Strange logic?

Submitted by LeaNder (Germany), Jul 2, 2005 at 10:14

>This might seem like a minor semantic quibble, but the definition of Allah has profound importance. Consider two alternate ways of translating the opening line of Islam's basic declaration of faith (Arabic: la ilaha illa-la). One reads "I testify that there is no God but Allah," and the other "I testify that there is no deity but God."

The first states that Islam has a distinct Lord, one known as Allah, and implies that Jews and Christians worship a false god. The second states that Allah is the Arabic word for the common monotheistic God and implies a commonality with Jews and Christians.<

This is a really peculiar argument. Am I missing something?

Allah is the Arabic word for God, but when Arabs translate the original Arabic declaration of faith into English as: "I testify that there is no God but Allah", they somehow use some strange magic wand and "trans-semantize" the word: "Allah" thereby giving it a new meaning: "the distinct Arabic God called Allah".
.
hmmm?

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