Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!paperboy!husc6!m2c!wpi!gwydion@tavi.rice.edu
From: gwydion@tavi.rice.edu (Basalat Ali Raja)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Allah and God
Message-ID: <10048@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 22 Mar 90 16:58:14 GMT
References: <5440@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Sender: shari@wpi.wpi.edu
Lines: 25
Approved: shari@wpi.wpi.edu


In article <5440@accuvax.nwu.edu> MASHAR01%ULKYVX.BITNET@jade.berkeley.edu writes:

>>    Is it proper, for example, to say "Muhammed is a messenger
>>    from God," as well as "Muhammed is a messenger from Allah?"
>
>    Obviously, because of my preference in the first paragraph, I
>    use "Allah." Also, I prefer the translation "There is no God
>    but Allah, and Muhammed (Pbuh) is the seal of all prophets."

My personal preference is to use the translation "There is no god
but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet".  [Almost exact translation
of "la ila ha illul la ho muhammadun rasul allah"].

However, I agree that it  might be better to use Allah instead of 
God.  The god of the Trinity is a different god from Allah, in one
sense, in that Allah does not have Jesus as a son, nor is he to be
associated with the Holy Ghost.

On the other hand, when one uses the word "God" to refer to a diety, 
or rather THE Diety, then the word Allah can be used instead.  That 
is what the word "allah" means, in Arabic.  Essentially, I would say
that the word "god" covers the meanings that "allah" might be used
in, but the converse is not true - thus "allah" is the more precise
term.