What does Allah mean?

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by PaleHorse76
That is what I always thought. I was over in Kuwait for a year but it was discouraged, actually not allowed, to go down to any of the Muslim temples without being invited....US Army policy. I really wish I would have taken the time to learn more...it must have been those 12+ hour work days that kept me from it!

These are called mosques, not temples.

 

[damunzy]

Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
These are called mosques, not temples.

Blame it on playing too much Civ and not knowing how to spell mosck!

I will have to contact Stormy on talking with the 'dieties'.

 

[Wild Weasel]

As far as I understand it, 'El' or 'Elohim' is syntactically similar to 'God' whilst 'Yahweh' is equivalent to 'Lord' or 'Our Lord'. Different acts and responsibilities in the Tanakh/Old Testament are attributed to different names. El created the world, required the first humans to be fruitful and multiply, then pretty much left them to it. Yahweh handles the more destructive aspects of Genesis, such as the explusion from Eden, the punishment of Cain (incidentally, at the point of Abel's murder, there was no explicit commandment by God not to kill, so how was Cain to know ?) and the Flood. So the name used represents the action/state of mind of the Diety. This is especially emphasised when Abraham and his descendants refer to 'the God of my fathers' when communicating with God. This is in stark contrast to the Israeite elders who were afraid to climb Sinai with Moses in case seeing Yahweh's or heaing His voice would mean their instant death.

 

[CurtSibling]

This thread is asking for it...

I can see the flame war just around the corner!

 

[Alcibiaties of Athenae]

Not unless people are looking for LONG vacations.

I WILL be watching.

 

[CurtSibling]

I was maybe being premature...
People seem to be behaving themselves and not fighting!

 

[damunzy]

Yes, it has been refreshing. I haven't seen anyone disagree yet either.

 

[Dell19]

The best tactic to avoid arguements, is to just post your thoughts without reading any of the other posts, and then posting your thoughts in more detail. Later you can read the rest of the thread to see what happened...

 

[JohnnyReb]

Originally posted by Lucky
If one has to believe in ONE supreme being watching over us, then why can´t that someone also agree that there can be different names for the being? And if one acknowledges this fact, then why has one to fight others just because they worship and interpret their faith otherwise?
It´s simply irrational and always has been.

Ah well, humans, I´ll never understand them.

And Allah==God, nothing more or less.

First, let me state emphatically that I sure as heck don't in any way support violence to convert folks (however, violence in cat juggling is cool
).

But to address part of your post, Christians by definition have to believe Christ is the Son of God, and that the only way to God is through Christ. Christians are commanded to...er...let me look it up...okay, it's long so I'll just direct you to Matthew 28:16-20 and Mark 16:15, Please note though that nowhere does it say "If they don't convert, kill them"!

 

[napoleon526]

I don't think I've ever seen a kid named Jesus (unless he's Hispanic, but that's different.)

Jesus is a different version of the Hebrew name Joshua, which is common.

 

[Squonk]

Why Muslims use name Muhammad and Isa is obvious and why Christians generally don't use name Jesus is obvious too, but... Do You think that use of name "Jesus" f.e. in Spain (vide jesus Balsinde) is due to Muslim influence over Spain for centuries?

 

[feistymongol]

Well, I took a religious studies class in college before so I might be able to offer a wee bit of insight into this. Each branch of Judeo-christianity has a different view of the 'attributes' of god. They worship the exact same monotheistic entity we call "god" and pretty much agree on the prophets but the way they execute their belief is very different.
Christians tend to concentrate on the merciful or forgiving aspects of God and Jesus Christ. Muslims concentrate on the vengeful and more angry God. Jews are more in tune with the enlightened or the path of God. Christians also put a lot of weight into Jesus Christ. Muslims believe in Jesus too but also claim another prophet in Mohammed as well. Who is right or wrong? There is no right or wrong..it's entirely based on cultural perspective. Muslims don't discount the bible or any of the other teachings of god so it's definitely not a different religion.

While this may be a sacrilegous belief for some, I believe Mohammed _IS_ jesus but the different teachings of the prophet/disciples/original text got so distorted over time that both cultures interpreted god differently. This has led to wars and conflict over time but the reality is I doubt they are much different in context. The REAL muslim faith teaches humility, respect, forgiveness as well..it's only the fundamentalists who pervert the meaning of the Koran and bible to suit their whims.

 

[Nick]

Allah means exactly the same as God, with the capital G does in English (as opposed to ila,which means god - small g - as in thor is the Norse god of thunder). It does not imply in any way that it is a purely Islamic god. It could possibly be used in such a way as to imply that the God of Islam is not the same as the same as the God of, say, Christianity but this would be from the context not the word itself. I have seen the word God used in English to denote the Christian being as opposed to (specifically in the instances I've seen) the Jewish one, and if the books of Israel Shahak are to be believed similar instances are found with regard to certain (extremist) Jewish writers. I would imagine that similar things have occurred in Muslim literature.

Allah is of course an Arabic and not exclusively Muslim word. Many Arabs are Christians and they use the word Allah to refer to God.

 

[Pongui]

In answer to Pellaken's question about knowing a forbidden name which no mortal has ever heard, one might derive the name through a kind of numerology called cabala (spelling?). Cabalists believe the true language of the universe is mathematics, and that God's words (or name) corresponds to specific numbers. There are Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Cabalists. They can spend a long time working on this. But some excellent religious architecture came of it, at least.