By Bob Jackson
“Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Isaiah 44:6–8
Recently a Catholic priest in the Netherlands made the suggestion that we all call God “Allah,” and we Christians and Muslims could get along with one another. However, is Allah just a name for the one true God? Is Allah of the Koran and God in the Bible the same being? Christians in Muslim countries generally call God Allah, but is that really correct? We support a missionary in Indonesia that is working to translate the Bible into their language, and God will not be translated with the name Allah in that translation.
There Is One True God
God made everything material that now exists, Isaiah 45:18; Genesis 1:1. This creation was accomplished through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, John 1:1–4,14,18. Muslim teaching (the teaching of Allah), however, rejects the deity of Jesus Christ, John 10:30; Isaiah 9:6. Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, John 1:14,18. Jesus Christ came as God’s provision to redeem us from our sins, 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5–8. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins coupled with His victorious resurrection is the only means for a human being to have a relationship with God and become His child, Romans 1:16; 10:9–10; Colossians 1:27. However, in Muslim teaching, Jesus Christ is declared to be no more than a prophet for His time on earth among His own people, Romans 1:3–4.
“Isa Almasih is the false Jesus of the Koran. The Koran declares that Isa Almasih was born of a virgin, but that God is not his Father. Isa Almasih is not God’s Son. Isa Almasih did not die on the cross (most Muslims believe that the man who died on the cross was Judas Iscariot, not Jesus). Muslims believe that Isa Almasih was translated that he should not see death (like Enoch), and so did not die, was not buried, and definitely did not rise from the dead. Clearly, therefore, ‘Isa Almasih’ is not the Jesus of the Bible.”
“In 1832 a revision of an earlier (Indonesian language) translation of the four gospels and the book of Acts was made by Claudius Thomsen. Munsyi Abdullah was Thomsen’s language teacher. At the end, Munsyi Abdullah was very critical of Thomsen’s work as he did not like the use of various Christian terms mixed with Islamic terms. Most likely he especially did not like Jesus being called Allah’s child. He would have disliked Jesus being called Allah’s Son even more. An important part of Islamic theology is that Allah cannot have a child, so any Muslim would not be pleased to read either statement.” Quoted from “A Sharp Two-Edged Sword For Indonesia” written by Dr. Louis A. Turk.
This one true God is manifest in three persons, 1 John 5:7. Of course, we call this truth the Trinity. While this word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible, the doctrine is evident there. Each person of the Trinity is recognized in the work of redemption, 1 Peter 1:2. The plan of redemption was made from the foundation of the world, Revelation 13:8. In this plan we see the personal suffering and sacrifice of our Savior as our substitute for sins, 1 Peter 3:18; 2:24. We also see the persuasive conviction of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God in this plan of redemption, John 16:7–11. The Trinity is also revealed in the Word of God on different occasions, Matthew 3:16–17; 1 John 5:7. Muslims, however, declare, “There is no such blasphemous thing as the ‘Trinity.’” This is the teaching of Allah.
The Triune God of the Bible makes Himself known to us through His love for us, John 3:16; 1 John 4:10. Love is a characteristic of the true God of the Bible, 1 John 4:8. The Koran calls Allah “all-loving,” but he expresses no love to people, 1 John 3:16. We certainly see the evidence of “the love of Allah” expressed by many Muslim followers as they seek to kill innocent people, and even use their own children as human bombs. Could the same God, the one true God, so totally change His character in just over 500 years, which is the time between the completion of the written Word of God (the Bible) and the so-called revelation given to Muhammad, James 1:17; Malachi 3:6. The Bible answer is a resounding, No!
The Name Of The True God
“LORD” (Isaiah 44:6) is generally the translation of the name Jehovah in the Bible. This name means the eternal, self-existent One. God is identified by many names in the Bible; all of these names refer to the same God and identify various characteristics of God. Salvation is given through the name of (the person of) Jesus Christ, Acts 4:10–12; Philippians 2:9–11. Knowing the true God requires receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, John 14:6; 1 John 2:23. There is no other means of approaching God except through the Lord Jesus Christ, John 14:6.
From various sources, it is clear that the name Allah came from pre-Muslim belief among Arab peoples. “Early Arabian kingdoms had their deities including Athtar the male Venus star, Ilmuqah (also known as Hawbas, ‘Amm, Anbay, Wadd, Sin, or Mawl) the moon god, and a sun goddess, Dhat Ba’adan or Dhat Himyan.... Their religion was polytheistic and was related to the paganism of the ancient Semites. The beings it adored were in origin the inhabitants and patrons of single places, living in trees, fountains, and especially sacred stones. There were some gods in the true sense, transcending in their authority the boundaries of purely tribal cults. The three most important were Manat, ‘Uzza, and Allat. These three were themselves subordinate to a higher deity, usually called Allah.... Their religion was not personal but communal. The tribal faith centered around the tribal god, symbolized usually by a stone, sometimes by some other object.”
“The Koran mentions these pagan deities in Sura 53:19–20: ‘Have ye seen Lat, and ‘Uzza, and another, the third (goddess) Manat?’ This is followed by an assertion (vss.21–23) that these goddesses, the daughters of Allah the moon god according to pre-Islamic Arab theology, are mere human creations that divide God into parts. These deities were popular at Mecca at the time of Muhammad’s birth.”
“It is believed by some scholars that Allah, or al-Ilah (“the god”), can be traced to Ilah, the South Arabian moon god.... The Quran speaks of hanifs , pre-Islamic Arab monotheists who were neither Christians nor Jewish. Extant evidence shows that Allah meant ‘the (one) God’ for many Christians, Jews, monophysites, and Nestorians who lived throughout the Arabian peninsula.” These quotes are all taken from The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin.
“One of the most alarming things one notices when examining the latest Indonesian translations of the Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia (Indonesia Bible Society), is the inappropriate use of Islamic terms. By this I do not mean Arabic words, for there are many Arabic words which have become part of the Indonesian language, and as long as these words are used properly there is no problem. Rather, what is alarming is the use of ‘Islamic’ terms in such a wrong way as to make one suspect that Muslims were somehow involved in the translations. There is one word which is of particular concern-‘Allah.’ In the modern translations (Theos) and (Elohim) are translated as ‘Allah.’ Most Indonesians (88 percent) are Muslims. Indonesia has, in fact, the largest Muslim population in the world. The remainder of the population is: Protestant 5, Roman Catholic 3, Hindu 2, Buddhist 1, other 1 (as of 1998). So what a word means to Muslims is important. When they read an Islamic term in the Bible, they are going to think it means what it commonly means to the vast majority of the population. This is especially true for the word ‘Allah.’ It is wrong for a translator to try to make a word mean something different than what that word means to 88 percent of the population. Most previous translators have tried to force ‘Allah’ to mean ‘God’ when it does not mean God to the predominately Muslim population. Allah is the name of Islam’s god; the Arabic word for God is Ilah, not Allah. For 88 percent of the population of Indonesia, Allah does not mean God, and therefore the word ‘Allah’ should not be found in the Bible.”
“The Arabic word for God is Ilah not Allah. Muslim Arabs say: ‘There is no Ilah but Allah;’ they do not say, ‘There is no Allah but Allah.’ At least one translation of the Koran into Indonesian uses ‘Ilah’ for ‘God,’ and ‘Allah’ only for the name of Islam’s god. Another Indonesian version of the Koran translates God as ‘Tuhan,’ but ‘Allah’ still only as their god’s name. To repeat, Allah does not mean God, but is the name of the Islamic god. This mistranslation of the word for God and of the name of God has had dire consequences. Allah is not Yahweh (Jehovah). If it is wrong for a Christian to worship in the name of Molech or in the name of Baal, then it is also wrong for a Christian to worship in the name of Allah. Allah is the Muslim god who has no son and is not a Trinity. Allah is the god of Muslims, not the God of Christians. ‘Yahweh’ is the name of the Christian God. In Hebrew and Indonesian, Jesus is pronounced Yesus, and Jehovah is pronounced ‘Yahweh.’”
“Many Indonesians say that the Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia translations are one of the major causes of the massacre of thousands of Christians in the Maluku Islands and on the island of Sulawesi during 1998–2001, and continuing to a lesser extent down to this day, because Muslims were (and still are) offended by the Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia Bibles saying that Allah had a Son. The fact is Allah does not have a son, but Jehovah (Yahweh) does!”
“Koran Shakir translation: 3:2 ‘Allah, (there is) no god but He’... [If ‘Allah’ meant ‘God’ then Shakir would have translated this verse ‘Allah (there is) no Allah but He.’ The Oxford English Dictionary gives this definition: ‘Allah: the name of the Deity among Muslims.’”
“‘Allah’ is not a common name, and does not mean ‘God.’ Instead, ‘Allah’ is a proper (personal) name for Islam’s god. Allah is not the same God as Yahweh. Allah is not the God of Christianity, and the word ‘Allah’ should not be found in a translation of the Bible. Bibles that include the name ‘Allah’ are not suitable for use in Bible-believing churches.” Quotations from “A Sharp Two-Edged Sword For Indonesia.”
There also seems to be some connection with an ancient moon god, and we see this in the symbols used by Muslims worldwide. “In ancient Syria and Canna, the Moon-god Sin was usually represented by the moon in its crescent phase.... The pagan Arabs worshiped the Moon-god Allah by praying toward Mecca several times a day; making a pilgrimage to Mecca; running around the temple of the Moon-god called the Kabah; kissing the black stone; killing an animal in sacrifice to the Moon-god; throwing stones at the devil; fasting for the month which begins and ends with the crescent moon; giving alms to the poor; etc.” This quote is taken from the Yeshua Communications Network.
Therefore, we conclude that the Muslim god Allah is not the God of the Bible. Allah is not the true God, and we would be sinning against God to call Him Allah, Acts 4:12.
Tract B–321 can be Ordered From Tabernacle Baptist Church