Is “Allah” Just Another Word for God?

Alan Shlemon

There’s confusion about the word “Allah.” Recently, a commentator claimed that “Allah” is just the Arabic word for God, and that it doesn’t specifically refer to a different god. Her reasoning? “Arabic-speaking Christians pray to ‘Allah.’” Is that true? Yes and no. Some nuance is needed. Here are four points to understand.

First, “Allah” is a word for God when speaking in Arabic. As someone who has worked with Arabic-speaking Christians in the Middle East for over a decade, I often hear my brothers and sisters in Christ refer to God as “Allah.” They are not referring to the Islamic notion of God, though. Rather, it’s just the Arabic word for God.

As an Assyrian-speaking Christian, I use the word “Allaha” when I say “God” in my language. You probably recognize how similar that word is to “Allah.” Both Assyrian and Arabic are Semitic languages and therefore have some similar words. When I say “Allaha,” I’m not referring to the Islamic notion of God, nor does my family infer anything Islamic when they hear me use the term (unless we’re talking about Muslims and their conception of God).

The fact that Arabic-speaking Christians say “Allah,” then, is not proof that the word “Allah” is always interchangeable with “God.” It’s normal for Christians to use “Allah” to refer to God when they are speaking in Arabic.  

Second, “Allah” is not a general word for God when speaking in English. When it comes to speaking in English, the situation is different. When an American (or other English speaker) hears “Allah,” they reasonably conclude it implies the Islamic notion of God. Why? Because no one except a Muslim says “Allah” when speaking in English. Plus, there’s a perfectly good term for a divine being in English: God. That is an interchangeable term that refers to deity in any religion (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc.).

Notice that the context and language make all the difference. When speaking in Arabic, “Allah” can be a general term for God. When speaking in English, however, everyone understands “Allah” to refer to the Islamic concept of God. No one is left wondering which religious deity is in view.

This distinction is obvious when I’m in the Middle East. While Christians sometimes say “Allah” when they speak in Arabic, they’ll immediately change and say “God” when they speak in English. If it were actually a general term for God in English, then Arabic-speaking Christians would use it even in English. They don’t because they realize it’s an obvious reference to the Islamic notion of God.

Third, “Allah” is the specific name for God in Islam. It is not intended by Muslims to be any god. The official creed in Islam, known as the shahada, begins with, “There is no god but Allah.” Notice the formulation of their creed specifically rejects the existence of any (lowercase) god except for Allah (the one true God, according to their belief). This lends further credence to the idea that Allah is the specific God of Islam. By contrast, the name of the God of the Bible is Yahweh.

Fourth, “Allah” and “Yahweh” refer to fundamentally different conceptions of God. Allah is one God who exists as one person. Yahweh, however, is one God who exists as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Allah is a transcendent being and is impossible to know in a personal way. Yahweh, by contrast, is not only transcendent but also immanent. This means he enters his creation and develops a personal relationship with his created beings (Jesus is the ultimate example of his immanence). The list of differences between Allah and Yahweh can go on.

Since we know there are fundamental differences between the God of the Bible and of the Quran, it is appropriate to signify which God one is referring to in conversation. So, while Arabic-speaking Christians do use “Allah” to refer to God when speaking in Arabic, saying it when speaking in English denotes the Islamic concept of God. Just because “Allah” means “God” in Arabic, that doesn’t mean English speakers should use the term. After all, they aren’t speaking in Arabic, and in English “Allah” is reserved for the Islamic concept of God.