital " W " . To say the word " God "

should be rejected because it can be changed into " god " , " gods "

or " goddess " is illogical because each of these words has a

distinctive meaning and a distinctive spelling - at least to someone

who knows how to speak English correctly. Using the same logic, I

can demonstrate that the root letters " ktb " can be used to form the

Arabic words " kitab " (book), " maktabah " (library), " maktab " (office)

and " kaatib " (writer), but does that mean that these words have the

same meaning? Do Arabic-speaking people go through life confusing

libraries with writers and offices with books (both in conversation

and in reality)? I think not! This is not to mention the fact that

if the Arabic " Al- " was put in front of these words in order to make

them definite, confusion would be even less likely! So the logic in

both cases is the same, and this is because even though the same

letters are used in " God " and " god " , these two words have two

different meanings in the English language. The capital " G " implies

something different than the small " g " - and anyone who denies this

simply doesn't know how to speak the English language.

 

In concluding this point, it should be mentioned that Arabic-

speaking Muslims who believe in Pure Tawhid, Arabic-speaking

Christians, the idol worshippers of Mecca and (so-called) Muslims

who believe in " Wahdat al-Wujud " all use the word " Allah " . However,

does this guarantee all of them proper belief in " Allah " ? Certainly

not, because if they have a corrupt concept of " Allah " it doesn't

matter what word they use!

 

This brings us to a more important point: It should be clearly

understood that what Islam is primarily concerned with is correcting

mankind's concept of Almighty God. What we are ultimately going to

be held accountable at the end of our life is not whether we prefer

the word " Allah " over the word " God " , but what our concept of God

is. Language is only a side issue. A person can have an incorrect

concept of God while using the word " Allah " , and likewise a person

can have a correct concept of God while using the word " God " . This

is because both of these words are equally capable of being misused

and being improperly defined. As we've already mentioned, using the

word " Allah " no more insinuates belief in the Unity of God than the

use of the word " God " insinuates belief in the Trinity - or any

other theological opinion. Naturally, when God sends a revelation to

mankind through a prophet, He is going to send it in a language that

the people who receive it can understand and relate to. Almighty God

makes this clear in the Qur'an, when He states:

 

" Never did We send a Messenger except (to teach) in the language of

his (own) people in order to make (things) clear to them. "

(Qur'an, Chapter 14 - " Abraham " , Verse 4)

As Muslims, we think that it is unfortunate that we have to go into

details on such seemingly minor issues, but so many falsehoods have

been heaped upon our religion, that we feel that it is our duty to

try to break down the barriers of falsehood. This isn't always easy,

since there is a lot of anti-Islamic literature in existence which

tries to make Islam look like something strange and foreign to

Westerners. There are some people out there, who are obviously not

on the side of truth, that want to get people to believe

that " Allah " is just some Arabian " god " , and that Islam is

completely " other " - meaning that it has no common roots with the

other Abrahamic religions (i.e. Christianity and Judaism). To say

that Muslims worship a different " God " because they say " Allah " is

just as illogical as saying that French people worship another God

because they use the word " Dieu " , that Spanish-speaking people

worship a different God because they say " Dios " or that the Hebrews

worshipped a different God because they sometimes call Him " Yahweh " .

Certainly, reasoning like this is quite ridiculous! It should also

be mentioned, that claiming that any one language uses the only the

correct word for God is tantamount to denying the universality of

God's message to mankind, which was to all nations, tribes and

people through various prophets who spoke different languages.

 

Before closing, we would like everyone to be aware of the fact that

some Christian missionary organizations print English literature

intended to teach Christians about Islam which say such things

as: " Allah is the god of the Muslims " and that " Muhammad came to get

people to believe in the god Allah " - implying that " Allah " is some

sort of false " god " . However, when these same organizations print

literature in the Arabic language, hoping to lead Arabic-speaking

Muslims " to Christ " , they use the word " Allah " for God. It seems

that if they were on the side of truth, they would not have to

resort to such inconsistencies. And on an even more ridiculous

note . . . there are also missionary organizations that exceed this

in ignorance (or deceit) by writing books that call on Muslims to

give up their belief in " Allah " , and instead worship the " Lord "

Jesus, " the Son of God " . Besides making it abundantly clear that

they are outside the community of Pure Monotheism, the people who

write such material don't even realize that if they wrote such a

pamphlet in Arabic, it would be self-contradictory. This is because

in an Arabic Bible Jesus is the " Son of Allah " ! If an Arabic-

speaking person gave up the worship of " Allah " , they would have no

God to worship, since " Allah " is simply the Arabic word for God!

 

Before we conclude, however, we would like to ask our readers to ask

themselves what they think the reasons are behind all of these lies?

If Islam was just some false religion that didn't make any sense,

would so many people, from Western scholars to Christian

missionaries, have to tell so many lies about it? The reason is that

the Ultimate Truth of Islam stands on solid ground and its

unshakable belief in the Unity of God is above reproach. Due to

this, Christians can't criticize its doctrines directly, but instead

make up things about Islam that aren't true so that people lose the

desire to learn more. If Muslims were able to present Islam in the

proper way to people in the West, it surely might make many people

reconsider and re-evaluate their own beliefs. It is quite likely

that Christians, when they find out that there is a universal

religion in the world that teaches people to worship and love God,

while also practicing Pure Monotheism, would at least feel that they

should re-examine the basis for their own beliefs and doctrines. "

 

http://www.thetruereligion.org/allah.htm