Is Allah just another name for God?

Question

The Roman Catholic Church at Vatican II said that Christians, Muslims and Jews share the faith of Abraham.
These three main religions all have their roots in Abraham in some way. But do Muslims understand Allah the same way Jews understand God? Do Muslims share belief in the Trinity as Christians do? No!
Although there are connections with Abraham, the ancient Jews, and the belief in ONE GOD, all three religions understand that God differently.
What Vatican II says about Muslims and Jews are correct. But we know that there are different beliefs concerning, Who God IS, what God has done, and how he works in our lives.
Lets look at Jesus. Jews reject Jesus as the expected Messiah and are still waiting for the messiah to come. Muslims say that Jesus was not the Messiah and is definitely not God. (It says so in the Koran). Christians believe in 3 person and 1 nature in God -Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Se we clearly see God differently.

The reason I'm raising this issue is because some on here have said that Allah is just another name for God. Thats not what Vatican II said.
My point is that Allah is not just another name for God. Allah would be likened to God the Father. But muslims do not understand Allah as the Trinity nor Jesus as the 2nd person of the Trinity. So the following equation is wrong:

Allah = God = Trinity

This is why the Roman Catholic Church for 2000 years has been very careful in defining terms about God and beliefs in general. Bad use of language leads to misleading ideas.

Christian God = Trinity = 1 God 3 Persons
(truth comes from Bible/Church/

Jewish God = 1 God = I Am
Truth comes from Torah

Muslim God - Allah = 1 God (no trinity)
Truth comes from thru Muhammid

To say that when we go from one language to another it means the same thing is wrong.
Allah is the God of the Jews, Christians and Muslims = very misleading statements about who and what God is.

Answer 1

IT IS SUPPOSE TO BE

Answer 2

I used to think that this was the case, mainly because Maltese (a Semitic language) uses the name "Allah" for the God worshipped by Jews and Christians. However, I have been led to change my mind by a number of things, including the fact that each mosque has inscribed firmly on the front of it in Arabic: "There is no God but Allah. God has no Son." As I believe most firmly that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that God cannot deny himself (2 Tim 2:13), I have to conclude that Allah is not my God.

Answer 3

Allah is God in Arabic.... that is all it is. The reason most Muslims continue to use the word in non-Arabic speaking countries is b/ in arabic there is a distinction between God (Allah) and god (illah).

An Arabic speaking Christian or Jew would say Allah...

Muslims even believe in many of the same stories and prophets and Christians and Jews...... they also believe that Christians and Jews can go to heaven

"Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. "

-Holy Qur'an 2:62

Peace and Blessings,
Sakina

Answer 4

I don't think it's about understanding God differently, I think it is about interpreting God differently.

God is not defined by us. He defines Himself. Therefore, if we all believe in the same God, we should all hold the same beliefs about who He is, what He wants from us, etc. But we don't. Why?

Because some choose, instead of knowing God as He Himself tells us that He is, want to twist Him into what WE want Him to be to achieve OUR purposes.

God says that He is 3 persons: Father, Son and Spirit. That is how HE defines Himself. Yet some want to say "god is everything and everyone is god". Why? Because that way, they don't have to be accountable to God, and they can do whatever THEY want to do.....

God says that Jesus came to earth, was crucified as a final atonement for ALL our sin, was buried and rose again on the third day, and we now have unhindered access to Him. Yet Jews to this day do not believe He was the Messiah. Why? Because they were wanting someone to overthrow the Roman empire and be an earthly 'savior'. When Jesus appeared, they rejected Him because He wasn't what THEY had wanted.....

So please remember....it isn't that we have one God with all these different attributes which fit each religion separately.....

WE HAVE ONE GOD who some twist into their image, instead of accepting who God says He is, PERIOD.

Answer 5

Yes Allah is one, we call God by the name Allah. God has most beautiful names. And Allah is one of them.
So why Muslims call Allah insted of God? Is your question?
Well, it is because God is one and Muslims do not associate anyone with him. And nothing can be possible added before or after the word 'Allah' Although with the word 'God' it is possible like Goodies, Gods, God father, God mother etc. Hpoe you understand why muslims call God by the name Allah. It means same whether you say Allah or God!

Answer 6

Love is a keynote of Christianity that Islam lacks. In the words of one Muslim convert to Christianity, "Christianity is a religion of love; Islam is a religion of fear." Muslims do not have the kind of loving, intimate relationship with God that Christians do.

"You do not seem to realize that Allah is merely the word for God in the Arabic language, just like Deus in Latin, Gott in German, Dieu in French, and so on. (It means literally the Divinity—the only one that exists.) So it is that Arab Catholics worship Allah just as much as Muslims do. In all Catholic Bibles printed in Arabic, God is called Allah in both Old and New Testaments. Vatican Council II and Pope John Paul II have taught rightly that in spite of their disbelief in the Incarnation and the Trinity, Muslims cannot justly be classified as idolaters. Allah—nothing other than the Arabic word for God—cannot be equated with Baal, Zeus, Ashtaroth, Krishna, Aphrodite, and the other local, finite, false deities of pagan polytheists. The nature of Islam is more that of a heresy—an offshoot of Christianity and Judaism that retains the basic monotheistic concept of the one true Creator God. In short, although Muslim worship, which includes a flat denial of Christ’s divinity, is not in itself fitting, God-pleasing, or salvific in character, the object of that defective worship—that is, the Being toward whom it is directed—is nevertheless the true God, imperfectly understood, as distinct from a disguised demon or a nonexistent figure of myth or legend.

Reference: http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2003/0301fea4.asp

http://www.newadvent.org/etc/search.htm?safe=active&cx=000299817191393086628%3Aifmbhlr-8x0&q=allah&cof=FORID%3A9#913

The Caliph 'Uthman, the third Caliph to rule the Islamic theocracy (A.D. 644-656), ordered the final canonization of the Qur'an to settle disputes over the content of the text. Thus was produced in 657, twenty-five years after Mohammed's death, the authoritative version of the Qur'an which we know today. All other copies were ordered destroyed, which is an interesting historical fact in light of the undying Islamic polemic about Jews and Christians being unable to establish the integrity of the biblical texts.

Reference:
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1992/9204fea1.asp

Answer 7

The Allah of the Muslims is not the same God of the Christians. Muslims in their Koran admit that their god is deceitful.

Answer 8

Dude: Allah is a pagan deity invented by some Arab long ago. The only true God is the God of the Bible. Allah never paid the price for your sins and requires you to do all the work to earn your place who knows where. Jesus said that salvation is free for the asking plus you also get eternal life. The choice is yours.
Mr. M on "Allah."

Answer 9

3:45 When the angels said, 'O Mary, Allah gives thee glad tidings of a son through a Word from Him; his name shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who are granted nearness to God;

Chapter 3 (Al-`Imran): Verse 45


The Qu'ran teaches Jesus is the Messiah but rejects the prophesies that prove he is the Messiah. The Qu'ran does not have a reason for the Messiah. The Messiah was foretold by the prophets as one who would atone for sin...This is confusing that the Qu'ran accepts Jesus as the Christ and the Messiah who was prophesied to come without the understanding of the prophesies of the Messiah.

The God worshiped by the Jews and the Christians can not be the Allah of Islam as he is not in agreement with this God
Muhammad is so not in agreement with this God that Muslims are forced to call the word of God corrupt.
Christians accept the word of God and the prophets of God before Christ and are in agreement with Gods prophets and his word as Moses said a true prophet of God must be.
The Bible contains the Old Testament the word of God before Christ we are in agreement with this God but Muslims disagree with it and are not worshiping the same God.

Answer 10

Some Middle Eastern Jews and Christians call him 'Allah'.

Answer 11

I personally don't believe this, but I've heard conflicting views on this, as I'm sure you have. One thing that sticks with me is that Allah is actually the name of a demon, and when Allah would "come into" Mohammed, he would have violent fits of trembling and break out in cold sweats, etc.