Allah. It is the Hispanicization of the Arabic word Al-lāh (الله), which means in Arabic ‘God’, in the Encyclopædia Britannica , 2006 . Although the term is better known in the West due to its use by Muslims as a reference to God , it is used by Arabic speakers of all Abrahamic religions , including Christians and Jews , in reference to God. The term was also used by the pagans of Meccaas a reference to the creator God, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia . The concepts associated with the word (like a deity) differ between traditions. In pre-Islamic Arabia , Allah was not the only divinity , but he was associated with collaborators and companions, sons and daughters. In Islam , Allah is the supreme and understands every divine name. All other divine names are believed to refer to Allah. Allah is unique, the only God, transcendent creator of the universe and omnipotent. Today’s Christian Arabs have no other word for God than Allah, (الله الآب) to refer to God the Father. There are similarities and differences between the concept of God as represented in the Arabic Quran and the Hebrew Bible .
Summary
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- 1 Etymology
- 2 Use
- 3 God in Islam
- 4 Reference
- 5 Source
Etymology
Regarding the etymology of the word, there are very diverse opinions: already among the classical Arab grammarians, that is, medieval, there are about twenty different opinions. The most widespread hypotheses are the following:
- Some scholars argue that it is the proper name of God , without any derivation, since he himself has been named in the Quran, he cannot be named with this name but only God himself, this is the opinion of one of the wisest Grammarians of the Arabic language like Sibuyé , is also the opinion of al-Shafi’i , Al-Ghazali , al-Jatâbi and Ibn Kazir . [one]
- A very common one considers that Al-lāhcomes from [[ilá | Template: IPAil āh]] , a word that designates any divinity, preceded by the determined article al- . It would therefore be a contraction for the use of al- Template: IPAil āh , is, “The God”, “The Worshiped” and this is the opinion of Ibn Qaim .
- Some linguists, however, consider that the loss of the initial hamza of Templateis not credible : IPAil āh (Arabic consonant here represented with an apostrophe), since it is the first letter of the original name of God and the sacred terms, by taboo , they tend to remain little or not altered in their pronunciation. In other words, they do not believe that a religious person can copy the name of God. These linguists think that el-Lah comes directly from the Semitic root ‘el designating the divinity. This root, in Aramaic , gave rise to the term ʾāllāhā , which could have passed into Arabicwith disappearance of the final ā (in Aramaic it is a non-essential vowel, and these tend to disappear in Arabic) and shortening of the initial ā due to confusion with the article al- .
In any case the etymology of this word refers to the same root that ‘The , Eloh and Elohim (אֱלֹהִים), terms for God in the Bible and are part of numerous names of origin Hebrew , like Samuel , Daniel , Rafael , Miguel , etc.
Use
Al-lāh is translated as “God”, capitalized, since it refers to the one god. The lowercase word “god”, that is, referring to any other divinity, is ilāh , pl. ilāhāt (إله pl. ﺇﻟﻬﺎﺕ), the complexity and difference of these concepts with Indo-European languages is explained in “What is Al-lāh for Muslims?” talk given by Abderrahman Mohamed Maanán , PhD in philosophy from the University of Seville . Non-Arab Muslims always use Allah instead of God on the grounds that since God is the first person speaking in the Quran, Al-lāh, in Arabic, is exactly the word that the Supreme Being uses to refer to himself and, therefore, the best to name him. Muslims living in a non-Muslim environment, and especially converts, use Al-lāh as a way of singling out themselves as followers of a religion other than the majority.
God in Islam
Book where the word of Allah is preached
The Muslim believes in God, that is; affirms the existence of the Lord and Creator of the heavens and the Earth , owner of all that exists, unique divinity , characterized by all perfection, far from all defects, this firstly by the Creator’s guidance to His servant, later by evidences of the natural instinct of the human being , reason, the senses, signs in creation and as the main proof; the sacred texts. Since he is the same God of Jews, the qualities attributed to him by Muslims are basically the same as those attributed to him. It is noteworthy, however, that Islam , like Judaism, insists on its unity ( tawhid), that is, that he is one and does not have diverse people in his incomparable and unrepresentable character, that is to say, he is not in the image and likeness of man.
A theologian recognized in his famous writing “Aquidah At Tahawiah” describes Allah as follows:
Al-lāh is the only God, without any partner.
There is nothing like Him.
And there is nothing that is impossible for Him .
There is no other divinity [worthy of worship] than He.
He is the Eternal without beginning, Permanent without end.
It will never perish, nor will it perish.
It only happens what He wants.
There is no imagination that can conceive Him, no intellect that can encompass Him.
He is unlike any created being.
Living and does not die, Immanent and never sleeps.
Creator without any need, Provider without any effort.
Death without fear, Resuscitator of life without difficulty.
He has always existed with His attributes before creation, by originating the creation did not increase in any way His essence that already existed [because He has always been Perfect]. In the same way that His attributes have always existed: He will not cease to have them for all eternity.
It was not that after having created He was called “the Creator”, nor after having originated the creation was He called “the Originator”.
His has been the Lordship even before there was a subordinate, as the Creator has been even before there was something created.
In the same way that he is the Vivifier of the dead, after having granted them life, he was deserving of the name before having been given them, just as he deserved the name of the Creator before having created them.
Because it is a reality that He is above all things Mighty, all things depend on Him, any matter is easy for Him, He needs nothing, There is nothing and no one like Him, and He is Omnioyent, Omnivident.
He has created creation with His wisdom.
And determined their predestination.
He assigned his deadlines for them.
Nothing about them was hidden from Him before they were created, and He knew everything they were going to do before they were created.
He charged them to obey him, and forbade them to disobey him.
All things take place according to His predestination and His will. His will is destiny, the servants have no will except what He has wanted for them, what he has wanted for them: it happens, and what he has not wanted: it does not happen.
Guide who pleases, protects and safeguards them by His generosity. He misleads whoever he wants, forsakes them and afflicts them within His justice.
All, according to His will, alternate between His generosity and His justice.
He is Exalted and is beyond having opponents or equivalents.
There is no one who can avoid His decree, no one who can delay His decision, and no one prevails over His order.
We believe in all this and we are certain that everything comes from Him.
Al-Tahawi , Al-‘Aquidah al-Tahawiah
Islam also refers to God with ninety-nine other names, which are many other epithets referring to qualities of God: The Merciful (Al-Rahmān), The Most Appreciated (Al-‘Azīz), The Creator (Al-Jāliq), etc. The group of the 99 Names of God receives in Arabic the name of al-asmā ‘al-husnà or “the most beautiful names”, some of which have also been used by Christians and Jews or have designated gods of pre-Islamic Arabia . Some traditions affirm that there is a hundredth name that remains unknowable, that it is the object of mystical speculations, and that it is sometimes defined as the Immense Name ( ism al-‘Azam), or as the Name of the Essence, a figure that also exists in Judaism, and that has had great importance in Sufism . Other times, the word Rabb (sir) is simply used .
The word Al-lāh is at the origin of some Spanish words such as ” hopefully ” ( w [a] shā-llāh : and may Allah or oh may God), ” olé ” ( w [a] -llāh : by Allah or by God ) or “hala” ( yā-llāh : oh God).
