Where does the name "Allah" come from?

Of the Pagan origins of al-Ilah and its rituals

Allah is the contraction of al-ilah (in Semitic languages it’s the name for “God”). Ilah means “God” and Allah “the God”. Al-Ilah was the dominant God in Mecca: Actually he was the Moon-God. Muhammad didn’t introduce any new God, he just proclaimed Allah the greatest of the existing ones (the Meccans didn’t accuse him to honour another God).

That the name Allah existed already, can be shown from the fact that Muhammad father’s name (who died before his birth) was actually…Abdu’llah (servant of Allah). The Kabah is called as well “Baitu’llah” (house of Allah).

The word “Allah” could be of Sanskrit origins (Allah, Akka, Amba are synonyms for Goddess/Mother), as the name “Mecca” (would mean: sacrificial fire). As a matter of fact, Hindus as well turn around their holy temples. Some of the verses pronounced by

Muhammad actually resemble the verses of Imrau’l Qais, (old Arab poet). Even some rituals are taken out from the Sabians (performed in an analogue way seven daily prayers, o/w 5 correspond to the Muslim ones).Do we have to take for granted that the Qur’an is preserved on “golden tablets”? (Q 85:21-22).

Muslims, are very sensitive when faced with their religion's Pagan origins. Many Pagan customs and practices, not directly involving the practice of idolatry, were preserved in Islam such as the Hajj, the Kaaba, Ramadan, and the five daily prayers. M attempted to place a monotheistic veneer over these Pagan practices and presented these items as if they belonged to some "long lost" Abrahamique traditions of Judaism and Christianity. It seems that Muhammad's god is a repackaged version of Pagan deities. Ar-Rahman was a Pagan god that was worshipped in southern Arabia. When Muhammad told the Meccans to bow to Rahman, the people did not recognize this deity as the God of the Chris and the Jews.

IHS

What starts with single letters and nobody knows what they stand for?

Little help: 28 Surahs...

There are 28 Surahs, that start with a series of 1-4 letters but no one knows what they mean! It cannot be the name of these Surahs, because each Surah has his name.

Many Surah’s in the Qur’an start with a set of isolated letters from the Arabic alphabet (Alef, Lam, Ra, Kaf, Ayn… ). They have no meaning or relationship to the title of the Surah, and often the title itself has no direct or full relevance to issues addressed in the verses of each Surah. The following is the classical explanation placed forward for Western consumption: “If we (Muslim theologians) find an authentic narration leading to the Prophet that explains these isolated letters, we will embrace the Prophet’s statement. Otherwise, we will stop where we were made to stop and will proclaim: “We believe in it (the Qur'an); all of it is from our Lord”; Surah 3:7.

[Surah 3, 2, 29, 30, 31 and 32 start with alif, lam and mim; 7 with alif, lam, mim and sad; Surah 10 with alif and Lam; Surah 11, 12, 14, 15 with alif, lam, and ra; Surah 13 with alif, lam, mim and ra; Surah 19 with kaf, ha, ya, 3in and sad; Surah 20 with ta and ha; Surah 26 and 28 with ta, sin and mim; Surah 27 with ta and sin, Surah 36 with ya and sin; Surah 38 with sad; Surah 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46 with ha and mim; Surah 50 with qaf, Surah 68 with nun!]

Check it at http://www.Qur’anbrowser.com/ (one of the thousands of Qur’an browsers)

What about Allah’s effort and the Qur’an’s insistence that the Arabic language was selected to make God’s will very clear? These letters do not clarify anything, at the opposite. They exist in the beginning of too many Surahs. Was there a need to have mystery to attract the attention? These letters are a blow to the insistence that the Qur’an is a marvellous piece of literature and that it is the last conveyed message to humanity!....if it is the last, shouldn’t it be clear and intelligible?

IHS

Does Islam mean peace?

Actually not, it means Submission

Islam has the same root as Salam (peace): that is S-L-M.

This is why Islamic apologist tend to confuse you by telling that actually Islam means peace [There was some kind of “peace” in Islam just during the first 13 years after the Hegira (Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina). What has come after….well, we will see later on (3 of the first 4 Khalifa died violently). Actually in Islam, peace has a different meaning for Muslims: it means the supposed peace that is “installed” through the application of Shariah. So be aware during interfaith meetings…]

Islam derives from the root S-L-M but it comes out from the strain: al-silm/aslama, that actually means submission. (see “Understanding Islam and the Muslims ed The Islamic Affairs Department of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington DC). Adding mu-: (refers to a person) we get: Muslim (man of Islam), other examples: mujahid (one who performs jihad), mulah (men of Allah).

IHS

Is the Qur'an untouched?

Is the Qur'an 1-2-1 the original word of Allah? About the several copies of the Qur'an. About all being burnt but one by Uthman (3rd caliph). About the missing Surahs and the (non-) existance of early Manuscripts

That Uthman burnt several versions of the Qur’an is well attested , as the fact that Thabit (the supposed first compiler of the Qur’an) said that in his version, Q 33:23 was missing (Link) ; Please read as well Bukhari 6.061.511.

There is as well the issue of an entire surah missing (Sahih Muslim (Muslim 22886)). In Abdullah Yusuf Ali study note 3674 on Surah 33:6 you can find: "in some qiraats, as the one of Ubai ibn Ka'b, there is as well "and he is the father of them". 

You know the issue about the missing stoning verse, that was initially in the Qur’an:

“Allah sent Muhammad (saw) with the Truth and revealed the Holy Book to him, and among what Allah revealed, was the Verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married persons, male and female, who commit adultery) and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorized it. Allah's Apostle (saw) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him. I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book', and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 8, p.539). 

Except the one of Thabit, Uthman burned the copies of: 1) Ali, 2) Ubai b. Ka’b (where Surah 105 and 106 were together and in inverse order, and with 2 new surahs: surah al-Khala’ and surah al-hafd (named as well al-qanut)), 3) Ibn Mas’ud (Muhammad said that if one wanted to recite correctly and with eloquence the Qur’an, he has to read the reading of Mas’ud, who refused to give his copy to Uthman (Muslim 6022, vol 4). He was then beaten by Uthman (died of that). Uthman, after viewing the first standared copy of the Qur'an, said, 'I see grammatical errors in it, and the Arabs will read it correctly with their tongues . “Al-Furqan by Mohammad M. 'abd al-Latif Ibn al-Katib, Dar al-Kutub al-'elmiyah, Beirut, p.90”. We can find the same finding in Tabari. 


Actually there is no original Arabic Manuscript from which there is a copy. The arab edition derives from an oral source (1924, Egyptian edition, The isnad ends with ad-Dani (d 444 dH). So the text is around 400 aH old. Even, the notes to the Egyptian text show that if there is some disagreement between ad-Dani and Abu Da’ud (!), then it’s up to the Ulema to chek and decide!). Sadly (!), there is no original Manuscript to check the Uthmanic text! 

Check as well:

here

and

here

IHS