Still, I insist that Muslims believe in a single supreme God - the exact name is irrelevant.

Claiming that "Alláh" is a different god than the God that the Christians believe in, is like claiming that "God" is a different god than YHWH.

Also, and just in case you are not aware of this, Muslims believe in Christ, too (so do the Bahá'ís).

Hilmar.

>Alex,
>
>>>>I heard that something similar happened with the western names for God.
>>>
>>>Hmm.. Could be. I don't have an angle on this but I'd be delighted to learn this.
>>
>>Well, it is something I heard said; I don't have a reference, and can't prove it. Or disprove it, for that matter.
>>
>>>>All this would only affect the ethymological research; not the basic beliefs.
>>>
>>>I think I'd disagree here. From the Christian pov the 'essence' or 'nature' of god is self-defining so the definitions here would matter a lot.
>>
>>I don't quite understand what you mean here.
>
>Hmm.. Let me see if I can elaborate a little on this as long as you remember that I prefaced this with the caveat that a) I don't consider myself a theologian and b) there is more than one life's worth of reading materials. <g>
>
>Throughout the Bible there are several instances where the name YHVH (as close as we can really get) is asserted (by nonother than YHVH <g>). Moses asked who it was that was sending him back to Egypt and the replay was "I AM" (YHVH) or "The Becoming One". That is, God, being able to define himself by no other defined himself by himself. IOW, He asserted His self-existence. Later on the word 'YHVH' is often joined with other words to describe 'pieces' or 'traits' of God. (Here I'll switch to the Anglisized spelling) Jehovah-jirah, Jehovah-tsidknu, Jehovah-nissi for example. Then there's Jehovah-shalom, which you might interpret as "Jehovah our peace", where 'shalom' is the Hebrew for peace. The others are concepts like righteousness, truth, etc..
>
>So, in so many words, if you want to understand the concept of 'peace' for example this YHVH becomes for us the very essence and final definition of these concepts. Perfect peace is defined by that part of God's nature that is peace. Same for justice, joy, wrath, anger, love, and so forth. That is, if you want to understand these concepts you can be assured that this YHVH is the perfection of them.
>
>If I 'know' God I know peace or joy, or love or these others (and more I've not mentioned). Now, 'knowing', in a Christian sense is not "knowing about" but "knowing" in a pesonal sense. You know a little about me. Should we ever have the pleasure of a pesonal face to face meeting then you could say that you knew me in the sense I am describing. Usually you'll hear folks say that the difference is like that beteewn knowing about someone as opposed to knowing someone. When we "know" God we don't just know about Him, we know Him. Knowing God is when you begin to know these other traits and how they should be defined. The more you know Him the more you know about these traits as they should be known. Now, that does not mean that those who do not know God personally do not comprehend these traits whatsoever. God has placed this knowledge within mankind (we see it in the conscience) but no one can truly know these concepts as they should be kown unless they
>trully know God personaly.
>
>Folks get upset about this but if you think about it, from this perspective that Gos is perfection then it follows logically that He would be the 'sum' of these traits.
>
>So, to try and sum this up a little, a perfect god would have perfect character traits and since there is nothing 'greater' than perfection those perfect traits then define themselves.
>
>Don't know if this helps or not. I claim all rights to whatever confuses you <g> and give God the credit for all that's clear. <bg>
>
>
>>
>>Anyway, if you want to say "God" in Arabic (like, to translate the Bible), you would use the common Arabic word, "Allah". The way I understand it, that is simply the word they use. So the ethimology is just that - ethimology.
>
>Sure, the word 'god', remember, is not a proper noun. You are Hilmar Zonneveld, a human being and a male. You are 'man' in the sense that god is 'god'. There are many men and, candidly, there are many gods. Knowing the true and living God is far different than knowing about that God or the other gods (so-called). Knowing Him personally is like knowing you personally and not just about you. In this sense 'god' would be represented by whatever is the absolutel supreme driving force in your life. Knowledge, Power, God Himself, or whatever is pre-eminant.
>
>
>>
>>Hilmar.