Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Can We Use the Word “Allah” to Refer to God?

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Alan explains why the word, “Allah” is not a general term for God.

Is Allah just another word for God? Well, that's what I want to consider in this episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shuliman. There's confusion about the word Allah. Now recently a commentator claimed that Allah is just the Arabic word for God and that it doesn't specifically refer to a different God. And here was her reasoning.

She said, well, look, Arabic speaking Christians pray to Allah. Now is that true? Well, yes and no. And in fact, I wanna add some nuance here. In fact, here are four points to understand about this particular issue. First of all, it is true that the word Allah is the word for God when speaking in Arabic.

Now, as someone who has worked with Arabic speaking Christians in the Middle East for over a decade now, I often hear my brothers and sisters in Christ refer to God as Allah. However, they are not referring to the Islamic notion of God. Rather, it's just, as the person says, yes, it's just the Arabic word for God. In fact, I am an Assyrian. I'm an Assyrian speaking Christian, in fact, and I use the word Allah, which is is the word for God in my language. Now, you probably recognize how similar that word Allah is to the word Allah, right? Because both Assyrian and

Arabic are Semitic languages. And therefore they have some similar words. But when I say Allah, I am not referring to the Islamic notion of God, nor does my family infer anything Islamic when they hear me use the term. Now, of course, unless we're speaking about Muslims and their conception of God. So the fact that Arabic speaking Christians say Allah, then is not proof that the word Allah is always interchangeable with the word God. Yes, it is normal for Christians to use Allah to refer to God when they are speaking in

Arabic and that is a key point to understand. Alright, now here's the second point I want to make about this. The word Allah is not a general word for God when speaking in English. You see, when it comes to speaking in English, this situation is different, right? Because when an American or some other English speaker hears the word Allah, they reasonably conclude it implies the Islamic notion of God. Why? Well, because no one except a Muslim says Allah when speaking in English. Plus, there's a perfectly good term for a divine being in English, and that word

is God. You see, the word God is an interchangeable term that can refer to a deity in any religion, whether you're talking about Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, so on and so forth. Right. So notice that the context and the language make all the difference. When speaking in Arabic, Allah can be a general term for God. When speaking in English, however, everyone understands Allah refers to the Islamic concept of God. And in fact, no one is left wondering which religious deity is in view when the word Allah is used. Now, this distinction is obvious. When I'm in the Middle East, right, because while Christians will

sometimes say Allah when they speak in Arabic, they'll immediately change and say God when they speak in Arabic, they'll immediately change and say God when they speak in English. Right? Now, if it were actually a general term for God in English, then you would expect Arabic speaking Christians to use it even when they speak in English. But they don't. Because they realize it's an obvious reference to the Islamic notion of God.

Okay, third point I want to make here. because they realize it's an obvious reference to the Islamic notion of God. Okay. Third point I want to make here. Um, the word Allah is actually the specific name for God in Islam. You see, it's not intended by Muslims to be any God or a reference to just the general concept of God. The official creed in Islam, which is known as the Shahada actually begins with this statement. It says, there is no God but Allah, right? There is no lowercase god but Allah.

So notice their formulation of their creed specifically rejects the existence of any lowercase god except for Allah, which is the one true God according to their belief. case God, except for Allah, which is the one true God according to their belief. So this lends further credence to the idea that Allah is the specific God of Islam. By the way, by contrast, the name of God in the Bible is Yahweh. And then the fourth point I want to make about this is that Allah and Yahweh refer to fundamentally different conceptions of God. So Allah is one God who exists as one person. Yahweh, however, is one God who exists as three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Allah is a transcended being, okay, which means he is separate from his creation, but also consequently,

he is impossible to know in any kind of personal way. Yahweh, by contrast, is not only transcendent, which of course, he is, yes, separate than his from his creation. But Yahweh is also what we call imminent, which means that he enters into his creation and develops a personal relationship with his created beings. And in fact, Jesus is the really ultimate example of Yahweh's immanence.

And so, of course, the list of differences between Allah and Yahweh can just go on and on. And since we know the list of differences between Allah and Yahweh can just go on and on. And since we know there are fundamental differences between the God of the Bible and the God of the Quran, it is appropriate then to signify which God one is referring to in conversation. And so again, while Arabic speaking Christians do use Allah to refer to God when speaking in Arabic, saying it when speaking in English denotes the Islamic concept of God.

And just because Allah means God in Arabic, that doesn't mean that English speakers should use the term. After all, they aren't speaking in Arabic, and in English, Allah is reserved for the Islamic concept of God. So that's all I have for you today. If you've enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to share it with a friend.

And also don't forget to subscribe to my podcast so you don't miss any future episode. And thank you for listening. I look forward to thinking out loud with you next time. Thank you.