'Allah' is the only correct designation for God. This understanding is
neither supported by the Quran nor by history.
The name 'Allah' is only an Arabic name for God. It is not an
exclusive name for God. God is understood as an unfathomable, supreme
entity not a name.
The reason why the Quran makes use of the word 'Allah' to refer to God
is because the Quran is primarily addressing an Arab audience and
therefore has been conveyed in Arabic speech. Previous scriptures were
not in Arabic nor did previous messengers speakArabic. The name for
God inthe previous scriptures are in the language of the Hebrew and
later Greek scriptures not in Arabic. Forexample, 'El' as is cited in
the Hebrew Tanakh refers to an entity, a supreme power and not just a
Canaanite God.
See Exodus 6.2-3:
"And God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord (Hebrew:
Yahweh) and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God
Almighty (Hebrew: 'El Shaddai') but I was not known to them bymy name
'Yahweh'
Therefore Abraham knew God as 'El' as did Isaac and Jacob and not as
'Yahweh' (As Moses knew him) or 'Allah' as the Arabs would come to
know of Him. In allthe names, the reference is to One Deity.
Even today, Arab Jews and Christians still refer to their God as 'Allah'.
Even before the old religion of Islam was revealed to the Pagan Arabs,
Jewish and Christian Arabs used 'Allah' as the name for their God. The
following Quranic verse confirms this.
002.116
"They say: "Allah has begotten a son" Glory be toHim. Nay, to Him
belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth: everything renders
worship to Him"
005.018
"(Both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are sons of Allah, and
his beloved." Say: "Why then does He punish you for your sins? Nay, ye
are but men, of the men he has created: He forgives whom He pleases,
and He punishes whom He pleases:and to Allah belongs the dominion of
the heavens and the earth, and all that is between: and to Him is the
final goal (of all)"
Many Muslims make the counter claim that Christians and Jews used the
true name of God because they had previous scriptures revealed to
them. But this line of reasoning is easily defeated by theQuran when
it makes it clear that even the Arab idolaters (Mushrikeen) called
their 'high' God, 'Allah'
029.061
"If indeed you ask them who has created the Heavens and the Earth and
subjected the Sun and the Moon (to his Law), they willcertainly reply,
"Allah". How are they then deludedaway (from the truth)"?
However, the Quran asks the 'idolaters' (Mushrikeen) not to associate
any partners with the One God, in His majesty, in His power, in His
judgment or indeed, to invoke anyone apart from Him. This can beseen
in the following verse.
039.038
"If indeed you ask them who is it that created the Heavens and the
Earth, they would be sure to say,"Allah". Say: "Then do you see what
you invoke besides Allah? Can they, if Allah wills some penalty for
me, remove His penalty? Or if He wills some grace for me, can they
keep back his grace?" Say: "Sufficient is Allah for me! In Him do the
trusting put their trust""
Whether we call Him Rab, Lord, God, Almighty, Krishna, Khuda, Yahweh,
Elohim, Adi Purush(Timeless being); Para Brahman (The absolute Truth)
, El, Eli, Eloi, Jehovah, or whichever beautiful name we call Him, it
is with respect, humility and grace that wetake His name with the sole
intentionthat He is One and Only One that we serve. That He is alone
in His majesty, that He created the Heavens and the Earth and
everything init and to Him is our final return. He cannot be
represented by an idol, or astatue and is the only One truly worthy of
worship.
It is the entity, the majesticpower, the One and True all knowing, all
powerful that one refers to not to a particular name. God, in
Histremendous majesty simply cannot be restrictedto any name or any
number of names (The concept of 99 names of Allah is from Ahadith not
the Quran). This would be in effect a restriction on Hismajesty and
God can never be contained, neither physically or linguistically.
It is how you perceive God (without associates and partners), His
entity, and His transcendent majesty not by what beautiful name you
call Him.
CALL HIM BY ANY BEAUTIFUL NAME
017:110
"Say: "Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call
upon Him, (it is well): for toHim belong the most beautiful names.
Neither speak thy Prayer aloud, norspeak it in a low tone, but seek a
middle course between.""
This also proves that you can call upon your God by any beautiful name
in yourprayers.
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