The suffix “IM” of the word “ELOHIM” is a plural of respect in Hebrew. (Remember that in Arabic and Hebrew there are two types of plurals. One of numbers and the other of honour as in Royal proclamations. Since the plural of honour is uncommon in the language of the European, he has confused these plurals to connote a plurality in the “Godhead,” hence his justification for his Doctrine of the Holy Trinity – the Father, Son and Holy Ghost).
Hence ELOHIM = ELOH + IM. Now I want you to perform an exercise. Do you see the words: YA-HUWA ELOH-IM? Place your left hand index finger on the first two letters “YA” meaning oh! and the other index finger on the “IM” a plural of respect. What you now have remaining in Huwa Eloh or Huwa Elah. El in Hebrew means God, and Elah or Eloh also stands for the same name – God. Therefore, “Huwa el Elah” or Huwa ‘L Lah, which is identical to the Quranic expression – Huwal lah hu (meaning: He is Allah) of the
verse “qul huwal lah hu ahud say: he is Allah he is one” (Quran 112:1)
The above exercise proves that El, Elah and Elohim are not three distinctly different words. They all represent the single Arabic word Allah This is not my wishful thinking. Please see below. It is a photostatic reproduction of a page from the English Bible, edited by Rev. C. I. Scofield, D.D., with his Bible Commentary· This Doctor of Divinity is well respected among the Bible Scholars of the Christian world. He is backed in his “New and Improved Edition” of this translation by a galaxy of eight other D.D.’s:
Rev. Henry G. Weston, D.D., LL.D., President Crozer Theological Seminary.
Rev. W. G. Moorehead, D.D., President Xenia (U.I,) Theological Seminary.
Rev. lames M. Gray, D.D., President Moody Bible Institute.
Rev. Elmore Harris, D.D., President Toronto Bible Institute.
Rev. William !. Erdman, D.D., Author “The Gospel Of John,” Etc.
Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., Author, Editor, Teacher, Etc.
Rev. William L. Pettingill, D.D., Author, Editor, Teacher. Arno C. Gaebelein, Author “Harmoney Of Prophetic Word,” Etc.
I have not listed the above luminaries to awe you. They have been unanimous in supporting Rev. Scofield in his “New and Improved” commentary.
Please note that in their comment No 1, they concur that – “Elohim, (sometimes El or Elah meaning God)” and alternatively spelled “Alah” (line three, third word). All the eight D.D.’s above could not have been blind in dittoing the spelling “Alah” for God. How far were they from the Arabic word spelled – Allah – in English, I ask you dear reader?
This is Allah’s handiwork, but the Devil (I must give him a capital “D,” he deserves it) was not slow in making a quick come-back through his agents. He succeeded in firing all the D.D.’s responsible for that debacle, and had them replaced by nine others with more impressive degrees than the previous lot. You will find them in the recent reproduction of “The New Scofield Reference Bible.” You will not be able to lay your hands anymore on the Bible with “Alah” in it. The Devil has seen to that.
My only plea
I had made some public statements regarding my discovery of the word “Alah” as alternatively spelled from the usual Christian spelling “Elah.” My plea to the Christians was this that spell the word as you like, with an “A” or an “E”, with a single “L” or double “LL’s”, but for goodness sake pronounce the word correctly, as we Muslims do.
Because even with its proper Anglicised spelling – Allah: “it is so far from its Arabic original, when pronounced with a thin English consonant and feeble vowels, that many an Arab Muslim would find it unrecognizable.” Says Rev. Kenneth Cragg, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem in his book, “The Call of the Minaret,” page 36.
As much as the Englishman has the right to dictate to us as to how his language is to be sounded, surely we Muslims have as much right to demand a common courtesy when taking the name of God. We do not wish the word Allah to go into limbo like the “Yahuwa” of the Jews. More than 6000 times the formula “YAHUWA ELAH,” or ya”HUWA ALAH,” or “HUWAllah,” (He is Allah!) occur in the Hebrew manuscripts of the Jewish Bible, commonly called the “Old Testament,” by the Christians. If this fact is openly acknowledged by the learned men of Christianity and broadcasted as Rev. Scofield had done then the day for Muslims and Christians to worship God together would not be far distant. But the Devil will not have it. Vested interests are involved. Instead of pronouncing the word ALAH correctly, they would rather have the whole word omitted.
Quick abrogation
“Now You See It” – “Now You Don’t” is an old, old gimmick in the West. Compare the above and see how cleverly, how deftly the new band of missionaries expunged the word “Alah” from the “Authorised King James Version” of the Scofield translation of the Bible.
As a guide to one of the largest Mosques in the Southern Hemisphere, the Juma Musjid, Durban, my companions and I are often asked by the tourists, “Why Allah?” “Is He another God?” The answer of course is “NO!” There is not another God. The Muslim creed, is:
“There is no God except Allah!” makes this explicit; every Muslim must utter this unequivocal statement. And the second half is “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” excludes even Muhammad from being associated with Allah in His Divinity. We are made to say, so – Not even Muhammad is God, or object of worship. It is Allah, and Allah alone who is the Only True God.
For further examples of the Christian gymnastics in the Bible, see:
“Is the Bible God’s Word?”.
Unique name for unique God
“We Muslims prefer the Arabic word Allah to the English word God, because this English word God is often misused or misapplied,” I explain to my non-Muslim visitors to the mosque, on their so-called “Oriental Tour” as arranged by the Durban Publicity Bureau, I continue, “On your last port of call, you will be ending off at a Hindu house of Prayer, called a Temple, and there, you might rightfully point out to your children the idols and the images found, as ‘the Gods of the Hindus’, and if a Hindu overhears you; he will not mind, he will not be offended, because what you said to your child is actually what he believes.
Then, again, we speak of the Gods of ancient Greece; of Gods and Goddesses, who ate and drank, who wrangled and plotted; carried away the wives of other Gods. “Further, in English, if some gentleman was to look after somebody’s child as a guardian, we would say that he is a “Godfather” to the child, and the woman – a “God- mother” to the child. And if one tried to be a bit too funny, a bit too clever, one would say -’What do you think of yourself, are you a tin God!’ We spell God with a capital “G” (God), and we spell God with a small “g” (God), which creates in your minds grades and grades of divinities.”
This Arabic word, Allah, is never used in any other sense. There is no such thing as an “Allah-father” or an “Allah-mother” or a “Tin-Allah.” Allah is a unique word for the only God. Arabic, like every other language, also has its rules of grammar, but in Arabic you cannot make a plural form for Allah, nor can you make a feminine of Allah. All this is very unlike the English word, God.
If you want to make a plural, just add an “s” (Gods); You can make God feminine by adding “dess” (Goddess); and you can make God diminutive by adding “ling” (Godling). Look at the sheer mockery the Westerner has made of the word “God,” and how his fertile imagination has run riot and havoc in denigrating the Glory and Majesty of the Incomparable Creator, sustainer and Cherisher of all the worlds as recorded in the Oxford Dictionary:
You have a variety of choices in the list above. Take your pick like that old woman who lit one candle to St. Michael and another to the Devil. So that whether she went to Heaven or to Hell she would have a friend.
a. Jupiter the God of Heaven
b. Pluto the God of Hell
c. Mars the God of War
d. Neptune the God of the Sea and
e. Zeus the God-father of them all with his many wives and many children. His Hercules, his Appolo, his Horus, his Isis and Osiris.
Sheer mythology and rank blasphemy, but to a people who believed in mythology, mythology was no mythology; it was empirical truths. And this terminology of the West lended itself well to paganistic theology, with their “Gods” and “Goddesses.” But Allah is free from all corruptions. You can do nothing with this word in the language of the Arab. You cannot manipulate it in any way!
Pearls of faith
Here is a passage of great sublimity, summing up in marvelous terse verses, the Most Beautiful names of Allah: “He is Allah, besides whom there is no other gods; who knows (all things) both secret and open; He is Most Gracious, Most Merciful He is Allah, besides whom there is no other god; the Sovereign, the Holy One, the source of peace (and perfection), the Guardian of faith, the Preserver of safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme: Glory to Allah: (High is He) above the partners they ascribe to him he is Allah, the Creator the Evolver, the Bestower of forms (or colours) to Him belong the most Beautiful Names: All that is in the Heavens and the Earth, doth declare His praises and glory. And He is the Exalted in Might the Wise.” (Quran 59:22-24)
Where is there in the religious literature of the world anything to compare with this!
“Allah” in every bible and in every language
There is no difficulty in our agreeing that in the languages of the world, every nation has given a distinctive name to God. Most of these names are attributive names, describing some aspect of God. But the proper name for God in the Semitic languages, i.e. in the mother-tongues of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad is Allah! This name is still extant in the Christian Bible in every language of the world. The Christians are boasting that they have translated their Bible into over fifteen hundred languages, more specially the translation of the New Testament. In every Gospel that I have scrutnised in the various languages I find the word “Allah” preserved
– English or Afrikaanz, Zulu or Swahili. Why not check up in your own dialect to prove me wrong. I would love to hear from you.
If what I claim is Gospel Truth, then how is it that the whole Christian world of over 1 200 000 000 people have not been aware of it. This is what effective programming or brain-washing can do. They have been trained NOT to see the obvious. Did not Jesus bewail:
“Seeing, they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13)
From the lips of Jesus
I ask my Christian visitors, “Do you remember your Gospel narrative, that when Christ was supposed to have been on the cross, he cried out with a loud voice:
“Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
The above is a translation from the Greek manuscripts “According to St. Mark.” Obviously his Hebrew has a Greek accent. Because, his so-called originals were written in Greek. But listen to Matthew, who is supposed to have written his Gospel originally in Hebrew, which was aimed at the Jews. St. Jerome, an early Christian father of the 4th and 5th centuries after Christ, testifies as follows:
“Matthew, who is also levi, and who from a publican came to be an Apostle, first of all the Evangelists, composed a gospel of Christ in Judea in the Hebrew language and characters, for the benefit of those of the circumcision who had believed.” Of the circumcision: means those who had been circumcised. Referring to the Jewish converts to Christianity.
Naturally, Matthew’s accent would be more Semitic (Hebrew and Arabic) than that of Mark. Matthew records the same scene as Mark 15:34, but note the variation of the dialect:
Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me’? Matthew 27:46
Please memorise the words – “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.” (Eli – pronounced like L and I in English) Utter the words – Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani; Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani, to your Christian friends and neighbours and ask them whether these words – “Eli, Eli,” sounds like “Jehovah, Jehovah!” to them?
No! is the answer if they are not deaf. Ask further, whether “Eli, Eli,” sounds like “Abba, Abba!” (meaning father, father! in Hebrew) to them! Again the reply will be “No!” if they are not deaf. Can’t they see that the cry is to Allah? “Eli, Eli – Elah, Elah, Allah, Allah!” Let them hear these words from your lips and watch their reactions. No honest per- son can help agreeing with you.
Alleluya!
Now ask your Christian friend, if he had heard the word – “ALLELUYA.” No Christian worth the name will fail to recognise it. Whenever the Christian goes into ecstasy, he exclaims – “Alleluya! Alleluya!”, just as we Muslims might exclaim the Takbir – “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” Ask him, what is Alleluya? Take him to the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, Chapter 19; we are informed there that John the disciple of Jesus, saw a vision, in which he heard the angels in heaven singing, Alleluya, Alleluya.
Ask him again, what is Alleluya! Is it “hip, hip, hooray; hip, hip, hooray!” Are angels in heaven singing – hip, hip, hoorays to God? Every time when God creates a new galaxy, do the angels exclaim – “hip, hip, hooray!” When He explodes a super-nova, do the angels say, “hip, hip, hooray!”? How absurd!
Then what is Alleluya! The last syllable “YA” is a vocative and an exclamatory particle in both Arabic and Hebrew meaning “OH!” In other words YA = OH, (the vocative); and YA = (!), a note of exclamation, or an exclamatory particle, or as is more commonly known an exclamation mark.
The Semite, both Arab and Jew, begins with the exclamatory particle or exclamation mark. The Westerner, in his language ends with the exclamatory particle or exclamation mark, eg. Stop! Go! Fire! Bang!
Let us repeat the above words of praise as an Arab or a Jew: ALLE-LU-YA will be YA-ALLE-LU because, as explained above, YA is always at the beginning in both Arabic and Hebrew.
YA ALLE LU would be YA ALLA HU: Meaning, “OH Allah!” (You are the Only Being Who deserves worship and Praise) “OH Allah!” (You are the Only Being Who deserves worship and Praise).
Unbiased Christians will not fail to recognise Allah as none other than his – El, Eli, Alle, Elah, Alah, Allah Call upon Him by any name, for His are the Most Beautiful names, as long as those names are not contaminated and as long as they do not conjure up in our minds the images of men or monkeys howsoever glorified they might have been.
The concept of “god the father”
There are many beautiful attributes of God, which are common to both the Quran and the Holy Bible. A lengthy thesis can be written on this. But a very interesting facet I have discovered in this that among the 99 attributes of God given to us in the Quran the word “Father” is not one of them. If the Holy Prophet was the author of the Quran as his adversaries allege, then how could he have avoided the term – Father – for God, for twenty-three years of his prophetic life! Abb, meaning father in Arabic (Abba in Hebrew), is an easier word than Rabb, meaning Lord and Cherisher; yet the attribute Rabb abounds in the Last and Final Revelation of God.
The reason for the omission of the word Abb (father) for describing God is obvious: Mankind had denigrated that beautiful concept of the loving Father in Heaven to being the Father of the “only begotten son” (John 3:16) – to being physically like a human being, because begetting is an animal act, belonging to the lower animal functions of sex.
Unique to the Quran and conclusion
Say: “shall I take for my protector any but Allah the originator of the Heavens and the Earth? when it is He Who feeds but Has no need to be fed.” (Quran 6:14)
No creature who is ever in need of earthly food can be “ATNATU!” If you can make the worshippers of the “man-Gods” to apply this touchstone to their heroes, you can retrieve millions from the impending Hell-fire. Learn a lesson from the Australoid (give him one last look on the frontispiece), who despite his abject primitiveness still stands high above the millions of the civilised men and women of both East and West who strut the world today.