Subscribe to our daily e-mail newsletter

E-mail:

Israel News Feed Or subscribe to our RSS feed | What is RSS?
Israel News from Jerusalem Newswire
Islam

Let's call Him Allah


By Stan Goodenough
August 21, 2007

His name is proclaimed as "greater" in the call to prayer that goes up five times a day from minarets around the world.

In his name millions of people pray for the destruction of Israel and the United States.

In his name the Saudi Arabian hijackers flew the planes they had commandeered into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York.

And in His name men and women climb aboard buses or enter restaurants, take a careful look at the people traveling or eating around them, and then blow themselves up, killing as many as they can.

But to Roman Catholic Dutch Bishop Bishop Martinus Petrus Maria Muskens, his name is "a very beautiful word for God [so] shouldn't we all say that from now on we will call God 'Allah'?"

This blasphemy came last week from the mouth of a man who revels in controversy.

According to Muskens' website, "If Muslims and Christians address God with the same name, this contributes to harmonious living between both religions."

Betraying his ignorance, Muskens holds that in Arabic-speaking lands, Christians speak of "Allah" as Westerners might speak of "Lord."

In fact, while "Allah" is Arabic for the noun "god," the proper noun "Allah" is the name of the Arabian Moon God, an idol elevated to the position of "God" by the founder of Islam.

The name of the God of Israel, written in capital letters as "LORD" in the English translation, is spelled yod hey vav hey (YHWH) in the Hebrew and pronounced Yahoveh or Jehovah (although not by the Jews, who in reverence towards God will not pronounce His name but read "Adonai" which is "Lord.")

It was by this name that the LORD introduced Himself to Moses, according to the text in Exodus.

He also has many other names describing aspects of His nature and character.

"Allah" is not one of them.

Many Jews and Christians - notably those who do not know their Bible - are deceived about this, or think, as does Muskens, that "God doesn't care what we call Him."

Like the article?
Help spread the word:
Jnewswire updates
Never miss another story
  • Inbox already too full?
    Subscribe to our
    RSS feed instead!