Many think “Allah” is a personal God of Muslims. Like how Hindus worship Shiva, Christians worship Jesus, the Muslims worship Allah.
Allah means God
Allah is an Arabic word that means “God”. We have different words for “God” in different languages. Let’s see some examples.
The word for God in Hindi is “Ishwar”.
The word for God in Telugu is “Devudu”.
The word for God in Kannada is “Devaru”.
The word for God in Malayalam is “Deivam”.
The word for God in Arabic is “Allah”.
Google Translate
If one looks up the Arabic translation for the word “god” in Google translate, it will show the word “Allah”. It must be now very clear that the Arabic word “Allah” means “God” and is not referring to an exclusive God of Muslims.
Different words but same entity
In Hindi we call water as “Paani”, in Kannada as “Neeru”, in Telugu as “Neelu”, in Malayalam as “Vellam” and in Arabic as “Moya”. Like how different words in different languages refer to the same entity called as water, the different words in different languages for God refer to the same entity.
Arabic Bible uses the word “Allah”
Where did the word “Allah” come from?
The word “Allah” is the Arabic word for God. It has been used by Arabic-speaking people for thousands of years much before the birth of Prophet Muhammad. Prophet Muhammad’s father’s name was Abdullah, which means “servant of Allah”. This proves that the Arabs even before the birth of Prophet Muhammad, used the word “Allah” to refer to God.
As far as the linguistic origins of the word “Allah” is concerned, some linguistic experts propound that the word Allah is derived from the Arabic word “ilah,” which means “deity” or “god.” Many other linguistic experts opine that Allah is a proper noun and it was not derived from any other word.
Conclusion
Remember, when the Muslims utter the word “Allah”, they are not referring to their personal God, but rather they are referring to God who created all of us and all that exists.
