Editing Allah (section)

=== Pre-Islamic Arabia ===
{{See also|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia}}{{Middle Eastern deities}}

Regional variants of the word ''Allah'' occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions.<ref name="Robin304"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Hitti|first=Philip Khouri|title=History of the Arabs|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=1970|pages=100–101}}</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 {{lang|syc|ܐܠܗܐ}} ({{Transliteration|syr|ʼĔlāhā}}) can be found in the reports and the lists of names of Christian martyrs in South Arabia,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.syriaca.org/work/254|title=The Himyarite Martyrs (text) —}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=James of Edessa the hymns of Severus of Antioch and others." Ernest Walter Brooks (ed.), Patrologia Orientalis VII.5 (1911)., vol: 2, p. 613|pages=ܐܠܗܐ (Elaha)}}</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 ({{lang|ar|الاله}})<ref name=Kugener>{{Cite book|title=M. A. Kugener, "Nouvelle Note Sur L'Inscription Trilingue De Zébed", Rivista Degli Studi Orientali, pp. 577-586.}}</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 Arabia|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>{{Cite book|title=The Type and Spread of Arabic Script|last=Daniels|first=Peter T.|year=2014}}</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 [[Tanukhids|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 [[Polytheism|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>{{Cite book|last=IslamKotob|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTJoiXp3pS4C|title=Tafsir Ibn Kathir all 10 volumes|publisher=IslamKotob|language=en}}</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 (religion)|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 [[Mecca|Meccan religion]].<ref name="EoI">L. Gardet, ''Allah'', Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. by [[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb|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>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Porter Berkey|title=The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800|url=https://archive.org/details/formationofislam0000berk|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58813-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/formationofislam0000berk/page/42 42]}}</ref><ref name="Peterson2007">{{cite book|author=Daniel C. Peterson|title=Muhammad, Prophet of God|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9zpbEj0xA_sC&pg=PA21|date=26 February 2007|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-0754-0|page=21}}</ref> There is disagreement on whether Allah played a major role in the Meccan religious cult.<ref name= Berkey/><ref name= Peters107>{{cite book|author=Francis E. Peters|title=Muhammad and the Origins of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OrCo4VyvGkC&pg=PA107|year=1994|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-1875-8|page=107}}</ref> No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed.<ref name= Peters107/><ref name="Zeitlin33">{{cite book|author=Irving M. Zeitlin|title=The Historical Muhammad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbhJJ7AOLL4C|date=19 March 2007|publisher=Polity|isbn=978-0-7456-3999-4|page=33}}</ref> Muhammad's father's name was [[Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib|{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿAbd-Allāh}}]] 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>