DonotinsultAllahHeisyourGodtoo.

ForthePostDispatchCivilReligionBlogByKhaledHamid
04/28/20086:38pm
The icon of evangelical fundamentalist
Christianity, Pat Robertson, would not
waste a chance to restate that Muslims
do not worship the same God that
JudeoChristian believers do. I am not
sureifmostJewsagreewithhisChristian
understandingofGod,butthathasnever
stopped him and others of the same
mindsetfrommakingthatclaim.
Tohim,AllahisnotGod.ItisjustanArab
Muslim Idol. Not only that, but he comes
upwithwholeHollywoodtypestoryabout
the moon god who has three daughters that Muslims worship (see that
and
more
equally
smart
statements
herehttp://www.cbn.com/700club/features/bringiton/falsereligions
index.aspx#3.Thisnonsenseisearcatchingforhistargetaudience,butis
justtoputitmildlystupidplainandsimple.
Thesestatementsprovethatonemaybefamous,rich,andinfluentialyet
be totally ignorant and do not even know what they are talking about.
That, unfortunately does not change the fact that many nonMuslims,
especially in North America, that still think the same way, regardless of
whattheythinkofPatRobertson.
Allah is the Arabic word for God (upper case G). It has its roots in
Aramaic, one of the roots of Arabic Language, and has been used many
centuriesbeforeIslambyArabJewsandChristians.Notonlythat,itisthe
wordusedforGod/Lord(uppercase)intheArabictranslationsoftheOld
andNewTestament.
Take a look at this example from Genesis (http://www.ibs.org/) with the
Arabic translation from http://www.biblegateway.com/. The words God
andAllahinArabic,arehighlighted:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the

earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the

deep,andtheSpiritofGodwashoveringoverthewaters.
3AndGodsaid, Let there be light, and there was light. 4God saw that

the light was good, and he separated the light from the
darkness.5Godcalledthelightday,andthedarknesshecallednight.
Andtherewasevening,andtherewasmorningthefirst.
AndforanexamplefromtheGospelofJohn:
1InthebeginningwastheWord,andtheWordwaswithGod,andthe

WordwasGod.
2ThesamewasinthebeginningwithGod.

Arab Christians use the word Allah

(meaning God) in their prayers and
worship. Many Arab Christians have
the name AbdAllah, meaning the
ServantofGod,thesamenamethat
manyMuslimshave.Theimageonthe
side is the Arabic script for God is
Love, a common saying for Egyptian Christians. Notice the word on the
right.ItisAllah(forGod).
The Arabic language has masculine and feminine forms. Like English, it
also has single and plural forms, with a third form for a count of 2 of the
samething.ThewordAllahinArabichasaveryspecialstatusthough.Itis
not defined as masculine or feminine, it exists only in the singular form,
and it does not undergo any derivation. Grammatically it is treated as
masculine,butithasnoinherentgender.
TheuniquenessofthewordAllahinArabicmaybeinpartresponsiblefor
theoccasionaluseofAllahbyMuslimsspeakinginEnglish,ratherthanthe
word God. The word god has multiple forms: upper case, lower case,
plural and feminine forms (God, god, gods and goddess). It can be used
todescribetheabsolutedivine,butitcanbeusedtodescribeateenidol
or a music diva. I personally prefer to use the word God, but I would
alwaysremindmylistenersthatitistheuppercaseone.
Iknowsomepeoplemaybenowthinking:Well,evenifitmeansGoditstill
does not mean that Muslims worship the same God Christians and Jews
worship.SohereisabriefprimerondivinityinIslam.
Islamisamonotheisticreligion(definedbysomeasrigidlymonotheistic).
GodinIslamhasnoformorshapethatisamenabletohumansenses,but
his presence can be perceived. Therefore, humans can sense the
existence of the Divine, and believe in it. Any attribute of His that may
have a human equivalent, is made with no attempt to make analogy or
similetohumans.
This is expressed in a very short chapter of the Quran (Ch. 112, 14):
SAY: He is the One God: God the Eternal, the Uncaused, Cause of All
Being. He begets not, and neither is He begotten and there is nothing

thatcouldbecomparedwithHim.
In Islam, God is the ultimate abstract idea of a Divine Entity. He has no
beginning,andnoend.Heisthecreatoroftheuniverseandthesustainer
ofallthatexists.HeistheMasteroftheDayofJudgment.Hecaresabout
us,knowswhatwedo,andwantsustosucceedinthislife,andinthelife
after.
If someone does not think that this is the God they worship, then that is
their concern. As for those who grasped my description of what God
means to Muslims, the next time one feels like saying something nasty
aboutAllah,theyshouldholdback.ItistheirGodtoo.