Allah

Allah ( Arabic: اللَّهْٰ lit. 'The God') is the common name for God in Arabic.^[1] It is similar to Ha-El, the name for God in Hebrew, and Alaha-i, the name for God in Aramaic. Muslims commonly use the word Allah for God.^[2] Sometimes, people who speak Arabic still use the word Allah when they speak English.

Allah in Arabic

In Arabic

Where the word comes from

Around 2000 BC (4000 years ago) a group of people called the Canaanites lived in the Middle East. They had many gods, and the ruling god was called El. According to their beliefs, El created the earth and everything else. They believed El had total power, ruled over everything, and lived forever.

Later, the word El became Eloh or Eloah in Aramaic. Hebrew changed the Aramaic word to Eloah. In the New Testament (the second book in the Christian Bible), the words Eli and Elohi were used to mean god.

El is also in some people's names, such as Gabriel, Mikael, Azrael, Israel, Yishmael, and Emanuel.

As a common noun

In Arabic, the general word for a god is ilaah. It can mean a specific god, or any god at all, depending on how it is used.

As a proper noun

See also: Monotheism

As a proper noun, Allah is a name for one God: the god of the Abrahamic religions. In Arabic, the word al is an article (a word for the), so al-ilaah means the God. Usually, Muslims use the word Allah. However, Arabs of different faiths also refer to God as Allah.

The name Allah is made of four letters in Arabic: ا ل ل ه (or Alif Lam Lam Ha, from right to left, A-L-L-H, 2111), which when brought together to make الله

In Islam

There are many different names for God in Islam.^[3] However, Allah is the most common.^[4] For Muslims, Allah is:

• A single God who is all-powerful, all-good and all-knowing, so he cannot make mistakes^[5]
• The Originator (Arabic: الخالق) of everything, including the heavens and the Earth^[6][7]
• The Absolute (free from any limitation^[8] and unlike any of His creation^[9] who are relative to Him and dependent on Him^[10]

In Judaism

In Judaism, God is usually called YHWH (which scholars usually pronounce Yahweh). Both names are mentioned in the Jewish Bible and are among the seven names of God in Judaism.

In Judaism, Elohim is the Title of God. Muslims call God Allahuma when praying to Him. These words are similar because both Arabic and Hebrew are Semitic languages.

In Christianity

Arab Christians refer to God in Arabic as Allah. In the Arabic translation of the Christian Bible, God is called Allah.^[11] The word Allah was also used in old translations of the Bible into Turkish due to Islamic culture being common in Turkey, and because Turkish was influenced by Arabic.^[12]