Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother

Assalmoelkum
I raed all of your mail regularly. I really apprecite your unbiased and to the point answers to all the question which people asked. May Allah rewards you and your team in helping people and showing them the right path.

My question is that, there is only one supreme power and that is Allah. Christians called him God and Jews called him Hasheem,and we Muslim says Allah. He is only one and all three major religions agreed that there is only one God. Allah dosen`t need to give different names for him self though we all know his 99 names.

Is any where in BIBLE and Torah (the holy book for Jews)( Iam not sure what they called), the name Allah is mentioned.

Wasslam
brother in Islam 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Name of Allah in Old Scriptures

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. If our humble and modest efforts have helped even one brother or sister get closer to Allah and His Deen of Truth, then we would consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have been given this opportunity by the Lord Most Merciful to serve in His Cause. We hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Israa verse 110:

110 Say (to them O Prophet (saws)): "Call upon ‘Allah’ or call upon ‘Rahmaan’: by whatever Name ye call upon Him (it is well): for to Him Alone belong the Most Beautiful Names.

The literal meaning of the Arabic term ‘Al-‘ in English is ‘the’, and ‘Ilaah’ in English is ‘god’ (small ‘g’); and thus ‘Al-Ilaah’ or ‘Allaah’ in English would mean ‘The God’ (capital ‘G’). Thus regardless of whatever language is used, as long as the meaning of the term implies The One and Only Lord God Who Created and thus Alone deserves worship, whether it be ‘Allaah’ in Arabic, or The God (capital ‘G’) in English, or ‘Eeshwar’ in Hindi, etc. it would be fine and acceptable.

Your Question: My question is that, there is only one supreme power and that is Allah. Christians called him God and Jews called him Hasheem,and we Muslim says Allah. He is only one and all three major religions agreed that there is only one God.

Beloved brother in Islam, it is not only the three major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam who believe that there is only One Supreme Power Who Created…but the fact and truth is that every religion, regardless of whether it be Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, Sikhism, etc……absolutely every single religion believes in the concept of One Supreme Power Who Created!

Even our Hindu brethren who claim that there are 330 million ‘gods’ (small ‘g’) themselves declare that there is only One Supreme Power and Lord Who Created everything in existence. They choose to call that Unique Supreme Being Who Created as ‘Eeshwar’ in their language, and that is absolutely fine and acceptable. Our Hindu brethren have invented an idol or an image for each and every one of their 330 million ‘gods’ (small ‘g’), but for that One Supreme Power Who Created whom they call ‘Eeshwar’ they have neither an image nor an idol; nor does The Lord behove one!

Thus beloved brother, the truth and reality is that it is not only Judaism, Christianity and Islam that believe in the concept of The One Supreme Creator, but every single religion in the world in its essence believes in the concept that there is only One Supreme Power Who Created everything in existence. Each religion has a name in their language which implies none save the One Lord Who Created, and it is this Unique One and Only Lord whom the muslims call ‘Allaah’ in Arabic or the Christians call ‘The God’ in English.

Your Question: Allah dosen`t need to give different names for him self though we all know his 99 names.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 8.419 Narrated by Abu Huraira

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Allah has ninety-nine Names, i.e., one hundred minus one, and whoever believes in their meanings and acts accordingly, will enter Paradise.”

The Lord Most High has chosen to introduce Himself to the believers in His Revealed Books through His Noble and Exclusive Attributes, and it is only through His Noble and Exclusive Attributes that a human being can truly recognize his Lord Creator.

Thus regardless of whether one calls him ‘Al-Khaliq’ in Arabic or ‘The Creator’ in English, or ‘Al-Rahmaan’ or ‘The Most Merciful’, or ‘Al-Aleem’ or ‘The All-Knowing’, or ‘Al-Maalik’ or ‘The Supreme and Sovereign King’, etc…..regardless of which language one chooses to recognize The Lord, Creator, Sustainer, Cherisher and Provider of everything in existence…..they all refer to that same One and Only Unique Supreme Being Whom the muslims recognize as ‘Allaah’ in Arabic, the Christians as ‘The God’ in English, or the Hindus as ‘Eeshwar’ in Hindi.

Your Question: Is any where in BIBLE and Torah (the holy book for Jews)( Iam not sure what they called), the name Allah is mentioned.

It is only because we as humans assign a proper noun or name for every individual, we assume that the name will not change regardless of which language one chooses to use. Thus if a person is assigned a name at birth like George Bush or Tony Blair, he will be recognized by that exact same assigned name regardless of whether one speaks English, or Arabic, or Chinese, or Japanese!

In contrast to the assigned names of human beings, the Lord Creator does not have an unique assigned name for Himself…but rather He has chosen to introduce Himself in all His Revealed Scriptures according to His Noble and Exclusive Attributes. And one amongst His Absolutely Unique Attribute is ‘Al-Ilaah’ or ‘Alaah’ (in Arabic) which means He Alone is the One and Only Deity which alone deserves to be worshipped!

Thus whatever term in the Hebrew language which connotes or implies ‘The One and Only Supreme Deity Alone Who Deserves Worship’ is used as the name of the Lord God in the Torah, and similarly a term which implies the same is used in the Aramaic language of the originally revealed Bible, which our English speaking Christian brethren later translated as ‘God’.

Thus in reality it would neither be appropriate nor meaningful to use an Arabic term like ‘Allah’ in the Scriptures revealed in the Hebrew or Aramaic language; but rather the term which implies ‘The One Deity Who Alone Deserves Worship’ is used in the respective languages of those originally revealed Scriptures.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan