What Is His Name

CHAPTER FOUR - ALLAH IN THE BIBLE (What is His Name - by Ahmed Deedat)

CHAPTER FOUR

ALLAH IN THE
BIBLE

The suffix "IM" of the word "ELOHIM"
is a plural of respect in Hebrew.

(Remember that in Arabic and Hebrew there are two
types of plurals. One of numbers and the other of honour as in Royal
proclamations. Since the plural of honour is uncommon in the language of the
European, he has confused these plurals to connote a plurality in the "godhead,"
hence his justification for his Doctrine of the Holy Trinity - the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost).

Hence ELOHIM = ELOH + IM. Now I want you to perform
an exercise. Do you see the words: YA-HUWA
ELOH-IM? Place your left hand index finger on the first two
letters "YA" meaning oh! and the other index finger on the "IM" a plural of
respect. What you now have remaining in Huwa Eloh or Huwa Elah. El in Hebrew
means god, and Elah or Eloh also stands for the same name - god. Therefore,
"Huwa el Elah" or HUWA 'L LAH, which is identical to the Quranic expression -
Huwal lah hu (meaning: HE IS ALLAH) of the verse QUL HUWAL LAH HU
AHUD

Holy Qur'an 112:1

The above exercise proves that El, Elah and Elohim
are not three distinctly different words. They all represent the single Arabic
word Allah. This is not my wishful thinking. Please see below. It is a
photostatic reproduction of a page from the English Bible, edited by Rev. C. I.
Scofield,D.D., with his Bible Commentary· This Doctor of Divinity is well
respected among the Bible Scholars of the Christian world. He is backed in his
"NEW AND IMPROVED EDITION" of this translation by a galaxy of
eight other D.D.'s:

Rev. Henry G. Weston, D.D., LL.D., President
Crozer Theological jeminary.
Rev. W. G. Moorehead, D.D.,
President Xenia (U.I,) Theological Seminary.
Rev. lames M.
Gray, D.D., President Moody Bible Institute.
Rev. Elmore
Harris, D.D., President Toronto Bible Institute.
Rev.
William !. Erdman, D.D., Author "The Gospel of John," etc.

Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., Author, Editor, Teacher, etc.

Rev. William L. Pettingill, D.D., Author, Editor, Teacher.

Arno C. Gaebelein, Author "Harmoney of Prophetic Word,"
etc.

I have not listed the above luminaries to awe you.
They have been unanimous in supporting Rev. Scofield in his "New and Improved"
commentary.

Please note that in their comment No. 1 below left,
they concur that - "Elohim, (sometimes El or
Elah meaning God)" and alternatively spelled
"Alah" (line three, third word). All the eight D.D.'s above
could not have been blind in dittoing the spelling "Alah" for God. How far were
they from the Arabic word spelled - ALLAH - in English, I ask you dear reader?
This is Allah's handiwork, but the Devil (I must give him a capital "D," he
deserves it) was not slow in making a quick come-back through his agents. He
succeeded in firing all the D.D.'s responsible for that debacle, and had them
replaced by nine others with more impressive degrees than the previous lot. You
will find them in the recent reproduction of "The New Scofield Reference
Bible." You will not be able to lay your hands anymore on the Bible
with "Alah" in it. The Devil has seen to that.

MY ONLY PLEA

I had made some public statements regarding my
discovery of the word "Alah" as alternatively spelled from the usual Christian
spelling "Elah." My plea to the Christians was this that spell the word as you
like, with an "A" or an "E", with a single "L" or double "LL's", but for
goodness sake pronounce the word correctly, as we Muslims do. Because even with
its proper Anglicised spelling -
A L L A H: "IT IS SO FAR
FROM ITS ARABIC ORIGINAL, WHEN PRONOUNCED WITH A THIN ENGLISH CONSONANT AND
FEEBLE VOWELS, THAT MANY AN ARAB MUSLIM WOULD FIND IT UNRECOGNIZABLE." Says Rev.
Kenneth Cragg, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem in his book, "The Call
of the Minaret," page 36.

As much as the Englishman has the right to dictate to
us as to how his language is to be sounded, surely we Muslims have as much right
to demand a common courtesy when taking the name of God. We do not wish the word
Allah to go into limbo like the "Yahuwa" of the ]ews. More than 6000 times the
formula "YAHUWA ELAH," or ya"HUWA ALAH," or "HUWALLAH," (He is Allah!) occur in
the Hebrew manuscripts of the Jewish Bible, commonly called the "Old Testament,"
by the Christians. If this fact is openly acknowledged by the learned men of
Christianity and broadcasted as Rev. Scofield had done then the day for Muslims
and Christians to worship God together would not be far distant. But the Devil
will not have it. Vested interests are involved. Instead of prenouncing the word
ALAH correctly, they would rather have the whole word omitted.

QUICK ABROGATION

"Now You See It" - "Now You Don't" is an old, old
gimmick in the West. Compare the above and see how cleverly, how deftly the new
band of missionaries expunged the word "Alah" from the
"Authorised King James Version" of the Scofield translation of
the Bible¹.

As a guide to one of the largest Mosques in the
Southern Hemisphere, the JUMA MUSJID, Durban, my companions and I are often
asked by the tourists, "Why Allah?" "Is He another God?" The answer of course is
"NO!" There is not another god. The Muslim creed, the Kalima is: "There
is no god except Allah!" makes this explicit; every Muslim must utter
this unequivocal statement. And the second half of the Kalima: "Muhummed
is the Messenger of Allah," excludes even Muhummed (p.b.u.h.) from
being associated with Allah in His Divinity. We are made to say, so to say - NOT
EVEN MUHUMMED is god, or object of worship. It is Allah, and Allah alone who is
the Only Tue God.

1. For further
examples of the Christian gymnastics in the Bible, see Chapter 4 in my book -
<!A href="http://www.jamaat.net/bible/Bible4-6.html">"Is the Bible God's
Word?"<!/A>.

UNIQUE NAME FOR UNIQUE
GOD

"We Muslims prefer the Arabic word Allah to the
English word God, because this English word God is often misused or misapplied,"
I explain to my non-Muslim visitors to the mosque, on their so-called
"Oriental Tour" as arranged by the Durban Publicity Bureau, I
continue, "On your last port of call, you will be ending off at a Hindu house of
Prayer, called a Temple, and there, you might rightfully point out to your
children the idols and the images found, as 'the gods of the
Hindus', and if a Hindu overhears you; he will not mind, he will not be
offended, because what you said to your child is actually what he believes.
Then, again, we speak of the gods of ancient Greece; of gods and goddesses, who
ate and drank, who wrangled and plotted; carried away the wives of other gods.

"Further, in English, if some gentleman was to look
after somebody's child as a guardian, we would say that he is a "godfather" to
the child, and the woman - a "god- mother" to the child. And if one tried to be
a bit too funny, a bit too clever, one would say -'What do you think of
yourself, are you a tin god!' We spell god with a capital "G"
(God), and we spell god with a small "g" (god), which creates in your minds
grades and grades of divinities."

This Arabic word, Allah, is never used in any other
sense. There is no such thing as an "Allah-father" or an "Allah-mother" or a
"Tin-Allah." ALLAH is a unique word for the only God. Arabic, like every other
language, also has its rules of grammar, but in Arabic you cannot make a plural
form for Allah, nor can you make a feminine of Allah. All this is very unlike
the English word, God. If you want to make a plural, just add an "s" (Gods); You
can make God feminine by adding "dess" (goddess); and you can make God
diminutive by adding "ling" (godling). Look at the sheer mockery the Westerner
has made of the word "GOD," and how his fertile imagination has run riot and
havoc in denigrating the Glory and Majesty of the Incomparable Creator,
sustainer and Cherisher of all the worlds as recorded in the Oxford
Dictionary:

You have a variety of choices in the list above. Take
your pick like that old woman who lit one candle to St. Michael and another to
the Devil. So that whether she went to Heaven or to Hell she would have a
friend.

Jupiter the god of Heaven
Pluto
the god of Hell
Mars the god of War

Neptune the god of the Sea and
Zeus the
god-father of them all

with his many wives and many children. His Hercules,
his Appolo, his Horus, his Isis and Osiris.

Sheer mythology and rank blasphemy, but to a people
who believed in mythology, mythology was no mythology; it was empirical truths.
And this terminology of the West lended itself well to paganistic theology, with
their "gods" and "goddesses." BUT ALLAH IS FREE FROM ALL CORRUPTIONS. YOU CAN DO
NOTHING WITH THIS WORD IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE ARAB. YOU CANNOT MANIPULATE IT IN
ANY WAY!

PEARLS OF FAITH

Here is a passage of great sublimity, summing up in
marvellous terse verses the Asma-ul-Husna, the Most Beautiful
names of Allah.

Holy Qur'an
59:22-24

Where is there in the religious literature
of the world anything to compare with this!

"ALLAH" IN EVERY BIBLE AND IN
EVERY LANGUAGE

There is no difficulty in our agreeing
that in the languages of the world, every nation has given a distinctive name to
God. Most of these names are attributive names, describing some aspect of God.
But the proper name for God Almighty in the Semitic languages, i.e. in the
mother-tongues of Moses, Jesus and Muhummed (Peace be upon them all) is ALLAH!
This name is still extant in the Christian Bible in every language of the world.
The Christians are boasting that they have translated their Bible into over
fifteen hundred languages, more specially the translation of the New Testament.
In every Gospel that I have scrutnised in the various languages
I find the word "Allah" preserved - English or Afrikaanz, Zulu
or Swahili. Why not check up in your own dialect to prove me wrong. I would love
to hear from you.

If what I claim is Gospel Truth, then how
is it that the whole Christian world of over 1 200 000 000 people have not been
aware of it. This is what effective programming or brain-washing can do. They
have been trained NOT to see the obvious. Did not Jesus
bewail:

"Seeing, they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither
do they understand." (Matthew 13:13).

FROM THE LIPS OF
JESUS

I ask my Christian visitors, "Do you
remember your Gospel narrative, that when Christ was supposed to have been on
the cross, he cried out with a loud voice:

"ELOI, ELOI, LAMA
SABACHTHANI? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34).

The above is a translation from the Greek
manuscripts "ACCORDING TO ST. MARK." Obviously his Hebrew has a Greek accent.
Because, his so-called originals were written in Greek. But listen to Matthew,
who is supposed to have written his Gospel originally in Hebrew, which was aimed
at the Jews. St. Jerome, an early Christian father of the 4th and 5th centuries
after Christ, testifies as follows:

"MATTHEW, WHO IS ALSO LEVI, AND WHO FROM A
PUBLICAN CAME TO BE AN APOSTLE, FIRST OF ALL THE EVANGELISTS, COMPOSED A GOSPEL
OF CHRIST IN JUDEA IN THE HEBREW LANGUAGE AND CHARACTERS, FOR
THE BENEFIT OF THOSE OF THE CIRCUMCISION¹ WHO HAD
BELIEVED."

Naturally, Matthew's accent would be more
Semitic (Hebrew and Arabic) than that of Mark. Matthew records the same scene as
Mark 15:34, but note the variation of the dialect:

Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken me'? (Matthew 27:46).

Please memorise the words - "Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani." (Eli - pronounced like L and I in English) Utter the words -
ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI; ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI, to your Christian
friends and neighbours and ask them whether these words - "Eli, Eli," sounds
like "Jehovah, Jehovah!" to them? No! is the answer if they are not deaf. Ask
further, whether "Eli, Eli," sounds like "Abba, Abba!" (meaning father, father!
in Hebrew) to them! Again the reply will be "No!" if they are not deaf. Can't
they see that the cry is to Allah? "Eli, Eli - Elah, Elah, Allah, Allah!" Let
them hear these words from your lips and watch their reactions. No honest per-
son can help agreeing with you.

1. Of the
circumcision: means those who had been circumcised. Referring to the Jewish
converts to Christianity. 

ALLELUYA!

Now ask your Christian friend, if he had
heard the word - "ALLELUYA." No Christian worth the name will fail to recognise
it. Whenever the Christian goes into ecstasy, he exclaims - "Alleluya!
Alleluya!", just as we Muslims might exclaim the Takbir - "Allahu Akbar! Allahu
Akbar!" Ask him, what is Alleluya? Take him to the Book of Revelation, the last
book of the New Testament, Chapter 19; we are informed there that John the
disciple of Jesus, saw a vision, in which he heard the angels in heaven singing,
Alleluya, Alleluya. Ask him again, what is Alleluya! Is it "hip, hip, hooray;
hip, hip, hooray!" Are angels in heaven singing - hip, hip, hoorays to God?
Every time when God creates a new galaxy, do the angels exclaim - "hip, hip,
hooray!" When He explodes a super-nova, do the angels say, "hip, hip, hooray!"?
How absurd!

Then what is Alleluya! The last syllable
"YA" is a vocative and an exclamatory particle in both Arabic and Hebrew meaning
"OH!" In other words YA = OH, (the vocative); and YA = (!), a note of
exclamation, or an exclamatory particle, or as is more commonly known an
exclamation mark.

The Semite, both Arab and Jew, begins with
the exclamatory particle or exclamation mark. The Westerner, in his language
ends with the exclamatory particle or exclamation mark, eg. Stop! Go! Fire!
Bang!

Let us repeat the above Tasbih (words of
praise) as an Arab or a Jew: ALLE-LU-YA will be YA-ALLE-LU because, as explained
above, YA is always at the beginning in both Arabic and Hebrew.

YA ALLE LU would be YA ALLA HU: Meaning,
"OH ALLAH!" (You are the Only Being Who deserves worship and Praise) "OH ALLAH!"
(You are the Only Being Who deserves worship and Praise).

Unbiased Christians will not fail to
recognise Allah as none other than his - El, Eli, Alle, Elah, Alah, Allah. Call
upon Him by any name, for His are the Most Beautiful names, as long as those
names are not contaminated and as long as they do not conjure up in our minds
the images of men or monkeys howsoever glorified they might have been.

THE CONCEPT OF "GOD THE
FATHER"

There are many beautiful attributes of
God, which are common to both the Holy Qur'an and the Holy Bible. A lengthy
thesis can be written on this. But a very interesting facet I have discovered in
this that among the 99 attributes of God given to us in the Holy Qur'an the word
"Father" is not one of them. If the Holy Prophet was the author of the Holy
Qur'an as his adversaries allege, then how could he have avoided the term -
Father - for God, for twenty-three years of his prophetic life!
Abb, meaning father in Arabic (Abba in Hebrew), is an easier
word than Rabb, meaning Lord and Cherisher; yet the attribute Rabb abounds in
the Last and Final Revelation of God. The reason for the omission of the word
Abb (father) for describing God Almighty is obvious: MANKIND HAD DENIGRATED THAT
BEAUTIFUL CONCEPT OF THE LOVING Father in Heaven to being the Father of the
"only begotten son"¹ - to
being physically like a human being, because begetting is an animal act,
belonging to the lower animal functions of sex.

1. John
3:16

UNIQUE TO THE QUR'AN AND
CONCLUSION

SAY: "SHALL I TAKE FOR MY PROTECTOR ANY BUT ALLAHTHE ORIGINATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH?

WHEN IT IS HE WHO FEEDS BUT HAS NO NEED TO BE
FED."

 

Sura An-am 6:14

No creature who is ever in need of earthly
food can be "ATNATU!" If you can make the worshippers of the
"man-gods" to apply this touchstone to their heroes, you can retrieve millions
from the impending Hell-fire. Learn a lesson from the Australoid (give him one
last look on the frontispiece), who despite his abject primitiveness still
stands high above the millions of the civilised men and women of both East and
West who strut the world today.

GLORY BE TO ALLAH!
And Peace
and Salutations upon His Messenger Muhummed for conveying the Message of God to
mankind. May Allah make us worthy to be his followers,
Ameen!