By:
Max Shimba Ministries Org
Abstract
This article investigates the identity of 'Allah' — whether He is the true God or a deceptive entity, often identified in Christian polemics as Satan. Through a historical-linguistic and theological analysis, the article explores how the term 'Allah' originated, its pre-Islamic pagan context, and its adoption into Islam. It emphasizes the importance of seeking verified religious truth over inherited beliefs and offers a reasoned Christian critique of the Islamic conception of God.
Introduction
There are two significant, widely misunderstood, and hotly contested perspectives regarding the question, “Who is Allah?” Around this issue, numerous unverified claims, deep-seated biases, and sometimes even baseless hostility circulate, which cloud objective discussion. While some people feel peace when they hear the name Allah, believing He is the Creator God, others firmly maintain that Allah is not God but rather Satan — the great deceiver, a false god. These conflicting sentiments evoke strong emotions in people’s hearts, which can obstruct our ability to objectively seek and recognize truth in this matter.
This article invites readers to momentarily suspend their rigid positions and religious preconceptions, and instead ask themselves some crucial questions. Before evaluating evidence that might prove whether Allah is the true God or not, I openly affirm the existence of the true Creator God of heaven and earth. However, it is essential to acknowledge how often we accept religious claims simply because they are passed down to us by others — through oral traditions, public sermons, or media broadcasts.
While faith itself is not inherently harmful, it bears a considerable risk: that our goodwill and religious sincerity might be exploited by those with self-serving motives. Thus, it becomes vitally important to seek evidence and continuously test our beliefs, lest we discover too late that we’ve been misguided when it is no longer possible to amend our course.
The Necessity of Verifying Religious Claims
In matters of faith, it is crucial to discern precisely what God commands — whether one identifies as a Muslim or a Christian. Each person must acquire firsthand understanding of God’s word so they can test everything presented to them in the name of divine authority. Otherwise, people of ill intent might preach false doctrines under the guise of God’s instructions, and sincere individuals might accept these teachings in good faith, mistakenly believing them to be divine.
Muslims, for example, display commendable zeal in seeking and serving God. It is remarkable for a person to visit a house of worship five times a day, including at dawn when physical rest still beckons. Such dedication indicates a sincere intention to know and serve God.
We have often heard of people sacrificing their lives for their faith. While I do not personally endorse such acts, putting aside the question of whether these deeds are right or wrong, one must admit that this level of devotion testifies to a genuine longing for God. The crucial question, however, is this: “Is this truly what God commands?” It seems almost unthinkable that a loving father with ten children would commend one of them for killing his siblings simply because he was ordered to do so. Or that such a father would declare, “Whoever kills his brothers will receive my love more abundantly.”
Believing in the wrong thing — however sincerely — ultimately leads to disaster.
The Etymology and Historical Origins of the Name 'Allah'
The name Allah originates from al-Ilah. The prefix al functions much like the English definite article “the”, while ilah means “god”. Thus, al-Ilah translates to “the god”. Over time, linguistic evolution caused this compound to contract into Allah. This kind of linguistic transformation is common. In Swahili, for example, one might hear someone say ‘ndo ivo’, a shortened form of ‘ndiyo hivyo’. It is conceivable that a century from now, people might not even realize the origin of ‘ndo ivo’.
Historically, Allah was not originally the name of the monotheistic God of Abraham but was instead the title of a moon god in pre-Islamic Arabia. This moon deity had a wife believed to be the sun and daughters known as al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat. These three goddesses were revered as high deities among the pantheon of gods worshipped by the Arabs before the advent of Islam — a period Muslims refer to as Jahiliyyah (the age of ignorance).
The term Allah was masculine in form, which is evident since one of his daughters was called al-Lat, a feminine variant. Just as Francis is masculine and Francisca is feminine in European languages, so it was with Allah and al-Lat. Both names share the same root, differing only by gender.
One of the communities that ardently worshipped Allah was the Quraysh tribe, from which the Prophet Muhammad himself emerged.
Was ‘Allah’ Known in Abrahamic Tradition Before Islam?
There is a widespread misconception among many who assume that Allah was an unknown entity until Muhammad introduced him. Others claim that Allah was already known during Abraham’s time in the same sense as today. If that were true, one must then ask: How did the God of Abraham disappear, only for a pagan ‘Allah’ to emerge in his place?
The historical evidence points clearly to the fact that the Allah of pre-Islamic Arabia was a pagan deity, one of many worshipped in a polytheistic society. Therefore, it cannot be logically consistent to conflate this pagan Allah with the monotheistic Creator of heaven and earth revealed in the Bible.
Conclusion
Based on this evidence — etymological, historical, and theological — I openly affirm that Allah is not the true God of the Bible, but rather a pagan deity later appropriated into Islam. In Christian theological understanding, any entity that presents itself as God but is not the true God of Scripture operates under satanic deception. Hence, I conclude, with conviction, that Allah, as presented in Islam, aligns more closely with the biblical concept of Satan than with the Holy God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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