Is "Allah" really a generic term for God in the Arabic language? Or is "Allah" always the personal name of the Muslims' god? Does the translation of God as Allah in the Bibles of many Muslim-majority countries prove that Allah is simply a generic translation of God, or does it simply show that their translators betrayed Jehovah, the God of Christianity?
Prayerfully consider the following verses, noting that in the King James Bible יהוה (Jehovah), God's personal name, is sometimes transliterated as "Jehovah," but generally translated as "the LORD" or "GOD" (with all capital letters):
I am the LORD [JEHOVAH]: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isa. 42:8 KJV)
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. (Ps. 83:18 KJV)
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD [JEHOVAH] God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. (Exod. 3:15 KJV)
And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD [JEHOVAH] thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exod. 20:1-3 KJV)
Exodus 20:1-3 is the first of the Ten Commandments. So, woe to the man who breaks it.
Many people have been told that Allah and Jehovah are different names for the same God. That idea is easily shown to be untrue.
| JEHOVAH | Allah | |
|---|---|---|
| Is triune: 1 God 3 persons. | Is mono: 1 God 1 person. | |
| Has a Son. | Childless. | Loves Israel. | Hates Israel. |
Most Christians using Allah Bibles have been told by their preachers that Allah is only a generic term for God, and is never used as a proper name in the Bible. That is simply not true---at least not in Indonesia. They need to open their Allah Bibles to the two verses below. What they will find there is that the personal name of the Christian God, Jehovah, has been replaced by the personal name of the Muslim God, Allah.
Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength: (Isa. 26:4 KJV)
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. (Isa. 12:2 KJV)
Advocates of the use of Allah as a generic term for God claim: "Allah just means 'The God,' so it is OK for us to pray and sing praises to Allah." Consider this: Baal just means "lord."
Strong's data for Baal: "01168 בַּעַל Ba`al {bah'-al} Meaning: Baal = "lord" n pr m 1) supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites."
So, when the Israelites "forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth" (Jdg. 2:13 KJV), were they actually still serving Jehovah—our Lord? Of course not. The name Baal did not magically change from a proper noun into a common noun simply because it means "lord." Baal was still the personal name of a pagan god; the meaning of the name "Baal" did not justify the Israelites using the term "Baal" in reference to the true and living Lord God. Nor does the meaning of Allah (assuming it actually means "The God") justify modern day Christians using "Allah" in reference to the one and only true and living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Sad fact: most Christians that use Allah Bibles do not know that God's personal name is "Jehovah."
"How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal" (Jer. 23:26-27 KJV).
Those verses from the book of Jeremiah perfectly describe Bible translators who translate God as Allah. They cause Christians to forget Jehovah for Allah. A Bible translator cannot mistranslate God as Allah, and that magically make Allah actually mean God. What it does do is cause people to pray and sing praise to Allah instead of to Jehovah.
The crucial question is, What does the word "Allah" mean to the vast majority of the population in a country dominated by Muslims? Clearly, its meaning to Muslims is going to be determined by how it is used in the Quran. If a Bible translator has a genuine desire for all of the population in such a country to understand the God and gospel of the Bible, then he must not use the term "Allah" illegitimately in his translation. If a Bible translator uses "Allah" in his translation in a manner and meaning that is different than the manner and meaning in which it is used in the Quran, then (1) Muslims are going to misunderstand the Bible message, and (2) Muslims are going to reject that translation as obviously not accurate.
So how is the term "Allah" used in the Quran? Let's let Arabic-speaking Muslim scholars show us the answer. Below this paragraph is the link to a web page on a website dedicated to the study of the Quran: corpus-quran.com. The Quranic Arabic Corpus (http://corpus.quran.com) is an international collaborative linguistic project initiated at the University of Leeds in London, England, UK. Please open that page in a seperate window so that you can switch back and forth between it and my comments in this article.
http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=Alh#(2:229:22)Note that there are three words examined on that web page. All three words are from the same triliteral (three letter) root: hamza lām hā (أ ل ه). The three words are:
For the purpose of this artice, Allahumma (ٱللَّهُمَّ), meaning "O Allah," can be logically considered with the proper noun Allah.
Though having the same triliteral root, ilāh (إِلَٰه), and Allah (ٱللَّه) are entirely different words, are used in different ways, and have different meanings.
What is so helpful about the corpus-quran.com web site is that the Arabic words are transliterated. In other words, the characters of the Arabic alphabet are represented in the characters of our English alphabet, so that English-speaking people can more easily read them. So, إِلَٰه becomes ilāh, and ٱللَّه becomes Allah. Arabic is written right to left, so transliteration into left-to-right English helps a lot.
To fully understand the difference between ilah and Allah, it is necessary to understand the difference between a common noun and a proper noun.
It is important to note that at the very top of this corpus-quran.com web page we are plainly told that Allah is a proper noun—it is not a generic term for God or god. Instead, we see that ilah is the generic term for God or god in Arabic. So, ilah means god or God, and Allah means Allah. Proper nouns are generally not translated, but merely transliterated.
Scrolling down the web page we see first a list of all the uses of ilah in the Quran. Then we see a list of all the uses of Allah in the Quran. And last we see all the uses of allahumma in the Quran. Note that these lists are composed of four columns. The first column contains numbers specifying the book, chapter, and verse in which the word is found. The second column contains the transliterated word. The third column contains the English translation of the word. And the fourth column contains a portion of the verse in which the word is found—shown in Arabic script—with the word itself in red.
It is also important to note in the second column that Arabic words are given prefixes and/or suffixes depending on the context in which they are used in sentences. This and the shape of the letters of the Arabic alphabet make Arabic confusing to someone just beginning to study it. But the truth about the meaning of Allah is easy enough to see with the help of this web page.
Scrolling through the first list, please note carefully that, in the Quran, ilah always means god, or gods, or God. It is never used as a proper noun.
Scrolling through the next two lists, please note that, in the Quran, Allah is always used as a proper noun specifying the personal name of the god of Islam. Never—not even one single time— is Allah used in the Quran as a generic term for God. Allah is never a common noun. Allah is always a proper noun.
Just for the record, to say "Jehovah is the God" in Arabic, one does not say "Jehovah is ٱللَّه (Allah)." Rather one says "Jehovah is إِلَٰهِ (ilāhi)" or some other form of ilāh based on the context. But don't take my word for it. At the top of the corpus-quran.com web page referenced throughout this article, type "the God" in the search window, and then click "Show options" and chose "Search for an exact phrase," to see for yourself. In the third column look for "(the) god" or "(the) God," then in the second column note the transliterated Arabic word, and in the last column note the word in Arabic characters (emphasised in red). Note that not even once does ٱللَّه (Allah) come up in your search.
Conclusion: Muslims think of "Allah" as the personal name of the god of Islam. If they read a Bible in which "Allah" is used as a generic term for God, they are most likely not going to realize that. Instead they will think that "Allah" is used as a proper noun, just like it is in the Quran. Therefore, they will think that whoever translated that Bible has admitted that Allah—the god of Islam—is the one and only true God. But as they read through that Bible translation, and comes to verses (such as John 3:16) which incorrectly say (in that translation) that Allah has a Son, that translation is going to be totally discredited in his eyes. Why? Because Islam does teach one truth about Allah: Allah has no son. That is basic Islamic doctrine. Therefore, from that point on there will be virtually no chance of using that translation to win those Muslims to Christ. Allah is not a generic term for God, but is a proper noun—it is the personal name of the Muslim's god. Allah is not Jehovah.