A priest reads in Arabic during Pope Benedict's general audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican October 10, 2012.
Posted on 10/11/2012 1:21:42 PM PDT by NYer
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - On the Commonweal magazine blog, Michael Peppard posted an article entitled "Pope Benedict: 'May Allah bless you all!"
While it is unquestionably true that the Holy Father gave a blessing Arabic, he did not say "May Allah bless you all!" as Peppard states.
Peppard says in his article that there is only one word that could have been used by the Pope, and that word was "Allah."
But in fact, the whole article is built on a faulty premise. There are other words that may be used to refer to God other than Allah, although Allah is certainly one.
The text in Arabic, which can be found on the Vatican website is:
Translated, the meaning is "The pope prays for all Arabic speakers. May God bless you all."
The word used for "God," however, was not Allah, but rather al-Rab or Lord.
Unquestionably, Pope Benedict XVI, influenced by his recent pilgrimage to Lebanon, the publication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Middle East, and touched by the suffering of the Christians in the Middle East, has decided to add Arabic to the Wednesday General Audiences.
The move should not be seen as some sort of capitulation to Islam. Rather, it should be seen as an outreach to those Christians who suffer in the Middle East.
We hope further that some of the Pope's teachings, translated and made available in Arabic, may reach the hearts of the hundreds of millions of Muslims who read and write Arabic.
Pope greets in Arabic during General Audience - You Tube Video
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
I hope that the Holy Father’s words of peace and love touch the hearts of those he was addressing.
His words were addressed to the christians of the Middle East. These are the descendants of those who first heard the words of Christ and were converted after His resurrection.
The Holy Father just returned from a pastoral visit to Lebanon where he was greeted with great affection by both christians and muslims. What makes Lebanon unique is the fact that both faiths co-exist amicably, and have done so, for many centuries. As a result of his meetings with various christian church leaders in Lebanon, he decided to expand his Wednesday audience translations to include Arabic, the national language of most middle eastern countries. The second hope is that his words will also reach the muslim community and, as you noted, "touch their hearts" as well.
There are other words that may be used to refer to God other than Allah, although Allah is certainly one.
***
Uh, no. The being that the mohammedans pray to is most certainly NOT God.
“What makes Lebanon unique is the fact that both faiths co-exist amicably, and have done so, for many centuries.”
Aside from the multiple civil wars.
Allah (English pronunciation: /ˈælə/ or /ˈɑːlə/; Arabic: الله Allāh, IPA: [ʔɑlˈlɑː] ( listen), [ʔalˤˈlˤɑː]) is a word for God. In Arabic, the word means simply "the God."[1][2][3] It is used mainly by Muslims,[4] Arab Christians, and often, albeit not exclusively, by Bahá'ís, Arabic-speakers, Indonesian, Malaysian and Maltese Christians, Mizrahi Jews and Sikhs.Etimology
The term Allāh is derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- "the" and ʾilāh "deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the [sole] deity, God" (ὁ θεὸς μόνος, ho theos monos).[8] Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic.[9] Biblical Hebrew mostly uses the plural form (but functional singular) Elohim. The corresponding Aramaic form is ʼĔlāhā ܐܠܗܐ in Biblical Aramaic and ʼAlâhâ ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ in Syriac as used by the Assyrian Church, both meaning simply "God".
...
Be that as it may, the Holy Father chose to use another word, just to avoid this kind of discussion.
No, I do not know Arabic.
My comment was an allusion to the evil that I see mohammedans commit in the name of their deity. My God, the true Supreme Being, commands me to do good and not evil.
Yes, I understand. But the focus on his choice is itself a discussion, and one leading to distortions of the Catechism given us by the Holy Church.
BTW, I am a little suspicious of a source that can’t spell “etymology”.
They commit evils, yes, in the name of God Whom they don't know. "Allah", however, is Arabic for "God", and a word of the same root as the Hebrew "Elohim"; it is silly to deny it. Evidence: Christians pray to Allah when they pray in Arabic; see my Wikipedia post.
Further, before you condemn a whole religion, false that it is, it behooves you to learn something about it. The Koran makes clear references to God in the Hebrew tradition of God of Abraham. A distorted picture of God does emerge from the Koran, but the distortions do not concern that part.
It's me, sorry. I first was going to post two segments, then realized that all that separated them was the internal heading and typed it into the post, incorrectly. It is correct in the source.
More to the point, Wiki has gone a long way since it was a collection of personal opinions. There are references to objective sources all over the text I quoted, -- again, see the source.
Further, before you condemn a whole religion, false that it is, it behooves you to learn something about it.
&&&
Thanks for the lecture. I am amazed to know that you have been keeping track of my education. (Psst!...That was an example of what is known as sarcasm.)
However, the truth is that, although I have not read the koran as source material, I have read 2 books about it, in an effort to learn more about the worldview of people who rape and murder in the name of their professed religious belief.
Again, my original comment was not meant to dispute the actual etymological nuance of the word “allah”; it was directed at the mohammedans’ claim to worship the one true God.
I will not spend any more time on this discussion.
You wrote:
“I will not spend any more time on this discussion.”
Good, because so far your posts have been useless.
Thanks.
The problem with the use of “Allah,” is that 99% of the world doesn’t know of the existence of Arab Christians. This includes the Muslims who would think that the pope is acknowledging Mohammed’s false conception of God.
That problem is not with the use of “Allah” but with 99% of the world lacking education. In the case of the Muslims in particular, it would do them good to understand that they do not have a monopoly on the faith in Allah.
I actually doubt that the Muslims “don’t know of the existence of Arab Christians” — they live with them, sometime peacefully, sometime not. In Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Arab Palestine Christians are a noticeable minority, and in Lebanon they are close to half the population. These are all Arab countries are they not?
The great majority of Muslims are not Arabs, and even in Arab countries, Christians are a small minority. When a Muslim hears someone use the name Allah, he is thinking of Mohammed’s God, and that that person has rejected the “polytheism” of traditional Christianity.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.