Allah
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Good article Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:Pp-move Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Allah Allah (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref>"Allah". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), although the term was used in pre-Islamic Arabia and continues to be used today by Arabic-speaking adherents of any of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism and Christianity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"Islam and Christianity", Encyclopedia of Christianity (2001): Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews also refer to God as Allāh.</ref><ref name="gardet-allah">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> It is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Template:Literal translation) and is linguistically related to God's names in other Semitic languages, such as Aramaic ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration) and Hebrew ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration).<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
The word "Allah" now conveys the superiority or sole existence of one God,<ref name="Robin304">Template:Cite book</ref> but among the pre-Islamic Arabs, Allah was a supreme deity and was worshipped alongside lesser deities in a pantheon.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Many Jews, Christians, and early Muslims used "Allah" and "al-ilah" synonymously in Classical Arabic. The word is also frequently, albeit not exclusively, used by Bábists, Baháʼís, Mandaeans, Indonesian Christians, Maltese Christians, and Sephardic Jews,<ref name="Britannica"> "Allah." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica</ref><ref name="EncMMENA">Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, Allah</ref><ref>Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition Shambhala Publications 2009 Template:ISBN page 531</ref> as well as by the Gagauz people.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
EtymologyEdit
The etymology of the word Allāh has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists.<ref name=EI2-Ilah>D.B. Macdonald. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "Ilah", Vol. 3, p. 1093.</ref> The majority of scholars consider it to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- and Template:Transliteration "deity, god" to Template:Transliteration meaning "the deity, the God".<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> In some sources, the contracted and un-contracted forms are used interchangeably.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The contraction of the terms is mirrored by the parallel contraction of al-ʾilāt to Allāt.Template:Sfn Originally, ʾilāh was used as an epithet for the West Semitic creator god ʾIlu (the Ugaritic version of El), before being adopted as the proper name itself for this god.Template:Sfn
A minority hypothesis posits that Allah is a loanword from the Syriac Alāhā.<ref>Gerhard Böwering. Encyclopedia of the Quran, Brill, 2002. Vol. 2, p. 318</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, this form is likely a phonetic adaptation of the Arabic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Kiltz, David. "The Relationship between Arabic Allāh and Syriac Allāha." Der Islam 88.1 (2012): 47.</ref>
Grammarians of the Basra school regarded it as either formed "spontaneously" (murtajal) or as the determined form of lāh (from the verbal root lyh with the meaning of "lofty" or "hidden").<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> Other Muslims scholars proposed that the term derives from wilah (the object of mystery) since the nature of God is a mystery and incomprehensible for humans.<ref>Ibrahim, Zakyi. "To Use “God” or “Allah”?." American Journal of Islam and Society 26.4 (2009): v.</ref><ref name="Baydawi-2016">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Semitic cognates of "Allāh" appear in Hebrew and Aramaic,<ref name="autogenerated1">Columbia Encyclopaedia says: Derived from an old Semitic root referring to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the biblical Elohim and Eloah, the word Allah is used by all Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other monotheists.</ref> such as the Aramaic form ʼElāh ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), and in its definite form, Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). It is written as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration) in Biblical Aramaic and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration) in Syriac, both meaning simply "God".<ref name="cal">The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon – Entry for ʼlh Template:Webarchive</ref>
History of usageEdit
Pre-Islamic ArabiaEdit
Template:See alsoTemplate:Middle Eastern deities
Regional variants of the word Allah occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions.<ref name="Robin304"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Marshall Hodgson, it seems that in the pre-Islamic Arabia, some Arab Christians undertook pilgrimages to the Kaaba, a pagan temple at that time, honoring Allah there as the God Creator.<ref>Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization, University of Chicago Press, p. 156</ref>
The Syriac word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration) can be found in the reports and the lists of names of Christian martyrs in South Arabia,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as reported by antique Syriac documents of the names of those martyrs from the era of the Himyarite and Aksumite kingdoms<ref>Ignatius Ya`qub III, The Arab Himyarite Martyrs in the Syriac Documents (1966), Pages: 9-65-66-89</ref>
In an inscription of Christian martyrion dated to 512, references to al-ilah ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})<ref name=Kugener>Template:Cite book</ref> appear in both Arabic and Aramaic. The inscription opens with the phrase "By the Help of al-ilah".<ref>Adolf Grohmann, Arabische Paläographie II: Das Schriftwesen und die Lapidarschrift (1971), Wien: Hermann Böhlaus Nochfolger, Page: 6-8</ref><ref>Beatrice Gruendler, The Development of the Arabic Scripts: From the Nabatean Era to the First Islamic Century according to Dated Texts (1993), Atlanta: Scholars Press, Page:</ref>
Archaeological excavations have led to the discovery of ancient pre-Islamic inscriptions and tombs made by Arab Christians in the ruins of a church at Umm el-Jimal in Northern Jordan, which initially, according to Enno Littmann (1949), contained references to Allah as the proper name of God. However, on a second revision by Bellamy et al. (1985 & 1988) the five-verse inscription was retranslated: "(1)This [inscription] was set up by colleagues of ʿUlayh, (2) son of ʿUbaydah, secretary (3) of the cohort Augusta Secunda (4) Philadelphiana; may he go mad who (5) effaces it."<ref>James Bellamy, "Two Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscriptions Revised: Jabal Ramm and Umm al-Jimal", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 108/3 (1988) pp. 372–378 (translation of the inscription) "This was set up by colleagues/friends of ʿUlayh, the son of ʿUbaydah, secretary/adviser of the cohort Augusta Secunda Philadelphiana; may he go mad/crazy who effaces it."</ref><ref>Enno Littmann, Arabic Inscriptions (Leiden, 1949)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Irfan Shahîd quoting the 10th-century encyclopedic collection Kitab al-Aghani notes that pre-Islamic Arab Christians have been reported to have raised the battle cry "Ya La Ibad Allah" (O slaves of Allah) to invoke each other into battle.<ref>Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, page 418.</ref> According to Shahid, on the authority of 10th-century Muslim scholar Al-Marzubani, "Allah" was also mentioned in pre-Islamic Christian poems by some Ghassanid and Tanukhid poets in Syria and Northern Arabia.<ref>Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, Page: 452</ref><ref>A. Amin and A. Harun, Sharh Diwan Al-Hamasa (Cairo, 1951), Vol. 1, Pages: 478-480</ref><ref>Al-Marzubani, Mu'jam Ash-Shu'araa, Page: 302</ref>
Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in pre-Islamic polytheistic cults. According to the Quran commentator Ibn Kathir, Arab idolaters considered Allah as an unseen God who created and controlled the Universe. Pagans believed worship of humans or animals who had fortunate occurrences in their life brought them closer to God. Pre-Islamic Meccans worshiped Allah alongside a host of lesser gods and those whom they called the "daughters of Allah."<ref name="auto"/> Islam forbade worship of anyone or anything other than God.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some authors have suggested that polytheistic Arabs used the name as a reference to a creator god or a supreme deity of their pantheon.<ref name="EoI"/><ref>Zeki Saritopak, Allah, The Qu'ran: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Oliver Leaman, p. 34</ref> The term may have been vague in the Meccan religion.<ref name="EoI">L. Gardet, Allah, Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. by Sir H.A.R. Gibb</ref><ref name="GodEoQ">Gerhard Böwering, God and his Attributes, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, ed. by Jane Dammen McAuliffe</ref>
According to one hypothesis, the Kaaba was first dedicated to a supreme deity named Allah and then hosted the pantheon of Quraysh (360 idols) after their conquest of Mecca, about a century before the time of Muhammad.<ref name="Robin304"/> Some inscriptions seem to indicate the use of Allah as a name of a polytheist deity centuries earlier, although the exact nature of this usage remains unclear.<ref name="Robin304"/> Some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities.<ref name= Berkey>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Peterson2007">Template:Cite book</ref> There is disagreement on whether Allah played a major role in the Meccan religious cult.<ref name= Berkey/><ref name= Peters107>Template:Cite book</ref> No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed.<ref name= Peters107/><ref name="Zeitlin33">Template:Cite book</ref> Muhammad's father's name was [[Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib|Template:Transliteration]] meaning "the slave of Allāh".<ref name="GodEoQ"/> The interpretation that Pre-Islamic Arabs once practiced Abrahamic religions is supported by some literary evidence, being the prevalence of Ishmael, whose God was that of Abraham, in pre-Islamic Arab culture.<ref>The Treasury of literature, Sect. 437</ref><ref>The Beginning of History, Volume 3, Sect.10</ref><ref>The Collection of the Speeches of Arabs, volume 1, section 75</ref>
Islamic periodEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See also In contrast with pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism, as stated by Gerhard Böwering, God in Islam does not have associates and companions, nor is there any kinship between God and jinn.<ref name="EoQ"/> Pre Islamic Arabs believed in a blind, powerful, unstoppable and insensible fate over which man had no control. This was replaced with the Islamic belief of a powerful yet benevolent and merciful God's control over man's life.<ref name="Britannica"/> According to Francis Edward Peters, "The Qur'ān insists, Muslims believe, and historians affirm that Muhammad and his followers worship the same God as the Jews (Template:Qref). The Qur'an's Allah is the same Creator God who covenanted with Abraham". Peters states that the Qur'an portrays Allah as both more powerful and more remote than Yahweh, and as a universal deity, unlike Yahweh who closely follows Israelites.<ref name="Peters1">F.E. Peters, Islam, p.4, Princeton University Press, 2003</ref>
Since the first centuries of Islam, Arabic-speaking commentators of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith used the term Allah as a generic term for the supreme being.<ref name="auto1">Thomas, Kenneth J. "Allah in Translations of the Bible." The Bible Translator 52.3 (2001): 301-306.</ref> Saadia Gaon used the term Allah interchangeably with the term ʾĔlōhīm.<ref name="auto1"/> Theodore Abu Qurrah translates theos as Allah in his Bible, as in John 1:1 "the Word was with Allah".<ref name="auto1"/> Muslim commentators likewise used the term Allah for the Biblical concept of God. Ibn Qutayba writes "You cannot serve both Allah and Mammon.".<ref name="auto1"/> However, Muslim translators of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia rarely translated the Tetragrammaton, referring to the supreme being in Israelite tradition, as Allah. Instead, most commentators either translated Yahweh as either yahwah or rabb, the latter corresponding to the Jewish custom to refer to Yahweh as Adonai.<ref name="auto1"/>
Most Qur'an commentators, including al-Tabari (d. 923), al-Zamakhshari (d. 1143/44), and al-Razi (d. 1209), regard Allah to be a proper noun.<ref name="auto2">Ibrahim, Zakyi. "To Use "God" or "Allah"?." American Journal of Islam and Society 26.4 (2009): i-vii.</ref> While other names of God in Islam denote attributes or adjectives, the term Allah specifically refers to his essence as his real name (Template:Transliteration).<ref name="auto2"/> The other names are known as the 99 Names of Allah (Template:Transliteration lit. meaning: 'the best names' or 'the most beautiful names') and considered attributes, each of which represents a distinct characteristic of Allah.<ref name="EncMMENA" /><ref name="Ben">Template:Cite book</ref> All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name.<ref name="Tao-Islam">Template:Cite book</ref> Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Merciful" (ar-Raḥmān) and "the Compassionate" (Template:Transliteration),<ref name="EncMMENA" /><ref name="Ben" /> including the previously mentioned above al-Aḥad ("the One, the Indivisible") and al-Wāḥid ("the Unique, the Single").
According to Islamic belief, Allah is the most common word to represent God,<ref name="EoQ">Böwering, Gerhard, God and His Attributes, Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān, Brill, 2007.</ref> and humble submission to his will, divine ordinances and commandments is the foundation of the Muslim faith.<ref name="Britannica"/> "He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind."<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="EncMMENA"/> "He is unique (Template:Transliteration) and inherently one (Template:Transliteration), all-merciful and omnipotent."<ref name="Britannica"/> No human eyes can see Allah till the Day of Judgment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Qur'an declares "the reality of Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf of His creatures."<ref name="Britannica"/> Allah does not depend on anything.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Allah is not considered a part of the Christian Trinity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> God has no parents and no children.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The attributes of Allah Almighty are described in this way in the Ayat al-Kursi of Surah al-Baqarah in the Holy Quran.
ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْحَىُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُۥ سِنَةٌۭ وَلَا نَوْمٌۭ ۚ لَّهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُۥٓ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّا بِمَا شَآءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَـُٔودُهُۥ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِىُّ ٱلْعَظِيمُ ٢٥٥
"Allah! There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him, the Ever-Living, All-Sustaining. Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who could possibly intercede with Him without His permission? He ˹fully˺ knows what is ahead of them and what is behind them, but no one can grasp any of His knowledge—except what He wills ˹to reveal˺. His Seat encompasses the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of both does not tire Him. For He is the Most High, the Greatest."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The concept correlates to the Tawhid, where chapter 112 of the Qur'an (Al-'Ikhlās, The Sincerity) reads:<ref>Arabic script in Unicode symbol for a Quran verse, U+06DD, page 3, Proposal for additional Unicode characters</ref>
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ ١
In a Sufi practice known as Template:Transliteration (Arabic: ذِكر الله, lit. "Remembrance of God"), the Sufi chants and contemplates the name Allah or other associated divine names to Him while regulating his or her breath.<ref>Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond, Macmillan, p. 29</ref>
Present dayEdit
IslamEdit
The Islamic tradition to use Allah as the personal name of God became contested in contemporary scholarship, including the question, whether or not the word Allah should be translated as God.<ref>Andreas Görke and Johanna Pink Tafsir and Islamic Intellectual History Exploring the Boundaries of a Genre Oxford University Press in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies London Template:ISBN p. 478</ref> Umar Faruq Abd-Allah encouraged English-speaking Muslims to use God instead of Allah for the sake of finding "extensive middle ground we share with other Abrahamic and universal traditions".<ref name="auto2"/>
Most Muslims use the Arabic phrase [[Insha'Allah|Template:Transliteration]] (meaning 'if God wills') untranslated after references to future events.<ref>Gary S. Gregg, The Middle East: A Cultural Psychology, Oxford University Press, p.30</ref> Muslim devotional practices encourage beginning things with the invocation of [[Basmala|Template:Transliteration]] (meaning 'In the name of God').<ref>Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Islamic Society in Practice, University Press of Florida, p. 24</ref> There are certain other phrases in praise of God that are commonly used by Muslims and left untranslated, including "[[subhan'allah|Template:Transliteration]]" (Glory be to God), "[[Alhamdulillah|Template:Transliteration]]" (Praise be to God), "[[Shahada|Template:Transliteration]]" (There is no deity but God) or sometimes "Template:Transliteration" (There is no deity but You/ Him) and "[[Takbir|Template:Transliteration]]" (God is the Most Great) as a devotional exercise of remembering God (dhikr).<ref>M. Mukarram Ahmed, Muzaffar Husain Syed, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Anmol Publications PVT. LTD, p. 144</ref>
ChristianityEdit
The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for "God" than "Allah".<ref name="Cambridge">Template:Cite book</ref> Similarly, the Aramaic word for "God" in the language of Assyrian Christians is Template:Transliteration, or Template:Transliteration. (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Catholic, uses Alla for "God".)
Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim Template:Transliteration, and also created their own Trinitarian Template:Transliteration as early as the 8th century.<ref name="Thomas"/> The Muslim Template:Transliteration reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized Template:Transliteration reads: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God." The Syriac, Latin and Greek invocations do not have the words "One God" at the end. This addition was made to emphasize the monotheistic aspect of Trinitarian belief and also to make it more palatable to Muslims.<ref name="Thomas">Thomas E. Burman, Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, Brill, 1994, p. 103</ref>
PronunciationEdit
The word Allāh is generally pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, exhibiting a heavy Template:Transliteration, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, a velarized alveolar lateral approximant, a marginal phoneme in Modern Standard Arabic. Since the initial alef has no hamza, the initial {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is elided when a preceding word ends in a vowel. If the preceding vowel is {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the Template:Transliteration is light, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, as in, for instance, the Basmala.<ref name="ARABIC for NERDS">Template:Cite news</ref>
As a loanwordEdit
English and other European languagesEdit
The history of the name Allāh in English was probably influenced by the study of comparative religion in the 19th century; for example, Thomas Carlyle (1840) sometimes used the term Allah but without any implication that Allah was anything different from God. However, in his biography of Muḥammad (1934), Tor Andræ always used the term Allah, though he allows that this "conception of God" seems to imply that it is different from that of the Jewish and Christian theologies.<ref name="Watt45">William Montgomery Watt, Islam and Christianity today: A Contribution to Dialogue, Routledge, 1983, p.45</ref>
Languages which may not commonly use the term Allah to denote God may still contain popular expressions which use the word. For example, because of the centuries long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula, the word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in the Spanish language and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in the Portuguese language exist today, borrowed from Andalusi Arabic Template:Transliteration<ref name="DRAE">Template:Cite book</ref> similar to Template:Transliteration (Template:Langx). This phrase literally means 'if God wills'.<ref>Islam in Luce López Baralt, Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present, Brill, 1992, p.25</ref> The German poet Mahlmann used the form "Allah" as the title of a poem about the ultimate deity, though it is unclear how much Islamic thought he intended to convey.
Some Muslims retain the name "Allāh" untranslated in English, rather than using the English translation "God".<ref>F. E. Peters, The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Princeton University Press, p.12</ref>
Malaysian and Indonesian languageEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}
Christians in Malaysia and Indonesia use {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} to refer to God in the Malaysian and Indonesian languages (both of them standardized forms of the Malay language). Mainstream Bible translations in the language use {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} as the translation of Hebrew Template:Transliteration (translated in English Bibles as "God").<ref>Example: Usage of the word "Allah" from Matthew 22:32 in Indonesian bible versions (parallel view) as old as 1733 Template:Webarchive</ref> This goes back to early translation work by Francis Xavier in the 16th century.<ref>The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society Sneddon, James M.; University of New South Wales Press; 2004</ref><ref>The History of Christianity in India from the Commencement of the Christian Era: Hough, James; Adamant Media Corporation; 2001</ref> The first dictionary of Dutch-Malay by Albert Cornelius Ruyl, Justus Heurnius, and Caspar Wiltens in 1650 (revised edition from 1623 edition and 1631 Latin edition) recorded {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" as the translation of the Dutch word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Ruyl also translated the Gospel of Matthew in 1612 into the Malay language (an early Bible translation into a non-European language,<ref> But compare: Template:Cite book </ref> made a year after the publication of the King James Version<ref>Barton, John (2002–12). The Biblical World, Oxford, UK: Routledge. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>North, Eric McCoy; Eugene Albert Nida ((2nd Edition) 1972). The Book of a Thousand Tongues, London: United Bible Societies.</ref>), which was printed in the Netherlands in 1629. Then he translated the Gospel of Mark, published in 1638.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
For a time it became illegal for non-Muslims to use "Allah" after the country experienced a social and political upheaval in the face of the word being used by Malaysian Christians and Sikhs. The government of Malaysia in 2007 prohibited usage of the term {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in any other but Muslim contexts, but the Malayan High Court in 2009 overturned the law, ruling it unconstitutional. While {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} had been used for the Christian God in Malay for more than four centuries, the contemporary controversy was triggered by usage of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} by the Roman Catholic newspaper The Herald. The government appealed the court ruling, and the High Court suspended implementation of its verdict until the hearing of the appeal. In October 2013 the court ruled in favor of the government's ban.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In early 2014 the Malaysian government confiscated more than 300 bibles for using the word to refer to the Christian God in Peninsular Malaysia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, the use of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is not prohibited in the two Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.<ref name="settle">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The main reason it is not prohibited in these two states is that usage has been long-established and local Alkitab (Bibles) have been widely distributed freely in East Malaysia without restrictions for years.<ref name="settle"/> Both states also do not have similar Islamic state laws as those in West Malaysia.<ref name="10-point"/> The ban was overturned in 2021.<ref>Sikhs target of 'Allah' attack, Julia Zappei, 14 January 2010, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.</ref><ref>Malaysia court rules non-Muslims can't use 'Allah', 14 October 2013, The New Zealand Herald. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.</ref><ref>Malaysia's Islamic authorities seize Bibles as Allah row deepens, Niluksi Koswanage, 2 January 2014, Reuters. Accessed on line 15 January 2014. [1]</ref><ref name="10-point" />
In reaction to some media criticism, the Malaysian government has introduced a "10-point solution" to avoid confusion and misleading information.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 10-point solution is in line with the spirit of the 18- and 20-point agreements of Sarawak and Sabah.<ref name="10-point">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
National flags with "Allah" written on themEdit
- Flag of Iraq.svg
Flag of Iraq with the Takbir written on it
- Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg
Flag of Saudi Arabia with the Shahada written on it
- Flag of the Taliban.svg
Flag of Afghanistan with the Shahada written on it
- Flag of Iran.svg
Flag of Iran with "Allah" written on it
TypographyEdit
The word Template:Transliteration is always written without an [[aleph|Template:Transliteration]] to spell the Template:Transliteration vowel. This is because the spelling was established before Arabic spelling started regularly using Template:Transliteration to spell Template:Transliteration. However, in vocalized spelling, a [[Dagger alif|small diacritic Template:Transliteration]] is added on top of the [[shadda|Template:Transliteration]] to indicate the pronunciation.
In the pre-Islamic Zabad inscription,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref> God is referred to by the term {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, that is, alif-lam-alif-lam-ha.<ref name=Kugener/> This presumably indicates Template:Transliteration means "the god", without Template:Transliteration for ā.
Many Arabic type fonts feature special ligatures for Allah.<ref name="Typ1">
- Arabic fonts and Mac OS X Template:Webarchive
- Programs for Arabic in Mac OS X Template:Webarchive</ref>
Since Arabic script is used to write other texts rather than Koran only, rendering Template:Transliteration + Template:Transliteration + Template:Transliteration as the previous ligature is considered faulty which is the case with most common Arabic typefaces.
UnicodeEdit
Unicode has a code point reserved for Template:Transliteration, Template:Unichar, <ref> Unicode of Allah https://unicodeplus.com/U+FDF2 </ref> in the Arabic Presentation Forms-A block, which exists solely for "compatibility with some older, legacy character sets that encoded presentation forms directly";<ref>UnicodeThe Unicode Consortium. FAQ - Middle East Scripts Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="Uni">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> this is not recommended for new text. Instead, the word Template:Transliteration should be represented by its individual Arabic letters, while modern font technologies will generate the desired ligature.
The calligraphic variant of the word used as the emblem of Iran is encoded in Unicode, in the Miscellaneous Symbols range, at code point U+262B<ref> Farsi Unicode https://unicodeplus.com/U+262B </ref>(☫). The flags that include the word are also present in the regional indicator symbols of Unicode: 🇮🇶, 🇸🇦, 🇦🇫, 🇮🇷, 🇺🇿.
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
General and cited referencesEdit
- Template:Cite journal
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- The Unicode Consortium, Unicode Standard 5.0, Addison-Wesley, 2006, Template:ISBN, About the Unicode Standard Version 5.0 Book
Further readingEdit
OnlineEdit
- Allah Qur'ān, in Encyclopædia Britannica Online, by Asma Afsaruddin, Brian Duignan, Thinley
External linksEdit
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- Names of Allah with Meaning on Website, Flash, and Mobile Phone Software
- Concept of God (Allah) in Islam
- The Concept of Allāh According to the Qur'an by Abdul Mannan Omar
- Allah, the Unique Name of God
- Typography
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