Allah

Arabic word for God

This article is about the Arabic word for God. For the Islamic conception of God, see God in Islam. For other uses, see Allah (disambiguation).

The word 'Allah' in thuluth calligraphy Part of a series on Islam

Allah
(God in Islam)

Allah, Jal-la Jalalu-hu
in Arabic calligraphy

Theology

* Allah
* Names
* Attributes
* Phrases and expressions
* Islam (religion)
* Throne of God
* Sufi metaphysics
* Theology
* Schools of Islamic theology
* Oneness
* Kalam
* Anthropomorphism and corporealism

Expressions and phrases

* Tasbih (Subhan Allah)
* Takbir (Allahu Akbar)
* Hamd (Praise)
* Shahada
* Basmala
* Hawqala
* Ta'awwudh
* Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un
* Allahumma
* Be, and it is

Terms

* Shirk (polytheism)
* Iman (belief)
* Ihsan (development)
* Nifaq (hypocrisy)
* Kufr (disobidience/denial)
* Ta'til (denial of divine attributes)
* Tanzih (transcendance)
* Bila Kayf
* Tafwid

Scripture

* Quran
* Al-Ikhlas
* Throne Verse
* Verse of Light
* Al-Mu'awwidhatayn
* Hadith Qudsi

Others

* Inshallah
* Mashallah
* Alhamdulillah
* Jazakallah
* Istighfar
* Fi sabilillah
* Al-Ism al-A'zam
* Dhikr
* Ghaib
* Ilah

Islam portal • Category

* v
* t
* e

Allah (/ˈælə, ˈɑːlə, əˈlɑː/ A(H)L-ə, ə-LAH;[1][2][3] Arabic: الله, IPA: [ɑɫˈɫɑːh] ⓘ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the monotheistic God. Outside of Arabic languages, it is principally associated with Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), although the term was used in pre-Islamic Arabia and continues to be used today by Arabic-speaking adherents of any of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism and Christianity.[4][5][6][7] It is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh (الاله, lit. 'the god') and is linguistically related to God's names in other Semitic languages, such as Aramaic (ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ʼAlāhā) and Hebrew (אֱלוֹהַּ ʾĔlōah).[8][9]

The word "Allah" now conveys the superiority or sole existence of one God,[10] but among the pre-Islamic Arabs, Allah was a supreme deity and was worshipped alongside lesser deities in a pantheon.[11] Many Jews, Christians, and early Muslims used "Allah" and "al-ilah" synonymously in Classical Arabic. The word is also frequently, albeit not exclusively, used by Bábists, Baháʼís, Mandaeans, Indonesian Christians, Maltese Christians, and Sephardic Jews,[12][13][14] as well as by the Gagauz people.[15]

## Etymology

[edit]

Further information: Ilah

The Arabic components that make up the word "Allah":

1. alif
2. hamzat waṣl (همزة وصل)
3. lām
4. lām
5. shadda (شدة)
6. alif khunjāriyah (ألف خنجرية)
7. hāʾ

The etymology of the word Allāh has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists.[16] The majority of scholars consider it to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- and ilāh "deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the deity, the God".[16] In some sources, the contracted and un-contracted forms are used interchangeably.[17] The contraction of the terms is mirrored by the parallel contraction of al-ʾilāt to Allāt.[18] Originally, ʾilāh was used as an epithet for the West Semitic creator god ʾIlu (the Ugaritic version of El), before being adopted as the proper name itself for this god.[19]

A minority hypothesis posits that Allah is a loanword from the Syriac Alāhā.[20][21] However, this form is likely a phonetic adaptation of the Arabic.[22][23]

Grammarians of the Basra school regarded it as either formed "spontaneously" (murtajal) or as the determined form of lāh (from the verbal root lyh with the meaning of "lofty" or "hidden").[16] Other Muslims scholars proposed that the term derives from wilah (the object of mystery) since the nature of God is a mystery and incomprehensible for humans.[24][25]: 162

Semitic cognates of "Allāh" appear in Semitic languages,[26] such as the Aramaic ʼElāh (אלה) in the absolute form, and in its definite/emphatic form, ʼElāhā (אלהא), the form reflected in Biblical Aramaic. Also Syriac ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ (ʼAlāhā), both meaning simply "god,” or “deity,” used by both monotheists and pagans.[27] Others are Akkadian ʾilum, Ugartic ʾilu, and Phoenician ʾl.

## History of usage

[edit]

### Pre-Islamic Arabia

[edit]

See also: Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia

Deities of the ancient Near East

Ancient Egyptian

* Amun
* Anubis
* Apis
* Atum
* Buchis
* Geb
* Horus
* Isis
* Montu
* Nephthys
* Nut
* Osiris
* Ptah
* Qetesh
* Ra
* Set
* Shu
* Tefnut
* Thoth

Arabian

* Allah
* Aglibol
* Abgal
* al-Lat
* al-Qaum
* al-‘Uzzá
* Atarsamain
* ʿAṯtar
* Baalshamin
* Bēl
* Dhul Khalasa
* Dushara
* Gad
* Hubal
* Malakbel
* Manaf
* Manāt
* Nasr
* Nuha
* Orotalt
* Ruda
* Suwa'
* Theandrios
* Wadd
* Ya'uq
* Yaghūth
* Yarhibol
* Yatha

Eblaite

* Adamma
* Aštabil
* Dagan
* Hadabal
* Hadad
* Ḫalabatu
* Išḫara
* Kura
* Ninkarrak
* Saggar
* Shalash

Elamite

* Humban
* Inshushinak
* Ishmekarab
* Jabru
* Kiririsha
* Lagamar
* Manzat
* Nahhunte
* Narundi
* Napir
* Napirisha
* Pinikir
* Ruhurater
* Simut

Hurrian and Hittite

* Allani
* Aštabi
* Hayya
* Ḫepat
* Hutena and Hutellura
* Išḫara
* Kubaba
* Kumarbi
* Kušuḫ
* Lelluri
* Mitanni dynastic deities (Indra, Mitra, Varuna)
* Nabarbi
* Ninatta and Kulitta
* Nupatik
* Pirengir
* Shalash
* Šarruma
* Šauška
* Šimige
* Šuwala
* Takitu
* Tašmišu
* Teshub
* Tilla

Levantine
(Canaanite and Ugaritic)

* Adonis
* Anat
* Arsay
* Asherah
* Ashima
* Astarte
* Atargatis
* ʿAṯtar
* Azizos
* Baʿal
* Baʿal Marqod
* Baʿal Ṣapon
* Baʿalshamem
* Baʿalat Gebal
* Chemosh
* Dagan
* El
* Eshmun
* Haddu
* Kotharat
* Kothar-wa-Khasis
* Melqart
* Milcom
* Misor
* Mot
* Nikkal
* Qedesh
* Qos
* Resheph
* Sakkun
* Shadrafa
* Shahar
* Shalim
* Shapshu
* Sydyk
* Yam
* Yahweh
* Yarikh

Mesopotamian

* Adad/Ishkur
* Amurru
* An/Anu
* Asarluhi
* Ashur
* Aya
* Belet Nagar
* Dumuzi
* Enki/Ea
* Enlil
* Ereshkigal
* Gibil
* Inanna/Ishtar
* Ishtaran
* Manungal
* Marduk
* Nabu
* Nammu
* Nanaya
* Nisaba
* Shala
* Šumugan
* Nanna/Sin
* Nergal
* Ninazu
* Ninegal
* Ningal
* Ningishzida
* Ninhursag
* Ninisina
* Ninlil
* Ninshubur
* Pabilsag
* Papsukkal
* Sarpanit
* Sebitti
* Tishpak
* Utu/Shamash
* Wer
* Zababa

Religions of the ancient Near East

* v
* t
* e

Regional variants of the word Allah occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions.[10][28] According to Marshall Hodgson, it seems that in the pre-Islamic Arabia, some Arab Christians undertook pilgrimages to the Kaaba, a pagan temple at that time, honoring Allah there as the God Creator.[29]

In an inscription of Christian martyrion dated to 512, references to al-ilah (الاله)[30] appear in both Arabic and Aramaic. The inscription opens with the phrase "By the Help of al-ilah".[31][32]

Archaeological excavations have led to the discovery of ancient pre-Islamic inscriptions and tombs made by Arab Christians in the ruins of a church at Umm el-Jimal in Northern Jordan, which initially, according to Enno Littmann (1949), contained references to Allah as the proper name of God. However, on a second revision by Bellamy et al. (1985 & 1988) the five-verse inscription was retranslated: "(1)This [inscription] was set up by colleagues of ʿUlayh, (2) son of ʿUbaydah, secretary (3) of the cohort Augusta Secunda (4) Philadelphiana; may he go mad who (5) effaces it."[33][34][35]

Irfan Shahîd quoting the 10th-century encyclopedic collection Kitab al-Aghani notes that pre-Islamic Arab Christians have been reported to have raised the battle cry "Ya La Ibad Allah" (O slaves of Allah) to invoke each other into battle.[36] According to Shahid, on the authority of 10th-century Muslim scholar Al-Marzubani, "Allah" was also mentioned in pre-Islamic Christian poems by some Ghassanid and Tanukhid poets in Syria and Northern Arabia.[37][38][39]

Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in pre-Islamic polytheistic cults. According to the Quran commentator Ibn Kathir, Arab idolaters considered Allah as an unseen God who created and controlled the Universe. Pagans believed worship of humans or animals who had fortunate occurrences in their life brought them closer to God. Pre-Islamic Meccans worshiped Allah alongside a host of lesser gods and those whom they called the "daughters of Allah."[11] Islam forbade worship of anyone or anything other than God.[40] Some authors have suggested that polytheistic Arabs used the name as a reference to a creator god or a supreme deity of their pantheon.[41][42] The term may have been vague in the Meccan religion.[41][43]

According to one hypothesis, the Kaaba was first dedicated to a supreme deity named Allah and then hosted the pantheon of Quraysh (360 idols) after their conquest of Mecca, about a century before the time of Muhammad.[10] Some inscriptions seem to indicate the use of Allah as a name of a polytheist deity centuries earlier, although the exact nature of this usage remains unclear.[10] Some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities.[44][45] There is disagreement on whether Allah played a major role in the Meccan religious cult.[44][46] No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed.[46][47] Muhammad's father's name was ʿAbd-Allāh meaning "the slave of Allāh".[43] The interpretation that Pre-Islamic Arabs once practiced Abrahamic religions is supported by some literary evidence, being the prevalence of Ishmael, whose God was that of Abraham, in pre-Islamic Arab culture.[48][49][50]

### Islamic period

[edit]

Main article: God in Islam

See also: Names of God in Islam

In contrast with pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism, as stated by Gerhard Böwering, God in Islam does not have associates and companions, nor is there any kinship between God and jinn.[51] Pre Islamic Arabs believed in a blind, powerful, unstoppable and insensible fate over which man had no control. This was replaced with the Islamic belief of a powerful yet benevolent and merciful God's control over man's life.[12] According to Francis Edward Peters, "The Qur'ān insists, Muslims believe, and historians affirm that Muhammad and his followers worship the same God as the Jews (29:46). The Qur'an's Allah is the same Creator God who covenanted with Abraham". Peters states that the Qur'an portrays Allah as both more powerful and more remote than Yahweh, and as a universal deity, unlike Yahweh who closely follows Israelites.[52]

Since the first centuries of Islam, Arabic-speaking commentators of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith used the term Allah as a generic term for the supreme being.[53] Saadia Gaon used the term Allah interchangeably with the term ʾĔlōhīm.[53] Theodore Abu Qurrah translates theos as Allah in his Bible, as in John 1:1 "the Word was with Allah".[53] Muslim commentators likewise used the term Allah for the Biblical concept of God. Ibn Qutayba writes "You cannot serve both Allah and Mammon.".[53] However, Muslim translators of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia rarely translated the Tetragrammaton, referring to the supreme being in Israelite tradition, as Allah. Instead, most commentators either translated Yahweh as either yahwah or rabb, the latter corresponding to the Jewish custom to refer to Yahweh as Adonai.[53]

Most Qur'an commentators, including al-Tabari (d. 923), al-Zamakhshari (d. 1143/44), and al-Razi (d. 1209), regard Allah to be a proper noun.[54] While other names of God in Islam denote attributes or adjectives, the term Allah specifically refers to his essence as his real name (ism'alam li-dhatih).[54] The other names are known as the 99 Names of Allah (al-asmā' al-ḥusná lit. meaning: 'the best names' or 'the most beautiful names') and considered attributes, each of which represents a distinct characteristic of Allah.[13][55] All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name.[56] Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Merciful" (ar-Raḥmān) and "the Compassionate" (ar-Raḥīm),[13][55] including the previously mentioned above al-Aḥad ("the One, the Indivisible") and al-Wāḥid ("the Unique, the Single").

According to Islamic belief, Allah is the most common word to represent God,[51] and humble submission to his will, divine ordinances and commandments is the foundation of the Muslim faith.[12] "He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind."[12][13] "He is unique (wāḥid) and inherently one (aḥad), all-merciful and omnipotent."[12] No human eyes can see Allah till the Day of Judgment.[57] The Qur'an declares "the reality of Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf of His creatures."[12] Allah does not depend on anything.[58] Allah is not considered a part of the Christian Trinity.[59] God has no parents and no children.[60]

The attributes of Allah Almighty are described in this way in the Ayat al-Kursi of Surah al-Baqarah in the Holy Quran.

ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْحَىُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُۥ سِنَةٌۭ وَلَا نَوْمٌۭ ۚ لَّهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُۥٓ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّا بِمَا شَآءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَـُٔودُهُۥ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِىُّ ٱلْعَظِيمُ ٢٥٥

"Allah! There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him, the Ever-Living, All-Sustaining. Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who could possibly intercede with Him without His permission? He ˹fully˺ knows what is ahead of them and what is behind them, but no one can grasp any of His knowledge—except what He wills ˹to reveal˺. His Seat encompasses the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of both does not tire Him. For He is the Most High, the Greatest."[61]

The concept correlates to the Tawhid, where chapter 112 of the Qur'an (Al-'Ikhlās, The Sincerity) reads:[62]

> قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ۝ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ۝ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ۝ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ ۝١

>     ۝ Say, God is one God;
>     ۝ the eternal God:
>     ۝ He begetteth not, neither is He begotten:
>     ۝ and there is not any one like unto Him.[63]

In a Sufi practice known as dhikr Allāh (Arabic: ذِكر الله, lit. "Remembrance of God"), the Sufi chants and contemplates the name Allah or other associated divine names to Him while regulating his or her breath.[64]

### Present day

[edit]

#### Islam

[edit]

Medallion showing "Allah Jalla Jalaluhu" in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey Allah script outside the Old Mosque in Edirne, Turkey

The Islamic tradition to use Allah as the personal name of God became contested in contemporary scholarship, including the question, whether or not the word Allah should be translated as God.[65] Umar Faruq Abd-Allah encouraged English-speaking Muslims to use God instead of Allah for the sake of finding "extensive middle ground we share with other Abrahamic and universal traditions".[54]

Most Muslims use the Arabic phrase in shā'a llāh (meaning 'if God wills') untranslated after references to future events.[66] Muslim devotional practices encourage beginning things with the invocation of bi-smi llāh (meaning 'In the name of God').[67] There are certain other phrases in praise of God that are commonly used by Muslims and left untranslated, including "Subḥāna llāh" (Glory be to God), "al-ḥamdu li-llāh" (Praise be to God), "lā ilāha illā llāh" (There is no deity but God) or sometimes "lā ilāha illā inta/ huwa" (There is no deity but You/ Him) and "Allāhu Akbar" (God is the Most Great) as a devotional exercise of remembering God (dhikr).[68]

#### Christianity

[edit]

The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for "God" than "Allah".[69] Similarly, the Aramaic word for "God" in the language of Assyrian Christians is ʼĔlāhā, or Alaha. (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Catholic, uses Alla for "God".)

Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim bismillāh, and also created their own Trinitarian bismillāh as early as the 8th century.[70] The Muslim bismillāh reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized bismillāh reads: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God." The Syriac, Latin and Greek invocations do not have the words "One God" at the end. This addition was made to emphasize the monotheistic aspect of Trinitarian belief and also to make it more palatable to Muslims.[70]

## Pronunciation

[edit]

The word Allāh is generally pronounced [ɑɫˈɫɑː(h)], exhibiting a heavy lām, [ɫ], a velarized alveolar lateral approximant, a marginal phoneme in Modern Standard Arabic. Since the initial alef has no hamza, the initial [a] is elided when a preceding word ends in a vowel. If the preceding vowel is /i/, the lām is light, [l], as in, for instance, the Basmala.[71]

## As a loanword

[edit]

### English and other European languages

[edit]

The history of the name Allāh in English was probably influenced by the study of comparative religion in the 19th century; for example, Thomas Carlyle (1840) sometimes used the term Allah but without any implication that Allah was anything different from God. However, in his biography of Muḥammad (1934), Tor Andræ always used the term Allah, though he allows that this "conception of God" seems to imply that it is different from that of the Jewish and Christian theologies.[72]

Languages which may not commonly use the term Allah to denote God may still contain popular expressions which use the word. For example, because of the centuries long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula, the word ojalá in the Spanish language and oxalá in the Portuguese language exist today, borrowed from Andalusi Arabic law šá lláh[73] similar to inshalla (Arabic: إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ). This phrase literally means 'if God wills'.[74] The German poet Mahlmann used the form "Allah" as the title of a poem about the ultimate deity, though it is unclear how much Islamic thought he intended to convey.

Some Muslims retain the name "Allāh" untranslated in English, rather than using the English translation "God".[75]

### Malaysian and Indonesian language

[edit]

Main articles: Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur v. Menteri Dalam Negeri and 2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia

The first dictionary of Dutch-Malay by A.C. Ruyl, Justus Heurnius, and Caspar Wiltens in 1650 recorded Allah as the translation of the Dutch word Godt. Gereja Kebangunan Kalam Allah [id] (Word of God Revival Church) in Indonesia. Allah is the word for "God" in the Indonesian language \- even in Alkitab (Christian Bible, from الكتاب, al-kitāb = the book) translations, while Tuhan is the word for "Lord". Christians in Malaysia also use the word Allah for "God".

Christians in Malaysia and Indonesia use Allah to refer to God in the Malaysian and Indonesian languages (both of them standardized forms of the Malay language). Mainstream Bible translations in the language use Allah as the translation of Hebrew Elohim (translated in English Bibles as "God").[76] This goes back to early translation work by Francis Xavier in the 16th century.[77][78] The first dictionary of Dutch-Malay by Albert Cornelius Ruyl, Justus Heurnius, and Caspar Wiltens in 1650 (revised edition from 1623 edition and 1631 Latin edition) recorded Allah" as the translation of the Dutch word Godt.[79] Ruyl also translated the Gospel of Matthew in 1612 into the Malay language (an early Bible translation into a non-European language,[80] made a year after the publication of the King James Version[81][82]), which was printed in the Netherlands in 1629. Then he translated the Gospel of Mark, published in 1638.[83][84]

For a time it became illegal for non-Muslims to use "Allah" after the country experienced a social and political upheaval in the face of the word being used by Malaysian Christians and Sikhs. The government of Malaysia in 2007 prohibited usage of the term Allah in any other but Muslim contexts, but the Malayan High Court in 2009 overturned the law, ruling it unconstitutional. While Allah had been used for the Christian God in Malay for more than four centuries, the contemporary controversy was triggered by usage of Allah by the Roman Catholic newspaper The Herald. The government appealed the court ruling, and the High Court suspended implementation of its verdict until the hearing of the appeal. In October 2013 the court ruled in favor of the government's ban.[85] In early 2014 the Malaysian government confiscated more than 300 bibles for using the word to refer to the Christian God in Peninsular Malaysia.[86] However, the use of Allah is not prohibited in the two Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.[87][88] The main reason it is not prohibited in these two states is that usage has been long-established and local Alkitab (Bibles) have been widely distributed freely in East Malaysia without restrictions for years.[87] Both states also do not have similar Islamic state laws as those in West Malaysia.[89] The ban was overturned in 2021.[90][91][92][89]

In reaction to some media criticism, the Malaysian government has introduced a "10-point solution" to avoid confusion and misleading information.[93][94] The 10-point solution is in line with the spirit of the 18\- and 20-point agreements of Sarawak and Sabah.[89]

## National flags with "Allah" written on them

[edit]

* Flag of Iraq with the Takbir written on it

* Flag of Saudi Arabia with the Shahada written on it

* Flag of Afghanistan with the Shahada written on it

* Flag of Iran with Takbir written on it

## Typography

[edit]

The word Allah written in different writing systems

The word Allāh is always written without an alif to spell the ā vowel. This is because the spelling was established before Arabic spelling started regularly using alif to spell ā. However, in vocalized spelling, a small diacritic alif is added on top of the shaddah to indicate the pronunciation.

In the pre-Islamic Zabad inscription,[95] God is referred to by the term الاله, that is, alif-lam-alif-lam-ha.[30] This presumably indicates Al-'ilāh means "the god", without alif for ā.

Many Arabic type fonts feature special ligatures for Allah.[96]

Since Arabic script is used to write other texts rather than Koran only, rendering lām \+ lām \+ hā' as the previous ligature is considered faulty which is the case with most common Arabic typefaces.

> This simplified style is often preferred for clarity, especially in non-Arabic languages, but may not be considered appropriate in situations where a more elaborate style of calligraphy is preferred.

>     —SIL International[97]

### Unicode

[edit]

Unicode has a code point reserved for Allāh, U+FDF2 ﷲ ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM,[98] in the Arabic Presentation Forms-A block, which exists solely for "compatibility with some older, legacy character sets that encoded presentation forms directly";[99][100] this is not recommended for new text. Instead, the word Allāh should be represented by its individual Arabic letters, while modern font technologies will generate the desired ligature.

The calligraphic variant of the word used as the emblem of Iran is encoded in Unicode, in the Miscellaneous Symbols range, at code point U+262B[101](☫). The flags that include the word are also present in the regional indicator symbols of Unicode: 🇮🇶, 🇸🇦, 🇦🇫, 🇮🇷, 🇺🇿.

## See also

[edit]

* Abdullah (name)
* Allah as a lunar deity
* Emblem of Iran
* Ismul Azam
* Names of God

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Allah". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
2. ^ "Allah". Oxford Learner's Dictionaries.
3. ^ "Definition of ALLAH". www.merriam-webster.com. 18 March 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
4. ^ "God". Islam: Empire of Faith. PBS. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
5. ^ "Islam and Christianity", Encyclopedia of Christianity (2001): Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews also refer to God as Allāh.
6. ^ Gardet, L. "Allah". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Online. Retrieved 2 May 2007.
7. ^ Merriam-Webster. "Allah". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
8. ^ Zeki Saritoprak (2006). "Allah". In Oliver Leaman (ed.). The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 34\. ISBN 978-0-415-32639-1.
9. ^ Vincent J. Cornell (2005). "God: God in Islam". In Lindsay Jones (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA. p. 724.
10. ^ a b c d Christian Julien Robin (2012). Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. OUP USA. pp. 304–305\. ISBN 978-0-19-533693-1.
11. ^ a b Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow (2004). "Allah". The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend. Facts on File. p. 53\. ISBN 978-1-4381-2685-2.
12. ^ a b c d e f "Allah." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica
13. ^ a b c d Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, Allah
14. ^ Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition Shambhala Publications 2009 ISBN 978-0-8348-2414-0 page 531
15. ^ Carl Skutsch (2005). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. p. 480.
16. ^ a b c D.B. Macdonald. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "Ilah", Vol. 3, p. 1093.
17. ^ Sinai, Nicholas (2019). Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry. Atlanta, GA: American Oriental Society. p. 7\. ISBN 978-1-948488-25-9.
18. ^ Al-Jallad 2025, p. 2.
19. ^ Al-Jallad 2025, p. 3–4.
20. ^ Gerhard Böwering. Encyclopedia of the Quran, Brill, 2002. Vol. 2, p. 318
21. ^ Reynolds, Gabriel Said (2020). Allah: God in the Qur'an. New Haven: Yale university press. p. 14\. ISBN 978-0-300-24658-2.
22. ^ Sinai, Nicholas (2019). Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry. Atlanta, GA: American Oriental Society. p. 8\. ISBN 978-1-948488-25-9.
23. ^ Kiltz, David. "The Relationship between Arabic Allāh and Syriac Allāha." Der Islam 88.1 (2012): 47.
24. ^ Ibrahim, Zakyi. "To Use “God” or “Allah”?." American Journal of Islam and Society 26.4 (2009): v.
25. ^ ibn ʿUmar al-Baydawi, ʿAbd Allah (2016). The Lights Of Revelation And The Secrets Of Interpretation. Translated by Haddad, Gibril Fouad. Beacon Books and Media Limited. ISBN 978-0-9926335-7-8.
26. ^ Columbia Encyclopaedia says: Derived from an old Semitic root referring to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the biblical Elohim and Eloah, the word Allah is used by all Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other monotheists.
27. ^ The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon – Entry for ʼlh Archived 18 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
28. ^ Hitti, Philip Khouri (1970). History of the Arabs. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 100–101.
29. ^ Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization, University of Chicago Press, p. 156
30. ^ a b M. A. Kugener, "Nouvelle Note Sur L'Inscription Trilingue De Zébed", Rivista Degli Studi Orientali, pp. 577-586.
31. ^ Adolf Grohmann, Arabische Paläographie II: Das Schriftwesen und die Lapidarschrift (1971), Wien: Hermann Böhlaus Nochfolger, Page: 6-8
32. ^ Beatrice Gruendler, The Development of the Arabic Scripts: From the Nabatean Era to the First Islamic Century according to Dated Texts (1993), Atlanta: Scholars Press, Page:
33. ^ James Bellamy, "Two Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscriptions Revised: Jabal Ramm and Umm al-Jimal", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 108/3 (1988) pp. 372–378 (translation of the inscription) "This was set up by colleagues/friends of ʿUlayh, the son of ʿUbaydah, secretary/adviser of the cohort Augusta Secunda Philadelphiana; may he go mad/crazy who effaces it."
34. ^ Enno Littmann, Arabic Inscriptions (Leiden, 1949)
35. ^ Daniels, Peter T. (2014). The Type and Spread of Arabic Script.
36. ^ Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, page 418.
37. ^ Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, Page: 452
38. ^ A. Amin and A. Harun, Sharh Diwan Al-Hamasa (Cairo, 1951), Vol. 1, Pages: 478-480
39. ^ Al-Marzubani, Mu'jam Ash-Shu'araa, Page: 302
40. ^ IslamKotob. Tafsir Ibn Kathir all 10 volumes. IslamKotob.
41. ^ a b L. Gardet, Allah, Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. by Sir H.A.R. Gibb
42. ^ Zeki Saritopak, Allah, The Qu'ran: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Oliver Leaman, p. 34
43. ^ a b Gerhard Böwering, God and his Attributes, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, ed. by Jane Dammen McAuliffe
44. ^ a b Jonathan Porter Berkey (2003). The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800. Cambridge University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-521-58813-3.
45. ^ Daniel C. Peterson (26 February 2007). Muhammad, Prophet of God. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 21\. ISBN 978-0-8028-0754-0.
46. ^ a b Francis E. Peters (1994). Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. SUNY Press. p. 107\. ISBN 978-0-7914-1875-8.
47. ^ Irving M. Zeitlin (19 March 2007). The Historical Muhammad. Polity. p. 33\. ISBN 978-0-7456-3999-4.
48. ^ The Treasury of literature, Sect. 437
49. ^ The Beginning of History, Volume 3, Sect.10
50. ^ The Collection of the Speeches of Arabs, volume 1, section 75
51. ^ a b Böwering, Gerhard, God and His Attributes, Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān, Brill, 2007.
52. ^ F.E. Peters, Islam, p.4, Princeton University Press, 2003
53. ^ a b c d e Thomas, Kenneth J. "Allah in Translations of the Bible." The Bible Translator 52.3 (2001): 301-306.
54. ^ a b c Ibrahim, Zakyi. "To Use "God" or "Allah"?." American Journal of Islam and Society 26.4 (2009): i-vii.
55. ^ a b Bentley, David (September 1999). The 99 Beautiful Names for God for All the People of the Book. William Carey Library. ISBN 978-0-87808-299-5.
56. ^ Murata, Sachiko (1992). The Tao of Islam: a sourcebook on gender relationships in Islamic thought. Albany NY USA: SUNY. ISBN 978-0-7914-0914-5.
57. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Translation". corpus.quran.com. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
58. ^ "112. Surah Al-Ikhlaas or At-Tauhid – NobleQuran.com". Retrieved 11 April 2021.
59. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Translation". corpus.quran.com. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
60. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Translation". corpus.quran.com. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
61. ^ "Surah Al-Baqarah - Ayatul Kursi". Quran.com. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
62. ^ Arabic script in Unicode symbol for a Quran verse, U+06DD, page 3, Proposal for additional Unicode characters
63. ^ Sale, G AlKoran
64. ^ Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond, Macmillan, p. 29
65. ^ Andreas Görke and Johanna Pink Tafsir and Islamic Intellectual History Exploring the Boundaries of a Genre Oxford University Press in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies London ISBN 978-0-19-870206-1 p. 478
66. ^ Gary S. Gregg, The Middle East: A Cultural Psychology, Oxford University Press, p.30
67. ^ Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Islamic Society in Practice, University Press of Florida, p. 24
68. ^ M. Mukarram Ahmed, Muzaffar Husain Syed, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Anmol Publications PVT. LTD, p. 144
69. ^ Lewis, Bernard; Holt, P. M.; Holt, Peter R.; Lambton, Ann Katherine Swynford (1977). The Cambridge history of Islam. Cambridge, Eng: University Press. p. 32\. ISBN 978-0-521-29135-4.
70. ^ a b Thomas E. Burman, Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, Brill, 1994, p. 103
71. ^ "How do you pronounce "Allah" (الله) correctly?". ARABIC for NERDS. 16 June 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
72. ^ William Montgomery Watt, Islam and Christianity today: A Contribution to Dialogue, Routledge, 1983, p.45
73. ^ "ojalá". Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish) (23.6 electronic ed.). Real Academia Española - ASALE. 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
74. ^ Islam in Luce López Baralt, Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present, Brill, 1992, p.25
75. ^ F. E. Peters, The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Princeton University Press, p.12
76. ^ Example: Usage of the word "Allah" from Matthew 22:32 in Indonesian bible versions (parallel view) as old as 1733 Archived 19 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
77. ^ The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society Sneddon, James M.; University of New South Wales Press; 2004
78. ^ The History of Christianity in India from the Commencement of the Christian Era: Hough, James; Adamant Media Corporation; 2001
79. ^ Wiltens, Caspar; Heurnius, Justus (1650). Justus Heurnius, Albert Ruyl, Caspar Wiltens. "Vocabularium ofte Woordenboeck nae ordre van den alphabeth, in 't Duytsch en Maleys". 1650:65. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
80. ^ But compare: Milkias, Paulos (2011). "Ge'ez Literature (Religious)". Ethiopia. Africa in Focus. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 299\. ISBN 978-1-59884-257-9. Retrieved 15 February 2018. "Monasticism played a key role in the Ethiopian literary movement. The Bible was translated during the time of the Nine Saints in the early sixth century [...]."
81. ^ Barton, John (2002–12). The Biblical World, Oxford, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-27574-3.
82. ^ North, Eric McCoy; Eugene Albert Nida ((2nd Edition) 1972). The Book of a Thousand Tongues, London: United Bible Societies.
83. ^ "Sejarah Alkitab Indonesia / Albert Conelisz Ruyl". sejarah.sabda.org.
84. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica: Albert Cornelius Ruyl". Britannica.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
85. ^ Roughneen, Simon (14 October 2013). "No more 'Allah' for Christians, Malaysian court says". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
86. ^ "BBC News - More than 300 Bibles are confiscated in Malaysia". BBC. 2 January 2014. Archived from the original on 25 January 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
87. ^ a b "Catholic priest should respect court: Mahathir". Daily Express. 9 January 2014. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
88. ^ Jane Moh; Peter Sibon (29 March 2014). "Worship without hindrance". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
89. ^ a b c Idris Jala (24 February 2014). "The 'Allah'/Bible issue, 10-point solution is key to managing the polarity". The Star. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
90. ^ Sikhs target of 'Allah' attack, Julia Zappei, 14 January 2010, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.
91. ^ Malaysia court rules non-Muslims can't use 'Allah', 14 October 2013, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.
92. ^ Malaysia's Islamic authorities seize Bibles as Allah row deepens, Niluksi Koswanage, 2 January 2014, Reuters. Accessed on line 15 January 2014. [1]
93. ^ "Bahasa Malaysia Bibles: The Cabinet's 10-point solution". 25 January 2014.
94. ^ "Najib: 10-point resolution on Allah issue subject to Federal, state laws". The Star. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
95. ^ "Zebed Inscription: A Pre-Islamic Trilingual Inscription In Greek, Syriac & Arabic From 512 CE". Islamic Awareness. 17 March 2005.
96. ^
* Arabic fonts and Mac OS X Archived 10 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
* Programs for Arabic in Mac OS X Archived 6 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
97. ^ "Scheherazade New". SIL International. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
98. ^ Unicode of Allah https://unicodeplus.com/U+FDF2
99. ^ UnicodeThe Unicode Consortium. FAQ - Middle East Scripts Archived 1 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
100. ^ "Unicode Standard 5.0, p.479, 492" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
101. ^ Farsi Unicode https://unicodeplus.com/U+262B

## General and cited references

[edit]

* Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2025). "Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction". Journal of Semitic Studies: 1–56.
* Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Dagli, C.K.; Dakake, Maria Massi; Lumbard, J.E.B.; Rustom, M., eds. (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-222762-1.
* The Unicode Consortium, Unicode Standard 5.0, Addison-Wesley, 2006, ISBN 978-0-321-48091-0, About the Unicode Standard Version 5.0 Book

## Further reading

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### Online

[edit]

* Allah Qur'ān, in Encyclopædia Britannica Online, by Asma Afsaruddin, Brian Duignan, Thinley

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