Abolish "Allah"

Terra's winning.

Meanwhile (yes, I'm again trying to steer this more or less on topic), anyone know the answer to my Hebrew question? When people are talking to each other in Israel in Hebrew, what word do they use for "God"?

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The fact I am hanging out here with a bunch of sympathizers whose only plan for the future is to ruin the country isn't lost on me. I won't drop the issue.

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Quote:

How about if English-speakers stop using the word "Allah" when referring to the Muslim God, unless it's in an untranslated swath of Arabic? Why not just say "God"? "Allah" is the Arabic word for the self-same God of the Jewish and Christian people.

Regarding the original question, why not just be polite and address god appropriately to the conversation. I might call her Allah if addressing a Muslim, God, Jesus or Holy Spirit if speaking to a Christian and in most cases I refrain from addressing her as "She" in front of sensitive types and stay off the subject completely whenever I can.

I personally feel she could care less what tiny little people call her, whether they call her at all, or what their opinions are. However, people care deeply and it is after all, nice to be polite.

When you can. Very Happy

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From what Muslim1 one is saying... it sounds like Allah is only a proper name.

We have the name Jehova-- which I think is from the Hebrew but is used by American Christians as well.

I think it is interesting that in American English God is used both as a proper name, and as a common noun.

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I think the difference is in capitalization. "God," with a capital "G," refers to a specific entity and is a proper name. With a lowercase "g," the word "god" is a common noun.

We also do that with Earth (the name of our planet) and earth (the stuff that makes up the outer layer of our planet), as well as the Galaxy (the Milky Way) vs. other galaxies.

In Arabic, "illah" means god (lowecase). "Al" means "the." So "Allah" literally means "the god."

http://www.faizani.com/portal/allah.html

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Oh and I agree about politeness, missconduct. I propose this because I think the use of "Allah" in translations, especially perpetuates a false dichotomy and that it would be useful if each language (English, Arabic) just translated any use of "God" or "Allah" into their own language.

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Quote:

Meanwhile (yes, I'm again trying to steer this more or less on topic), anyone know the answer to my Hebrew question? When people are talking to each other in Israel in Hebrew, what word do they use for "God"?

I am fearfully treading here because I am only speaking from my experience of Judaism as an outsider, but, and I hope others will back me up on this, in general conversation Jews do not use the word G-d nor speak the name of G-d. They say 'the Most High" at times but that's as far as they go.

Joe(ask around)Nation

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Sozobe,

This is an interesting question I would love to know also. Playing around the web, looking, apparently the name of god was revealed to Moses but because of the 3rd commandment, no one wanted to utter the name, so there all all sort of abbreviations involved. Very interesting. They seem to very carefully omit uttering the name. Even now?

http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/YHVH/yhvh.html

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My understanding is that you're not supposed to write it, because the paper you're writing it on will eventually be destroyed and that's disrespectful to God to destroy His name. So the G-d formulation is used in writing. (In English, anyway, not sure how all of that plays out in Hebrew, what word is used or not used or abbreviated or whatever.) I'm not sure about speaking, though.

What I'm getting at is, say that Olmert is giving a speech in Hebrew -- would he say anything about God? If so, what word would he use? If he uses that word, and his speech is translated in the New York Times, do they keep the word he used or do they translate it to "God"?

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Sozobe,

From what I understand, he would not utter the name, only the initials which do have a pronunciation according to those websites. The NYT would probably translate it to god in total ignorance, and I can only think the Hebrews wince but continue on. The "Yahwe" is rather a pronunciation of an abbreviation, I gather. There are others.

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YHVH, YHWH, Jehovah, Adonai, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh

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Re: Abolish "Allah"

muslim1 wrote:

sozobe wrote:
Note quotes. It's important.

How about if English-speakers stop using the word "Allah" when referring to the Muslim God, unless it's in an untranslated swath of Arabic? Why not just say "God"? "Allah" is the Arabic word for the self-same God of the Jewish and Christian people.

Jews: Moses was a prophet, Jesus and Mohammed weren't.

Christians: Moses and Jesus were prophets, Mohammed wasn't.

Muslims: Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed were all prophets.

I think that use of "Allah" encourages a notion of Muslims being completely OTHER that is dangerous and unnecessary.

The word, Allah, is pure and unique, unlike the word God.

If you add 's' to the word God, it becomes Gods, that is the plural of God. Allah is one and singular, there is no plural of Allah.

If you add 'dess' to the word God, it becomes Goddess that is a female God. There is nothing like male Allah or female Allah. Allah has no gender.

If you add the word 'father' to God it becomes God-father. God-father means someone who is a guardian. There is no word like Allah-father.

If you prefix 'tin' before the word God, it becomes tin-God (fake God). Allah is a unique word, which does not conjure up any mental picture nor can it be played around with.

Therefore the Muslims prefer using the Arabic word Allah for the Almighty.

"Allahs".

There goes THAT dumb argument.

Rolling Eyes

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Setanta wrote:

That's the one that we're all winning, and that we're all losing, too, huh?

I did'nt know there were winners in war....at least not for the one's involved.

What do we fight terror with....terror? Maybe put up some walls and checkpoints.

If this is winning...what's the prize?

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I use " God" when translating Allah from Arabic.
India is also called Hindustan and Bharat. If you listen to Indian News they will never use Bharat. Hindustan is the standard name. If you listen to Pakistan news , Bharat is used. India or Hindustan appears more dignified while Bharat appears to carry less value.
I see the same mechanism at play. Most Muslims themselves use God when speaking English. But whenever Bush or Mcain speaks they would use Allah to make it a distinct entity that is " Oh so different" and scarier and evil than Christian God. An example of this was on " The Daily Show" with John Stewart on Comedy channel when a High ranking Christian religious figure when campaigning for Mcain was asking God to help republican campaign so that Buddha , Hindu and Allah wont feel that God is weaker !!!!

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@sozobe,

Sozobe wrote:

That'd be awesome, in fact -- George Bush saying "Allah bless America." :-D (With "bless" and "America" also being in Arabic, of course...)

Salam to that.

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@muslim1,

Muslim1 -- when speakers of the Arabian language talk about "the Ancient Greek god Zeus", what word do they use for "god"?

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Abolish "Allah"

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