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From: suheil@athena.mit.edu (Suheil I Laher)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Why Allah?
Message-ID: <1991May9.114549.4080@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 9 May 91 11:45:49 GMT
References: <1991May8.200343.490@wpi.WPI.EDU>
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Assalaam `alaa man ittaba`a alhudaa

In article <1991May8.200343.490@wpi.WPI.EDU>, christy@CRVAX.Sri.Com (Christy Chase) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> In article <1991May7.223211.31482@wpi.WPI.EDU>, sch2q@palm.cs.Virginia.EDU (Saad C. Himmich) writes...
|> > 
|> >I really don't understand why people keep on calling God as Allah.
|> >Allah is just the arabic word for God. Keeping on saying Allah lead to a
|> >situation where non-muslims think that Muslims have a different God.
|> >Many christians I have been talking to have so many wrong ideas about Islam! 
|> >Allah is the same god that sent Jesus as a prophet. So why not say God
|> >or Dieu (in French) or Dio (in Spanish) or ... 
|> > 
|> While I can understand this idea, and I do often use the word God when speaking
|> with Christians, I must say that I also disagree.  What I understand is that
|> although God and Allah are alike, both refer to the One and Only Creator, they
|> are also different.  God may become gods, godess, or goddesses.  Allah is not
|> male or female and it cannot be made plural.  In this sense, it is much more
|> specific.  Also, this is the way Allah refers to Himself in the Holy Quran.
|> We should try to translate as little as possible, as in every translation there
|> is a loss or change of meaning.
|> 
|> Christy


Allow me to add to the above:
The first pillar of Islamic  belief is the existence of one god, ALLAH and 
that Mohamed is His prophet and messenger. Allah is the personal name of the 
One true God . The term has no plural or gender, thus showing its uniqueness. 
The one true God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates 
with God. To a Muslim, Allah is Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the 
universe, who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to Him.

Actually, 'god' is translated in Arabic as 'ilah'.  
Thus, 'La ilaha illa Allah' - there is no god but The God.

However, the word 'God' has many undesirable connotations in the English 
language, besides those already mentioned.  For example, a friend of mine 
told me that he was talking to his neighbour, a Belgian lady who does not 
believe in God, but who insists on calling Jesus (PBUH) god!


Suheil