Allah
Şablon:About Şablon:Pp-semi-indef Şablon:Pp-move-indef Şablon:Use dmy dates Şablon:Good article
Allah (Şablon:IPAc-en;<ref>"Allah". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.</ref><ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref> Şablon:Lang-ar, Şablon:IPA-ar) is the Arabic word referring to God in Abrahamic religions. In the English language, the word traditionally refers to God in Islam.<ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref><ref>"Islam and Christianity", Encyclopedia of Christianity (2001): Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews also refer to God as Allāh.</ref><ref name="gardet-allah">Şablon:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The word is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh, which means "the god", and is related to El and Elohim, the Hebrew words for God.<ref> Şablon:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Şablon:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
The word Allah has been used by Arabic people of different religions since pre-Islamic times.<ref name="Robin304">Şablon:Cite book</ref> More specifically, it has been used as a term to refer to God by Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) and Arab Christians. It is now mainly used by Muslims and Arab Christians to refer to God.<ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref> It is also often, albeit not exclusively, used in this way by Bábists, Bahá'ís, Indonesian and Maltese Christians, and Mizrahi Jews.<ref name="Columbia">Columbia Encyclopedia, Allah</ref><ref name="Britannica"> "Allah." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica</ref><ref name="EncMMENA">Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, Allah</ref> Similar usage by Christians and Sikhs in West Malaysia has recently led to political and legal controversies.<ref>Sikhs target of 'Allah' attack, Julia Zappei, 14 January 2010, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.</ref><ref>Malaysia court rules non-Muslims can't use 'Allah', 14 October 2013, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.</ref><ref>Malaysia's Islamic authorities seize Bibles as Allah row deepens, Niluksi Koswanage, 2 January 2014, Reuters. Accessed on line 15 January 2014. Şablon:Webarchive</ref><ref name="10 point"/>
İçindekiler
Etymology
The etymology of the word Allāh has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists.<ref name=EI2-Ilah>D.B. Macdonald. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "Ilah", Vol. 3, p. 1093.</ref> Grammarians of the Basra school regarded is as either formed "spontaneously" (murtajal) or as the definite form of lāh (from the verbal root lyh with the meaning of "lofty" or "hidden").<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> Others held that it was borrowed from Syriac or Hebrew, but most considered it to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- "the" and Şablon:Transl "deity, god" to Şablon:Transl meaning "the deity", or "the God".<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> The majority of modern scholars subscribe to the latter theory, and view the loanword hypothesis with skepticism.<ref>Gerhard Böwering. Encyclopedia of the Quran, Brill, 2002. Vol. 2, p. 318</ref>
Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic.<ref name="autogenerated1">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.</ref> The corresponding Aramaic form is Elah (Şablon:Lang), but its emphatic state is Elaha (Şablon:Lang). It is written as Şablon:Lang (ʼĔlāhā) in Biblical Aramaic and Şablon:Lang (ʼAlâhâ) in Syriac as used by the Assyrian Church, both meaning simply "God".<ref name="cal">The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon – Entry for ʼlh Şablon:Webarchive</ref> Biblical Hebrew mostly uses the plural (but functional singular) form Elohim (Şablon:Lang), but more rarely it also uses the singular form Eloah (Şablon:Lang).
Usage
Pre-Islamic Arabians
Şablon:Main article Regional variants of the word Allah occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions.<ref name="Robin304"/><ref>Şablon:Cite book</ref> Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in pre-Islamic polytheistic cults. Some authors have suggested that polytheistic Arabs used the name as a reference to a creator god or a supreme deity of their pantheon.<ref name="EoI"/><ref>Zeki Saritopak, Allah, The Qu'ran: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Oliver Leaman, p. 34</ref> The term may have been vague in the Meccan religion.<ref name="EoI">L. Gardet, Allah, Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. by Sir H.A.R. Gibb</ref><ref name="GodEoQ">Gerhard Böwering, God and his Attributes, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, ed. by Jane Dammen McAuliffe</ref> According to one hypothesis, which goes back to Julius Wellhausen, Allah (the supreme deity of the tribal federation around Quraysh) was a designation that consecrated the superiority of Hubal (the supreme deity of Quraysh) over the other gods.<ref name="Robin304"/> However, there is also evidence that Allah and Hubal were two distinct deities.<ref name="Robin304"/> According to that hypothesis, the Kaaba was first consecrated to a supreme deity named Allah and then hosted the pantheon of Quraysh after their conquest of Mecca, about a century before the time of Muhammad.<ref name="Robin304"/> Some inscriptions seem to indicate the use of Allah as a name of a polytheist deity centuries earlier, but we know nothing precise about this use.<ref name="Robin304"/> Some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities.<ref name= Berkey>Şablon:Cite book</ref><ref name="Peterson2007">Şablon:Cite book</ref> There is disagreement on whether Allah played a major role in the Meccan religious cult.<ref name= Berkey/><ref name= Peters107>Şablon:Cite book</ref> No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed.<ref name= Peters107/><ref name="Zeitlin33">Şablon:Cite book</ref> Muhammad's father's name was Şablon:Transl meaning "the slave of Allāh".<ref name="GodEoQ"/>
Christianity
The Aramaic word for "God" in the language of Assyrian Christians is ʼĔlāhā, or Alaha. Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word "Allah" to mean "God".<ref name="Columbia"/> The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for "God" than "Allah".<ref name="Cambridge">Şablon:Cite book</ref> (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Roman Catholic, uses Alla for "God".) Arab Christians, for example, use the terms Şablon:Transl (Şablon:Lang) for God the Father, Şablon:Transl (Şablon:Lang) for God the Son, and Şablon:Transl (Şablon:Lang) for God the Holy Spirit. (See God in Christianity for the Christian concept of God.)
Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim Şablon:Transl, and also created their own Trinitized Şablon:Transl as early as the 8th century.<ref name="Thomas"/> The Muslim Şablon:Transl reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized Şablon:Transl reads: "In the name of 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.<ref name="Thomas">Thomas E. Burman, Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, Brill, 1994, p. 103</ref>
According to Marshall Hodgson, it seems that in the pre-Islamic times, some Arab Christians made pilgrimage to the Kaaba, a pagan temple at that time, honoring Allah there as God the Creator.<ref>Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization, University of Chicago Press, p. 156</ref>
Some archaeological excavation quests 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 contained references to Allah as the proper name of God, and some of the graves contained names such as "Abd Allah" which means "the servant/slave of Allah".<ref>James Bellamy, "Two Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscriptions Revised: Jabal Ramm and Umm al-Jimal", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 108/3 (1988)</ref><ref>Enno Littmann, Arabic Inscriptions (Leiden, 1949)</ref><ref>Rick Brown, Who is "Allah" ? - International Journal of Frontier Missions, (23:2 Summer 2006), page 80.</ref>
The name Allah can be found countless times in the reports and the lists of names of Christian martyrs in South Arabia, as reported by antique Syriac documents of the names of those martyrs from the era of the Himyarite and Aksumite kingdoms.<ref name="rick brown">Rick Brown, Who was 'Allah' before Islam? Evidence that the term 'Allah' originated with Jewish and Christian Arabs (2007), page 8.</ref><ref>Ignatius Ya`qub III, The Arab Himyarite Martyrs in the Syriac Documents (1966), Pages: 9-65-66-89</ref>
A Christian leader named Abd Allah ibn Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad was martyred in Najran in 523, as he had worn a ring that said "Allah is my lord".<ref name="rick brown"/><ref>Alfred Guillaume& Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, (2002 [1955]). The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Isḥāq's Sīrat Rasūl Allāh with Introduction and Notes. Karachi and New York: Oxford University Press, page 18.</ref>
In an inscription of Christian martyrion dated back to 512, references to Allah can be found in both Arabic and Aramaic, which called him "Allah" and "Alaha", and the inscription starts with the statement "By the Help of Allah".<ref name="rick brown"/><ref>Adolf Grohmann, Arabische Paläographie II: Das Schriftwesen und die Lapidarschrift (1971), Wien: Hermann Böhlaus Nochfolger, Page: 6-8</ref><ref>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:</ref>
In pre-Islamic Gospels, the name used for God was "Allah", as evidenced by some discovered Arabic versions of the New Testament written by Arab Christians during the pre-Islamic era in Northern and Southern Arabia.<ref name="before">Rick Brown, Who was 'Allah' before Islam? Evidence that the term 'Allah' originated with Jewish and Christian Arabs (2007), page 10.</ref><ref>Frederick Winnett V, Allah before Islam-The Moslem World (1938), Pages: 239–248</ref><ref>Michael Macdonald, Personal Names in the Nabataean Realm-Journal Of Semitic Studies (1999), Page: 271</ref>
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.<ref>Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, page 418.</ref>
"Allah" was also mentioned in pre-Islamic Christian poems by some Ghassanid and Tanukhid poets in Syria and Northern Arabia.<ref>Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, Page: 452</ref><ref>A. Amin and A. Harun, Sharh Diwan Al-Hamasa (Cairo, 1951), Vol. 1, Pages: 478-480</ref><ref>Al-Marzubani, Mu'jam Ash-Shu'araa, Page: 302</ref>
Islam
Şablon:Main article Şablon:See also
In Islam, Allah is the unique, omnipotent and only deity and creator of the universe and is equivalent to God in other Abrahamic religions.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="EncMMENA"/>
According to Islamic belief, Allah is the most common word to represent God,<ref name="EoQ">Böwering, Gerhard, God and His Attributes, Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān, Brill, 2007.</ref> and humble submission to his will, divine ordinances and commandments is the pivot of the Muslim faith.<ref name="Britannica"/> "He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind."<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="EncMMENA"/> "He is unique (Şablon:Transl) and inherently one (Şablon:Transl), all-merciful and omnipotent."<ref name="Britannica"/> The Qur'an declares "the reality of Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf of His creatures."<ref name="Britannica"/>
In Islamic tradition, there are 99 Names of God (Şablon:Transl lit. meaning: 'the best names' or 'the most beautiful names'), each of which evoke a distinct characteristic of Allah.<ref name="EncMMENA"/><ref name="Ben">Şablon:Cite book</ref> All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name.<ref name="Tao-Islam"> Şablon:Cite book</ref> Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Merciful" (al-Raḥmān) and "the Compassionate" (Şablon:Transl).<ref name="EncMMENA"/><ref name="Ben"/>
Most Muslims use the untranslated Arabic phrase [[Insha'Allah|Şablon:Transl]] (meaning 'if God wills') after references to future events.<ref>Gary S. Gregg, The Middle East: A Cultural Psychology, Oxford University Press, p.30</ref> Muslim discursive piety encourages beginning things with the invocation of [[Basmala|Şablon:Transl]] (meaning 'in the name of God').<ref>Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Islamic Society in Practice, University Press of Florida, p. 24</ref>
There are certain phrases in praise of God that are favored by Muslims, including "Subḥān Allāh" (Holiness be to God), "al-ḥamdu lillāh" (Praise be to God), "[[Shahada|Şablon:Transl]]" (There is no deity but God) and "Allāhu akbar" (God is greater) as a devotional exercise of remembering God (dhikr).<ref>M. Mukarram Ahmed, Muzaffar Husain Syed, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Anmol Publications PVT. LTD, p. 144</ref> In a Sufi practice known as dhikr Allah (lit. remembrance of God), the Sufi repeats and contemplates on the name Allah or other divine names while controlling his or her breath.<ref>Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond, Macmillan, p. 29</ref>
Some scholarsŞablon:Who have suggested that Muḥammad used the term Allah in addressing both pagan Arabs and Jews or Christians in order to establish a common ground for the understanding of the name for God, a claim Gerhard Böwering says is doubtful.<ref name="EoQ"/> According to Böwering, in contrast with pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism, God in Islam does not have associates and companions, nor is there any kinship between God and jinn.<ref name="EoQ"/> Pre-Islamic pagan Arabs believed in a blind, powerful, inexorable and insensible fate over which man had no control. This was replaced with the Islamic notion of a powerful but provident and merciful God.<ref name="Britannica"/>
According to Francis Edwards Peters, "The Qur’ān insists, Muslims believe, and historians affirm that Muhammad and his followers worship the same God as the Jews (Şablon:Cite quran). 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.<ref name="Peters1">F.E. Peters, Islam, p.4, Princeton University Press, 2003</ref>
As a loanword
English and other European languages
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.<ref name="Watt45">William Montgomery Watt, Islam and Christianity today: A Contribution to Dialogue, Routledge, 1983, p.45</ref>
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 Arabic (Arabic: إن شاء الله). This phrase literally means 'if God wills' (in the sense of "I hope so").<ref>Islam in Luce López Baralt, Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present, Brill, 1992, p.25</ref> 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 leave the name "Allāh" untranslated in English.<ref>F. E. Peters, The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Princeton University Press, p.12</ref> The word has also been applied to certain living human beings as personifications of the term and concept.<ref>Nation of Islam – personification of Allah as Detroit peddler W D Fard Şablon:Webarchive</ref><ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref>
Malaysian and Indonesian language
Christians in Malaysia and Indonesia use Allah to refer to God in the Malaysian and Indonesian languages (both of which are 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").<ref>Example: Usage of the word "Allah" from Matthew 22:32 in Indonesian bible versions (parallel view) as old as 1733 Şablon:Webarchive</ref> This goes back to early translation work by Francis Xavier in the 16th century.<ref>The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society Sneddon, James M.; University of New South Wales Press; 2004</ref><ref>The History of Christianity in India from the Commencement of the Christian Era: Hough, James; Adamant Media Corporation; 2001</ref> 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".<ref>Şablon:Cite book</ref> Ruyl also translated Matthew in 1612 to Malay language (first Bible translation to non-European language, only a year after King James Version was published<ref>Barton, John (2002–12). The Biblical World, Oxford, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-27574-3.</ref><ref>North, Eric McCoy; Eugene Albert Nida ((2nd Edition) 1972). The Book of a Thousand Tongues, London: United Bible Societies.</ref>), which was printed in the Netherlands in 1629. Then he translated Mark which was published in 1638.<ref>Şablon:Id icon Biography of Ruyl</ref><ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref>
The government of Malaysia in 2007 outlawed usage of the term Allah in any other but Muslim contexts, but the Malayan High Court in 2009 revoked the law, ruling that it was 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 appeal was heard. In October 2013, the court ruled in favor of the government's ban.<ref>Şablon:Cite news</ref> In early 2014, the Malaysian government confiscated more than 300 bibles for using the word to refer to the Christian God in Peninsular Malaysia.<ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref> However, the use of Allah is not prohibited in the two Malaysian state of Sabah and Sarawak.<ref name="settle">Şablon:Cite web</ref><ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="settle"/> Both states also do not have similar Islamic state laws as those in West Malaysia.<ref name="10 point"/>
As a reaction to some media criticism, the Malaysian government has introduced a "10-point solution" to avoid confusion and misleading information.<ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref><ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref> The 10-point solution is in line with the spirit of the 18- and 20-point agreements of Sarawak and Sabah.<ref name="10 point">Şablon:Cite web</ref> Şablon:Clear
In other scripts and languages
Şablon:Transl in other languages that use Arabic script is spelled in the same way. This includes Urdu, Persian/Dari, Uyghur among others.
- Assamese, Şablon:Lang-bn Allah
- Şablon:Lang-bs
- Chinese (Mandarin): 阿拉 Ālā, Şablon:Lang Ānlā; Şablon:Lang Zhēnzhǔ (semantic translation as "the true master"),<ref name="VersteeghEid2005">Şablon:Cite book</ref> Şablon:Lang Huda (Khoda, from Persian language)
- Czech, Şablon:Lang-sk
- Şablon:Lang-el Allách
- Filipino: Alā or Allah
- Şablon:Lang-he Allah
- Şablon:Lang-hi Allāh
- Şablon:Lang-ml Aḷḷāh
- Şablon:Lang-ja Arā, Şablon:Lang Arrā, Şablon:Lang Arrāfu
- Şablon:Lang-lv
- Şablon:Lang-mt
- Şablon:Lang-ko Alla
- Şablon:Lang-pl, also archaic Şablon:Lang or Şablon:Lang
- Russian, Ukrainian, Şablon:Lang-bg Allakh
- Serbian, Belarusian, Şablon:Lang-mk Alah
- Spanish, Şablon:Lang-pt
- Şablon:Lang-syl Alla
- Şablon:Lang-th Anláw
- Punjabi (Gurmukhi): ਅੱਲਾਹ Allāh, archaic ਅਲਹੁ Alahu (in Sikh scriptures)
- Turkish: Allah
Typography
The word Şablon:Transl is always written without an [[aleph|Şablon:Transl]] to spell the Şablon:Transl vowel. This is because the spelling was settled before Arabic spelling started habitually using Şablon:Transl to spell Şablon:Transl. However, in vocalized spelling, a small diacritic Şablon:Transl is added on top of the [[shadda|Şablon:Transl]] to indicate the pronunciation.
One exception may be in the pre-Islamic Zabad inscription,<ref>Şablon:Cite web </ref> where it ends with an ambiguous sign that may be a lone-standing h with a lengthened start, or may be a non-standard conjoined Şablon:Transl:-
- Şablon:Lang: This reading would be Şablon:Transl spelled phonetically with Şablon:Transl for the Şablon:Transl.
- Şablon:Lang: This reading would be Şablon:Transl = 'the god' (an older form, without contraction), by older spelling practice without Şablon:Transl for Şablon:Transl.
Many Arabic type fonts feature special ligatures for Allah.<ref name="Typ1">
Unicode
Unicode has a codepoint reserved for Şablon:Transl, Şablon:Script/Arabic = U+FDF2, in the Arabic Presentation Forms-A block, which exists solely for "compatibility with some older, legacy character sets that encoded presentation forms directly";<ref>The Unicode Consortium. FAQ - Middle East Scripts Şablon:Webarchive</ref><ref name="Uni">Şablon:Cite web</ref> this is discouraged for new text. Instead, the word Şablon:Transl should be represented by its individual Arabic letters, while modern font technologies will render the desired ligature.
The calligraphic variant of the word used as the Coat of arms of Iran is encoded in Unicode, in the Miscellaneous Symbols range, at codepoint U+262B (☫).
See also
- Abdullah (name)
- [[Ilah|Şablon:Transl]]
- Names of God
Notes
References
- The Unicode Consortium, Unicode Standard 5.0, Addison-Wesley, 2006, ISBN 978-0-321-48091-0, About the Unicode Standard Version 5.0 Book
External links
Şablon:Wikisource Şablon:Wikiquote Şablon:Commons and category
- Names of Allah with Meaning on Website, Flash, and Mobile Phone Software
- Concept of God (Allah) in Islam
- The Concept of Allāh According to the Qur'an by Abdul Mannan Omar
- Allah, the Unique Name of God
- Typography
