Allah

I have noticed this before, and listening to the Byzantine/Orthodox chants, recalled again that Arab Christians (and perhaps some Jews) have been using the word "Allah" before the dawn of Islam.

I remember how I used to get somewhat riled up when some here on Chowk referred to God as the Muslim one, or the Christian one. God basically is God, no? Why divide him (or her) like that?

But there are differences in who Allah is to Christians, and who Allah is to Muslims. The Allah of the Arab Christians, is according to Orthodox/Catholic theology, one God in three "persons" - the Trinity: Baap, beTa, aur rooh-ul-quddus, and not three gods. The Jewish God is not like that, nor is the Islamic Allah.

So Allah is Allah to more than one faith, with differences. But those outside of the Arab world may not recognize that. If I was to say, "Alhamdulillah", which is actually the response of Arab Christians when asked, "Keefik inta (inti)?", it is not a Musulmaan response per se, but an Arabic one. It is similar to when Greeks are asked, "Ti kanete?" and the response is, "Doxa si o Theos" or when I ask one of my relatives, "Aap kaisay haiN?" and the response is "Khuda ka lakh lakh shuk'r hai."

So it is interesting to me, upon further learning, that there is this divide when it comes to Christians in the "sub-continent" using Khuda vs. Allah which has been associated with Muslims. I remember when BaRe Maamoo and I had this conversation a while back, and he said something, perhaps about my returning to Pakistan one day for a visit and I said, "Insha'allah!"

I could hear the smile in his rebuke when he said, "Ye tau Musulmaan log kehtay haiN."

At that time, my only response was that I have always used that. It did not occur to me to educate him - during a brief telephone conversation, while thinking of not increasing Ma's phone bill - in the fact that Christians in the Arab-speaking world have been using Allah since before the dawn of Islam.

At least Arab Christians and Pakistani Christians will use "rab" for God. No division there.

The battles between us encompass much more than how we perceive Allah, and what we do in the name of Allah, or have done in the history of the world.