how do you know??

[Bullypulpit]

i bring no harm to myself or others...there is peace and clarity in my life...which religion do i partake?...and which god provides me with guidance?

Whatever one you wish, or none at all.

 

[Arabian]

For me it was what resonated, it spoke directly to my soul.

I grew up in a Christian church, but pretty much always knew that it wasn't what I believed. I didn't look for a religion, it found me.

When it hit, the power and excitement were electric. I finally understood what all those converts were talking about when they talked about "finding God" at the church I grew up in.

Next question to you
Is the religion you should believe in depend only in soul ,, or on mind too,,
And how they found God inside the church??/

Give examples

And let me say something
If we assume that the paradise is for the Christians,, Muslim will share it with them cause Muslims believe in Jesus PBUH, but Christians wont enter it cause they don’t believe in Muhammad PBUH.

And if we assume that the paradise is for the Jews,, Muslim will share it with them too cause Muslims do believe in Mosa PBUH to, but Jews wont enter it cause they don’t believe in Muhammad PBUH

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Next question to you
Is the religion you should believe in depend only in soul ,, or on mind too,,
And how they found God inside the church??/

Give examples

And let me say something
If we assume that the paradise is for the Christians,, Muslim will share it with them cause Muslims believe in Jesus PBUH, but Christians wont enter it cause they don’t believe in Muhammad PBUH.

And if we assume that the paradise is for the Jews,, Muslim will share it with them too cause Muslims do believe in Mosa PBUH to, but Jews wont enter it cause they don’t believe in Muhammad PBUH

Muhammad was a thug.

 

[Arabian]

First, all religions teach different doctrines. Therefore, at most one religion could be correct.

The logical way to determine that correct religion would be to establish the truthfulness of a religion's claims. And there are some very big claims that religions have made. But Christianity, out of all the world's religions, makes the biggest claim - that God became a man - and then proceeds to back that claim up.

Jesus Christ, along with many great moral teachings, also claimed to be God incarnate. And not just once:

Matthew 4:5-7: "Then the devil took him [Jesus] to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
"'He will command his angels concerning you,'
and
"'On their hands they will bear you up,lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."

John 8:58-59: "Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."

John 10:30-33: [Jesus speaking]"I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God."

Jesus also prophesied that He would be killed, but that on the third day after His death, He would rise again. (see Mark 8:31-33, Luke 9:21-22, 18:31-34) Jesus' resurrection has been one of the most widely debated - and best proven - facts in history. By His resurrection, Jesus established a number of things: first, the claims He made about Himself were true; second, the claims He made about God were believable, because He established that He was, in fact, God; third, He established that anyone who puts their trust in Jesus can expect to be resurrected in a similar manner.

Therefore, based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can be assured that Christianity is true.

Am alright with u in this point Jop
Cause there is only one God in this world,, and he sure keep only one book as a catalogue to every one to distinguish between right and wrong,, and he gave us mind to know which of these books is from him and which people wrote it down,,

He says

Qur'an
Surah 4. Women
82. Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy

This is true,, people always mistake,, and no one can reach the completeness in his acts or think,,, for example we have never seen an AI program with 0 errors
Or even in the ANN ,, and all of these things is from the human creation (but not from nonexistence,,, man cant create anything from nothing,, only god can)

Anyway,,
You say that the Christianity is the right religion other will say the Buddhism is the right religion other will say the Judaism is the right ,, other will say the islam is the right religion ,, and the answer is so clear
Qur'an
Surah 4. Women
82. Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy

Now every one will give his shoot

And I will begin
I will start with the Christianity because I know about it a little you know there are lots of Christians here in my country and I know little about this religion

And yeah I will speak about the new Christianity,, cause u all know tat Islam believe in every religion,,, before corruption,,
Now I will say why Muslims say that the bible is corrupted

1st I think the Christianity now is similar to the idolatry,,
we all know the trinity that Christians believe in,, it is similar to what the Roman say about the God and his son and his wife,,,
and also ancient Egyptian Isis Ozoris and their son Horass,,
and all of these legend and myth,, it is so similar although Christianity forbid the idolatry,
and if we think a little we will see that the what Christian said about Jesus is the same about the Hindus said about their God Curchana and his mother Divaky,,
the same story except that we will but Curchana instead of Jesus and Divaky instead of Mary,,
so if we spoke from ur point that mean that Christianity and Hinduism are both the right religion and what u said doesn’t support that did you read before in the bible about the Hinduism.
And now who is the son of Allah is it Curchana or Jesus,,,
Mmmm so confusing,, maybe tomorrow someone will coma and say am the son of the God cause he came to this life without father,, and this thing happen nowadays so much,, are they all the son of the God and daughter also
Why we don’t take the birth of Jesus from other view is that the God wanted to show us that he is capable of doing any thing 1st he created Adam from no father or mother,, and then he created Jesus without a father,,, cause the god knew that in our day the science will be capable of doing something like this (son without a father),, to show you that he made something like this before,, but the science can't make another Adam,,,
Something else the god isn’t a human,, we all agree on this,, so we cant say whether he is a man or a woman or a child or………

Qur'an 21. Prophets verse 22
If there were other gods
in either [Heaven or Earth]
besides God [Alone],
they would both dissolve in chaos.

Glory be to God, Lord of the Throne,
beyond what they describe!

Now again to the verse
Qur'an
Surah 4. Women
82. Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy
There are lots of contradiction in the bible we all can see it

Lots of contradictions now in the bible
These are tow sites
http://www.room23.de/1755.html

http://www.islam-guide.com/ch3-10-1.htm#s1

1) None of the Bible’s Writers Believed That Jesus is God
2) Evidence From the Acts of the Apostles
3) Jesus is Not All-Powerful, and Not All-Knowing
4) The Greatest Commandment in the Bible and the Quran
5) Paul Believed That Jesus is not God
6) Evidence from the Gospel of John
7) God and Jesus Are Two Separate Beings

 

[Arabian]

If a religion brings no harm to oneself, another or both...If it brings peace and joy and clarity into one's life, another, or both...Then it is the right religion, regardless of whtever religion it may be.

I know what you wanna say from your indication
If we talk about Palestine,, we will see that not only Muslims make this missions,,
There is also Christian Palestinian die defending there lands,,
What do you call them,,
And also Christian support Muslims and Muslims support Christian to defend their land,,
Don’t you remember when the churches sheltered lots of what you call suicides bombers in Palestine,,
And if you are talking about the Iraqis, you will notice that all of these disasters happened only when the greatest USA attacked and entered al-Iraq,,
Search for the reason man,,,,

And in the bible there are lots of violence,, like what Samson did with the Palestinian,,
And the bible is always dealing with the Palestinian people as a second citizen class
Of how one man can kill hundreds of Palestinian with a stick or something like this

And see killing in bible

Numbers 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones.
Deuteronomy 2:34 utterly destroyed the men and the women and the little ones.
Deuteronomy 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters.
I Samuel 15:3 slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.
2 Kings 8:12 dash their children, and rip up their women with child.
2 Kings 15:16 all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.
Isaiah 13:16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished.
Isaiah 13:18 They shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.
Lamentations 2:20 Shall the women eat their fruit, and children.
Ezekiel 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children.
Hosea 9:14 give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Hosea 13:16 their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

Then we have the wise and beautiful words of JeeZeus:


"For, behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the womb that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck."--Luke 23:29


Furthermore, Deuteronomy 23:1-2 - "?No one born out of wedlock or any descendent of such a person, even in the tenth generation, may be included among the Lord's people."

http://www.room23.de/1459.html

Hate Others (Ezra 9:10-12 NAS)

"Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your
commandments, which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets,
saying, 'The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with
the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which
have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. 'So now do not give
your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and
never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat
the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons
forever.'"

And if you wanna know more about the Jihad and martyrdom in Islam check these sites

http://www.submission.org/terrorism.html


http://www.iiie.net/Brochures/Brochure-33.html

I hope you enter them cause you will know what does it really mean,, not what you hear from media.

 

[Arabian]

[QUOTE='ol Perfessor]I don't think God cares if you are presbyterian, Hindu, etc. He loves us. "If your child asked you for bread, would you give him a stone?[/QUOTE]
And about this point that no matter what is your religion ,,,
Am not agree with it,,,

Cause it so simple, God created us all,, and he gave his message to his prophets to spread it ,,
And his message sent sequentially to be easy to his creature,, so he create us from the same material ,, and he sure gave us one right religion
and he gave us his message to follow his teachings,, so its not appropriate that all message (I didn’t say religion) is right some of it corrupted other people make it up.

I will give u a simple example,,
Let us assume that I work for u,,
U give me my salary,, my work,,
So what I should give to you???
Should I give u food?? No of course
Should I give my work to your son??
I should give you work,, the thing you pay me for
And I should give the work to you not your son or any other person in this life

and as you said the god love us ,, and you sure should love him back,, but how you will do this?,, you will do it when you obey him and follow his last message,, not he created you and then you go to pray and thanx another one

Surah 31. Luqman

12. we bestowed (in the past) Wisdom on Luqman: "Show (thy) gratitude to Allah." Any who is (so) grateful does so to the profit of his own soul: but if any is ungrateful, verily Allah is free of all wants, Worthy of all praise.[/QUOTE]

Surah 25. The Criterion, The Standard
3. Yet have they taken, besides him, gods that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no control of hurt or good to themselves; nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection.

Surah 25. The Criterion, The Standard

23. And We shall turn to whatever deeds they did (in this life), and We shall make such deeds as floating dust scattered about.

Cause they did well in their life they didn’t kill,, but they deny the existence of god and didn’t follow his message

Allah wont gain thing if you obey him,, you will gain heaven and peace in your life

And also he will loose nothing if you disobey him because there are million of angel pray and obey him,,

Surah 45. Crouching
15. If any one does a righteous deed, it ensures to the benefit of his own soul; if he does evil, it works against (his own soul). In the end will ye (all) be brought back to your Lord.

Qur'an
Surah 22. The Pilgrimage
78. And strive in His cause as ye ought to strive, (with sincerity and under discipline). He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the cult of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation); that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and ye be witnesses for mankind! So establish regular Prayer, give regular Charity, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protector - the Best to protect and the Best to help!

So science Abraham people who follow the messenger of Allah called Muslims
And the word Muslim mean in Arabic,, to surrender to what the God say and obey and follow his teaching


Qur'an
Surah 22. The Pilgrimage
78. And strive in His cause as ye ought to strive, (with sincerity and under discipline). He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the cult of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation); that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and ye be witnesses for mankind! So establish regular Prayer, give regular Charity, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protector - the Best to protect and the Best to help!

So science Abraham people who follow the messenger of Allah called Muslims
And the word Muslim mean in Arabic,, to surrender to what the God say and obey and follow his teaching

 

[Arabian]

Muhammad was a thug.

listen man
this man was a prophet sent by allah ,, so dont say that about him

and i think that all what you can say,, nasty words
cause you cant give a clue,,

but i cant and i wont say any thing about your prophet jesus PBUH cause he is my prophet too,, and i do believe in all prophet allah sent as my religion say and as my prophet
MUHAMMED PBUH ORDERED

 

[freeandfun1]

Why don't you admit Arabia that worshiping a black stone is idolatry? You have thrown out all kinds of accusations about Christianity, but you ignore the facts that surround Islam.

Allah is the name of the only God in Islam. Allah is a pre-Islamic name coming from the compound Arabic word Al-ilah which means the God, which is derived from al (the) ilah (deity). It was also the name of the chief god among the numerous idols (360) in the Kaaba in Mecca. Today a Muslim is one who submits to the God Allah.

Islam means submission to (Allah), but originally it meant that strength which characterized a desert warrior who, even when faced with impossible odds, would fight to the death for his tribe. (Dr. M. Baravmann, The Spiritual Background of Early Islam, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1972)

Many believe the word “Allah” was derived from the mid- eastern word “el” which in Ugaritic, Caananite and Hebrew can mean a true or false God. This is not the case, “The source of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is not a common name meaning “God” (or a “god”), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity.” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (ed. Hastings), I:326.)

According to the Encyclopedia of Religion, Allah corresponded to the Babylonian god Baal, and Arabs knew of him long before Mohammed worshipped him as the supreme God. Before Islam the Arabs recognized many gods and goddesses, each tribe had their own deity. There were also nature deities. Allah was the god of the local Quarish tribe, which was Mohammed's tribe before he invented Islam to lead his people out of their polytheism. Allah was then known as the Moon God, who had 3 daughters who were viewed as intercessors for the people into Allah. Their names were Al-at, Al-uzza, and Al-Manat, which were three goddesses; the first two daughters of Allah had names which were feminine forms of Allah. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was a statue likeness of a man whose body was made of red precious stones whose arms were made of gold. (Reference Islam George Braswell Jr.)

“Historians like Vaqqidi have said Allah was actually the chief of the 360 gods being worshipped in Arabia at the time Mohammed rose to prominence. Ibn Al-Kalbi gave 27 names of pre-Islamic deities...Interestingly, not many Muslims want to accept that Allah was already being worshipped at the Ka'ba in Mecca by Arab pagans before Mohammed came. Some Muslims become angry when they are confronted with this fact. But history is not on their side. Pre-Islamic literature has proved this.” (G. J. O. Moshay, Who Is This Allah? (Dorchester House, Bucks, UK, 1994), pg. 138).

History has shown Mecca and the holy stone al-Kaaba were holy sites for pre-Islamic pagan Arabs. The Kaaba in Mecca was formerly named Beit-Allah meaning House of Allah.

The Koran tells us that Mohammed drove the other idols away; he made one God now the only god and he was its messenger. He kept the Kaaba as a holy, sacred place and confirmed that the black stone had the power to take away man's sins. He obligated every believer to make a pilgrimage to the stone at least once in his lifetime. (Sura 22:26-37) No Old Testament saint ever had a pilgrimage to the Kaaba and kissed its black stone.

Mohammed used the name Allah which was the name of a specific idol without ever distinguishing it from the idol the Meccan’s were already worshipping. This was a modification of their former worship but never a complete break. He never did say for the people to stop their worship of the wrong Allah, for the right one.

Al-Lat which is a T at the end of the name of Allah, was represented by a square stone whose major sanctuary was in the city of Taif. In the sanctuary was a black stone in the town of Qudayd between Mecca and Medina. She was the goddess of fate, a female counterpart of Allah. Al-uzza was the goddess of east Mecca. It has been said there were human sacrifices made to her and Islamic tradition tells of a story of Mohammed’s grandfather almost sacrificing his son the father of Mohammed to her. What prevented this was his seeking counsel from a fortune teller which told him to ransom his son with one hundred camels. Muslims look to this as the will of Allah to bring Mohammed into existence. (Reference Muhammad husain haykal, Hayat mohammed)

“The name Allah, as the Qur'an itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa.” (Arthur Jeffrey, ed., Islam: Muhammad and His Religion (1958), p. 85.)

The literal name of Mohammed's father in Arabic is Abd Allah. His uncle's name Obred Allah. These names show the devotion of Mohammed's families pagan roots, and also prove that Allah was part of a polytheistic system of worship before Allah was made the supreme and only god from the other God's. This should be proof to the pre- Islamic root of the name of Allah to the Muslim. Remember they were pagans who used this name. He kept his family name above all the other names. Mohammad had good intentions in removing the people from their polytheistic worship however he did not go far enough in his reform.

Mecca was the place where the idol Allah was located, so the people would face in that direction when they prayed. Prior to Islam the people would pray 5 times a day facing Mecca (The Encyclopedia of Islam p.303) Prior to Islam's beginning each Arab tribe used Allah to refer to its own particular high god. This is why Hubal, the Moon god, was the central focus of prayer at the Kaabah and people prayed to Hubal and they used the name Allah. The crescent moon was the symbol of the moon God Allah (Hubal) and is still used as a symbol of Islam today (although they have changed the meaning to be from Mecca to the moon Islam will spread). Today there is hardly a Muslim that knows its ancient origin. History records it as an ancient pagan fertility symbol that is found throughout the Middle East. Mohammed smashed all the idols that led the people into idolatry but the black stone was kept which Muslims continue to kiss today. This was another practice that preceded Mohammad.

Mohammed made Allah into a single being who, unlike the Bible's God, has no son. Because of this portrayal there is no fellowship or love among the godhead before God created man. Creation and man therefore become a necessity for God to express His attributes or characteristic's. This God has never revealed Himself to man but revealed only His will. This God is so removed from man that it is impossible to know him in a personal way, he relates to man only through his will and law. It is a religion of obedience no different than any other.

To the Muslim God is strictly singular, all seeing, all hearing, almighty, He is the first and the last. But what differs is that he has no Son and he cannot be called Father who relates to His son in a unique way (Son and Father does not mean offspring in historic Christianity).

Of the 99 names of God in Islam, not one is “Father” or has a personal connotation. The difference is not to be overlooked. The God of the Bible is personal and wants an ongoing friendship with each of us. Islam portrays God as one who expects us to do our religious duty or He angers. There are rules to be obeyed and one can only please him but not know him personally. No Muslim would ever consider being able to have a personal relationship with him, by talking to him, and loving him. Jesus instead taught Christians to pray “our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Throughout the Old Testament God was real to the prophets who had him personally speak to them and they to him. “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?” (Mal 2:10)

In Islam some state that if one memorizes the 99 names of Allah and repeats them he will get into paradise because they give the believer power, making them conscious of God. Neither the Koran nor the Hadith speak of these names in such a way. The Suras in the Koran begin with “In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful. Yet in practice Islam's god is portrayed as stern, harsh, having compassion on those who do right and deals severely with those who do not. To a Muslim the God of the Bible who is described as triune is offensive and pagan, reminding them of what Mohammed destroyed. They interpret this as 3 Gods and not a unified one. “ They are unbelievers who say God is a third of three. No God is there but one God.” While Muslims affirm Jesus' virgin conception, they deny he had any pre-existence that would imply He is God. To call a prophet God is the ultimate in blasphemy to them. “ Verily God will not forgive the union of other gods with himself.” This is a true statement, however if Jesus is who He said he is, the true God, then it is they who are in union with another than the true God.

Muslims claim that the name Allah can be found in the Bible. This is no different than what the Jehovah's Witnesses do for the name Jehovah. Allah is not called Yahweh once in the Koran but neither is Yahweh called Allah in the Bible. So they can't be the same God. Neither is the word Elohim which is applied to Yahweh over 2,500 times in the Bible used in the Koran. Neither is he called I Am, which He said to Moses would be His name forever.

The God of the Bible identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacobs name is later changed to the name Israel, being the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. The God of the Bible calls Jerusalem the city of David and that the Messiah would descend from his lineage. Neither does the God of the Bible does not mention Mecca or Medina but instead Jerusalem 800 times. Yet Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, which the Muslim claims as there own.

The God in the Bible is called the God of the Jews, an impossibility with Allah. They are called his chosen people, but they are not Allah's chosen. Allah commands the Muslim to not take the Jews or Christians as friends, Sura.5:51 disdains the Jews. Mohammed said, “The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them.” (Mishkat Al Masabih Sh.M. Ashraf pp.147, 721, 810-11, 1130). So how could Israel inherit the land or any of God's promises from Allah, if he is their God. Clearly he is not the same God of the Bible.

Muslims trying to prove their position from the Bible point to the Old Testament with the word alleluyah, interpreting the first portion of the word alle as Allah. The word [H]alleluyah is not a compound Hebrew word. It is not two words but a singular word meaning praise to Yahweh. (alle- praise, lu-to, yah-Yaweh). The beginning of the word is Hallel meaning praise. This has nothing to do with an Allah, and the last syllable of the word is a reference to Yahweh the God of the Bible, this is hardly any evidence for their assertions. They are also confusing Aramaic with Arabic. This is not unusual, as Muslims will often take words and meanings set in another language and culture and adopt them for proof of their own book or religion.

This word play only gets more ludicrous as they try to have Jesus saying the name of their God. When Jesus was on the cross they claim when he cried out Eli, Eli it was really is Allah, Allah. The New Testament was written in Greek, however it points us to him speaking the Aramaic language, not Arabic. Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1 which read in full says, Eli, Eli Sabbathani “My God, My God why have you forsaken me.” What makes even less sense for this position is the fact that they don't believe that it was Jesus on the cross in the first place, but that another took His place. Some think it was Judas; so it was Judas crying out Allah, Allah?

The first Arabic translation of the Bible came into existence about the 9th century. Nowhere is the name of Allah found in the Old or New Testament. When Islam became the dominant political force people were coerced to use the name Allah for God or suffer the consequences from the hands of militant Muslims. Because of Islam's dominance Allah became the common name of God. The translators of the Bible gave in to the religious pressures and substituted Allah for Yahweh in the Arabic Bibles, but this is not the name of the God of the Hebrews, nor of the creator who made heaven and earth because of its source in paganism. His nature and attributes have only a few basic similarities and many more differences.

http://www.letusreason.org/Islam6.htm

 

[Arabian]

Why don't you admit Arabia that worshiping a black stone is idolatry? You have thrown out all kinds of accusations about Christianity, but you ignore the facts that surround Islam

listen i know that there are lots of things you may dont know cause you dont know lots about the arabic language,,
and that what others use

these are some questions and answers

The word "ALLAH"

A Comment by : Abu Iman Robert Squires

Assalamu Alaikum,

I would like to strongly concur with your observations about the use of the word "Allah" in English and any other language. Both from my conversion experience in America and my experience doing da'wah here in Kuwait, it is definitely 100% - without a shadow of a doubt - better to use the word "God" when making da'wah to English speaking people.

This alone is enough to open many hearts and minds since many people think that Muslims worship a different God. I've come across some Arab brothers who insist in using only the word "Allah". They somehow think that it implies Tawhid while the word "God" implies the Trinity, etc., etc.

You know, the problem with such people is not their knowledge of Arabic, but their ignorance of English. The mushriks (disbelievers) at the time of the Prophet (saws) used the word Allah, and so do Arabic-speaking Christians. The word itself in no way implies tawhid. The reason it implies tawhid to Muslims is that they're Muslims. Others use this word in ways that are nothing but shirk.

The word God implies tawhid to me because I have the Islamic concept of Him. It's all in the concept, but has nothing to do with the word itself. Also, there are statements in some da'wah pamphlets that say "all prophets since Adam used the word Allah" and that "the word Allah is exactly the same as the Aramaic word Jesus used for God".

The first statement is baseless and can be proved to be logically incorrect from the Quran. The second statement is incorrect, but the words are only similar, but NOT exactly alike. This whole trend of using "Allah" in English seems to come about rather recently.

Most of the translations and writings done back in the 1940's and 1950's used the word "God", which is a perfectly good translation of the word Allah in Arabic. M.M. Pickthall being the main exception, since he seemed to have used "Allah" in all of the translations that I've seen.

The change came, I believe, as a result of Nasserite Arab Nationalism. Many Arabs I know over here still don't know the difference between Islam and Arab Nationalism! They seem more interesting in defending their pride heritage than really spreading the message. But this is in no way limited to Arabs, I've dealt with Pakistanis, Malaysians, Turks and Afghanis that have the same hang-up.

The mentality of some of these brothers almost approaches that of the Bani Isra'il - the "our God vs. your God" mentality! By the way, I've never met an English-speaking convert to Islam (or Spanish-speaking, or French-speaking) who disagreed with me on this point. Most them went through a stage wondering why (some) Muslims insist on using Allah.

I should also add that I know a lot of Muslims that use "God" when speaking English. I find this rather common among most Egyptians that I know. In Morocco, where I visit quite frequently, the also use Dieu when they parlez francais.

Insh'allah, more Muslims will realize this and our da'wah will become more effective. This is a BIG barrier, but many Muslims don't realize it. Many come up with baseless reasons to justify it (for whatever reason). What do we converts know anyway!!! Ha! Another point before I go...some people like to try to draw exact parallels between English and Arabic words which just don't fit.

The word "ilah" in Arabic can be used for a false god or for Allah. (Like when God says (paraphrased) the "ilah" of Ibrahim", and numerous other example.) Anyone who can read the Quran should know this. However, unlike the word "god" in English, which ALWAYS implies a false god. Non-native English speakers sometimes mistakenly believe that "god" and "God" are the same English word, but they are not. They carry completely different meanings. If they doubt this, then they simply don't know how to speak the English language. And to say that the word "Allah" can only be used for the Supreme Almighty Creator is refuted by the Quran itself.

It clearly says (and I paraphrase here rather liberally) that Christians say that "Allah is Jesus". There you have it, applying "Allah" to something that isn't "Allah" right there in the Quran. You see, what people really mean to say is that you SHOULDN'T use "Allah" for anything except the Almighty Creator, but you still CAN. The same thing goes for the word God.

People can use it in the wrong way, but that doesn't make it right. The truth is that this word too should only be used for the Almighty Creator. Remember...God has sent prophets to everyone in their OWN LANGUAGE, i.e. a language that they can understand. How many more people around the world wouldn't be dying on SHIRK if many Muslims woke up and started making da'wah in a way people can understand? Well, I've spoken my peace.

Abu Iman Robert Squires

Here is another comment and response by Steven Thomas;

To: BILL H--------

From: STEVEN THOMAS

Sorry Bill, but your sources are dubious at best. Souroush for instance is a evangelical missionary associated with Jimmy Swaggart - great reliability there!

The fact is that Allah does not refer to the moon god or have associates. The linguistic breakdown of Allah is "The/Al God/Lah". That is why all Christian Arabs (monophysists, Nestorians, Orthodox, Roman, and Protestant (yes, even Mr. Shouroush) use the term Allah to refer to God the Father when they speak Arabic. Lest you wonder where I am coming from, my degrees are Biblical Arch. and Arabic language.

Try again.

Steven.

--- The Pitts <[email protected]> wrote:

The god of the Quran and the God of the bible are completely different. Allah being contrived from AI-Llah the moon god. Please feel free to research it yourself. As your own documentation says,.."don't mean to offend anyone."

Peace,

There is no one offended here.

God of the Arabic Bible is called "Allah". I do not think you believe that there is a god for the English Bible and another god for the Arabic Bible and a third for the Italian bible...etc. It would be too naive.

There is ONLY one God. His name in English is God, in French: un dieu, in Italian: dio, in German: Gott, in Spanish: Dios, in Portuguese: Deus, in Arabic: Allah, and in Aramaic : alaha.

All these are no more than the names of God in different languages To this day the Christian Arabs pray to Allah and talk about Allah. They called Him Allah even before Islam was born and they know they were not worshipping any moon god. Those who still speak Jesus language (Aramaic/syriac) call God alaha to this day like Jesus did. Jesus did not pray to a moon god but to alaha (Allah), the One and Only God.

The Arabic Bible, use the word Allah for God. If you want any images of the Arabic Bible with the word Allah in it (for God of the Bible), please let me know.

If you want to verify it, call any Arabic church in the USA or any English speaking country and ask them what they call God in their Arabic Bible and whether they still use the word Allah in their Bible or not.

Jewish Arabs also pray to Allah and talk about Allah just like an English person talks about God.

The Origin of the name "Allah"

It seems unlikely that the name Allah comes from al-ilaah "the God", but rather from the Aramaic/Syriac alaha, meaning 'God' or 'the God'. The final 'a' in the name alaha was originally the definite article 'the' and is regularly dropped when Syriac words and names are borrowed into Arabic. Middle-eastern Christianity used 'alah' and 'alaha' frequently, and it would have often been heard.

But in the Aramaic/Syriac language there are two different 'a' vowels, one rather like the 'a' in English 'hat' and the other more like the vowel in 'ought'. In the case of 'alah', the first vowel was like 'hat' and the second like 'ought'. Arabic does not have a vowel like the one in 'ought', but it seems to have BORROWED this vowel along with the word 'alah'. If you know Arabic, then you know that the second vowel in 'allah' is unique; it occurs only in that one word in Arabic.

Scholars believe that Jesus spoke mostly Aramaic, although sometimes he spoke Hebrew and he might have spoken Greek on some occasions. If Jesus spoke Aramaic, then he referred to God using basically the same word that is used in Arabic.

From [email protected] (Dr. Christoph Heger)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: How About That Moon God?
Date: Wed Mar 25 18:59:38 EST 1998
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Greetings to all,

The theory that Allah had been the name of an old Arabic moon god (or moon goddess?) is not familiar to me and I am not in a position to accept or falsify it. The following remarks only are thought to serve further elucidation of the matter.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotos in the first volume of his historic work "Histories Apodexis", line 131-132, refers to the religion of the Persians. He writes:

"They sacrifice to the sun and the moon and the earth and the fire and the water and the winds. Only to those they sacrifice of old. In addition they learnt to sacrifice to Urania [=the Celestial one, i.e. Aphrodite; Ch.H.], too. They learnt it from the Assyrians and the Arabs. The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta [Assyrian: Bilit; Ch.H.], the Arabs Alilat..."

This "Urania", indeed, in some connections appears as a moon goddess. "Alilat", of course, is to be related to the Arabic feminine form "al-ilah", a nomen unitatis which has the meaning of "the (single) deity".

The etymological derivation of "Allah" as a contraction of "al-ilah", which was maintained in numerous contributions to sri, too, is "popular" etymology and surely not historic. It would be rather strange that especially the "i" should have been disappeared due to neglect of the speakers, since the syllable "il" is the most important in "al-ilah": "il" or "el" is the semitic word for God since times immemorial.

Instead, the word "Allah", as a lot of other words, especially words of the religious sphere, was imported from the Syriac (Aramaic) language: "alaha" - with three long a-vowels -, is the Aramaic word for the (Christian) unique God. The last (long) "a" characterizes the status absolutus in the Aramaic language and was duly omitted by the Arabs like case endings in the Arabic vernacular, whereas the understanding of the first syllable of "alaha" as an article was a common misunderstanding like for instance in "al-Iskandar" from Greek "Alexandros" etc. The doubling of the "l" is irrelevant, since the doubling sign is a very late invention of Arabic orthography, centuries after Muhammad.

Kind regards,

Christoph Heger

Even some of the traditional Scholars agree on this one; see this Question and answer from a traditional scholar

The Origin of the Word 'Allah'...

Question:

What is the derivation of "Allah"? Some scholars say it derives from al+ illah ("the God"), but many Muslim Ulema and translators of the Quran (such as Maulana Muhammad Ali) disagree with this, and say that "Allah" is whole in itself, as a proper name for the Supreme Creator. But is there any philological relationship between Allah and other Semitic terms for "God" such as Eloah (Hebrew) and Alaha (Aramaic/Syriac)?

Thank you.

Peace and blessings of Allah be with you.

Shahid M, USA

Reply

Although a lot has been said about the philology of the word &#8216;Allah&#8217;, however, in my opinion, the former of the two opinions noted by you seems to be closer to the correct one. A detailed discussion compiling the opinions of various scholars of the Arabic language regarding the origin of the word can be seen in &#8220;Lisaan al-Arab&#8221; under the word &#8220;Aliha&#8221; (a-l-h). In my opinion, &#8216;Allah&#8217; is an Arabic word meaning &#8216;the God&#8217;. According to the general principle of making proper nouns from common nouns in the Arabic language, the word &#8220;ilah&#8221; (common noun) has been converted to &#8220;al-ilah&#8221;, which became &#8220;Allah&#8221; due to the turgidity and the slight difficulty of pronunciation of the word &#8220;al-ilah&#8221;.

The Quran, because its prime and first addressees were the Arabs, used the word &#8220;Allah&#8221; for the Supreme Being, as that had traditionally been the word used for the Supreme Being in that language. The same had been the case in the older scriptures. Those scriptures, like the Quran, used those words for the Supreme Being, which had already in vogue in those languages, to refer to the Supreme Being.

However, there have been scholars of the Arabic language who ascribe to the opinion that &#8220;Allah&#8221; is the actual name of the Supreme Being. It is indeed important to the evidence that they have provided into account. Nevertheless, I feel that to give God a name is a requirement of us, humans. God, being the absolute being is in no need for a name.

May the Almighty guide us all to the path of His liking.

http://www.submission.org/allah-god.html

 

['ol Perfessor]

but, I can repeat a fable. The Blind Men and the elephant. One man thought him to be like a snake, another hard, smooth, and sharp etc. each only could "see" that in his proximity. Is any of the men wrong? does each see a different part of , to them, an unknowable whole? Does this apply to our hair splitting arguments as to why our and only our version of the unfathomable and uncomprehendable is the only correct one? Nah

 

[Avatar4321]

[QUOTE='ol Perfessor]but, I can repeat a fable. The Blind Men and the elephant. One man thought him to be like a snake, another hard, smooth, and sharp etc. each only could "see" that in his proximity. Is any of the men wrong? does each see a different part of , to them, an unknowable whole? Does this apply to our hair splitting arguments as to why our and only our version of the unfathomable and uncomprehendable is the only correct one? Nah[/QUOTE]

You are assuming there is anything unfathomable and uncomprehendable.

 

['ol Perfessor]

You are assuming there is anything unfathomable and uncomprehendable.

Other than your reply?

 

[Arabian]

[QUOTE='ol Perfessor]but, I can repeat a fable. The Blind Men and the elephant. One man thought him to be like a snake, another hard, smooth, and sharp etc. each only could "see" that in his proximity. Is any of the men wrong? does each see a different part of , to them, an unknowable whole? Does this apply to our hair splitting arguments as to why our and only our version of the unfathomable and uncomprehendable is the only correct one? Nah[/QUOTE]

Did he try to find the truth or he just surender to what is given to him,,
the difference between who know and who dont know ,, is his trials to know the truth,,,
some persons came to this life and found the truth is so clear other tried so hard to know the truth,, but those who tried so hard got two goods ,, one cause they knew the truth and the other that they fight to know it so it will be hard to let the truth go ,, i mean be blind again
note:-
good example brother