Ilah

For the Belgian cartoonist, see Ilah (cartoons).

ʾIlāh (Arabic: إله; plural: آلهة ʾālihat) is an Arabic term meaning "god" or deity, refers to anything or anyone that is worshipped.[2] The feminine form is ʾilāhat (إلاهة, meaning "goddess"); with the article, it appears as al-ʾilāhat (الإلاهة).[3] The word is spelled either إلٰه with an optional diacritic alif to mark the ā only in Qur'anic texts or (more rarely) with a full alif, إلاه.

Etymology

The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh', Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning 'gods' is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm.[4] (see: Allahumma)

Although the word Elohim is plural (eg.majestic plural) form, in the Hebrew Bible it most often takes singular verbal or pronominal agreement and refers to a single deity, particularly but not always the God of Judaism. In other verses it takes plural agreement and refers to gods in the plural.

Cognate forms of El are found throughout the Semitic languages. They include Ugaritic ʾilu, pl. ʾlm; Phoenician ʾl pl. ʾlm; Hebrew ʾēl, pl. ʾēlîm; Aramaic ʾl; Akkadian ilu, pl. ilānu.

Current usages

The Arabic word for God (Allāh) is thought to be derived from it (in a proposed earlier form al-Lāh) though this is disputed.[5][6] The term is used throughout the Quran in passages discussing the existence of God in the context of oneness of Allah also to refer the beliefs in other divinities by non-Muslims. Notably, the first statement of the šahādah (the Muslim confession of faith) is "There is no god (ʾilāh) except the God (Allāh)", which declares belief in pure monotheism.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Negbi, Ora (1976). Canaanite Gods in Metal: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Syro-Palestinian Figurines. Tel Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology. pp. 48, 115.
  2. ^ Wehr, Hans (1979). A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-02002-2.
  3. ^ Kitto, John (1862). A Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature. Vol. 1. p. 241.
  4. ^ For example: Keller, Catherine (2009). "The Pluri-Singularity of Creation". In McFarland, Ian A. (ed.). Creation and Humanity: The Sources of Christian Theology. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-664-23135-4. [...] Elohim – a flux of syllables, labial, multiple. Its ending marks it stubbornly as a plural form of "eloh"; here (but not always) it takes the singular verb form [...]
  5. ^ Zeki Saritoprak (2006). "Allah". In Oliver Leaman (ed.). The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 9780415326391.
  6. ^ Vincent J. Cornell (2005). "God: God in Islam". In Lindsay Jones (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA. p. 724.
  7. ^ Hollenberg, David (20 October 2016). Beyond the Qur'an: Early Isma'ili Ta'wil and the Secrets of the Prophets. University of South Carolina Press. p. 116. ISBN 9781611176797.

Bibliography

  • Georgii Wilhelmi Freytagii, Lexicon Arabico-Latinum. Librairie du Liban, Beirut, 1975.
  • J. Milton Cowan, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. 4th edn. Spoken Language Services, Ithaca (NY), 1979.
  • The dictionary definition of Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/ʾil- at Wiktionary


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