[dangus]

Well, for starters I occasionally worship in an ancient Church, in union with Rome, which prays prayers in Syriac Aramaic which were written in the 4th century by a Syrian known as St. Maron. Not being Syrian or Lebanese, of course, I have to follow the English translations. There are 4 million "Maronite Catholics."

(The Maronite Liturgy is actually that of the Antiochene rite, which, according to tradition dating to at least as early as the third century, was written by St. James the Disciple, first bishop of Antioch.)

Try reading this: http://www.equip.org/articles/allah-does-not-belong-to-islam :

Arabic-speaking Coptic, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Maronite, evangelical, and Reformed Christians worship Allah, which is simply the word or term for God in another language. Islam does not hold a copyright to the term. In fact, Arab Christians existed before Islam appeared on the scene. Christians who worship Allah number in the millions, and their biblical version of Allah differs from the Qur’anic version. To demean or demonize the word for God in another language does a great disservice to believers who speak that language. Opportunities to win a hearing or dialogue between Christians and Arabic-speaking Muslims vis-à-vis Jesus Christ are also minimized.

It is time for all of us, especially Christians, to exercise caution when it comes to attacking the term for God in a language foreign to most of us. No other term exists in Arabic for the God Christians claim to be the one, true God. Western Christians do not normally use Hebrew terms for God in their languages. They cannot expect Arab Christians to use any other term or word for theirs. Allah is equivalent to the English God, the French Dieu, or the Spanish Dios... To say rather that the Muslim concept of Allah differs from the Christian concept of Allah, in my opinion, would be helpful...

...Perhaps we could better understand this error if we translate some of these judgments and criticisms into English. For example, some Christians might say, “God is not the God of the Bible.” They also might say, “God is a demonic force causing murder,” and so on. How can Christians then proclaim Christ to people who know of God by that term?

[7MMmag]

Thank you for the reply, the info, and what is important to me — the personal narrative. I regard it as part of one’s witness. Thank you much for sharing.