This is something that was discussed in the cultural part of my Arabic language class. A common mistake my students make is to assume the words God, Allah and Elohim means different Gods in regards to the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
I will try to clarify the meaning of the three linguistically so they will come to understand the difference in the names does not mean a difference in God as the only one worshipped in the three religions. It is important for them to know that the meaning of the three means one common God to all.
Many people think or maybe believe the plural form that grammatically exists.
In the name of God, or the many names of God makes the creator God various or numbered.
This case is not true in the monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, for the name of God in the three monotheistic religions varies but the meaning is one and God is one in the three religions.
The name of God Eloha or Elohim, for example, which is referred to as Yahweh in Judaism as it is mentioned in the different chapters in the Old Testament, is in reality just different names for the same God.
The word Eloha and its plural Elohim as referred to in Encyclopedia Judaica, is a lengthened form of EL which is found in Aramaic as Elah and as in Arabic Ilah.
The singular word Eloha was not mentioned so frequently in the Old Testament as such, but in the book of Job where it is found in this form 40 times. At the same time one can find that the word Elohim in its plural form was rarely used to refer to pagan gods until the late period as mentioned in Daniel, 11:37 and 2 Chronicles, 32:15.
But in all cases, the word Elohim was used in its plural form to refer only to the One God of Israel.
The plural word for Elohim in Judaism does not insinuate the worship of many gods or pagan gods, but in fact, the plural form here is used as a form of respect which is treated as if it were a noun in the singular form, for the people of Israel were preached to worship only One God.
Therefore, the form of Elohim in the Bible according to the Aramaic or Hebrew language with the suffix ‘im’ denotes a plural respect, dignity and authority, and it goes after a proper name to mean ‘The Great’ so and so.
Therefore, ‘Eloh-im’ in the Bible means, The Great Eloh, Elah or Allah. Jesus also preached the worship of the one God as he inherited the Old Testament after Prophet Moses in addition to the teachings that Jesus also preached through the special revelations he received from God. So although the Christians have translated the proper name ‘Allah’ as God, a similar plural form of authority is also present in the Arabic language to denote the Greatness or Supreme Authority.
For example, in Arabic, when Allah wants to mean I, he says “we,” and that does not mean that Allah in Islam is more than one!
In Islam, one can find from the encyclopedia of religion and through reading the ‘Quran’ the holy book in Islam, that all the Quranic verses mentioning God’s existence, his perfection and his relation to his creatures is referred to as Allah. Grammatically, Allah is a contraction of the word Al-ilah which means the Only God.
– Safaa Shaheen is a professor in the Modern Languages Department.
