Salaamun alaykum, dear readers!
There may be objections to the use of the word “God” when referring to God as opposed to “Allah” throughout the articles in this website.
Thus, the issue deserves an article on its own.
The word “Allah” is the word for “God”. Thus, it is absolutely correct to refer to God this way.
The problem is that many Muslims believe that Allah is the proper way to refer to God and not any other language. One reason that they may use “Allah” is that Allah is a proper noun, and that all proper nouns have to be said in their language of origin; since the word Allah is Arabic, this language should be retained.
Another is that they believe Arabic is God’s preferred language and thus more respectful, because the Quran was revealed in Arabic. However, these lines of reason are flawed.
They are correct that it is wrong to translate proper nouns across languages, and it is right to keep the exact proper noun and not translate it across languages. McDonald’s will always be McDonald’s no matter the language. The names of everyone are not translated across languages because it is a proper noun, thus the original language of the proper noun must be retained. When talking about the Quran, we don’t translate the Arabic word “Quran” across languages because it’s the name of a book, so its original language must be kept.
However, the same logic cannot be applied to God, for if it were, that would mean the original name of God is in Arabic. God and His name does NOT have an original language because He is the one who originated the languages. God and His name existed before any human languages were made, including the Arabic language.
Thus, God and His name isn’t restricted to any language that we humans speak.
So, to arbitrarily decide that God’s name is originally Arabic would put one in the wrong position. There is no evidence in the Quran to support it, nor is there support in the Quran that God’s favored language by which to call Him is Arabic.
In fact, the Quran itself said it was revealed in Arabic so that we can use it to reason and be warned by it. Thus, Arabic’s only function in Islam for God to convey revelation to an Arabic prophet named Muhammad. Of course, this means that when He communicated with Muhammad, God referred to Himself by the Arabic version of His name.
If Muhammad was a Roman prophet, God would have made the Quran in Latin, and used Deus (the Latin word for God) to refer to Himself. So, there is no basis for the claim that Allah is the only chosen version of God’s name.
When God was revealing the previous scriptures and messages, He did not use the word “Allah” to refer to Himself. God referred to Himself with the language of the scripture which was being revealed. These are languages that are older than Arabic. So it has been established that God’s name has no original language, and that it is acceptable to refer to God in accordance with any of the existing languages.
In conclusion, there’s nothing wrong with translating God’s name across languages. The word God is used throughout the articles on this website to maintain consistency with the English language. Both Allah and God are equally valid to use nonetheless.
You may also notice that the articles use the English name of the prophets at times rather than using the Arabic names, such as using Moses instead of Musa.
The reason I do this is because God Himself does the same thing in the Quran, demonstrating that it is okay to do it.
The Arabic names of the prophets like Musa, Isa, and others, are based on the Syriac language version of the names rather than direct conversion from the prophets’ original language. Those Syriac versions then became Arabicized by Arabs before the Quran was revealed.
Many Arabic words tend to be derived from Syriac, and the name of Moses is one of them; he was a Hebrew prophet, so his original Hebrew name is Moshe and not Musa.
The original name of the Arabic prophet who delivered the Quran was Muhammad, not Mohammed, Mehmet, Mahomet, Mahmoud, or Muhamaddo (the Japanese version).
The Syriac version of the Hebrew name Moshe is Mosa, which is where the Arabic version Musa came from. But the original name that Moses’s guardians gave him is Moshe, not Musa.
Another example is the Hebrew prophet Solomon. The Hebrew name that Solomon’s parents gave him is Shlomo, not the English “Solomon” or the Arabic “Sulaymaan”.
But if God uses the Arabicized version of the prophet’s names in the Arabic Quran (which originated from Syriac language) rather than the original names of the prophet, then God demonstrates that it not necessary to call the people that He mentions in the Quran by their original name. You can call them by whatever name is common to call them by in the language that you are speaking.
Thus, if you speak Hebrew, you can refer to Moses as Moshe. If you are speaking Arabic, you can call him Musa. If you are speaking English, you can call him Moses. If you’re speaking Spanish, you can call him Moises. If you’re speaking French, you can call him Moise.
The same logic is applicable with Jesus, Joseph, Isaac, John, Solomon, David, Noah, Abraham, and the other prophets.
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