Arabic-L:TRANS:allaah discussion

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Thu 25 Oct 2001
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1) Subject: allaah discussion
2) Subject: allaah discussion
3) Subject: allaah discussion
4) Subject: allaah discussion
5) Subject: allaah discussion

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1)
Date:  25 Oct 2001
From: Yaser Al-Onaizan <yaser at ISI.EDU>
Subject: allaah discussion

Greetings all,

One thing we should be aware of that the Arabic word "allah" predates islam. In
fact the name of  prophet Mohammed's father is Abdullah. So,  I believe it is
wrong to say that the word "Allah" specifically refers to the god in Islamic
theology.  The word was used by Arabs well before islam.
Additionally, allah is one of the islamic names of god, there are more than 90
others that are used in the Koran. For example, al-rahim (the
merciful). All the
others are almost always translated into English and not transliterated.

This issue is related to the use of alternative spellings for other
islam-related
terms (e.g., Makkah instead of Mecca,  Quraan instead of Koran, etc.).

Regards,
Yaser Al-Onaizan
USC/ISI

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2)
Date:  25 Oct 2001
From: David Chambers <david.chambers at usa.net>
Subject: allaah discussion

Dear Colleagues,

IMHO, the burden, alas, falls on the translator for the use of "Allah" or
"God."

If a work in translation were theologoical, say about the Religions of
"the Book" (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), I might avoid "God"
altogether and use "Allah" to contrast with "Yahweh" for Judaism and
"Jehovah" for Christianity, thus equally distancing all three
terms/concepts/religions for readers, so no reader would be biased.
Otherwise, if I fell into the common trap of referring to the Christians'
God as "God," then I would be prejudicing my readers against the rather
foreign sounding terms of "Yahweh" and "Allah."  Of course, one would
have to consider which was the main language of Christianity (Latin,
Greek, modern European), etc., when determining the best term in English
for "God" -- I suggested Jehovah but even that has strong sectarian
connotations...

On the other hand, if the text were persuasive and "reaching out" to
embrace readers, I would probably use "God" wherever possible, perhaps at
points differentiating with terms such as "God in Islam" or "Allah" vs.
"God in Christianity" or "Jehovah" or "God in Judaism" or "Yahweh," as
very likely the author's intention would be to show commonality rather
than contrast.

The point is to understand the terms in each language and then when
translating to find the best meaning according to the author and not
ourselves, right?

No matter how it is translated or transliterated, I would always note
such issues to the reader beforehand and probably refer them to various
discussions about it.

BTW, "God" seems to be the very closest one can translate "Allah" into
English, and I must beg to modify Dr. Zeinab Ibrahim's statement:  god
with a capital "G" is the nearest thing in English to "ilah" with the
definite "Al-" prefix, while small "g" for god or gods has its Arabic
equivalents, right?  My CASA days are on trial here!        :)

Best to all - David

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3)
Date:  25 Oct 2001
From: Rahel Halabe <rahel at telus.net>
Subject: allaah discussion

As assumed by (6) Joan Smith/Kocamahhul <j.smith at ling.canterbury.ac.nz>
Arabic speaking Jews do refer to God as Alla.

Rahel

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4)
Date:  25 Oct 2001
From: "Schub, Michael" <michael.schub at trincoll.edu>
Subject: allaah discussion

Dear Rob't,

      /rasuul/  "means" "prophet; emissary."
      The foreign form /nabiiy/ was borrowed to indicate "prophet."
      The originally foreign terms /zakaat/ and /Salaat/ even retain
their foreign spellings  [with /waaw/].
      These and expressions such as  /al-Hayy  al-qayyuum/,
/al-muhaymin/,  /9illiyyuun\iin/, etc. were all recognized by
Tabari, SuyuuTi, and other Islamic scholars to be of foreign
origin.  See Arthur Jeffery.  *The Foreign Vocabulary of the
Koran*  Baruda  1938.

      Best wishes,
                               Mike Schub

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5)
Date:  25 Oct 2001
From: Iman Soliman <halleluiah3 at yahoo.com>
Subject: allaah discussion

Hello
As an Egyptian Christian and a native speaker of the
language, the term allah always means God.  The Arabic
translation of the Bible speaks of allah meaning God
definitely not the Islamic word meaning allah.  I
think the tendency towards using Allah as a proper
noun meaning the God of islam to emphsis that we do
not all worship the same God has emerged in the late
seventies and eighties with the strength of Islamic
extrimists.
Well, I may not be an expert on translation but this
is simply what the word means to me.
Thank you
Iman

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End of Arabic-L:  25 Oct 2001