War of Words

Submitted by Dildar Ahmed (Pakistan), Jul 1, 2005 at 12:57

My dear Daniel Pipes,
Hope and pray you are perfectly well. Your article entitled "Is Allah God?" is wonderful. I have the following points to add or clarify.

(1) In my humble study of the Holy Qur'an I have seen no such
verse/verses which say this: "Moses and Jesus introduced mistakes into
the Word of God". Would you please like to enlighten me and your other
readers it is which ayah/verse that says this.

We know that it is one of the basic themes of the Qur'an that it is
the upholder of the respect and reverence of all the Messengers of
God. We also keep in mind the highly special status that the Qur'an
gives to Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Nobody can be a Muslim without
believing in them.

(2) The copy of Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation that I have with me
uses the word God. The translation of that part of the verse in it is:
"our God and your God is one".

Reference: Islamic Book Trust, Kual Lumpur, ISBN: 983-9154-04-4.
It is Third Impression.

Muslims scholars sometimes do tend to compare the "words" God
and Allah, and never the "Almighty" of Moses or Jesus and Muhammad. It
is the part of their belief that Moses, Jesus and Muhammad conveyed
the message of the same Supreme Being, the Creator and the Sustainer
of the universe. There are people who use these words almost
interchangeably or consider them almost the same thing or at least
think there is no harm in using the word God. There are people who
prefer word Allah to God and, finally, there are people, though very
rare, who are totally against using any other word for God except
Allah. They argue, quite correctly, that the word God has plural form
as well, Gods. It also has feminine form: Goddess, and it can be
written with small g as god. Furthermore, the word has not been used
by any of the Messengers of God. So, they say, to avoid any confusion
and have a clear concept of Monotheism the word Allah should be used
instead of the word God.

I personally think no human word can express the One Who is beyond all
comprehensions, the One Who is Unfathomable. So the humanity must come
out of the war of words and pay attention to the essence, and accept
one another's right of using this or that word according to his/her
inclinations.

(3) Regarding your last paragraph, I would say at present it is such a
circumstance that almost all religions are in the grip of "hawks" who
are trying their best to Defeat one another. Nobody tries to Win the
hearts-the broken hearts. Unfortunately, there is no honest and serous
effort to remove misconceptions and misunderstandings, and to explore
and emphasize the commonalities. After all, we all are the "children
of Adam".

Thank you, and may Allah/God, God/Allah bless you.
Sincerely,
Dr Dildar Ahmed

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