Allah

Allah (ăl`ə, ä`lə), [Arab.,=the God]. Derived from an old Semitic root refering to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the biblical Elohim, the word Allah is used by all Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others. Allah, as a deity, was probably known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Arabic chronicles suggest a pre-Islamic recognition of Allah as a supreme God, with the three goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat as his "daughters." The Prophet Muhammad, declaring Allah the God of Abraham, demanded a return to a strict monotheism. Islam supplements Allah as the name of God with the 99 most beautiful names (asma Allah al-husna), understood as nondescriptive mnemonic guides to the Divine attributes.

Bibliography

See S. Friedlander, Ninety-Nine Names of Allah (1978).

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Allah

(Arabic; “God”)

Standard Arabic word for God, used by Arab Christians as well as by Muslims. According to the Qur'an, Allah is the creator and judge of humankind, omnipotent, compassionate, and merciful. The Muslim profession of faith affirms that there is no deity but God and emphasizes that he is inherently one: “nothing is like unto him.” Everything that happens occurs by his commandment; submission to God is the basis of Islam. The Qur'an and the Hadith contain the 99 “most beautiful names” of God, including the One and Only, the Living One, the Real Truth, the Hearer, the Seer, the Benefactor, and the Constant Forgiver.

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Allah

Islam the Muslim name for God; the one Supreme Being

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Allah

made man from flowing blood. [Islam: Koran, 96:2]

See : Creation

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Allah

supreme being and pervasive spirit of the universe. [Islam: Leach, 36]

See : Omnipresence

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Allah

name of god in Islam. Formed from Arabic ilah, (“divinity”) prefixed by the definite article al-; among the Aramaeans, it is alaha. Allah as the supreme god was known among the northern Arabs before Islam. The concept of Allah as the only god, creator of the world, on whom everything depends, was established in the early period of Islam, specifically in the Koran.

REFERENCES

Goldziher, I. Lektsii ob islame. St. Petersburg, 1912. (Translated from German.)
Petrushevskii, I. P. Islam v Irane VII-XV vekakh. [Leningrad,] 1966.