Can Muslims copyright word ‘Allah’?
Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.
Can Muslims copyright word ‘Allah’?
Malaysia has banned non-Muslims from using the word ‘Allah’ in their texts, saying the word is Islamic and may upset Muslims.
The Roman Catholic Church is challenging the ‘Allah’ ban in court, saying it is unconstitutional and discriminates against those worshipping in Malay language.
Church officials say Allah is not exclusive to Islam but is an Arabic word that predates Islam.
Bibles in Arabic language use word ‘Allah’ for God.
Does anyone on this forum hope Muslims will develop tolerance?
From Zahid Aziz:
In the Holy Quran, Allah orders the Holy Prophet as follows:
“To this then go on inviting, and be steadfast as thou art commanded, and follow not their low desires, and say: I believe in what Allah has revealed of the Book, and I am commanded to do justice between you. Allah is our Lord and your Lord. For us are our deeds; and for you your deeds. There is no contention between us and you. Allah will gather us together, and to Him is the eventual coming. ” 42:15
He is told, and likewise every Muslim is told, to say to non-Muslims: Allah is your Lord (as well as ours). So a Muslim obeying this command of the Quran, saying to Christians that Allah is your Lord, would be breaking the law!
From Tariq:
>>Does anyone on this forum hope Muslims will develop tolerance?
Hope? Yes. When? Allah knows.
The Ulema in Malaysia had issued a fatwa against Yoga last year. The above mentioned incident is an unfortunate logical extension of that kind of attitude. I am not sure if one should laugh, cry or get angry? Maybe all three. The pattern is similar to what has been happening in Pakistan, then Bangladesh, then Indonesia and now Malaysia.
From Rashid:
@Zahid Aziz
“So a Muslim obeying this command of the Quran, saying to Christians that Allah is your Lord, would be breaking the law!”
Do you mean:
So a Muslim obeying this command of the Quran, saying to Christians that Allah is [only our lord and NOT] your Lord, would be breaking the law!
From Zahid Aziz:
I meant that if a Muslim acted in accordance with this verse and said to Christians “Allah is our Lord and your Lord”, he would be breaking the law or the regulations of Malaysia because he would be telling Christians that their Lord is Allah.
From Bashir:
In my research I found that ALlah did not reveal his name to Muhammad until later.
THe first time that the diety of Islam revealed his name, it was “lord”. Or RUB.
Muhammad transitioned from Lord to Ar-Rahman in surahs 56, 68, 78, 89, and the last half of surah 93. While none of these mention Allah, Ar-Rahman and Lord are used interchangeably, often side-by-side.
(see prophet of doom)
The names Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim are used fifty-one times in the Meccan period and twice in the first Medina surah. Then they disappear, replaced by Allah, never to be mentioned again.
(see prophet of doom)
I was searching for the first time that Allah revealed his name to Muhammad. I will find it shortly……
From Ikram:
“Malaysia has banned non-Muslims from using the word ‘Allah’ in their texts, saying the word is Islamic and may upset Muslims.”
Quran is one-step ahead of the idiocy of Mullah mentality. LOL:
17:110. Say, `Call upon (Him by the name of) Allâh or call upon (Him by the name of) Al-Rahmân (the Most Gracious). (In short) call upon Him by whichsoever name you like, all beautiful names belong to Him (- the One God).
Obviously Allah has no problems, it’s the “Muslims” who might have the problem.
From Zahid Aziz:
Sura Fatihah, ch. 1, is one of the earliest revelations beginning “Praise be to Allah”.
Ch. 112 “Say: He, Allah, is One”, is also one of the earliest.
From Bashir:
ZA; you are correct Surah Fatiha was revealed very early. This might be the first instance that Allah revealed his name.
The author of “prophet of doom” writes that Khadija knew the name “allah” before Muhammad did.
I am not sure if this is correct or not. But, on the surface this appears to be correct.
He provides this hadith:
Sahih Bukhari:
Volume 1, Book 1, Number 3:
Narrated ‘Aisha:
Then Allah’s Apostle returned with the Inspiration and with his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, “Cover me! Cover me!” They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, “I fear that something may happen to me.” Khadija replied, “Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your Kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones.”
From Zahid Aziz:
The word Allah was in the Arabic language and applied to the one supreme God. Obviously the Arabs knew and used this word long before Islam. The Holy Prophet’s father had the name Abdullah (i.e. `abd of Allah).
From Omar:
When the terms of the truce of Hudaibiyah were settled and were being dictated by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in front of his enemies, Suhail ibn Amr objected to the opening sentence, In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Suhail did not object to the word Allah being used, but objected to the words, the Beneficent and the Merciful!
The Holy Prophet agreed at once and said to his scribe, “Only write, In the name of Allah.”
See M. Muhsin Khan’s translation of Bukhari: Volume 3, Book 50, Number 891
…
It is important to know what was revealed to the Holy Prophet was that Allah is not the Lord of one nation, but the Lord of all of humanity – all nations of the world.
As. Dr. Zahid Aziz says in his khutba, Islam on the Common Goals and Principles of all Religions:
We then must say to others that “Allah is our Lord and your Lord”. At the present time, this announcement needs to be broadcast widely. Allah is not the “God of the Muslims”, the description that we read and hear daily in all kinds of media coverage of Islam. Allah is presented in the Quran as the Lord and God of all human beings.
…
Bashir: Would you also conduct a search for the first time the name Ibrahim (Abraham) was revealed to the Holy Prophet.
From Bashir:
For ZA: I have learned that Allah was in currency before the rise of Islam. Western writers have un-earthed archeological data that shows that allah was a moon-god of the arabs.
The supreme diety of the kaaba was allah, allah had daughters, the lat, the mannat, etc etc etc. See the satanic verses for more info on these daughters.
Western writers have written that Allah was a pagan god which Muhammad transformed into an international god.
I’m not saying that I agree with them. I am saying that they have a valid point which should be addressed.
Another factoid: allah never revealed his name in the Bible.
For Omar: I believe that your comment is an attempt at sarcasm. It might be hard for you to understand that some people do think critically. Some people do have an open mind.
Anyhow, I personally believe that Muhammad was well aware of the Jewish prophet Abraham well before his ministry.
The word Abraham appears in the Koran 50+ times.
From Zahid Aziz:
I wrote the following two articles sometime ago:
Allah, the Unique Name of God
Word Allah used for God in Modern Standard Arabic translation of the Bible
From Usman:
This is pretty sad. I have visited Malaysia a number of times and at least on the surface found a very tolerant and open Muslim majority society; with non-Muslims freely practising and also actively and visibly involved in various spheres of life (In fact much of my interaction there was with non-Muslims). If the govt. now is pandering to the Mullahs and making nonsensical anti-Quranic laws then it only has to look towards Pakistan to see where this policy eventually leads. The Mullah is like the proverbial camel asking to warm its nose (or is it the paw) in the tent.
From Bashir:
ZA: I read your articles. I appreciate your insight.
You still havent solved the equation of Allah in pre-islamic times.
1. How did Khadija know that Allah was contacting Muhammad?
Chapter 96 was the first revelation to Muhammad. It wasnt Allah who was contacting Muhammad. It was the RUB. Three times does the RUB contact Muhammad.
In 96:14, the name Allah appears. But this verse was revealed after the incident with Khadeeja. This might be the verse time that the name Allah was used in history of Islam.
Although, all muslims believe that Tabari and Ibn Hisham were greart liars, here what the historians of the ummah wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad's_first_revelation
At-Tabari and Ibn Hisham reported that Muhammad left the cave of Hira after being surprised by the Revelation, but later on, returned to the cave and continued his solitude. Subsequently, he returned to Mecca. At-Tabari reported on this incident, saying:
After mentioning the coming of the Revelation, the Messenger of Allah said: “I have never abhorred anyone more than a poet or a mad man. I can not stand looking at either of them. I will never tell anyone of Quraish of my Revelation. I will climb a mountain and throw myself down and die. That will relieve me. I went to do that but halfway up the mountain, I heard a voice from the sky saying ‘O Muhammad! You are the Messenger of Allah and I am Gabriel.’ I looked upwards and saw Gabriel in the form of a man putting his legs on the horizon. He said: ‘O Muhammad You are the Messenger of Allah and I am Gabriel.’ I stopped and looked at him. His sight distracted my attention from what I had intended to do. I stood in my place transfixed. I tried to shift my eyes away from him. He was in every direction I looked at. I stopped in my place without any movement until Khadijah sent someone to look for me. He went down to Mecca and came back while I was standing in the same place. Gabriel then left, and I went back home. I found Khadijah at home, so I sat very close to her. She asked: ‘Father of Al-Qasim! Where have you been? I sent someone to look for you. He went to Mecca and returned to me.’ I told her of what I had seen. She replied: ‘It is a propitious sign, O my husband. Pull yourself together, I swear by Allah that you are a Messenger for this nation.’ Then she stood up and went to Waraqa and informed him. Waraqa said: ‘I swear by Allah that he has received the same Namus, i.e. angel that was sent to Moses. He is the Prophet of this nation. Tell him to be patient.’ She came back to him and told him of Waraqa’s words. When the Messenger of Allah finished his solitary stay and went down to Makkah, he went to Waraqa, who told him: ‘You are the Prophet of this nation. I swear by Allah that you have received the same angel that was sent to Moses.’”
From Bashir:
One more piece of evidence:
It seems that Waraqa bin naufal even knew of the word Allah. This is very strange.
SAHIH BUKHARI
Volume 4, Book 55, Number 605:
Narrated ‘Aisha:
The Prophet returned to Khadija while his heart was beating rapidly. She took him to Waraqa bin Naufal who was a Christian convert and used to read the Gospels in Arabic Waraqa asked (the Prophet), “What do you see?” When he told him, Waraqa said, “That is the same angel whom Allah sent to the Prophet) Moses. Should I live till you receive the Divine Message, I will support you strongly.”
From Zahid Aziz:
You will have to excuse me but I am simply unable to understand your comments.
From LA:
Catholics want to use the name Allah as a mission tool to help them in trying to convert Muslims, thats a fact go to any Catholic web forum and ask them if Allah is the same as their God.
From Zahid Aziz:
The Quran also says that Allah is their God. What it says is wrong is their claim that “Allah is the third of three” or that Allah has a son.
From Ndun_Wa:
Muslim should not worry if Christian use the word Allah in the Bible. Why? Because there is written in the Quran that Allah also God of Christian. If Muslim cannot accept this fact, it is mean that Muslim don’t believe in what had written in Quran. Besides, muslim have to receive the fact that the word Allah already used by Arabians before Islam.
From Kuan Lian:
I am a non-muslim and had used the word Allah several times with the locals in Arabic state during conversation. There´s no problem! Whats the problem in Malaysia?
From Rashid:
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Three Christian churches were attacked with firebombs Friday as tensions rose in a dispute over whether Christians could use the word “Allah” in this largely Muslim nation.
I hope Malaysian government can resist the Mulla-Mafia pressure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/world/asia/09malaysia.html?ref=world