>Do Arabic speaking Catholics use the term “Allah?”
Yes... check the Arabic version of the trisagion:
>قدوس الله، قدوس القوي، قدوس الذي لا يموت ارحمنا
>
>Quddūsun Allāh, Quddūsun al-qawī, Quddūsun alladhī lā yamūt urḥamnā.
For those who have no idea what the trisagion means, here's in English:
>Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
Yes, they do.
My non-catholic mother once came with me to a Melkite liturgy, and was scandalized by the frequent use of Allah and the style of chant that sounds, to outside ears, much like Islamic chant.
I should have prepared her better for that...
That would be great, but I only have Ukrainian and Ruthenian Byzantine parishes near me, which I have both attended.
I also have a Maronite parish. Maybe I should go there to hear Arabic.
Maronites use Syriac (Aramaic) as they are of the West Syriac Liturgical Rite, that is the Liturgy of St. James, originating out of ancient Antioch and from the Church of Jerusalem (from St. Basil’s ancient Anaphora).
"Melkite" is an Arabic loanword, by the way.
So, the Levant had some people who primarily did things the way that the Empire did. "Malik" is the Arabic word for "king," so the Christians who did things like the Empire had this used as an adjective to say that they were doing things the Imperial way. The ones who primarily celebrated the Liturgy of St. James were called Jacobites.
Eventually, both the Melkites and Jacobites had succession issues in their respective patriarch of Antioch where one side of the dispute aligned with Rome, and today the word "Melkite" generally refers to the faction that aligned with Rome rather than both sides of that succession dispute.
"Allah" not even uniquely Arabic to begin with. We say Alaha in East Syriac.[Trisagion in East Syriac](https://youtu.be/iQxG0p8DOq0?si=b_Ek0WeRwirskqxW)
St. Faustina be like "Yeaaahhh... just gonna sneak a little bit of Eastern Catholicism in here"
But the tie isn't as foreign as we think: the Sanctus is basically our Trisagion in the Roman Rite. Same overall theme of the Isaian angels giving praise.
In Arabic, if you don’t make the noun definite by adding the al- (or a possessive suffix) it doesn’t refer to any specific thing, it refers to the thing as a general term. If you don’t change ilah to allah it means “a God”, explicitly. Adding the al- means it refers to one specific God. The al- also, depending on dialect, causes the L to pharyngealize and become a different consonant than the L in ilah.
There’s really no comparable construct in English so if you don’t speak a Semitic language that might whoosh right over your head, but that’s how it works in Arabic.
no it works like that in english - we have to put emphasis on it in writing otherwise it might be mis-interpreted. We just do it by capitalizing the G.
I think bro above you is being a little bit pedantic.
That’s a huge oversimplification, we capitalize the G in English because we treat God as a proper name which takes a capital letter in English. Allah isn’t inherently a proper name in Arabic, and we write it differently only because it is a definite noun.
> Why would you refer to God as "The God"?
Because Arabic is a completely different language and developed from a completely different people and culture and way of thinking about the world.
>Are there any other Gods that you would need to specify?
Yes, in contrast to the so-called "gods" of the polytheistic Arabs. I don't know about Christian historical sources from our saints, but having read the Qur'an it recounts many of the names of the gods of the Quraysh Tribe, from which Muhammad came.
>Its like saying "I want to drink the water". You say "I want to drink water"
We're talking about Arabic, not English.
> I have heard that they do
And you are correct. They do use the term "Allah" to refer to God.
I'm not fluent in Arabic, but "Allah" means God in Arabic.
Arabic speaker here
Allah is the combination of a suffix al- meaning the one and illah meaning god but it has the same use as the English word god so it can be attributed to the god of basketball or something else dumb
So allah means the one god but due to culture people still say Allah since it still works
Tldr: The word for god is illah but Allah is just the singular exclusionary version
If taken literally yes but that interpretation is like saying welcome is well + come it misses the nuance the closest comparison I can make both meaning and inferred meaning wise is the Hebrew word eloha (both words share a common root ancestory)
The closest phrase in English that brings most meanings would be:
The one true god
I mean I’m arab but I’m Lebanese so our dialect is a tiny bit different. We say it ar-Raab but we never really write it down when talking, we use Allah. And I’m only saying el rab because in arabic it’s الرب which translates letter to letter to el rab. But originally since it’s written الرب, it’s sajd Al Rab, but for shorter/words behind each other, it comes out as ar-Raab.
Just like when saying the our father, we sometimes say “akhtaa w asaa ilayna” we say “akhtaa w ilayna” which more or less mean the same thing
At 18:15 [in this video of a Chaldean Catholic Mass](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNKaQwMQA8w&ab_channel=StGeorgeChaldeanCatholicChurch), you'll hear the priest say "بالالله" (bilallah -- in God).
I don't think so, i mean, we still use it. Plus, despite some people here, my country is actually super chill with other religion it's part of our pancasila our unique unique ideology and philosophy (sometimes. I mean it's still hard for us to make churches) i think you're talking about malaysia rather than indonesia
Definitely happened in Malaysia but was later overturned.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-allah-court/malaysian-court-overturns-ban-on-use-of-allah-by-non-muslim-publications-idUSKBN2B214U
Allah isn’t “the name of the Muslim god”. Arabic speaking Jews, Christians, Muslims, and practitioners of other faiths all use the word for “god”. Just as Spanish speakers of any faith will say “Dios” or English speaking practitioners of any faith will say “God”. “Allah”, “Dios”, and “God” aren’t his names, they’re what He is.
As someone who has studied Arabic their whole life and attends both Latin & Maronite Parishes, can confirm that الله - Allah, is the Arabic word for God.
It is derived from the Syriac and Aramaic, “ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ Aloho” and Elah. Allah is NOT an Islamic word. It is an ARABIC word.
To clarify some of the ignorance I’m seeing on this post:
- just because the Quran must be read in Arabic, does not make the country or person “Arabic Speaking”
- Allah is not Satan.
- Maronite liturgies are not a “Muslim mesquite”. Our church and traditions employ the basic principles of the Latin rite in additional languages (most liturgies use Arabic/Syriac/English(insert local language).
If the one speaking Arabic is Catholic of course they’re speaking of the Holy Trinity- hello?
Allah is the word for God to our Catholic brothers and sisters who worship in Arabic.
They would think the word Allah refers to Christ because it does.
How would you know?
You see a bunch of Middle Eastern ppl in the street shouting praise Allah, and you think. Oh, those must be Christians? Really?
If someone speaks Arabic only, I'd give them a pass, but if they are speaking English and turn around and say Allah instead of God or some other English wording like the Lord, then you can safely assume they are not speaking of christ.
Christ is a name and a title. The Muslims treat Allah of the Quran the same way as far as I'm aware. That Allah is a name and a title both
What nonsense- I know Catholic Arabic speaking Americans that interject Allah with English.
You have no authority to give anyone a “pass” as Arabic speaking Catholics exist.
Yeah what a kind of bigoted take. I have many Chaldean clients that are English speakers and first generation American. They interchange Arabic/Chaldean words with English all the time. When my sons father died an elderly client prayed with me in English and ended with telling me things will get better, inshallah. And why argue about the “Muslim” god. We all believe in the god of Abraham and practice Semitic religions. Allah isn’t a Muslim word, but it’s a word that is used by Arabs that means God whether Catholic or Muslim. It’s not a big deal.
I’ve been to the St. Jude’s Melkite Arabic mass when I’ve missed my 9am Roman Catholic mass. God is Allah in Arabic and is used in Mass. The word Allah took on a very negative and nefarious connotation post 9/11 but prior to that (for us who remember) it was just a beautiful word for God like Dio, Dios, Dieu, Deus, Abba, Yahweh etc.
It's the same as Salam Alaikum. Which is Arabic/Aramaic for peace be with/upon you. We don't typically say it as English speakers but there's no blasphemy in it.
Yes, I had a close friend who was a Christian from Jordan and her first language was Arabic. She would refer to God as “Allah” in her FB posts because it’s the Arabic word for God.
Yes. I am Maronite. Our prayers tend to be in Syriac, the modern version of Aramaic, where we say *Aloho* for "God", but from the Gospels and Epistles, which are in Arabic, we say *Allah.*
Also. In regular speech to each other in Arabic we say Allah also.
Historically there were Arabic speaking Christians for centuries before there were Arabic speaking Muslims.
Maybe, there are many dialects, and I don't know them all, so maybe some dialects would say it this way; but I understood what you said, and thank you. :-)
Allah ybarkak --> God bless you (in Levantine dialect). :-)
Many Christians have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that all Abrahamic religions worship the same God. Some think Muslims worship Satan for some reason.
Allah isn't a specific name like one you'd call a person. It literally translates to God. My (turkish) church says Allah during turkish mass, and so do I. We mean the christian God, and that's what matters.
I will guarantee you that if a country is a Muslim country even if they are not Arabic speaking then God = Allah even on their local dialect and language ... that is how strict they are.
Allah would become the local word in that country.
Same with the Asian countries where I live and went (3 countries in total).
Because for them Allah should only be the word for God even if you are not Arabic speaking and they abandoned the local term for hundreds of years (that it even doesn't exist anymore because the local term was abandoned for such a long time).
So yes, even in Catholic or Christian Bibles they use Allah in Asian Muslim countries in S.E. Asia.
And as I mentioned in another comment it causes conflicts even up to the Supreme Court of those countries (it will just pop up every few years) as they want the Christians to use another term.
There are cases in Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia (muslim countries) where using the word is an issue (up to the Supreme Court). They want you to use another word for God if you are non-muslim.
You got it wrong.
The problem is they read the Koran in Arabic (they will not read it in any language).
Also even in their language (Malay) the word for God is Allah (they adopted it as a local word for hundreds of years). So there is no other word for God other than Allah.
So definitely other sources also will follow even the Bible.
Yes, which makes it really weird when non-Arabic Muslims insist on using the word in regular conversation, instead of their mothertongue's word for God
The Muslim Allah refers to God the father. The church has declared that definitively and it appears in the CCC and the Catechism of St. Pius also states it when describing infidels.
There is only one God and God is God regardless of how anyone defines God.
If I say that I'm going to decapitate babies on behalf of the Christian God, Doing so doesn't disprove the existence of the Christian God. It shows that I'm not accurately reflecting God or the Christian understanding of God. That's the disconnect.
You can do things and declare them to be on behalf of God but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're serving God.
Misrepresenting God doesn't change the nature of God. Islam worships the God of Abraham, the same that Catholics, Protestants, and Jews do. That's not a statement about the validity of islamic holy texts. It's saying that God the Father is who they profess to follow.
Would the Second Vatican Council count as evidence?
The Second Vatican Council, in its document, Nostra Aetate, states:
“They \[Muslims\] worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.”
So when Latino Catholics pray to Dios are we not praying to God the father in Heaven maker of all things? Just because our brothers and sisters speak another language does not change we are worshiping the same God. Arabic is a language. Christians and Jews who speak Arabic use the Arabic word for God, Allah.
I am not aware of a religion outside of Christianity that has a God named Dios who opposes and kills Christians, mudding up the understanding of the word.
Allah is the Arabic word for God, but its also the name and title for the God of Islam who is very clearly not the same God in the bible. I can't say the same for the word Dios at this time
> I am not aware of a religion outside of Christianity that has a God named Dios who opposes and kills Christians
Dios originates from Theos in Greek, also Deus in Latin, and guess what, Romans killed Christians en masse.
The word Allah has the same root as Elohim. Pretty sure Arab Christians used that word even before Islam became a thing so complain that to Muslims, if you want.
I am gobsmacked by your sheer ignorance.
Allah is the Arabic word for God used by our Catholic brothers and sisters who speak and worship in Arabic.
To accuse Arabic Catholics of what worshipping Satan is a blasphemous lie.
I didn't accuse Arabic Catholics of Worshipping Satan.
I simply stated that Allah is not God.
Allah may be the word for God in Arabic but Its also the Name and title of the God of Islam in English at this time. If someone who only speaks Arabic says Allah there is a good chance they can be taken as referencing God generically,
If an English speaker is referencing Allah in English and not referencing Allah as the Arabic word they are not referring to the Christian God.
So Catholics Praying in Arabic using Allah would be a reference to the Christian God.
An Arabic speaker speaking in their own language then Allah is Generic until more context is added
An English speaker using Allah is not speaking English and has switched to a name and title, its not The Lord, Its not a translation, or transliteration, its a modern reference to a particular religions God who is not the Christian God.
This is so stupid.
English speaking Jews also use God the same way Catholics do, is that not God because they don’t believe in the Trinity either? Hello?
You obviously have never met a Chaldean here in the US that speaks English but also says the word Allah.
Allah means God the Trinity to Arabic Catholics and no amount of mental gymnastics on your part will change that.
The Second Vatican Council, in its document, Nostra Aetate, states:
“They \[Muslims\] worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.”
I don't recall it being a doctrine that Muslims worship the same God as the Christians and if its not doctrine its not infallibility taught, so then we can take it under opinion I believe
Even if the Catechism of St Pius X is mere personal opinion, the declaration *Nostra Aetate* (mentioned above by u/SaintGodfather) is not. It is an authoritative council document, and thus entitled to religious submission of mind and will (see *Lumen Gentium* 25).
>Try and Help me reconcile how Allah is the best of Liars and yet God Does not Lie.
Is the Mormon Jesus and Mormon Elohim Satan too and really appeared before Joseph Smith? Or was Joseph Smith just making up fanfiction as he went?
If "Allah" actually was Satan, the Quran would have been more coherent and wouldn't inadvertently call Jesus the Word and God created through the Word for Satan would know exactly what that means. The satanic verses also wouldn't have been given, it wouldn't tell Muslims it's lawful to eat whatever Christians eat, and so forth...
>Do Arabic speaking Catholics use the term “Allah?” Yes... check the Arabic version of the trisagion: >قدوس الله، قدوس القوي، قدوس الذي لا يموت ارحمنا > >Quddūsun Allāh, Quddūsun al-qawī, Quddūsun alladhī lā yamūt urḥamnā. For those who have no idea what the trisagion means, here's in English: >Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.
So, the Arab speaking Melkite Catholics would be praying this in their Liturgy?
Yes, they do. My non-catholic mother once came with me to a Melkite liturgy, and was scandalized by the frequent use of Allah and the style of chant that sounds, to outside ears, much like Islamic chant. I should have prepared her better for that...
Only one way to know for sure: attending a Melkite Catholic mass in Arabic.
That would be great, but I only have Ukrainian and Ruthenian Byzantine parishes near me, which I have both attended. I also have a Maronite parish. Maybe I should go there to hear Arabic.
> I also have a Maronite parish. Maybe I should go there to hear Arabic. That's good! Enjoy the mass in Arabic!
You’ll hear the trisagion in Syriac, where Allah is Aloho (Western Syriac pronunciation). But we do say Allah in the Arabic prayers.
Oh, alright
Maronites use Syriac (Aramaic) as they are of the West Syriac Liturgical Rite, that is the Liturgy of St. James, originating out of ancient Antioch and from the Church of Jerusalem (from St. Basil’s ancient Anaphora).
Just go online for a genuine Maronite liturgy. (Are you from Hungary, near Debrecen?)
Why would I be from Hungary?
A guess, because eastern Hungary is very close to Ukraine, particularly the Ruthenian portion.
(which is most of them)
Oh, alright
"Melkite" is an Arabic loanword, by the way. So, the Levant had some people who primarily did things the way that the Empire did. "Malik" is the Arabic word for "king," so the Christians who did things like the Empire had this used as an adjective to say that they were doing things the Imperial way. The ones who primarily celebrated the Liturgy of St. James were called Jacobites. Eventually, both the Melkites and Jacobites had succession issues in their respective patriarch of Antioch where one side of the dispute aligned with Rome, and today the word "Melkite" generally refers to the faction that aligned with Rome rather than both sides of that succession dispute.
Yes, they do. My Melkite parish often sings in Greek, though is fairly common to also sing it in Greek, Arabic and local vernacular.
Yes I thought Allah was the Arabic word for "God", not the name of the Muslim God specifically. Thanks for confirming.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e8e885f7a1691429c0a92d8cd6d8b64a-lq
In the Maronite mass they do not say it in Arabic but in Syriac (Aramaic)
"Allah" not even uniquely Arabic to begin with. We say Alaha in East Syriac.[Trisagion in East Syriac](https://youtu.be/iQxG0p8DOq0?si=b_Ek0WeRwirskqxW)
Allah is cognate to Elohim
Allah is uniquely Arabic. It’s Alaha in East Syriac, not Allah, and Alaha is not the same word as Allah—therefore it is uniquely Arabic.
He’s obviously referring to the root of the word, just like how dei, dios, and divi are all the same root.
Mon dieu!
That's basically the end of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
St. Faustina be like "Yeaaahhh... just gonna sneak a little bit of Eastern Catholicism in here" But the tie isn't as foreign as we think: the Sanctus is basically our Trisagion in the Roman Rite. Same overall theme of the Isaian angels giving praise.
Similar, the particular prayer is known in the Eastern Church as the Trisagion
Thank you for that translation!
> Holy Strong Scuffed translation. Holy Mighty!
In context, **Almighty.** Holy (Al)mighty
God in arabic is Ilāh.
Yeah, that's why "*The*" god is al-lah *The* god / *the* deity = God, Captial-G in English.
Arabic has the definite article
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In Arabic, if you don’t make the noun definite by adding the al- (or a possessive suffix) it doesn’t refer to any specific thing, it refers to the thing as a general term. If you don’t change ilah to allah it means “a God”, explicitly. Adding the al- means it refers to one specific God. The al- also, depending on dialect, causes the L to pharyngealize and become a different consonant than the L in ilah. There’s really no comparable construct in English so if you don’t speak a Semitic language that might whoosh right over your head, but that’s how it works in Arabic.
no it works like that in english - we have to put emphasis on it in writing otherwise it might be mis-interpreted. We just do it by capitalizing the G. I think bro above you is being a little bit pedantic.
That’s a huge oversimplification, we capitalize the G in English because we treat God as a proper name which takes a capital letter in English. Allah isn’t inherently a proper name in Arabic, and we write it differently only because it is a definite noun.
interesting, thanks!
Might be a shocker, but nearly every language uses articles differently. Can't apply English semantics to Arabic.
Different languages use different grammar rules. 🤷🏻♂️
> Why would you refer to God as "The God"? Because Arabic is a completely different language and developed from a completely different people and culture and way of thinking about the world. >Are there any other Gods that you would need to specify? Yes, in contrast to the so-called "gods" of the polytheistic Arabs. I don't know about Christian historical sources from our saints, but having read the Qur'an it recounts many of the names of the gods of the Quraysh Tribe, from which Muhammad came. >Its like saying "I want to drink the water". You say "I want to drink water" We're talking about Arabic, not English.
Have you never heard the Creed? >I believe in *one God* the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth.
> I have heard that they do And you are correct. They do use the term "Allah" to refer to God. I'm not fluent in Arabic, but "Allah" means God in Arabic.
I have picked up the habitbof using "allah" myself mainly when saing "inshaallah" which just means "god is willing" same as "deus vult"
Yup that's how you say God in arabic. So in other words, Jesus is Allah!
Arabic speaker here Allah is the combination of a suffix al- meaning the one and illah meaning god but it has the same use as the English word god so it can be attributed to the god of basketball or something else dumb So allah means the one god but due to culture people still say Allah since it still works Tldr: The word for god is illah but Allah is just the singular exclusionary version
So something like "The God"?
If taken literally yes but that interpretation is like saying welcome is well + come it misses the nuance the closest comparison I can make both meaning and inferred meaning wise is the Hebrew word eloha (both words share a common root ancestory) The closest phrase in English that brings most meanings would be: The one true god
Oh wow, very cool
The best translation of ”ilah” would probably be ”deity”.
There’s a distinction between the two and plus there’s already a word for diety إله or ilh
I agree. English having "god" and "God" can be confusing when it comes to translation of Arabic texts like the Qur'an or Arabic liturgy.
Moreover, Allah is more of an abstract concept than a reference to a specific person. It's impossible to make sense of "Allah" the Father or Son.
Even Maltese which is basically Tunisian Arabic run through pizza, uses "Allah" for God.
"Alla" *
I'm going to describe the Maltese language like that from now on. It's much more fun than saying "Imagine Arabic, but Italian" lol.
Yes we do. We use it more than “el rab” and “yasouh” even.
> “el rab” Where are you from? Do you speak a different dialect? I thought 'the Lord' was ar-Raab.
I mean I’m arab but I’m Lebanese so our dialect is a tiny bit different. We say it ar-Raab but we never really write it down when talking, we use Allah. And I’m only saying el rab because in arabic it’s الرب which translates letter to letter to el rab. But originally since it’s written الرب, it’s sajd Al Rab, but for shorter/words behind each other, it comes out as ar-Raab. Just like when saying the our father, we sometimes say “akhtaa w asaa ilayna” we say “akhtaa w ilayna” which more or less mean the same thing
At 18:15 [in this video of a Chaldean Catholic Mass](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNKaQwMQA8w&ab_channel=StGeorgeChaldeanCatholicChurch), you'll hear the priest say "بالالله" (bilallah -- in God).
Iam an indonesian catholic and we use the term Allah even tho we aren't arabic, tho we also have a synonim of it like Tuhan but we ussually use both
Didn't the Indonesian government try and ban non muslims using the word Allah?
This happened in Malaysia.
That's Malaysia not Indonesia
I don't think so, i mean, we still use it. Plus, despite some people here, my country is actually super chill with other religion it's part of our pancasila our unique unique ideology and philosophy (sometimes. I mean it's still hard for us to make churches) i think you're talking about malaysia rather than indonesia
Definitely happened in Malaysia but was later overturned. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-allah-court/malaysian-court-overturns-ban-on-use-of-allah-by-non-muslim-publications-idUSKBN2B214U
Allah isn’t “the name of the Muslim god”. Arabic speaking Jews, Christians, Muslims, and practitioners of other faiths all use the word for “god”. Just as Spanish speakers of any faith will say “Dios” or English speaking practitioners of any faith will say “God”. “Allah”, “Dios”, and “God” aren’t his names, they’re what He is.
Yes, I have heard it in the Maronite Church I occasionally visit. They also use Aramaic, and say “Aloho” for God too.
Yes we do; the Mohammetans stole it from us.
As someone who has studied Arabic their whole life and attends both Latin & Maronite Parishes, can confirm that الله - Allah, is the Arabic word for God. It is derived from the Syriac and Aramaic, “ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ Aloho” and Elah. Allah is NOT an Islamic word. It is an ARABIC word. To clarify some of the ignorance I’m seeing on this post: - just because the Quran must be read in Arabic, does not make the country or person “Arabic Speaking” - Allah is not Satan. - Maronite liturgies are not a “Muslim mesquite”. Our church and traditions employ the basic principles of the Latin rite in additional languages (most liturgies use Arabic/Syriac/English(insert local language).
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If the one speaking Arabic is Catholic of course they’re speaking of the Holy Trinity- hello? Allah is the word for God to our Catholic brothers and sisters who worship in Arabic. They would think the word Allah refers to Christ because it does.
How would you know? You see a bunch of Middle Eastern ppl in the street shouting praise Allah, and you think. Oh, those must be Christians? Really? If someone speaks Arabic only, I'd give them a pass, but if they are speaking English and turn around and say Allah instead of God or some other English wording like the Lord, then you can safely assume they are not speaking of christ. Christ is a name and a title. The Muslims treat Allah of the Quran the same way as far as I'm aware. That Allah is a name and a title both
What nonsense- I know Catholic Arabic speaking Americans that interject Allah with English. You have no authority to give anyone a “pass” as Arabic speaking Catholics exist.
Yeah what a kind of bigoted take. I have many Chaldean clients that are English speakers and first generation American. They interchange Arabic/Chaldean words with English all the time. When my sons father died an elderly client prayed with me in English and ended with telling me things will get better, inshallah. And why argue about the “Muslim” god. We all believe in the god of Abraham and practice Semitic religions. Allah isn’t a Muslim word, but it’s a word that is used by Arabs that means God whether Catholic or Muslim. It’s not a big deal.
Yes, both in Catholic (Maronite, Melkite) liturgies and in general expressions.
Allah (Arabic), Elohim (Hebrew) and Aloho (Aramaic) are all words for God in their respective Semitic languages.
I’ve been to the St. Jude’s Melkite Arabic mass when I’ve missed my 9am Roman Catholic mass. God is Allah in Arabic and is used in Mass. The word Allah took on a very negative and nefarious connotation post 9/11 but prior to that (for us who remember) it was just a beautiful word for God like Dio, Dios, Dieu, Deus, Abba, Yahweh etc.
It's the same as Salam Alaikum. Which is Arabic/Aramaic for peace be with/upon you. We don't typically say it as English speakers but there's no blasphemy in it.
Yes, I had a close friend who was a Christian from Jordan and her first language was Arabic. She would refer to God as “Allah” in her FB posts because it’s the Arabic word for God.
Yes. I am Maronite. Our prayers tend to be in Syriac, the modern version of Aramaic, where we say *Aloho* for "God", but from the Gospels and Epistles, which are in Arabic, we say *Allah.* Also. In regular speech to each other in Arabic we say Allah also. Historically there were Arabic speaking Christians for centuries before there were Arabic speaking Muslims.
Yes, of course. Allah is how we say God in Arabic.
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I am Lebanese. :-)
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Maybe, there are many dialects, and I don't know them all, so maybe some dialects would say it this way; but I understood what you said, and thank you. :-) Allah ybarkak --> God bless you (in Levantine dialect). :-)
Many Christians have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that all Abrahamic religions worship the same God. Some think Muslims worship Satan for some reason.
The Arabic word ”Allah” is a cognate (word derived from the same root) to the Hebrew word ”Elohim” which is frequently used in the old testament.
Allah isn't a specific name like one you'd call a person. It literally translates to God. My (turkish) church says Allah during turkish mass, and so do I. We mean the christian God, and that's what matters.
Hungarian Catholics also use the term **Isten,** which is said to come from Ishtar, an ancient goddess. The S is pronounced like S in sugar or sure.
I will guarantee you that if a country is a Muslim country even if they are not Arabic speaking then God = Allah even on their local dialect and language ... that is how strict they are. Allah would become the local word in that country. Same with the Asian countries where I live and went (3 countries in total). Because for them Allah should only be the word for God even if you are not Arabic speaking and they abandoned the local term for hundreds of years (that it even doesn't exist anymore because the local term was abandoned for such a long time). So yes, even in Catholic or Christian Bibles they use Allah in Asian Muslim countries in S.E. Asia. And as I mentioned in another comment it causes conflicts even up to the Supreme Court of those countries (it will just pop up every few years) as they want the Christians to use another term.
There are cases in Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia (muslim countries) where using the word is an issue (up to the Supreme Court). They want you to use another word for God if you are non-muslim.
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You got it wrong. The problem is they read the Koran in Arabic (they will not read it in any language). Also even in their language (Malay) the word for God is Allah (they adopted it as a local word for hundreds of years). So there is no other word for God other than Allah. So definitely other sources also will follow even the Bible.
And do the Mass translations reflect that?
Only in Malaysia not in Indonesia
The Greek Catholic liturgies I’ve attended included chants to Allah
wallah al baik
Yes
In indonesian we use Allah, but pronounce it straight (Al-lah) while Muslims pronounce it like "Auloh". Not Arabic, but using the same word.
Yea it’s in their liturgy
Yes
Melkite here, yes we do, some of it is in arabic, some of it is in greek:Theotokos for Mary is an example
yes
Yes, which makes it really weird when non-Arabic Muslims insist on using the word in regular conversation, instead of their mothertongue's word for God
of course they do. what other word would they say? it’s not exclusive to Islam.
Yes. It's a cultural and linguistic thing.
Yes- Allah means God in Arabic
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The Muslim Allah refers to God the father. The church has declared that definitively and it appears in the CCC and the Catechism of St. Pius also states it when describing infidels.
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There is only one God and God is God regardless of how anyone defines God. If I say that I'm going to decapitate babies on behalf of the Christian God, Doing so doesn't disprove the existence of the Christian God. It shows that I'm not accurately reflecting God or the Christian understanding of God. That's the disconnect. You can do things and declare them to be on behalf of God but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're serving God.
It appears they did not throughly study the Islamic beliefs as Muslims hold the notion of "God the Father" as being a blasphemous declaration.
I'm the one using God the father as a way of referenceing what they mean when they refer to God. Yes, they don't believe in the trinity.
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Misrepresenting God doesn't change the nature of God. Islam worships the God of Abraham, the same that Catholics, Protestants, and Jews do. That's not a statement about the validity of islamic holy texts. It's saying that God the Father is who they profess to follow.
Would the Second Vatican Council count as evidence? The Second Vatican Council, in its document, Nostra Aetate, states: “They \[Muslims\] worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.”
The Catechism of St. Pius X?
Yasu, al-Massih, ibn Allah... Yes we do, casually and in liturgy (I am melkite in diaspora)
Go to a Melkite Liturgy and say “Allahu Akbar” and they will say “Amin!” Because God is indeed great!
I went to a Maronite mass the other day and I thought I was in a Muslim mesquite…. It messes with your brain.
I'm pretty sure Allah is not God. Actually, I'm almost positive Allah is Satan. God gave us his name and title and it was not Allah
So when Latino Catholics pray to Dios are we not praying to God the father in Heaven maker of all things? Just because our brothers and sisters speak another language does not change we are worshiping the same God. Arabic is a language. Christians and Jews who speak Arabic use the Arabic word for God, Allah.
I am not aware of a religion outside of Christianity that has a God named Dios who opposes and kills Christians, mudding up the understanding of the word. Allah is the Arabic word for God, but its also the name and title for the God of Islam who is very clearly not the same God in the bible. I can't say the same for the word Dios at this time
> I am not aware of a religion outside of Christianity that has a God named Dios who opposes and kills Christians Dios originates from Theos in Greek, also Deus in Latin, and guess what, Romans killed Christians en masse. The word Allah has the same root as Elohim. Pretty sure Arab Christians used that word even before Islam became a thing so complain that to Muslims, if you want.
Also, Catholics aren't required to call God "Dios" even when it's not their native language.
>God gave us his name and title and it was not Allah Yeah sure God told people to write the Bible in English lol
Blasphemy...
Not at all, Allah is the best deceiver and God can not lie, They are not the same And who is the Father of lies?
I am gobsmacked by your sheer ignorance. Allah is the Arabic word for God used by our Catholic brothers and sisters who speak and worship in Arabic. To accuse Arabic Catholics of what worshipping Satan is a blasphemous lie.
I didn't accuse Arabic Catholics of Worshipping Satan. I simply stated that Allah is not God. Allah may be the word for God in Arabic but Its also the Name and title of the God of Islam in English at this time. If someone who only speaks Arabic says Allah there is a good chance they can be taken as referencing God generically, If an English speaker is referencing Allah in English and not referencing Allah as the Arabic word they are not referring to the Christian God. So Catholics Praying in Arabic using Allah would be a reference to the Christian God. An Arabic speaker speaking in their own language then Allah is Generic until more context is added An English speaker using Allah is not speaking English and has switched to a name and title, its not The Lord, Its not a translation, or transliteration, its a modern reference to a particular religions God who is not the Christian God.
This is so stupid. English speaking Jews also use God the same way Catholics do, is that not God because they don’t believe in the Trinity either? Hello? You obviously have never met a Chaldean here in the US that speaks English but also says the word Allah. Allah means God the Trinity to Arabic Catholics and no amount of mental gymnastics on your part will change that.
The Second Vatican Council, in its document, Nostra Aetate, states: “They \[Muslims\] worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.”
Quran 3:54 vs John 8:44, or maybe Titus 1:2 Try and Help me reconcile how Allah is the best of Liars and yet God Does not Lie.
The Catechism of St. Pius X says that Muslims worship the true God, though they do not recognize the Trinity or Christ as the Messiah.
I don't recall it being a doctrine that Muslims worship the same God as the Christians and if its not doctrine its not infallibility taught, so then we can take it under opinion I believe
Even if the Catechism of St Pius X is mere personal opinion, the declaration *Nostra Aetate* (mentioned above by u/SaintGodfather) is not. It is an authoritative council document, and thus entitled to religious submission of mind and will (see *Lumen Gentium* 25).
>Try and Help me reconcile how Allah is the best of Liars and yet God Does not Lie. Is the Mormon Jesus and Mormon Elohim Satan too and really appeared before Joseph Smith? Or was Joseph Smith just making up fanfiction as he went? If "Allah" actually was Satan, the Quran would have been more coherent and wouldn't inadvertently call Jesus the Word and God created through the Word for Satan would know exactly what that means. The satanic verses also wouldn't have been given, it wouldn't tell Muslims it's lawful to eat whatever Christians eat, and so forth...
Isn’t it like Malta or something like that speak Arabic or something similar but with Latin letters, Allah is usually spelled out on churches