ALLAH is one word
Most scholars agree that the word ‘Allah’ is a word by itself and a noun that refers to the ‘God Almighty’ and a large majority of the authorities concur. But some academia contest that and argue that Allah is a word formed by combining two separate words, namely ‘al’ which when placed before a common noun particularizes it and converts it into a proper noun, and ‘Elaha‘ that means ‘God’ and carries the last letter of ‘ha’ or an abbreviation for ‘ta‘ known as ‘taa-e-taa-nith’ at its end.
The contestants further extrapolate that the word Allah — by ending with the last letter of ‘ha’ which is sort of abbreviation of ‘taa-e-taa-nith’ — shows it is a feminine gender. Mostly such words are indeed of feminine gender such as Saa-e-qah (002:056), Ha-sa-nah and Aa-khe-rah (002:202), Waa-he-dah (004:002), Wuj-hah (006:053), Saa-a-tuh (022:008) to name just a few. But the Holy Qor-aan in hundreds of places uses the word Allah followed by a pronoun referring to a single, male gender and not once in feminine gender.
In its 1977 publication, scholar A. Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Holy Qor-aan that is widely distributed by the Saudi government treated this discussion as a non-issue. He translated the word ‘Allah’ wherever used in the original text of the Holy Qor-aan into ‘GOD’ and did not include the word “Allah” even in the Index.
In its 1982 publication of Tufheem-ul-Qor-aan, Abu-il-Aala Maudoodi followed the suit but did not add, define or explain the word ‘Allah’ anywhere. He did not include it even in Index. In his Introduction on P:11 he stated that in writing the foot-notes his best effort was not to initiate any discussion that would take away the reader to anything besides the Holy Qor-aan.
In its 1986 publication of Tufseer Kabeer, Mirza Mahmood Ahmad flood-lighted this issue in a footnote titled ‘Allah’ (001:001) and summarized the prior authorities on the subject as follows.
• In Arabic, the word Allah is only a proper noun. It is spoken for only One Being and as a name. The word Allah is a ‘proper noun, not derived from another. It is not made from another word, nor is another word made from it.
• Some people say that it is derived from ‘Laha Yaleenahoo’ which convey the meanings of tasuttur, oloow and irtefa (Uq-rub), but that is not correct.
• Some people say that it is derived from ‘Laha Yalooh‘ which convey the meanings of illumination (shinning, dazzling) ………. But Lissan-ul-Arab (Arabic Lexicon) has labeled that as non-recognized (unconventional). So to conclude it to have derived from “Laha Yalooho” is wrong.
• Some people call it a word form a foreign language, Sooryani language to be precise. But that is wrong and shows only ignorance about that language.
• That is why most western researchers have opined that (the word Allah) was close to Arabic feminine-gender root of the word Ilaha.
• German scholar Noldeke wrote that the Arabic word Ilaha and Hebrew word Ail have run alongside each other for ages. And even before Hebrew got separated from Arabic, this word was used in Semitic languages. (Enc: Biblica, volume 3, Title “Names”.
Maulana Muhammad Ali in his footnote to Chapter 001 (Soorah Fateha) wrote as follows. “Allah according to the most correct opinion regarding it is a proper noun applied to the Being Who exists by Himself, comprising all the attributes of perfection, (Arabic English Lexicon by Edward W. Lane), the ‘al’ being inseparable from it and not derived (Mishkat al-Masabih). Al-ilah is a different word. Allah is not a construction of al-ilah. The word Allah is not applied to any Being except the only true God, and comprises all the excellent names, and the Arabs never gave the name Allah to any of their numerous idols…Hence I have adopted the original word in the translation.”
An elementary rule of Arabic grammar is that placing ‘Alif-Laam’ before a ‘common’ noun is a way to make it into a proper noun. Anyone learning Arabic language learns this up-front. I recall a speech I heard long time ago that discussed the issue and the possibility that the Arabic language in its early developmental stages may have placed ‘Alif-Lam’ to ‘Ila-ha’ to distinguish ‘The Only One Worthy of Worship’ from other untold number of idols which the Arabs had named and worshiped at homes, places of worship and even Kaaba. However, long before the advent of Islam the word Allah had become known as the single proper noun and used for ‘The Almighty God’ only.
A westerner (I can’t recall his name) claimed mastery over Farsi culture and Arabic language after living in Iran for 15 years. He wrote on the subject and concluded that Allah is one word and not derived from a combination of two words. We agree with his conclusion albeit take his claimed authority with a pinch of salt since a) living in Iran which if not openly hostile has at least been rival to the Arabs whose mother tongue had been Arabic for centuries and b) living long in one country by a foreigner is hardly a qualification sufficient to generate mastery to prove a deep-rooted knowledge over the language of another country.
The end of the discussion based upon all above is that Allah is one word and the proper noun that refers to the Only One Worthy of Worship Almighty God.
Allah is one word
ALLAH is one word
Most scholars agree that the word ‘Allah’ is a word by itself and a noun that refers to the ‘God Almighty’ and a large majority of the authorities concur. But some academia contest that and argue that Allah is a word formed by combining two separate words, namely ‘al’ which when placed before a common noun particularizes it and converts it into a proper noun, and ‘Elaha‘ that means ‘God’ and carries the last letter of ‘ha’ or an abbreviation for ‘ta‘ known as ‘taa-e-taa-nith’ at its end.
The contestants further extrapolate that the word Allah — by ending with the last letter of ‘ha’ which is sort of abbreviation of ‘taa-e-taa-nith’ — shows it is a feminine gender. Mostly such words are indeed of feminine gender such as Saa-e-qah (002:056), Ha-sa-nah and Aa-khe-rah (002:202), Waa-he-dah (004:002), Wuj-hah (006:053), Saa-a-tuh (022:008) to name just a few. But the Holy Qor-aan in hundreds of places uses the word Allah followed by a pronoun referring to a single, male gender and not once in feminine gender.
In its 1977 publication, scholar A. Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Holy Qor-aan that is widely distributed by the Saudi government treated this discussion as a non-issue. He translated the word ‘Allah’ wherever used in the original text of the Holy Qor-aan into ‘GOD’ and did not include the word “Allah” even in the Index.
In its 1982 publication of Tufheem-ul-Qor-aan, Abu-il-Aala Maudoodi followed the suit but did not add, define or explain the word ‘Allah’ anywhere. He did not include it even in Index. In his Introduction on P:11 he stated that in writing the foot-notes his best effort was not to initiate any discussion that would take away the reader to anything besides the Holy Qor-aan.
In its 1986 publication of Tufseer Kabeer, Mirza Mahmood Ahmad flood-lighted this issue in a footnote titled ‘Allah’ (001:001) and summarized the prior authorities on the subject as follows.
• In Arabic, the word Allah is only a proper noun. It is spoken for only One Being and as a name. The word Allah is a ‘proper noun, not derived from another. It is not made from another word, nor is another word made from it.
• Some people say that it is derived from ‘Laha Yaleenahoo’ which convey the meanings of tasuttur, oloow and irtefa (Uq-rub), but that is not correct.
• Some people say that it is derived from ‘Laha Yalooh‘ which convey the meanings of illumination (shinning, dazzling) ………. But Lissan-ul-Arab (Arabic Lexicon) has labeled that as non-recognized (unconventional). So to conclude it to have derived from “Laha Yalooho” is wrong.
• Some people call it a word form a foreign language, Sooryani language to be precise. But that is wrong and shows only ignorance about that language.
• That is why most western researchers have opined that (the word Allah) was close to Arabic feminine-gender root of the word Ilaha.
• German scholar Noldeke wrote that the Arabic word Ilaha and Hebrew word Ail have run alongside each other for ages. And even before Hebrew got separated from Arabic, this word was used in Semitic languages. (Enc: Biblica, volume 3, Title “Names”.
Maulana Muhammad Ali in his footnote to Chapter 001 (Soorah Fateha) wrote as follows. “Allah according to the most correct opinion regarding it is a proper noun applied to the Being Who exists by Himself, comprising all the attributes of perfection, (Arabic English Lexicon by Edward W. Lane), the ‘al’ being inseparable from it and not derived (Mishkat al-Masabih). Al-ilah is a different word. Allah is not a construction of al-ilah. The word Allah is not applied to any Being except the only true God, and comprises all the excellent names, and the Arabs never gave the name Allah to any of their numerous idols…Hence I have adopted the original word in the translation.”
An elementary rule of Arabic grammar is that placing ‘Alif-Laam’ before a ‘common’ noun is a way to make it into a proper noun. Anyone learning Arabic language learns this up-front. I recall a speech I heard long time ago that discussed the issue and the possibility that the Arabic language in its early developmental stages may have placed ‘Alif-Lam’ to ‘Ila-ha’ to distinguish ‘The Only One Worthy of Worship’ from other untold number of idols which the Arabs had named and worshiped at homes, places of worship and even Kaaba. However, long before the advent of Islam the word Allah had become known as the single proper noun and used for ‘The Almighty God’ only.
A westerner (I can’t recall his name) claimed mastery over Farsi culture and Arabic language after living in Iran for 15 years. He wrote on the subject and concluded that Allah is one word and not derived from a combination of two words. We agree with his conclusion albeit take his claimed authority with a pinch of salt since a) living in Iran which if not openly hostile has at least been rival to the Arabs whose mother tongue had been Arabic for centuries and b) living long in one country by a foreigner is hardly a qualification sufficient to generate mastery to prove a deep-rooted knowledge over the language of another country.
The end of the discussion based upon all above is that Allah is one word and the proper noun that refers to the Only One Worthy of Worship Almighty God.
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