What is the Name of God?
What is the Name of God?
All references to the word "God" in this website refer to the role/position of God as opposed to the name.
All references to the word "God" in this website refer to the role/position of God as opposed to the name.
Often when people ask their friends or acquaintances about how a matter is explained in their religion, they will ask: "what does your god say about this?" It is important to remember that those who belief in God, believe that He[1] created everyone; i.e. those that belief as well as those that deny (and the ones that do not care). Perhaps it would be less confusing (to those that are seeking to know their maker) if there was a universal name for God. This is difficult as the people of the world speak many different languages and even in some religions, God is called by a different name depending on the language of the followers. For example in the Bible Jesus (peace be upon him) cries out to God and calls him Eloi: "Eloi, Eloi lama sabakthani", as mentioned in the Bible - King James Version[2]. In other versions of the Bible, God is also called "Elohim" and "Elah".
Islām confirmed that the name of God is Allāh, and this is consistent for all followers irrespective of country or language. Thus, the universailty of God's identity is achieved in Islām. Allāh is an Arabic word and it is not uncommon to find Arabic speaking non-muslims refer to God as Allāh. The word Allāh, in summary, means The One (and only) God. In the Arabic language, the word Allāh has no plural. For instance, the plural of God is gods; there is no such equivalent for the word Allāh. Thus, the name is befitting to affirm the Oneness of God, as taught by the religion[3].
The correct way to pronounce Allāh is to say "Al-laawh", i.e., the additional 'l' must be emphasised and the 'ā' must be elongated. The most common mispronunciation among non-Muslims is saying "Alah", which breaks both the aforementioned rules.
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1 God has no gender, the pronoun "He" is only used for better readability.
2 The text quoted is from Mark 15:34 (Bible, King James Version).
3 The book of God, begins in God's name: "In the Name of Allāh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allāh, Lord of the worlds..." (Al-Qur'ān, 1:1-2).
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