Allah

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

Allah (/ˈælə, ˈɑːlə, əˈlɑː/;[1][2][3] Arabic: ﷲ IPA: [əɫ.ɫɑːh] ⓘ) is the Arabic word for God, particularly the God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with Islam, but 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 implies 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] When Muhammad founded Islam, he used "Allah" to refer to the same unitary God who met Abraham, according to the Bible and the Quran. Many Jews, Christians, and early Muslims used "Allah" and "al-ilah" interchangeably 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]

While it is an Arabic word and has historically been used by Muslims and non-Muslims alike in the Arab world, the usage of "Allah" by non-Muslims has been controversial in non-Arab parts of the Muslim world, especially Malaysia, where 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.[16][17][18][19]

  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. ^ 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. ^ 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. ^ "Allah." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica
  13. ^ 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. ^ Sikhs target of 'Allah' attack, Julia Zappei, 14 January 2010, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.
  17. ^ Malaysia court rules non-Muslims can't use 'Allah', 14 October 2013, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.
  18. ^ Malaysia's Islamic authorities seize Bibles as Allah row deepens, Niluksi Koswanage, 2 January 2014, Reuters. Accessed on line 15 January 2014. [1]
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference 10-point was invoked but never defined (see the help page).