02-07-2008, 02:35 AM
Hi Khati Christina,
Well, it's not easy to try and explain but here's my attempt: (rather long-winded)
Semitic languages all share similar forms for nouns.
The most basic form for all nouns is the construct.
Here is a noun shared among Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew - KTB ("book"). In the basic construct form, the three languages represent this word as:
Ktab (Aramaic)
Ktab (Hebrew)
Kitab (Arabic)
In the construct, or most very basic form, the word simply means "book."
Now, in Semitic languages there is also a state called the Emphatic. (Of the three languages, Aramaic makes this the standard form instead of the construct)
Here's how the words look in the Emphatic state: (I've highlighted the changes)
Ktaba (Aramaic)
Ha-Ktab (Hebrew)
Al-Kitab (Arabic)
Rather than simply "book" in the Construct, the Emphatic makes it "THE book".
This is a rather oversimplification of the subject matter because I want to explain with some sort of brevity here, but essentially in order to create the Emphatic:
Aramaic appends an "a" to the Construct
Hebrew prepends a "ha" to the Construct
Arabic prepends a "al" to the Construct(made famous today by "Al-Qaeda", "THE base")
So to answer your question, there is no difference in meaning between the Arabic 'illah and Allah, except that the latter is a contraction of "al-ilah", "THE God". The contraction results in the Emphatic "Allah".
In English, we utilize contraction all the time.
"How is your day going?"
"How's your day going?"
"I would like to explain this better!"
"I'd like to explain this better!"
For the record, in Aramaic the Construct for "god" is "Alah", and the Emphatic is "Alaha". Again, in Aramaic the Emphatic is the standard form, whereas in Hebrew and Arabic the preference is for the Construct to be the standard.
This is why so many words that are similar between Hebrew and Aramaic, are differentiated by only the -a appended to the Aramaic. "Beyth" ("house") in Hebrew becomes "Beytha" in Aramaic. "Seper" ("scroll") becomes "Sepra", etc. Hebrew prefers Construct, Aramaic prefers Emphatic.
Hope that answers your question.
No god except THE God.
But again, none of these terms....not the Aramaic "Alaha", Hebrew "Eloah", Arabic "Allah", English "God" or Greek "Theos" means anything except for god with a lower-case g. God only has one real name, His personal name. And when in Aramaic we want to allude to it we say "Maryah", or "Lord Yah". The meaning of the symbol on this website. It's the Holy Name.
Islam has corrupted that concept by attributing a title to Him as a personal name, which of course is ridiculous.
Christina Wrote:Is there any difference between "ilah" and "allah"?
Well, it's not easy to try and explain but here's my attempt: (rather long-winded)
Semitic languages all share similar forms for nouns.
The most basic form for all nouns is the construct.
Here is a noun shared among Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew - KTB ("book"). In the basic construct form, the three languages represent this word as:
Ktab (Aramaic)
Ktab (Hebrew)
Kitab (Arabic)
In the construct, or most very basic form, the word simply means "book."
Now, in Semitic languages there is also a state called the Emphatic. (Of the three languages, Aramaic makes this the standard form instead of the construct)
Here's how the words look in the Emphatic state: (I've highlighted the changes)
Ktaba (Aramaic)
Ha-Ktab (Hebrew)
Al-Kitab (Arabic)
Rather than simply "book" in the Construct, the Emphatic makes it "THE book".
This is a rather oversimplification of the subject matter because I want to explain with some sort of brevity here, but essentially in order to create the Emphatic:
Aramaic appends an "a" to the Construct
Hebrew prepends a "ha" to the Construct
Arabic prepends a "al" to the Construct(made famous today by "Al-Qaeda", "THE base")
So to answer your question, there is no difference in meaning between the Arabic 'illah and Allah, except that the latter is a contraction of "al-ilah", "THE God". The contraction results in the Emphatic "Allah".
In English, we utilize contraction all the time.
"How is your day going?"
"How's your day going?"
"I would like to explain this better!"
"I'd like to explain this better!"
For the record, in Aramaic the Construct for "god" is "Alah", and the Emphatic is "Alaha". Again, in Aramaic the Emphatic is the standard form, whereas in Hebrew and Arabic the preference is for the Construct to be the standard.
This is why so many words that are similar between Hebrew and Aramaic, are differentiated by only the -a appended to the Aramaic. "Beyth" ("house") in Hebrew becomes "Beytha" in Aramaic. "Seper" ("scroll") becomes "Sepra", etc. Hebrew prefers Construct, Aramaic prefers Emphatic.
Hope that answers your question.
Christina Wrote:In light of Muslims "hijacking" the title "Allah" for their god, how then should the creed be understood today? No god but God, or no god but Allah?
No god except THE God.
But again, none of these terms....not the Aramaic "Alaha", Hebrew "Eloah", Arabic "Allah", English "God" or Greek "Theos" means anything except for god with a lower-case g. God only has one real name, His personal name. And when in Aramaic we want to allude to it we say "Maryah", or "Lord Yah". The meaning of the symbol on this website. It's the Holy Name.
Islam has corrupted that concept by attributing a title to Him as a personal name, which of course is ridiculous.