Hizb Allah

Submitted by Sentinel (Saudi Arabia), Aug 23, 2013 at 05:39

Abu Nudnik asks: Why is ALLAH spelled ULLAH in the term HIZBULLAH? Very briefly and simply, here's why:

Unlike English, Arabic uses "case endings" like Latin. That means that words slightly change their spelling, usually at the end of the word, depending on what "function" it serves in a sentence. Is it a noun, an adjective, a pronoun? etc.

The phrase HIZBULLAH is made up of 2 words: HIZB and ALLAH. HIZB is the first word in the phrase and thus is in the "Nominative" case. This means it is spelled and pronounced HIZBU because the rule is if you have a word in initial position, you add a U to it at the end. (Remember, I'm explaining this in very basic terms......the reality is somewhat more complicated and involved).

ALLAH does not change except that the first A disappears and "melts into" the previous U or HIZBU.

Therefore, you get the spelling and pronunciation of HIZBULLAH. It's simply a matter of basic grammar rules and phonetic and pronunciation rules in Arabic. It's much easier to say HIZBULLAH than to say HIZBU-ALLAH.

In fact, English (and all languages) do this kind of thing all the time, Look what happens to the common English phrase COME HERE when spoken in normal rapid English. You say something like KMEER dropping all kinds of things (for example you don't pronounce the H) and abbreviating the 2 words into one.

So what happens with Arabic HIZBULLAH is nothing unusual at all.

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