Is the ancient Hebrew word "Elohim" related to the Arabic "Allah"?

Question

In Aramaic/Ancient Hebrew, "el" means "god" and "Elohim" means "the gods" or "the Supreme God".

Can't this be interpreted as part of the evidence suggesting that Judaic tribes were once polytheistic?

Likewise, in Arabic, "illah" means "god" and "Allah" means "the God".

Why, then, do so many Christian apologists try to smear Islam by claiming that "Allah" was a moon god on the basis that the word "illah" was once associated with pagan gods when the same can be said of "Elohim"?

http://www.htmlbible.com/sacrednamebiblecom/kjvstrongs/FRMSTRHEB4.htm

If you're looking for examples of Christians (and others) who denounce Allah as a "moon god", look no further than the religion and spirituality section of Yahoo Answers. Of course, I realize that they're claims are false, but it's amazing how many people don't. It's often an attempt to smear the Islamic god as a "pagan" god in order to (1) differentiate him from the Judeo-Christian god, and (2) defend Christianity from accusations of being polytheistic (on the basis of the Trinity) made by Muslims by attacking Islam on similar terms.

Oops...make that "their claims". Stupid homophones.

Answer 1

Yes, Hebrew 'el' and Arabic 'illah' both come from the common Semitic word 'il' meaning god. There is some argument as to whether the word 'Elohim' is the same root, as the plural of 'el' ('elim') also exists in the bible. However, in several instances, 'Elohim' is translated in the plural, i.e. Psalms 82:6, which seems to confirm that it is from the same root as 'el'. As you point out, 'Allah' is the definite form of 'illah'.
As for the early Israelite tribes being polytheistic, there is a mountain of evidence, both from the Bible itself, and from archaeological excavations to prove that they were indeed polytheistic. Most mainstream scholars agree that monotheism did not come about until around the time of the exile (6th century BCE). 2 recent and excellent books on this topic are:
Mark S. Smith - 'The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts', and William G. Dever - 'Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel'. I would highly recommend them.
Many Christian apologists ignore this evidence, and insist that Israel was always monotheistic. These people often selectively use a little bit of linguistic analysis (without really understanding it) to support their arguments, while ignoring other important facts. One could argue that Muslims are more monotheistic than Christians, since Christians believe in the Trinity while Muslims strongly affirm that there is only one God. I think the real issue here is what are Christian apologists trying to sell? It seems to me that most of these Muslim-bashers are trying to get people to buy into all the right wing foreign policy crap that says that America has some sort of God given right to invade foreign countries and kill tens of thousands of people in order to fight 'evil' and spread 'democracy'. That doesn't sound very Christian to me.

Answer 2

Yes, Hebrew elohim is related to Arabic allah. No, it doesn't indicate that Judaism was originally polytheistic, any more than a king who calls himself "we" believes that he is sitting on another king's lap. In fact, the word "elohim" when referring to God is *singular* as demonstrated by the fact that it takes singular verbs. Moreover,the language we call "Hebrew" today was originally "Canaanite". The Canaanites *were* polytheistic...but language isn't *proof* of this fact, any more than it is a proven "fact" that English-speakers can't think of anything but food. After all, when they wake up in the morning, the first thought is how they didn't eat all night!! That's why they call the morning meal "break fast".

To the best of my knowledge "illah" is not related to any moon god, either. I have never seen this claimed (and I didn't see it on the Web page you referenced), and anyway--just because someone claims something doesn't mean it's true.