CC ISSUE: JUL2010 Last updated: 2010-06-28 12:21:10

A Faithful Word

Hesham Hassaballa

Allah transcends language and faith

Lately, we have seen many in the punditocracy, as well as many politicians, attack and malign Islam. Tea Party Express leader, Mark Williams claimed that Muslims worship a “monkey-god.” On his blog, Mr. Williams wrote: “The monument would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists’ monkey-god and a “cultural center” to propagandize for the extermination of all things not approved by their cult.” This was in response to plans for a 13-storey Islamic Center next to Ground Zero. Then, in another post, Williams apologizes to Hindus for calling Allah a “monkey god,” because they actually worship a monkey-god: Hanuman.
 
If, according to Williams, Allah is the “terrorists’ monkey god.” then someone should really tell the millions of Arab Christians who also call God “Allah.” In fact, my Arab Christian friends (and patients) have frequently said to me, Allah ma’akum, which means “May God be with you.”
 
What about all the millions of Arabic Bibles, which have “Allah” as the name of God? Shouldn’t we tell their publishers that they have the name of the “terrorists’ monkey god” printed all over them? How about the Catholics in Malaysia? They sued for the right to call God “Allah” and won.
 
When I researched the origin of the word “Allah,” I learned that “Allah” comes from the two Arabic words al ilah, which means “The God.” It is very similar to the words for God in Hebrew: El, Elohim, and Eloah. “Allah” is also very similar to the word for God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, which is: Elah. In Syriac, which is very closely related to Aramaic, the word for God is Alaha, and some also say that the Aramaic for God is Alaha. These words: Allah, Elah, Eloh, El, Alaha are cognates, or words with a common etymological origin.

But, Mark Williams said Allah is the “terrorists’ monkey god.”

Oh my God (not “Allah”)! That means Jesus Christ got it all wrong! Since the name for God in Aramaic/Syriac is Elah or Alaha, and Jesus spoke Aramaic, that means he was using the name of the “terrorists’ monkey god”! Why didn’t anyone tell Christ this? Why wasn’t Mark Williams alive at the time of Christ? He could have corrected Jesus, as he was suffering on the cross, when he called out:

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Mark 15:34)
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi,[a] lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)

Remember that Eloi is a cognate of Allah. In fact, Jesus was actually quoting Psalm 22:1, which says:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
Since this was originally in Hebrew, then that means that King David was also calling upon the “terrorists’ monkey god”!
This is absolutely terrible! How could we have been getting it all wrong for so long? I shudder to think of the enormous crisis of faith this revelation will create!

Thanks be to God (not “Allah”) for Mark Williams!. Thanks be to God (not “Allah”) for His sending Mark Williams to clear the record for us all, Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike. Thanks be to God (not “Allah”) for Mark Williams, who has restored the proper name for God after more than 2,000 years. But, don’t feel too bad: even Jesus Christ didn’t know he was calling upon the “terrorists’ monkey god.”