Why don't you take your own advice??

Submitted by Oliver (United States), Mar 14, 2008 at 20:49

Oliver, do check again,

YOU initially made the statement that "...al-Ilah was used to distinguish from Allah" in YOUR post, not mine.

SORRY – but YOU are mistaken (or trying to mislead readers) –

Submitted by zzazzeefrazzee (United States), Feb 27, 2008 at 00:31

2) The name of "Allah" is found in Arabic bibles. Could it be that the name of "Allah" was used by Arab Christian converts from BEFORE the arrival of Islam?

YOU brought the matter up on Feb 28 – when I called you on it –

Submitted by zzazzeefrazzee (United States), Mar 5, 2008 at 19:24

الاله or al-Ilah, becomes the word الله "Allah" when it is elided. Such elision is a common feature of many languages around the world, not just Arabic. So it would appear that the use of the name "ilah" together with the definite article "al", does in fact exist among Christians from BEFORE the advent of Islam. The use of the definite article is definitely an expression of monotheism (as mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia Entry that you previously posted), not an expression exclusive to Islam. Why was this done? The answer is simple; the term "the divine" [al-ilah] was used to differentiate Christian monotheistic belief to Arab pagan beliefs by CHRISTIAN missionaries.

YOU tried to defend your position with YOUR tri-lingual inscription – but all you proved was that pre-Islamic Christian missionaries used the TERM ‘al-ilah' "to differentiate Christian monotheistic belief to Arab pagan beliefs" - In response to YOUR Mar 5 post I posted the following –

Submitted by Oliver (United States), Mar 5, 2008 at 22:23

"Allah is simply the elision of the definite article "al" with the word "ilah".

Haven't I said that any number of times? The 'term' allah (the contraction, if you will) was in 'use' by the pagan Arabs for centuries before any Christians were ever present in Arabia - Allah is the name of the chief god of the pagan Arab pantheon - deny it if you will. IMO if 'Christians' were using the term al-ilah during pre-Islamic times, and I'm not suggesting that they were not, isn't it logical to deduce that they were trying to differentiate 'the god' they were representing (Jesus) from the pagan god of the Arabs (Allah)? Agreeing on that point, to what 'advantage' to Christians would be the reversion to using the name of the Arab pagan god (Allah) as a reference to the god they were trying to differentiate their god (Jesus) from? If Arabic speaking Christians, today, were still using the term al-ilah there would be no problem - but because Arabic has become Islamized so that god can only be called Allah - what reasons can be given for the use of the name of the god of Islam to refer to 'the Only-Begotten Son of God' (Jesus) other than: 1] ignorance, 2] habit or 3] compulsion? Let me 'echo' the words of our friend Dhimmi ...

"So let me ask you the question for the Nth time: Why do Christian Arabs (read this as Copts and Syrians and Chaldeans etc...) call their God, Jesus that is, Allah? Why is that our dear zzazz? Can you guess? I will not ask you to provide us with evidence. Just guess." WHY?

Please note the ‘time-stamps' of our posts – it was close – but ‘no cigar' – you lose!!!

Therefore, accusing me of "back-pedaling" is a form of straw man fallacy.

Oh – by the way – YOU have not answered any of my or Dhimmi's questions – so how about it?

By the way, Khuda is used specifically with reference to Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. There is a similar debate raging among some puritanical Muslims about whether the term is too pagan for their tastes, and hence should be dispensed with. So instead of saying "Khuda Hafez" (God keep you safe- or "Goodbye"), they want to say "Allah Hafez" instead.

The definition YOU provided did not indicate that khuda had ever been used as the NAME of a god – pagan or otherwise – and I have ALWAYS maintained that a generic word that carries the same connotation as the Greek word theos – no matter what language – would be acceptable. YOUR fawned inability to read and understand my simple position truly emphasizes YOUR blatant incredulity.

So, read up a little BEFORE you rush to judgment, will you?

Answer my questions – honestly – if you can.

Where is the Greek text of your now infamous pre-Islamic inscription?

SO, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE?

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