Allah is Not Elohim

Submitted by Suzanne Olsson (United States), Jun 28, 2005 at 13:02

I believe you erred in your understanding of grammatics and in fact of history in general when you equate God with Allah.The Arabs tell a big lie when they claim decent from Abraham.

Historically the first father of the Arabs was Qahtan or Joktan (Genesis 10:25-30). Some of his son's names can still be found in geographical locations in Arabia today, such as Hazarmaveth, Ophir, and Havilah. Abraham's nephew Lot could also be another ancestor to the Arabs via the Moabites and Ammonites (Genesis 24) as would Jacob's twin brother Esau, yet, they nor Ishmael are mentioned as ancestors to the Arabs in the Qur'an. When Sarah tells Abraham (Genesis 21:10), "Ga'raish et ha'ama ha'azot v'et b'nah," (expel this handmaiden and her son) thus begins world conflicts with Arabs, Jews, and Christians that persists to this day.

Elohim (God, gods, judges, angels) is a common name of the deity (God) in the Hebrew Bible. It is consistently used in texts that reflect the early northern traditions of the Kingdom of Israel, whereas Yahweh ('Jehovah') is consistently used in texts that derive from the early southern traditions, of Judah and Jerusalem. Biblical scholars have found it useful to distinguish between "E" traditions and "J" traditions, the "Elohist" and the "Yahwist." Elohim is a plural from the same root as singular El and Eloah. The etymology of the word Elohim is prehistoric, and therefore unknown. It has no relationship with the later Arabic word, Allah.


This is further borne out by the fact that the form Elohim occurs only in Hebrew and in no other Semitic language, not even in Biblical Aramaic.


Elohim is the name that introduces God in Genesis 1:1. The word can be divided into two parts. The first part, El, means God and is connected to His might, power, majesty, glory, and authority: Ohim speaks of plurality, of the gods. The name Elohim is always connected to God's acts. Jehovah is connected to the creation of man, to the making of a covenant, and to the atonement. It is Jehovah who reveals Elohim. God is always worshipped as Jehovah. El-him said, 'Let us form man in our image...' is always clarified later to assure there was only one god, working with a host of his beings. EL is the most primitive Semitic name. It is found in ancient compound proper names, such as Beth-EL = "House of EL;" Israel = "Soldier of EL;" Daniel - "EL is my judge." (Hebrew) EL-OHIM - "Fullness of Might," and EL-SHADDAI = "EL-Almighty" (God-Almighty). "Y-H-W-H. The personal name of the God of Israel is written in the Hebrew Bible with four consonants Y-H-W-H (Hebrew: YOHD HEH VAHV HEH) and is referred to as the 'Tetragrammation.'

The Sumerian king list records all the rulers of the Earth. This huge stretch of time, with reigns into the thousands of years, has caused most historians to reject its accuracy. The King List records the reign of Enmeduranki, whose name meant, ‘ruler who connects Heaven and Earth.' These Gods were called ‘Nephilim' or ‘Elohim,' those who from Heaven to Earth came.'

I hope this helps clarify God, Allah, and Elohim.
Suzanne Olsson

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".