The A-B-C of 'Allah'

COMMENT This piece is really meant for two parties.

One party comprises dim judges who might be appointed to adjudicate the appeal the case of the Catholic weekly The Heraldby the Catholic Church now pending hearing. However, the bright ones probably may not find reading it totally a waste of time.

The other party comprises well-known persons who oppose the using of the word ‘Allah' by Christians but who are also dim. Note that I have used the phrase ‘well-known', which is neutral, unlike ‘notorious' and ‘famous'.

Of course, anyone and everyone else are most welcome to read it.

Now, as we are addressing ourselves to dimwits, we need to try to use simple English, speak slowly, keep out the complicated stuff, and make our sentences short whenever possible. Here goes.

‘Allah' is not a name. ‘Allah'... is... not... a... name. All right? Okay?

All right. Okay. Good! ‘Allah' is a descriptive term.

Let us now see one example of a name and one of a descriptive term.

‘Altantuya Shaariibuu' is a name. ‘Champion of Doubletalk' is a descriptive term.

Names cannot be translated. Names are always rendered as they are in whatever language you write. In Mandarin, ‘Winston Churchill' might be rendered as, say, ‘Winsirter Chachi’. That is not a translation.

Descriptive terms can be translated.

‘God’ is also not a name

‘Allah' is formed by joining two Arabic words together and shortening the result. The words are ‘Al' and `Ilah'. In English, the two words mean ‘the' and `God' respectively.

By around 100AD, that is some 500 years before Islam began, Christianity had already spread to what we know today as the Mediterranean region. And eastwards to the western and northern parts of what we know today as the Middle East.

Arabic-speaking Christians in those areas referred to the Almighty as ‘Allah'. They used the descriptive term in their holy texts.

‘God' is not a name, either. The first letter ‘G' is rendered in capital to indicate that Zhe is not a graven image, a material object worshipped as a deity. I have used the word ‘zhe' because I don't know if God is a male, a female, or a neuter.

Nor are ‘El', `El Shaddai', and ‘Yahweh' names. These are all descriptive terms.

‘El' means ‘God'. ‘Shaddai' means ‘Almighty'. ‘Yahweh' is the sound you make when you pronounce the Hebrew characters YHWH combined, which the Hebrews composed in ancient times to represent or to refer to God.

Examples of named deities are Shamash, Enlil, Enki, Bel-Marduk, and Anu.

As ‘God' is a descriptive term, you will not find it written that way in the Bible published in a language that is not English.

As ‘Allah' is a descriptive term, you will not find it written that way in the Bible published in English.

Are we clear now? I mean, Do you understand what I have said? Have I been able to make myself clear?

Yes? Yes. Excellent! The penny has dropped. (Remember, 'you' here refers to the intended targets of this piece.)

And you will be so kind as to not tell Christians to use the word ‘Tuhan' in place of `Allah'. A good number of imbeciles and ignoramuses pretending to be knowledgeable have done that.

‘Tuhan' means ‘Lord'. In some passages in the Bible, God is referred to as `Lord God'. Therefore, you would have ‘Tuhan Tuhan' in place of those phrases.

I am told that ‘Tuhan Tuhan' is the plural form of ‘Tuhan'. Since Christians believe in and worship only one God, they won't use the word you want them to come hell or high water.

Wrong interpretations

Next, the contents of the Bible can be understood only but only after years of study and having acquired a wide knowledge of sundry subjects other than Christianity.

Even the simple word ‘Lord' can stump you. In some passages, it is rendered with only the letter ‘L' in capital. In some other passages, it is rendered with all the letters in capital.

There is a reason for this, but it is not necessary for us to go into it. I have pointed it out only to show you that merely reading the Bible on your own and not having sufficient knowledge will result in you making awfully wrong interpretations.

You need to be educated on the circumstances prevailing and the style of languages used at, as well as before, the material times of the events narrated in the texts as well as of those when the texts were written or translated.

Here is one example: Eglon, the king of Moab, was ‘attending to his needs in the cool chamber'. Would you know what the phrase ‘attending to his needs in the cool chamber' means and what the cool chamber was? I'll bet my last penny you don't. Would you know what a ‘summer parlour' was? I'll bet my last penny you don't, either.

Here is a simpler example - ‘Keep silence'. I'll also bet my last penny that you don't know what the phrase means.

And an even simpler one, ‘begotten'. It does not mean what you think. And if you don't know what it actually means, you will never be able to have even a basic idea of the concept of the Holy Trinity. Thus you will clearly illustrate your total ignorance by saying that Christians worship three gods.

Depending on the denomination or order you belong to, you really need at least four years of full-time study at tertiary level before you can preach and minister. Those aspiring to be Jesuit priests have to spend 11 long years.

That is why men-of-the-collar such as Bishop Paul Tan not only speak and write very good English, but they also exhibit their possession of above-average level of intelligence and of breadth of knowledge.

They would never even think of-and never mind offer-infantile, imbecilic arguments such as the word ‘Allah' might even appear on beer bottles were non-Muslims allowed to use it.

Surf the 'Net for an hour or so to learn about Christianity, and you will not only hardly even scratch the surface, but also regurgitate utter rubbish when you announce your deductions.

Sorry for the few rather lengthy sentences and complicated words above, but I have quite forgotten myself. If you don't understand them, it's best that you ‘keep silence'.

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ODIN TAJUE is a regular Malaysiakini commenter.