Expert: Marilyn - 2/11/2008

Question
Hello Marilyn, my next question is about this, Alaha, we know it is aramaic for God, muslims say that allah is derived from Alaha, what could you tell me about this?? Is there any truth to it, again I must say that because it is said that Jesus spoke in aramaic, the NT(New Testament) was written in aramaic and not koine greek, as it is said to be.

This is what an individual wrote about Alaha:

Here's something I pulled it from Jew Wiki.. the Jewish controlled Wikipedia site.

Alaha

Alaha is the Aramaic word meaning "God". Alaha (ܐܠܗܐ in Syriac script) means the One God transliterated from the Aramaic language. The Arabic الله Allah was derived from the Syriac term for God. Both terms apply to the God of Abraham (ܐܒܪܗܡ in Syriac script) and the Prophets (ܐܢܒܝܐ in Syriac script) that followed.

(Adapted from wikimedia, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License)

http://mshikhani.pbwiki.com/Alaha

So, now that we've established that ELOI is ALAHI which is My Alaha or my GOD. I don't see how you Xtians can still say that Jesus didn't call Allah, or that he didn't practice the tenants of ISLAM. (PBUH)

I mean your argument would be valid if Jesus called Yahuwah. But he didn't. So, those of you who try to refer to Allah as pagan and say Jesus is the son of god have essentially condemned yourselves.

Was wondering if you could help clarifying this up for me, Peace and Blessings.

Answer
Hello Junior!

First, it's laughable that anyone would think that Jesus was a practicing Islamic since Mohammed wasn't even born until 500 years after Jesus.  Before Mohammed there was no Islam; remember, he's the guy who wrote the Koran.  Just because Jesus cried out "Alaha" on the cross only proves He was speaking in Aramaic.

The debate rages around the term Allah or Alaha and the Name God.  In Genesis 1:1 the Name English Bibles translate as "God" is Elohim, a latent plural Name indicating a minimum of Three Persons in One.  The Name "Elohim" means "Strength & Faithfulness."  According to the older versions of the Scofield Bible, the singular of Elohim is "Elah" often termed "Allah."  

The point is:  the God of the Bible is not a singular, He clearly calls Himself a Three in One from the first verse!  He's Elohim!  

To add to the confusion, elohim was also used to refer to angels.  But, in the verse in the Psalms saying "man was created a little below the angels," the actual translation is "man was created a little below Elohim!" meaning God.  How can man be created below angels when both the Psalms and Hebrews clearly say that angels are our servants?  This problem occurs again in Hebrews 1 because Hebrews quotes the verse in Psalms.  Bible translating is an art and though most translations are over 99% accurate, which is quite remarkable, they don't always get it 100%.  

Here's another little tidbit to confuse everyone.  There was a god called "El" back in the 2300's B.C. who was worshiped in the middle east.  He was a Zeus-like being who birthed other gods then sat back to watch the show.  (Shades of Gnosticism here.)  Some have argued that the Hebrew God is actually El and they co-opted him from this other tribe.  Here's that idea again that somehow the Bible isn't true and the Hebrews weren't creative enough to think of anything or receive any revelations of their own.  

Add the fact that the symbol of Islam includes a moon with a star and the moon god who was worshiped in Mohammed's day was called Al-llah--a person can find himself in the midst of a lot of ugly arguing over names and exactly what the heck is Islam anyway?  

So what if Jesus cried "Alaha" as He suffered and died?  Mohammed hadn't invented Islam yet.  Jesus, historically and biblically, was totally and utterly Jewish (Josephus, the Jewish historian called Him  a "Rabbi" who had many disciples).  And Aramaic was the language of the day.  Big deal, Jesus cried "Alaha."  

Sincerely,

Marilyn