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Who is Allah?
Some of the biggest misconceptions that many non-Muslims have about Islam have to dowith the word “Allah.” For various reasons, many people have come to believe thatMuslims 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 beno 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 havedifferent concepts of Almighty God. For example, Muslims - like Jews - reject theChristian beliefs of the Trinity and the Divine Incarnation. This, however, does not meanthat each of these three religions worships a different God - because, as we have alreadysaid, 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 mixingthem with man-made ideas.First of all, it is important to note that “Allah” is the same word that Arabic-speakingChristians 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. This is because “Allah” is a word inthe Arabic language equivalent to the English word “God” with a capital “G”.Additionally, the word “Allah” cannot be made plural, a fact which goes hand-in-handwith the Islamic concept of God.It is interesting to note that the Aramaic word “El”, which is the word for God in thelanguage that Jesus spoke, is certainly more similar in sound to the word “Allah” than theEnglish word “God.” This also holds true for the various Hebrew words for God, whichare “El” and “Elah”, and the plural or glorified form “Elohim.” The reason for thesesimilarities is that Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic are all Semitic languages with commonorigins. It should also be noted that in translating the Bible into English, the Hebrewword “El” is translated variously as “God”, “god” and “angel”! This imprecise languageallows different translators, based on their preconceived notions, to translate the word tofit 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 onlydifference between “god”, meaning a false god, and “God”, meaning the One True God,is the capital “G”. Due to the above mentioned facts, a more accurate translation of theword “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 deepreligious message due to its root meaning and origin. This is because it stems from theArabic verb ta’allaha (or alaha), which means “to be worshipped.” Thus in Arabic, theword “Allah” means “The One who deserves all worship.” This, in a nutshell, is the PureMonotheistic message of Islam.
 
Suffice it to say that just because someone claims to be a “monotheistic” Jew, Christianor Muslim, that does not keep them from falling into corrupt beliefs and idolatrous practices. Many people, including some Muslims, claim belief in “One God” eventhough they’ve fallen into acts of idolatry. Certainly, many Protestants accuse RomanCatholics of idolatrous practices in regards to the saints and the Virgin Mary. Likewise,the Greek Orthodox Church is considered “idolatrous” by many other Christians becausein much of their worship they use icons. However, if you ask a Roman Catholic or aGreek Orthodox person if God is “One”, they will invariably answer: “Yes!.” This claim,however, does not stop them from being “creature worshipping” idolaters. The samegoes for Hindus, who just consider their gods to be “manifestations” or “incarnations” of the One Supreme God.Before concluding… there are some people out there, who are obviously not on the sideof truth, that want to get people to believe that “Allah” is just some Arabian “god”[1], andthat 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 adifferent “God” because they say “Allah” is just as illogical as saying that French peopleworship another God because they use the word “Dieu”, that Spanish-speaking peopleworship a different God because they say “Dios” or that the Hebrews worshipped adifferent God because they sometimes call Him “Yahweh.” Certainly, reasoning like thisis quite ridiculous! It should also be mentioned, that claiming that any one language usesthe only the correct word for God is tantamount to denying the universality of God’smessage to mankind, which was to all nations, tribes and people through various prophetswho spoke different languages.We would like to ask our readers about the motives of these people? The reason is thatthe Ultimate Truth of Islam stands on solid ground and its unshakeable belief in the Unityof God is above reproach. Due to this, Christians can’t criticize its doctrines directly, butinstead fabricate things about Islam that aren’t true so that people lose the desire to learnmore. If Islam were presented in the proper way to the world, it surely might make many people reconsider and re-evaluate their own beliefs. It is quite likely that when they findout that there is a universal religion in the world that teaches people to worship and loveGod, while also practicing Pure Monotheism, would at least feel that they should re-examine the basis for their own beliefs and doctrines.
The Concept of God in Islam (part 1 of 2): A Unique Concept
It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are used to refer to Godand sometimes to lesser deities at the same time. This is not the case with Allah. Allah isthe personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term hasno plural or gender. This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word “god,”which can be made plural, as in “gods,” or made feminine, as in “goddess.” It is
 
interesting to note that Alah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and a sister language of Arabic.The One true God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates with Allah.To a Muslim, Allah is the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe, Who is similar to nothing, and nothing is comparable to Him. The Prophet Muhammad was asked by hiscontemporaries about Allah; the answer came directly from Allah Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Quran, which is considered to be the essence of the unity or themotto of monotheism. This is chapter 112, which reads:“In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”“Say (O Muhammad), He is Allah, the One God, the Self-Sufficient, who has not begotten, nor has been begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone.”Some non-Muslims allege that God in Islam is a stern and cruel God who demands to beobeyed fully and is, consequently, not loving and kind. Nothing could be farther from thetruth than this allegation. It is enough to know that, with the exception of one, each of the 114 chapters of the Quran begins with the verse, “In the name of God, the Merciful;the Compassionate.” In one of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, may God praise him,we are told that:“God is more loving and kind than a mother to her dear child.”On the other hand, God is also Just. Hence, evildoers and sinners must have their shareof punishment, and the virtuous must have God’s bounties and favors. Actually, God’sattribute of Mercy has full manifestation in His attribute of Justice. People sufferingthroughout their lives for His sake should not receive similar treatment from their Lord as people who oppress and exploit others their whole lives. Expecting similar treatment for them would amount to negating the very belief in the accountability of man in theHereafter and thereby negate all the incentives for a moral and virtuous life in this world.The following Quranic verses are very clear and straightforward in this respect.“Verily, for the Righteous are gardens of Delight, in the Presence of their Lord. Shall Wethen treat the people of Faith like the people of Sin? What is the matter with you? How judge you?” (Quran 68:34-36)Islam rejects characterizing God in any human form or depicting Him as favoring certainindividuals or nations on the basis of wealth, power or race. He created human-beings asequals. They may distinguish themselves and get His favor through virtue and piety only.The concepts, such as God resting on the seventh day of creation, God wrestling with oneof His soldiers, God being an envious plotter against mankind, or God being incarnate inany human being, are considered blasphemy from the Islamic point of view.
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