Allah

{{Short description|Arabic word for God}} {{About|the Arabic word for God|the Islamic conception of God|God in Islam|other uses|Allah (disambiguation)}} {{Good article}} {{Pp-semi-indef}} {{Pp-move}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} [[File:Allah-green.svg|thumb|right|The word 'Allah' in ''thuluth'' calligraphy]] {{Allah}} '''Allah''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|l|ə|,_|ˈ|ɑː|l|ə|,_|ə|ˈ|l|ɑː}} {{respell|A(H)L|ə|,_|ə|LAH}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/allah "Allah"]. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/allah|title=Allah|work=Oxford Learner's Dictionaries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2024-03-18|title=Definition of ALLAH|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Allah|access-date=2024-04-08|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> {{langx|ar|الله}}, {{IPA|ar|ɑɫˈɫ{{not a typo|ɑː}}|IPA|Ar-allah.ogg}}) is the Arabic language term for God, mainly the monotheistic God of Abraham. Outside of Arabic languages, it is principally associated with Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), although the term was used in pre-Islamic Arabia and continues to be used today by Arabic-speaking adherents of any of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism and Christianity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithgod.html|title=God|work=Islam: Empire of Faith|publisher=PBS|access-date=18 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327034958/http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithgod.html|archive-date=27 March 2014}}</ref><ref>"Islam and Christianity", ''Encyclopedia of Christianity'' (2001): Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews also refer to God as ''Allāh''.</ref><ref name="gardet-allah">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/allah-COM_0047|title=Allah|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online|first=L.|last=Gardet|access-date=2 May 2007|editor1-first=P.|editor1-last=Bearman|editor2-first=Th.|editor2-last=Bianquis|editor3-first=C.E.|editor3-last=Bosworth|editor4-first=E.|editor4-last=van Donzel|editor5-first=W.P.|editor5-last=Heinrichs|publisher=Brill Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Allah|dictionary=Merriam-Webster|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allah|access-date=25 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420121231/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allah|archive-date=20 April 2014|author=Merriam-Webster}}</ref> It is thought to be derived by contraction from ''al-ilāh'' ({{Lang|ar|الاله|rtl=yes}}, {{Literal translation|the god}}) and is linguistically related to other Semitic God names, such as Aramaic ({{Lang|arc|ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ|rtl=yes}} {{Transliteration|arc|ʼAlāhā}}) and Hebrew ({{Lang|he|אֱלוֹהַּ|rtl=yes}} {{Transliteration|he|ʾĔlōah}}).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2006|title=Allah|encyclopedia=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isDgI0-0Ip4C&q=ilah|editor=Oliver Leaman|page=34|isbn=978-0-415-32639-1|author=Zeki Saritoprak}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Vincent J. Cornell|title=God: God in Islam|editor=Lindsay Jones|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion|edition=2nd|publisher=MacMillan Reference USA|volume=5|year=2005|page=724}}</ref>

The word "Allah" now conveys the superiority or sole existence of one God,<ref name="Robin304">{{cite book|author=Christian Julien Robin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA304|title=Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|publisher=OUP USA|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-533693-1|pages=304–305}}</ref> but among the pre-Islamic Arabs, Allah was the supreme deity and was worshipped alongside lesser deities in a pantheon.<ref name="auto">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow|title=Allah|encyclopedia=The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend|publisher=Facts on File|year=2004|page=53|isbn=978-1-4381-2685-2}}</ref> Many Jews, Christians, and early Muslims used "Allah" and "al-ilah" synonymously in Classical Arabic. The word is also frequently, albeit not exclusively, used by Bábists, Baháʼís, Mandaeans, Indonesian Christians, Maltese Christians, and Sephardic Jews,<ref name="Britannica"> "Allah." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica</ref><ref name="EncMMENA">Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, ''Allah''</ref><ref>Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer ''The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition'' Shambhala Publications 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-8348-2414-0}} page 531</ref> as well as by the Gagauz people.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities|author=Carl Skutsch|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|page=480}}</ref>

==Etymology== {{further|Ilah|Allahumma}} The etymology of the word ''Allāh'' has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists.<ref name=EI2-Ilah>D.B. Macdonald. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "Ilah", Vol. 3, p. 1093.</ref> The majority of scholars consider it to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article ''al-'' and {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ilāh}} "deity, god" to {{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-lāh}} meaning "the deity, the God"<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> as in the contraction of {{tlit|ar|al-ʾilāt}} to ''Allāt''.{{Sfn|Al-Jallad|2025|p=2}} In some sources, the contracted and un-contracted forms are used interchangeably.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sinai|first1=Nicholas|title=Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry|date=2019|publisher=American Oriental Society|location=Atlanta, GA|isbn=978-1-948488-25-9|page=7}}</ref> Originally, ''ʾilāh'' was used as an epithet for the West Semitic creator god {{tlit|uga|ʾIlu}} (the Ugaritic version of El), before being adopted as the proper name itself for this god.{{Sfn|Al-Jallad|2025|p=3–4}}

Semitic cognates of "Allāh" appear in Semitic languages,<ref name="autogenerated1">Columbia Encyclopaedia says: Derived from an old Semitic root referring to the Divine and used in the Canaanite ''El'', the Mesopotamian ''ilu'', and the biblical ''Elohim'' and ''Eloah'', the word Allah is used by all Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other monotheists.</ref> such as the Aramaic {{tlit|arc|ʼElāh}} ({{lang|rtl=yes|arc|אלה}}) in the absolute form, and in its definite/emphatic form, {{transliteration|arc|ʼElāhā}} ({{lang|rtl=yes|arc|אלהא}}), as in reflected in Biblical Aramaic. Also Syriac {{lang|syc|ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ}} ({{transliteration|syc|ʼAlāhā}}), both meaning simply "god", or "deity", used by both monotheists and pagans.<ref name="cal">[http://cal1.cn.huc.edu The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon] – Entry for ''ʼlh'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018045941/http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/ |date=18 October 2013 }}</ref> Others are Akkadian {{tlit|akk|ʾilum}}, Ugartic {{tlit|uga|ʾilu}}, and Phoenician {{tlit|phn|ʾl}}. A minority hypothesis posits that ''Allah'' is a loanword from the Syriac ''Alāhā''.<ref>Gerhard Böwering. Encyclopedia of the Quran, Brill, 2002. Vol. 2, p. 318</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Gabriel Said|title=Allah: God in the Qur'an|date=2020|publisher=Yale university press|isbn=978-0-300-24658-2|location=New Haven|page=14}}</ref> A more likely theory is that, it is an adaptation of the word to the phonetic structure of Arabic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sinai |first1=Nicholas |title=Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry |date=2019 |publisher=American Oriental Society |isbn=978-1-948488-25-9 |location=Atlanta, GA |page=8}}</ref><ref>Kiltz, David. "The Relationship between Arabic Allāh and Syriac Allāha." Der Islam 88.1 (2012): 47.</ref>

Whether or not ''Allah'' can be considered as the personal name of God became disputed in contemporary scholarship.<ref name="ReferenceB">Andreas Görke and Johanna Pink Tafsir and Islamic Intellectual History Exploring the Boundaries of a Genre Oxford University Press in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies London {{ISBN|978-0-19-870206-1}} p. 478</ref> Islamic scholars have generally tried to explain the issue by rejecting approaches that associate this word with the names of other gods or that state it is derived from these names; grammarians of the Basra school regarded it as either formed "spontaneously" ({{tlit|ar|murtajal}}) or as the determined form of ''llāh'' (from the verbal root ''lyh'' with the meaning suggesting of "lofty" or "hidden").<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> Other Muslims scholars proposed that the term derives from {{tlit|ar|wilah}} ('the object of mystery') since the nature of God is a mystery and incomprehensible for humans.<ref>Ibrahim, Zakyi. "To Use 'God' or 'Allah'?". ''American Journal of Islam and Society'' 26.4 (2009): v.</ref><ref name="Baydawi-2016">{{cite book |translator1-first=Gibril Fouad |translator1-last=Haddad |first=ʿAbd Allah |last=ibn ʿUmar al-Baydawi |date=2016 |title=The Lights Of Revelation And The Secrets Of Interpretation |publisher=Beacon Books and Media Limited |isbn=978-0-9926335-7-8}}</ref> In Islamic usage and theology, ''Allah'' is God's most unique, proper name,<ref>It is generally accepted that the word is not derived from any root and does not carry a dictionary meaning and constitutes the proper name of the real god, or even if it has a dictionary meaning, it loses this meaning when it becomes the name of the real god./Kelimenin herhangi bir kökten türemiş olmayıp sözlük mânası taşımadığı ve gerçek mâbudun özel adını teşkil ettiği, yahut sözlükte bir anlamı olsa bile gerçek mâbuda ad olunca bu anlamı kaybettiği genellikle benimsenmektedir. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/allah</ref> and referred to as {{tlit|ar|Lafẓ al-Jalālah}} ('the Word of Majesty'). Jahm bin Safwan was reported in later sources as holding that divine names, including “Allah”, were created rather than eternal. Ibn Hanbal rejected this view.<ref>Morris S. Seale ''Muslim Theology A study of Origins with Reference to the Church Fathers'' Great Russel Street, London 1964 p. 58</ref>

==History of usage== === Pre-Islamic Arabia === {{See also|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|List of pre-Islamic Arabian deities|Monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia}} {{Middle Eastern deities}} Regional variants of the word ''Allah'' occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions.<ref name="Robin304"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Hitti|first=Philip Khouri|title=History of the Arabs|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=1970|pages=100–101}}</ref>

According to Marshall Hodgson, it seems that in the pre-Islamic Arabia, some Arab Christians undertook pilgrimages to the Kaaba, a pagan temple at that time, honoring Allah there as the God the Creator.<ref>Marshall G. S. Hodgson, ''The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization'', University of Chicago Press, p. 156</ref> Archaeological excavations have led to the discovery of pre-Islamic inscriptions and tombs made by Arab Christians in the ruins of a church at Umm el-Jimal in Northern Jordan, which initially thought to be containing references to ''Allah'' by Enno Littmann, as the proper name of God; however, this view was rejected by a second translation of the five-verse inscription made by Bellamy et al. (1985–88).<ref>James Bellamy, "Two Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscriptions Revised: Jabal Ramm and Umm al-Jimal", ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', 108/3 (1988) pp. 372–378 (translation of the inscription) "This was set up by colleagues/friends of ʿUlayh, the son of ʿUbaydah, secretary/adviser of the cohort Augusta Secunda Philadelphiana; may he go mad/crazy who effaces it."</ref><ref>Enno Littmann, Arabic Inscriptions (Leiden, 1949)</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Type and Spread of Arabic Script|last=Daniels|first=Peter T.|year=2014}}</ref> In an inscription of Christian martyrion dated to 512, references to al-ilah ({{lang|ar|الاله}})<ref name=Kugener>{{Cite book|title=M. A. Kugener, "Nouvelle Note Sur L'Inscription Trilingue De Zébed", Rivista Degli Studi Orientali, pp. 577-586.}}</ref> appear in both Arabic and Aramaic. The inscription opens with the phrase "By the Help of al-ilah".<ref>Adolf Grohmann, Arabische Paläographie II: Das Schriftwesen und die Lapidarschrift (1971), Wien: Hermann Böhlaus Nochfolger, Page: 6-8</ref><ref>Beatrice Gruendler, The Development of the Arabic Scripts: From the Nabatean Era to the First Islamic Century according to Dated Texts (1993), Atlanta: Scholars Press, Page:</ref> Irfan Shahîd quoting the 10th-century encyclopedic collection Kitab al-Aghani notes that pre-Islamic Arab Christians have been reported to have raised the battle cry "''Ya La Ibad Allah''" (O slaves of Allah) to invoke each other into battle.<ref>Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, page 418.</ref> According to Shahid, on the authority of 10th-century Muslim scholar Al-Marzubani, "Allah" was also mentioned in pre-Islamic Christian poems by some Ghassanid and Tanukhid poets in Syria and Northern Arabia.<ref>Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University-Washington DC, Page: 452</ref><ref>A. Amin and A. Harun, Sharh Diwan Al-Hamasa (Cairo, 1951), Vol. 1, Pages: 478-480</ref><ref>Al-Marzubani, Mu'jam Ash-Shu'araa, Page: 302</ref>

Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in pre-Islamic polytheistic Meccan cults.<ref name="EoI">L. Gardet, ''Allah'', Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. by Sir H.A.R. Gibb</ref><ref name="GodEoQ">Gerhard Böwering, ''God and his Attributes'', Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, ed. by Jane Dammen McAuliffe</ref> According to Ibn Kathir, Arab idolaters considered Allah as an unseen God who created and controlled the Universe. Pagans believed worship of humans or animals who had fortunate occurrences in their life brought them closer to God. Pre-Islamic Meccans worshiped Allah alongside a host of lesser gods and those whom they called the "daughters of Allah".<ref name="auto"/> According to Islamic sources, the Meccans and their neighbors believed that the goddesses Al-lāt, Al-‘Uzzá, and Manāt, and in some cases the Angels, were the daughters of Allah. Some authors have suggested that polytheistic Arabs used the name as a reference to a creator god or a supreme deity of their pantheon.<ref name="EoI"/><ref>Zeki Saritopak, ''Allah'', The Qu'ran: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Oliver Leaman, p. 34</ref> According to one Islamic hypothesis, the Kaaba was originally built by Abraham and his son Ishmael for the worship of a single supreme god, Allah, to whom people were called on pilgrimages. However, this place of worship was filled by the Quraysh with as many as 360 idols about a century before Muhammad's time.<ref name="Robin304"/> Some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities.<ref name= Berkey>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Porter Berkey|title=The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800|url=https://archive.org/details/formationofislam0000berk|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58813-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/formationofislam0000berk/page/42 42]}}</ref><ref name="Peterson2007">{{cite book|author=Daniel C. Peterson|title=Muhammad, Prophet of God|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9zpbEj0xA_sC&pg=PA21|date=26 February 2007|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-0754-0|page=21}}</ref> There is disagreement on whether Allah played a major role in the Meccan religious cult.<ref name= Berkey/><ref name= Peters107>{{cite book|author=Francis E. Peters|title=Muhammad and the Origins of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OrCo4VyvGkC&pg=PA107|year=1994|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-1875-8|page=107}}</ref> No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed.<ref name= Peters107/><ref name="Zeitlin33">{{cite book|author=Irving M. Zeitlin|title=The Historical Muhammad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbhJJ7AOLL4C|date=19 March 2007|publisher=Polity|isbn=978-0-7456-3999-4|page=33}}</ref> Muhammad's father's name was {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿAbd-Allāh}} meaning "the slave of Allāh".<ref name="GodEoQ"/> The interpretation that Pre-Islamic Arabs once practiced Abrahamic religions is supported by some literary evidence, being the prevalence of Ishmael, whose God was that of Abraham, in pre-Islamic Arab culture.<ref>The Treasury of literature, Sect. 437</ref><ref>The Beginning of History, Volume 3, Sect.10</ref><ref>The Collection of the Speeches of Arabs, volume 1, section 75</ref>

=== Islamic period === {{main|God in Islam}}

====Early Islam==== {{see also|Names of God in Islam}} "The Qur'ān insists that Muhammad and his followers worship the same God as the Jews ({{Qref|29|46}}). The Qur'an's Allah is the same Creator God who covenanted with Abraham". Francis Edward Peters states that the Qur'an portrays Allah as both more powerful and more remote than Yahweh, and as a universal deity, unlike Yahweh who closely follows Israelites.<ref name="Peters1">F.E. Peters, ''Islam'', p.4, Princeton University Press, 2003</ref> Since the first centuries of Islam, Arabic-speaking commentators of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith used the term ''Allah'' as a generic term for the supreme being.<ref name="auto1">Thomas, Kenneth J. "Allah in Translations of the Bible." The Bible Translator 52.3 (2001): 301-306.</ref> Saadia Gaon used the term ''Allah'' interchangeably with the term ''ʾĔlōhīm''.<ref name="auto1"/> Theodore Abu Qurrah translates ''theos'' as ''Allah'' in his Bible, as in John 1:1 "the Word was with Allah".<ref name="auto1"/> Muslim commentators likewise used the term Allah for the Biblical concept of God. Ibn Qutayba writes "You cannot serve both Allah and Mammon."<ref name="auto1"/> However, Muslim translators of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia rarely translated the Tetragrammaton, referring to the supreme being in Israelite tradition, as ''Allah''. Instead, most commentators either translated Yahweh as either ''yahwah'' or ''rabb'', the latter corresponding to the Jewish custom to refer to Yahweh as ''Adonai''.<ref name="auto1"/>

In contrast with pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism, as stated by Gerhard Böwering, God in Islam does not have associates and companions, nor is there any kinship between God and jinn.<ref name="EoQ">Böwering, Gerhard, ''God and His Attributes'', Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān, Brill, 2007.</ref> Pre Islamic Arabs believed in a blind, powerful, unstoppable and insensible fate over which man had no control. This was replaced with the Islamic belief of a powerful yet benevolent and merciful God's control over man's life.<ref name="Britannica"/> In the early periods of Islam, the concept of God was established as a personal deity<ref name="ReferenceA">Williams, W. Wesley, "A study of anthropomorphic theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew Bible, the Quran and early Sunni Islam", University of Michigan, March 2009</ref> living in the heavens.<ref>{{Cite web |title=bir söyleşide yaptığı ilgili açıklama | website=YouTube | date=15 August 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HrZ8Yu1m2g |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205025925/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HrZ8Yu1m2g |archive-date=5 December 2020 |access-date=15 August 2016}}</ref> This understanding developed over time under the influence of Islamic theology, acquiring a transcendent character.{{Sfn|Williams|2002}} However, in contrast to this transcendent and absolute conception of God established among the elite,{{Sfn|Cook|2024|p=140–141}} the public and Sufis{{efn|'''Tajalli''' ({{langx|ar|تَجَلِّي |tajallī|manifestation}}) is the appearance and disclosure of God as truth in Sufism.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4FBXvfLySQwC|title=Ibn 'Arabi in the Later Islamic Tradition: The Making of a Polemical Image in Medieval Islam|last=Knysh|first=Alexander D.|date=1999-01-01|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780791439678|language=en}}</ref> Tajalli is believed to be a process by which God manifests himself in concrete forms.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPT9uAypnOEC|title=Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts|last=Izutsu|first=Toshihiko|date=1984-01-01|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520052642|language=en}}</ref>}} maintained the traditional understanding on God. Also actions and attributes such as coming, going, sitting, satisfaction, anger and sadness etc. similar to humans used for this God in the Quran were considered {{transliteration|ar|mutashabihat}}—"no one knows its interpretation except God" ({{qref|3|7|b=y}})—by later scholars stating that God was free from resemblance to humans in any way.{{efn|Human qualities which are attributed to Allah in the Quran such as coming, going, sitting, satisfaction, anger and sadness; "Allah has equipped them with words to bring them closer to our minds; in this respect, they are like proverbs that are used to create a picture in the mind and thus help the listener to clearly understand the idea he wants to express."<ref name="The Meaning">{{Cite web |first=Allamah |last=Tabatabai |author-link=Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai |title=Al-Mizan Discourses |url=https://almizan.org/Discourses/QD21.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208164643/http://almizan.org/Discourses/QD21.asp|website=Tafsir Al-Mizan <!-– Allamah Muhammad Hussein Tabatabai --> |archive-date=8 December 2008|access-date=16 February 2021}}</ref><ref name="Tabatabaee">{{cite web|url=http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/beliefs/quran/05.htm|title=The Qur'an Possesses Revelation and Exegesis |website=Allamah Tabatabaee |publisher=Islamic Ma'aref Foundation Institute |date=1988 |pages=37–45 |url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216015310/http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/beliefs/quran/05.htm |archive-date=16 February 2012}}</ref>}}

====Islamic theology==== {{see also|Tawhid|Attributes of God in Islam|Tanzih}} Islamic theology emphasises the absolute uniqueness and singularity of God in his essence, attributes, qualities, and acts.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mohammad Rafi-ud-Din|title=The Manifesto of Islam: An Exposition of Islam as the Inevitable World Ideology of the Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyuqdDIjaswC&pg=PA1014|date=1968|publisher=Din Muhammadi Press|page=145|isbn=9781597840002|quote=Islam emphasises the absolute oneness or uniqueness of the Creator in His person as well in His qualities and attributes...}}</ref> This emphasis was made despite a number of verses and hadiths that offer analogies for God, and it was gradually established over time.{{Sfn|Williams|2002}} Instead, the term "mutashabih" was used for these verses, and the approach of "believing in the essence, not searching for its meaning" (Bila Kayf) was adopted. Understandings and expressions contrary to these definitions (tanzih) were described as shirk, which is considered one of the greatest sins in Islam, and it was said that those who did so would leave the religion.

God's Arsh (throne) and Kursi (pulpit)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Köylü |first=Murat |date=2024-12-15 |title=Muslim Turcophobia: A Study of Two Missionary Authors |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/cuid/issue/82842/1516405 |journal=Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi |language=en |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=1101–1123 |doi=10.18505/cuid.1516405 |issn=2528-9861}}</ref>—may appear as chair or footstool in direct translations, often confused and used interchangeably in Islamic terminology—are also evaluated within this scope in Islamic theology;<ref>https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kursi</ref>

"Indeed your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then established Himself on the Throne"<ref>https://quran.com/al-araf/54</ref>

"You will see the angels all around the Throne, glorifying the praises of their Lord...."<ref>https://quran.com/39</ref>

Named as the Ayat al-Kursi of Surah al-Baqarah literally is this:<blockquote>"Allah! There is no god except Him, the Living, Sustaining. Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who could possibly intercede with Him without His permission? He knows what is ahead of them and what is behind them, but no one can grasp any of His knowledge—except what He wills. His "Kursi" encompasses the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of both does not tire Him. He is High, Great."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah Al-Baqarah - Ayatul Kursi |url=https://quran.com/en/ayatul-kursi |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>Islamic teachings, in accordance with the principle of ''tawhid'', also condemn statements that imply God is something comparable to known and created things. This understanding is based on the expressions in the chapter 112 of the Quran (''Al-'Ikhlās'', The Sincerity):<ref>Arabic script in Unicode symbol for a Quran verse, U+06DD, page 3, [http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/09419-encode-koranic.pdf Proposal for additional Unicode characters]</ref> These expressions were also used in polemics as a response to understandings that described God through the metaphor as father; <blockquote>قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ۝ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ۝ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ۝ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ ۝١ :۝ Say, God is one God; :۝ the eternal God: :۝ He begetteth not, neither is He begotten: :۝ and there is not any one like unto Him.<ref>Sale, G AlKoran</ref></blockquote>

Most Qur'anic commentators, including al-Tabari (d. 923), al-Zamakhshari (d. 1143/44), and al-Razi (d. 1209), regard word ''Allah'' to be a proper noun i.e. ({{Transliteration|ar|ism' li-dhatih}}), while other names denote attributes or adjectives<ref name="auto2">Ibrahim, Zakyi. "To Use "God" or "Allah"?." American Journal of Islam and Society 26.4 (2009): i-vii.</ref> known as the 99 Names of Allah (''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-asmā' al-ḥusná}}'' lit. meaning: 'the beautiful names').<ref name="EncMMENA" /><ref name="Ben">{{cite book|last=Bentley|first=David|title=The 99 Beautiful Names for God for All the People of the Book|publisher=William Carey Library|date=September 1999|isbn=978-0-87808-299-5}}</ref><ref name="Tao-Islam">{{cite book|last=Murata|first=Sachiko|year=1992|title=The Tao of Islam: a sourcebook on gender relationships in Islamic thought|location=Albany NY USA|publisher=SUNY|isbn=978-0-7914-0914-5}}</ref> The most famous and frequently repeated names are "the Merciful" (''ar-Raḥmān'') and "the Compassionate" (''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ar-Raḥīm}}''),<ref name="EncMMENA" /><ref name="Ben" /> ''al-Aḥad'' ("the One") and Al Hayy (the living one). In a Sufi practice known as {{Transliteration|ar|dhikr Allāh}} (Arabic: <big>ذِكر الله</big>, lit. "Remembrance of God"), the Sufi chants and contemplates the name ''Allah'' or other associated divine names to Him while regulating his or her breath.<ref>Carl W. Ernst, Bruce B. Lawrence, ''Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond'', Macmillan, p. 29</ref> Islamic theology rejects definitions and expressions that imply a comparison between God and His creations, because He cannot be likened to His creations in any of His attributes. However, it is observed that many of these names are translated as "the most..." in a comparative mode, as in the expression ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Allāhu ʾAkbar}}'' ({{langx|ar|اللّٰهُ أَكْبَر}} {{IPA|ar|ʔaɫ.ɫaː.hu ʔak.bar|}}, {{lit|God is the greatest}}), which is also used as an Islamic slogan.[[File:Dcp7323-Edirne-Eski Camii Allah.jpg|thumb|Allah script outside the Old Mosque in Edirne, Turkey]]

=== Present day === ==== Islam ==== The Islamic tradition to use ''Allah'' as the personal name of God became contested in contemporary scholarship, including the question, whether or not the word ''Allah'' should be translated as ''God''.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Umar Faruq Abd-Allah encouraged English-speaking Muslims to use God instead of Allah for the sake of finding "extensive middle ground we share with other Abrahamic and universal traditions".<ref name="auto2"/>

Most Muslims use the Arabic phrase ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|in shā'a llāh}}'' (meaning 'if God wills') untranslated after references to future events.<ref>Gary S. Gregg, ''The Middle East: A Cultural Psychology'', Oxford University Press, p.30</ref> Muslim devotional practices encourage beginning things with the invocation of ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|bi-smi llāh}}'' (meaning 'In the name of God').<ref>Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, ''Islamic Society in Practice'', University Press of Florida, p. 24</ref> There are certain other phrases in praise of God that are commonly used by Muslims and left untranslated, including "{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Subḥāna llāh}}" (Glory be to God), "{{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-ḥamdu li-llāh}}" (Praise be to God), "{{transliteration|ar|ALA|lā ilāha illā llāh}}" (There is no deity but God) or sometimes "{{Transliteration|ar|lā ilāha illā inta/ huwa}}" (There is no deity but ''You''/ ''Him'') and "{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Allāhu Akbar}}" (God is the Most Great) as a devotional exercise of remembering God (dhikr).<ref>M. Mukarram Ahmed, Muzaffar Husain Syed, ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Anmol Publications PVT. LTD, p. 144</ref>

==== Christianity ==== {{Further|Names of God in Christianity}} The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for "God" than "Allah".<ref name="Cambridge">{{cite book|author1=Lewis, Bernard|author2=Holt, P. M.|author3=Holt, Peter R.|author4=Lambton, Ann Katherine Swynford|title=The Cambridge history of Islam|publisher=University Press|location=Cambridge, Eng|year=1977|page=32|isbn=978-0-521-29135-4}}</ref> Similarly, the Aramaic word for "God" in the language of Assyrian Christians is {{Transliteration|am|ʼĔlāhā}}, or ''{{Transliteration|am|Alaha}}''. (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Catholic, uses ''Alla'' for "God".)

Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|bismillāh}}'', and also created their own Trinitarian ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|bismillāh}}'' as early as the 8th century.<ref name="Thomas"/> The Muslim ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|bismillāh}}'' reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|bismillāh}}'' reads: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God." The Syriac, Latin, and Greek invocations do not have the words "One God" at the end. This addition was made to emphasize the monotheistic aspect of Trinitarian belief and also to make it more palatable to Muslims.<ref name="Thomas">Thomas E. Burman, ''Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs'', Brill, 1994, p. 103</ref>

==Pronunciation== [[File:Component letters in Allah.svg|thumb|240px| The Arabic components that make up the word "Allah": {{ordered list |alif |hamzat waṣl ({{lang|ar|همزة وصل}}) |lām |lām |shadda ({{lang|ar|شدة}}) |alif khunjāriyah ({{lang|ar|ألف خنجرية}}) |hāʾ}}]] The word ''Allāh'' is generally pronounced {{IPA|[ɑɫˈɫɑː(h)]}}, exhibiting a heavy {{Transliteration|ar|lām}}, {{IPA|[ɫ]}}, a velarized alveolar lateral approximant, a marginal phoneme in Modern Standard Arabic. Since the initial alef has no hamza, the initial {{IPA|[a]}} is elided when a preceding word ends in a vowel. If the preceding vowel is {{IPA|/i/}}, the {{Transliteration|ar|lām}} is light, {{IPA|[l]}}, as in, for instance, the ''Basmala''.<ref name="ARABIC for NERDS">{{Cite news|url=https://www.arabic-for-nerds.com/2018/06/16/how-do-you-pronounce-allah-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87-correctly/|title=How do you pronounce "Allah" (الله) correctly?|date=16 June 2018|work=ARABIC for NERDS|access-date=16 June 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617092853/https://www.arabic-for-nerds.com/2018/06/16/how-do-you-pronounce-allah-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87-correctly/|archive-date=17 June 2018}}</ref>

==As a loanword== ===English and other European languages=== The history of the name ''Allāh'' in English was probably influenced by the study of comparative religion in the 19th century; for example, Thomas Carlyle (1840) sometimes used the term Allah but without any implication that Allah was anything different from God. However, in his biography of Muḥammad (1934), Tor Andræ always used the term ''Allah'', though he allows that this "conception of God" seems to imply that it is different from that of the Jewish and Christian theologies.<ref name="Watt45">William Montgomery Watt, ''Islam and Christianity today: A Contribution to Dialogue'', Routledge, 1983, p.45</ref>

Languages which may not commonly use the term ''Allah'' to denote God may still contain popular expressions which use the word. For example, because of the centuries long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula, the word {{lang|es|ojalá}} in the Spanish language and {{lang|pt|oxalá}} in the Portuguese language exist today, borrowed from Andalusi Arabic {{transliteration|xaa|law šá lláh}}<ref name="DRAE">{{cite book|title=Diccionario de la lengua española|date=2022|publisher=Real Academia Española - ASALE|edition=23.6 electronic|url=https://dle.rae.es/ojal%25C3%25A1|access-date=24 April 2023|language=es|chapter=ojalá}}</ref> similar to {{transliteration|ar|inshalla}} ({{langx|ar|إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ}}). This phrase literally means 'if God wills'.<ref>Islam in Luce López Baralt, ''Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present'', Brill, 1992, p.25</ref> The German poet Mahlmann used the form "Allah" as the title of a poem about the ultimate deity, though it is unclear how much Islamic thought he intended to convey.

Some Muslims retain the name "Allāh" untranslated in English, rather than using the English translation "God".<ref>F. E. Peters, ''The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition'', Princeton University Press, p.12</ref>

===Malaysian and Indonesian language=== {{main|Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur v. Menteri Dalam Negeri|2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia}}

[[File:GKKA Banjarmasin.jpg|thumb|{{lang|id|{{ill|Gereja Kebangunan Kalam Allah|id}}}} (Word of God Revival Church) in Indonesia. {{lang|id|Allah}} is the word for "God" in the Indonesian language - even in {{lang|id|Alkitab}} (Christian Bible, from {{langx|ar|الكتاب|translit=al-kitāb|label=none}} = the book) translations, while {{lang|id|Tuhan}} is the word for "Lord".|267x267px]] [[File:Seremban-Annunciation-feast-3808.jpg|thumb|Christians in Malaysia also use the word {{lang|zlm|Allah}} for "God".]]

Christians in Malaysia and Indonesia use {{lang|ms|Allah}} to refer to God in the Malaysian and Indonesian languages (both of them standardized forms of the Malay language). Mainstream Bible translations in the language use {{lang|ms|Allah}} as the translation of Hebrew {{transliteration|hbo|Elohim}} (translated in English Bibles as "God").<ref>Example: [http://alkitab.sabda.org/verse.php?book=Mat&chapter=22&verse=32&search=allah&scope=all&exact=off Usage of the word "Allah" from Matthew 22:32 in Indonesian bible versions (parallel view) as old as 1733] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131019125828/http://alkitab.sabda.org/verse.php?book=Mat&chapter=22&verse=32&search=allah&scope=all&exact=off |date= 19 October 2013 }}</ref> This goes back to early translation work by Francis Xavier in the 16th century.<ref>The Indonesian Language: Its History and Role in Modern Society Sneddon, James M.; University of New South Wales Press; 2004</ref><ref>The History of Christianity in India from the Commencement of the Christian Era: Hough, James; Adamant Media Corporation; 2001</ref> The first dictionary of Dutch-Malay by Albert Cornelius Ruyl, Justus Heurnius, and Caspar Wiltens in 1650 (revised edition from 1623 edition and 1631 Latin edition) recorded {{lang|ms|Allah}}" as the translation of the Dutch word {{lang|nl|Godt}}.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GcTAAAAQAAJ&q=allah|title=Justus Heurnius, Albert Ruyl, Caspar Wiltens. "Vocabularium ofte Woordenboeck nae ordre van den alphabeth, in 't Duytsch en Maleys". 1650:65|access-date=14 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022172808/https://books.google.com/books?id=3GcTAAAAQAAJ&v=onepage&q=allah&f=false|archive-date=22 October 2013|year=1650|last1=Wiltens|first1=Caspar|last2=Heurnius|first2=Justus}}</ref> Ruyl also translated the Gospel of Matthew in 1612 into the Malay language (an early Bible translation into a non-European language,<ref> But compare: {{cite book|last1=Milkias|first1=Paulos|chapter=Ge'ez Literature (Religious)|title=Ethiopia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DtIRbpUNp_oC|series=Africa in Focus|location=Santa Barbara, California|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2011|page=299|isbn=978-1-59884-257-9|access-date=15 February 2018|quote=Monasticism played a key role in the Ethiopian literary movement. The Bible was translated during the time of the Nine Saints in the early sixth century [...].}} </ref> made a year after the publication of the King James Version<ref>Barton, John (2002–12). The Biblical World, Oxford, UK: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-27574-3}}.</ref><ref>North, Eric McCoy; Eugene Albert Nida ((2nd Edition) 1972). The Book of a Thousand Tongues, London: United Bible Societies.</ref>), which was printed in the Netherlands in 1629. Then he translated the Gospel of Mark, published in 1638.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sejarah.sabda.org/sejarah/bio_ruyl.htm|title=Sejarah Alkitab Indonesia / Albert Conelisz Ruyl|website=sejarah.sabda.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/514364/Albert-Cornelius-Ruyl|title=Encyclopædia Britannica: Albert Cornelius Ruyl|encyclopedia=Britannica.com|access-date=14 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019171117/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/514364/Albert-Cornelius-Ruyl|archive-date=19 October 2013}}</ref>

For a time it became illegal for non-Muslims to use "Allah" after the country experienced a social and political upheaval in the face of the word being used by Malaysian Christians and Sikhs. The government of Malaysia in 2007 prohibited usage of the term {{lang|zlm|Allah}} in any other but Muslim contexts, but the Malayan High Court in 2009 overturned the law, ruling it unconstitutional. While {{lang|ms|Allah}} had been used for the Christian God in Malay for more than four centuries, the contemporary controversy was triggered by usage of {{lang|zlm|Allah}} by the Roman Catholic newspaper ''The Herald''. The government appealed the court ruling, and the High Court suspended implementation of its verdict until the hearing of the appeal. In October 2013 the court ruled in favor of the government's ban.<ref>{{cite news|title=No more 'Allah' for Christians, Malaysian court says|first=Simon|last=Roughneen|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2013/1014/No-more-Allah-for-Christians-Malaysian-court-says|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|date=14 October 2013|access-date=14 October 2013}}</ref> In early 2014 the Malaysian government confiscated more than 300 bibles for using the word to refer to the Christian God in Peninsular Malaysia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25578348|title=BBC News - More than 300 Bibles are confiscated in Malaysia|publisher=BBC|date=2 January 2014|access-date=14 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125052310/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25578348|archive-date=25 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the use of {{lang|zlm|Allah}} is not prohibited in the two Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.<ref name="settle">{{cite news|url=http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=87900|title=Catholic priest should respect court: Mahathir|newspaper=Daily Express|date=9 January 2014|access-date=10 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110085352/http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=87900|archive-date=10 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/03/29/worship-without-hindrance/|title=Worship without hindrance|author1=Jane Moh|author2=Peter Sibon|newspaper=The Borneo Post|date=29 March 2014|access-date=29 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329094134/http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/03/29/worship-without-hindrance/|archive-date=29 March 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> The main reason it is not prohibited in these two states is that usage has been long-established and local Alkitab (Bibles) have been widely distributed freely in East Malaysia without restrictions for years.<ref name="settle"/> Both states also do not have similar Islamic state laws as those in West Malaysia.<ref name="10-point"/> The ban was overturned in 2021.<ref>[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10620032 Sikhs target of 'Allah' attack], Julia Zappei, 14 January 2010, ''The New Zealand Herald''. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11139915 Malaysia court rules non-Muslims can't use 'Allah'], 14 October 2013, ''The New Zealand Herald''. Accessed on line 15 January 2014.</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-religion-idUSBREA010C120140102 Malaysia's Islamic authorities seize Bibles as Allah row deepens], Niluksi Koswanage, 2 January 2014, Reuters. Accessed on line 15 January 2014. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-religion-idUSBREA010C120140102]</ref><ref name="10-point" />{{Failed verification|date=December 2025}}

In reaction to some media criticism, the Malaysian government has introduced a "10-point solution" to avoid confusion and misleading information.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aliran.com/web-specials/bahasa-malaysia-bibles-10-point-solution/|title=Bahasa Malaysia Bibles: The Cabinet's 10-point solution|date=25 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/01/24/Najib-Kalimah-Allah/|title=Najib: 10-point resolution on Allah issue subject to Federal, state laws|newspaper=The Star|date=24 January 2014|access-date=25 June 2014}}</ref> The 10-point solution is in line with the spirit of the 18- and 20-point agreements of Sarawak and Sabah.<ref name="10-point">{{cite web|url=http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/02/24/My-take-on-the-Allah-issue-10point-solution-is-key-to-managing-the-polarity/|title=The 'Allah'/Bible issue, 10-point solution is key to managing the polarity|author=Idris Jala|work=The Star|date=24 February 2014|access-date=25 June 2014|author-link=Idris Jala}}</ref>

==Typography== [[File:Allah name in different languages.png|280px|thumbnail|The word ''Allah'' written in different writing systems]] The word ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Allāh}}'' is always written without an {{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif}} to spell the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ā}}'' vowel. This is because the spelling was established before Arabic spelling started regularly using ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif}}'' to spell ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ā}}''. However, in vocalized spelling, a small diacritic ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif}}'' is added on top of the ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|shaddah}}'' to indicate the pronunciation.

In the pre-Islamic Zabad inscription,<ref>{{cite web|title=Zebed Inscription: A Pre-Islamic Trilingual Inscription In Greek, Syriac & Arabic From 512 CE|url=http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/zebed.html|publisher=Islamic Awareness|date=17 March 2005}} </ref> God is referred to by the term {{lang|ar|الاله}}, that is, alif-lam-alif-lam-ha.<ref name=Kugener/> This presumably indicates ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Al-'ilāh}}'' means "the god", without ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|alif}}'' for ''ā''.

Many Arabic type fonts feature special ligatures for Allah.<ref name="Typ1">

* [http://www.smi.uib.no/ksv/ArabicFonts.html Arabic fonts and Mac OS X] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310022047/http://www.smi.uib.no/ksv/ArabicFonts.html |date=10 March 2008 }} * [http://www.smi.uib.no/ksv/ArabicProgsx.html Programs for Arabic in Mac OS X] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006005022/http://www.smi.uib.no/ksv/ArabicProgsx.html |date=6 October 2013 }}</ref>

Since Arabic script is used to write other texts rather than Koran only, rendering ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|lām}}'' + ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|lām}}'' + ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|hā'}}'' as the previous ligature is considered faulty which is the case with most common Arabic typefaces.

{{lquote|This simplified style is often preferred for clarity, especially in non-Arabic languages, but may not be considered appropriate in situations where a more elaborate style of calligraphy is preferred. :—SIL International<ref>{{cite web|title=Scheherazade New|url=//software.sil.org/scheherazade/design/|website=SIL International|access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref>}}

===Unicode=== Unicode has a code point reserved for ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Allāh}}'', {{Unichar|fdf2}},<ref>Unicode of Allah https://unicodeplus.com/U+FDF2</ref> in the Arabic Presentation Forms-A block, which exists solely for "compatibility with some older, legacy character sets that encoded presentation forms directly";<ref>UnicodeThe Unicode Consortium. [https://www.unicode.org/faq/middleeast.html#5 FAQ - Middle East Scripts] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001110649/http://www.unicode.org/faq/middleeast.html#5 |date=1 October 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Uni">{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFB50.pdf|title=''Unicode Standard 5.0'', p.479, 492|access-date=14 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428184606/http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFB50.pdf|archive-date=28 April 2014}}</ref> this is not recommended for new text. Instead, the word ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Allāh}}'' should be represented by its individual Arabic letters, while modern font technologies will generate the desired ligature.

The calligraphic variant of the word used as the emblem of Iran is encoded in Unicode, in the Miscellaneous Symbols range, at code point U+262B<ref>[https://unicodeplus.com/U+262B Farsi Unicode]</ref> (☫). The flags that include the word are also present in the regional indicator symbols of Unicode: 🇮🇶, 🇸🇦, 🇦🇫, 🇮🇷, 🇺🇿.

== Gallery ==

=== National flags with "Allah" written on them === <gallery widths="200" heights="140"> File:Flag of Iraq.svg|Flag of Iraq with the Takbir written on it File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg|Flag of Saudi Arabia with the Shahada written on it File:Flag of the Taliban.svg|Flag of Afghanistan with the Shahada written on it File:Flag of Iran.svg|Flag of Iran with the Takbir written on it File:Flag of Somaliland.svg|Flag of Somaliland with the Shahada written on it </gallery>

==Notes== {{notelist}}

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

== General and cited references == * {{Cite journal |last=Al-Jallad |first=Ahmad |date=2025 |title=Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction |url=https://academic.oup.com/jss/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jss/fgaf012/8129546 |journal=Journal of Semitic Studies |pages=1–56}} * {{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |title=A History of the Muslim World |date=2024 |publisher=Princeton University Press}} * {{cite book|title=The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary|publisher=Harper Collins|year=2015|isbn=978-0-06-222762-1|url=https://archive.org/details/thestudyquran_201909/mode/2up|editor1-first=Seyyed Hossein|editor1-last=Nasr|editor2-first=C.K.|editor2-last=Dagli|editor3-first=Maria Massi|editor3-last=Dakake|editor4-first=J.E.B.|editor4-last=Lumbard|editor5-first=M.|editor5-last=Rustom|url-access=registration|author-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr}} * The Unicode Consortium, ''Unicode Standard 5.0'', Addison-Wesley, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-321-48091-0}}, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080304160907/http://www.unicode.org/book/aboutbook.html About the Unicode Standard Version 5.0 Book] * {{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Wesley |date=2002 |title=Aspects of the Creed of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Study of Anthropomorphism in Early Islamic Discourse |url=https://www.academia.edu/5259388 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=441–463|doi=10.1017/S0020743802003021 }}

== Further reading == === Online === * [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Allah Allah Qur'ān], in ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', by Asma Afsaruddin, Brian Duignan, Thinley

==External links==

{{EB1911 poster|Allah}} {{sister project links|d=Q234801|c=|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}} {{Wikisource}} * [http://www.searchtruth.com/Allah/99Names.php Names of Allah with Meaning on Website, Flash, and Mobile Phone Software] * [http://www.sultan.org/articles/god.html Concept of God (Allah) in Islam] * [http://www.islam-info.ch/en/Who_is_Allah.htm The Concept of Allāh According to the Qur'an] by Abdul Mannan Omar * [http://www.muslim.org/islam/allah.htm Allah, the Unique Name of God]

; Typography * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080310022047/http://www.smi.uib.no/ksv/ArabicFonts.html Arabic Fonts and Mac OS X] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20131006005022/http://www.smi.uib.no/ksv/ArabicProgsx.html Programs for Arabic in Mac OS X]

Category:Allah Category:Arabian deities Category:Arabian gods Category:Islamic terminology Category:Middle Eastern gods Category:Names of God