Talk About Allah

Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;

Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
Master of the Day of Judgment.
Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
Show us the straight way,
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace,
those whose portion is not wrath, and who go not astray.




This is the beautiful prayer that is probably the most recited sacred text, with the Lord's Prayer a second.  This prayer could easily be a Christian or Jewish prayer, having the same theology as either of the other two main monotheistic religions. 


God is shown to be loving, merciful and generous.  He is the Creator of the Universe. God is going to judge the earth, depending on people's lifestyles, just the same as the New Testament.  But most of all, God is the one who answers prayer, and shows his utmost care by answering prayers.


Let's deal with one issue right away: the name "Allah" for God.   It has been said that it was the name of a moon god which was adopted by Muhammad later on.  This is certainly not the case.  


Allah has two roots: al, which means "the" and ilah, which is "God".  Ilah is from the same root that Elohim in Hebrew is-- that is the Hebrew term "God". 


In fact, we need to remember just how close Arabic and Hebrew is.  For instance the basic greeting "peace" in Hebrew is Shalom, and in Arabic it is "Salaam"-- that's pretty close.   So that fact that they share the same name for God shouldn't be surprising. 


Could the name for God have pagan origins?  Well, the word Elohim certainly had pagan uses.  Actually, the word is plural, so in most contexts it would be translated "gods".  (It is translated as singular because in most places in the Hebrew Bible Elohim is matched with a singular verb, which means Elohim, which has a plural ending, is meant to be understood as singular.  The plural form is retained in order to show God's greatness over other gods.)  The word for God in the New Testament is Theos, which certainly had a pagan origin.  A strong possibility for the root of the English word "God" is a general term for an idol. 


What am I getting at?  The root of a word doesn't make its meaning.  Meaning of a word is determined by context.  In the context of the Quran, even just the first Sura, Allah is the Creator, the Judge, merciful and powerful.  Yes, we are talking about the same God as the Bible here.  No one else fits the bill.