Many believe the word “Allah” was derived from the mid-eastern word “el” which in Ugaritic, Caananite and Hebrew can mean a true or false God. This is not the case. “The source of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is not a common name meaning “God” (or a “god”), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity.” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (ed. Hastings), I:326.)Another derivative of the Ba’alim.
According to the Encyclopedia of Religion, Allah corresponded to the Babylonian god Baal, and Arabs knew of him long before Mohammed worshipped him as the supreme God. Before Islam the Arabs recognized many gods and goddesses, each tribe had their own deity. There were also nature deities. Allah was the god of the local Quraysh tribe, which was Mohammed’s tribe before he invented Islam to lead his people out of their polytheism. Allah was then known as the Moon God, who had 3 daughters who were viewed as intercessors for the people into Allah. Their names were Al-at, Al-uzza, and Al-Manat, which were three goddesses; the first two daughters of Allah had names which were feminine forms of Allah. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was the chief God of the Kaaba among the other 360 deities. Hubal was a statue likeness of a man whose body was made of red precious stones whose arms were made of gold. (Reference Islam George Braswell Jr.)
“Historians like Vaqqidi have said Allah was actually the chief of the 360 gods being worshipped in Arabia at the time Mohammed rose to prominence. Ibn Al-Kalbi gave 27 names of pre-Islamic deities...Interestingly, not many Muslims want to accept that Allah was already being worshipped at the Ka’ba in Mecca by Arab pagans before Mohammed came. Some Muslims become angry when they are confronted with this fact. But history is not on their side. Pre-Islamic literature has proved this.” (G. J. O. Moshay, Who Is This Allah? (Dorchester House, Bucks, UK, 1994), pg. 138). …
“No, it is still not God’s Arabic title no matter how much it is in common use as such. See here:”
If we use your logic, then all western Christians are idolaters who really worship Odin, because our word for God derived from the “pagan Germanic ‘Gott,’ which was used as a proper name for the chief Teutonic deity, Odin.” See here:
https://www.thepeopleofthebook.org/about/strategy/the-use-of-the-word-allah/
Christians and Jews translated the Bible into Arabic hundreds of years before there was an English translation of the Bible. ALL of them used the word “Allah” for God. Ascribing the Arabic title for God to an ancient moon god, is a naive and simplistic response to the rise of Islam.
Muslims do NOT worship a moon god. Muslims do not believe in worshipping angels, stars, or man-made images. Do they worship the true God? No. Of course not. If you thought that is what I was saying, you misunderstood. But Muslims do use the correct title for God in Arabic.
I could site a thousand sources that contradict your assertion, but it is irrelevant if you have made up your mind and will not be swayed by facts. Just because idolaters call a particular idol “God” does not invalidate God’s title. Do you think a culture can simply have no word for God? Whenever Arabs attributed God’s title to a moon god or other gods, they were committing idolatry. Israel did the same thing when they corrupted their worship of the one true God Who revealed Himself to them.
Amos 5:21-26
I hate, I despise your feast days,
And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
Take away from Me the noise of your songs,
For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream.
Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
You also carried Sikkuth your king
And Chiun, your idols,
The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves.
Exodus 32:7-8
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’”
There are millions of people who claim to follow the God and the Jesus of the Bible (i.e. Jesus of Nazareth), but are worshipping some other god. They are using the correct title but have a wrong theology of Who God is. This is easily illustrated from the Bible itself:
John 16:2
They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.
2 Corinthians 11:4, 13-15
For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
We learn from the New Testament that when someone worships a false god, they are not worshipping a real deity because there is only one true Deity. Idolaters are unintentionally worshipping demons, which are real:
1 Corinthians 10:20
Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
Do you think that the Arabs have the wrong word for Jesus also? Arabic speaking Muslims call Him Isa, but only regard Him as a prophet. They do not believe He actually died on the cross but tricked Judas into taking His place. They do not believe He is the Son of God or rose from the dead. But the Arab lands have always played a major role in God’s plan in the Bible. Both Moses and Paul were taught by Christ (for Moses the pre-incarnate Christ was a Theophany) in this region rather than in the promised land of Israel.
The knowledge of God in what the Bible calls Arabia existed even before God called Abraham. So, when an Arabic speaking Muslim converts to Christianity, he or she believes on “Isa” for salvation. He or she believes the message of Christ’s atoning substitutionary death, His fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, His resurrection as witnessed by the apostles. And these Arabic speaking Christians call Jesus “Isa” and God “Allah”. And these same Christians are this day being martyred for their faith in Jesus and the one true God. Yet they use the words that you disparage. They do not worship a moon god. They just worship the true God as revealed in the Bible rather than the false doctrines of Islam.
If your premise about the name “Allah” is correct, then you should be able to easily answer one question: What word for God SHOULD Arabic Christians and Jews use if not Allah? If you cannot answer that, you should rethink your position. I am not trying to insult you or be argumentative just for the sake of arguing. But you are wrong.
If not, then I am wrong, and I want to be corrected of my error. So I will happily admit my error, as I have a few times on this forum, if you or anyone can prove me wrong. But I am pretty confident about this. I have researched it. No one of an opposing view has been able to successfully demonstrate that there is a different, correct title for God and Jesus in Arabic.