...by whatever name you call upon Him

Submitted by Taj (United States), Jan 28, 2008 at 04:43

Oliver;

Let me first state a 'thank you' for this conversation... - now let me jump right in ;-0

While "YHWH" might indeed be the name claimed by God, to be called such by all generations, I would point out that these are Israeli generations (Hebrew-speaking) ...the propensity to state 'god d of...' (Israel, Jacob, Abraham, and so on) only implies that this reference is singular whereas reality would dictate that god world be known to other peoples through other languages.

This is logically supported in part by the fact that Arabic speaking Jews and Christians did not use the term 'Yahweh' to call god, but used the term of their tongue, 'Allah'...(and yes, Jews and Christians historically lived in Muslim lands, and continue to do so present day)

What follows are my (minor) replies to minor points you made in your latest post:

It's not an accurate assumption that Muhammad's first encounter with God at al Hira was did not see him asking for the name of god simply because he knew it. The first utterance of God to him identified Him by name, and later verses reaffirmed the use of the name Allah, (see surah 112)

It is also not completely correct to assume that Muhammad's sole argument was the singular worship of Allah , as opposed to who He was...indeed, speaking of surah 112, it in itself was a direct answer to a question posed to Muhammad by idolaters who asked him literally 'who is this Allah, and what does He look like".

I should here lay to rest the assumption of an 'Arab pantheon' -in fact there was no single pantheon. paganism was prevalent among the Arabs however , religions were both geographical and/or tribal...for example, among the idols in the Kaaba was one dedicated to Mary - no doubt she would not be considered part of an Arab or pagan pantheon...other idols included those of Abraham , Isaac , and Jesus

I didn't capitalize 'allah al ibn' simply because I abhor referring to Allah as a 'son' - simply a matter of personal preference...

While you seem adamant at insisting the Allah is "the" name of God in/of Islam, the actual Islamic position is that it is but one of many names. Muhammad highlighted the idea that there are 99 Names of God which are considered the best of His names, and the Quran itself notes (17:110):

Call upon Allah or call upon Ar-Rahman – by whatever name you call upon Him – for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.

Regarding YHWH in the LXX, you should note that most of the oldest mss. of the LXX with "kurios" are not found earlier than the first century. I personally have seen at least 7 LXX manuscripts, such as the Nahal Hever Minor Prophets that contain the tetragrammaton...I am sure that you are also aware that Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion produced copies of the LXX that deliberately utilized the tetragrammaton

As for the Black Stone, it is not, nor ever was, an idol. Also it is set as a cornerstone of the Kaaba, not an idol in it. It is thought to be a meteorite that God sent to Adam as a sign and is thus venerated in Islam.

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