Why is Allah transliterated so often?
This is a question that has been bothering me for a while. Allah is a shortening of al-ilahu (الاله), or THE God. (As in, not just any old god, THE God). The shahada translates pretty closely to No god but God or No god but The God.

This term predates Islam because it was used by Arab Christians and Arab Jews (I think) and a whole manner of other pre-Islam Arab monotheists (like the Hanafists).

I have two interpreted Qur'ans. One is on my computer, it's an app from the Apple store. The other is a pretty famous interpretation by A.J. Arberry, a professor from Cambridge who studied and ended up converting to Islam. My computer uses "Allah" but the hardcopy uses "God."

Why does one choose one over the other? Why is Allah so consistently used in an Islamic context? You never see Bibles with everything in English except for the word God, so why Qur'ans? (Even though in Arabic bibles the term Allah is used)

Question

Why is Allah transliterated so often?
This is a question that has been bothering me for a while. Allah is a shortening of al-ilahu (الاله), or THE God. (As in, not just any old god, THE God). The shahada translates pretty closely to No god but God or No god but The God.

This term predates Islam because it was used by Arab Christians and Arab Jews (I think) and a whole manner of other pre-Islam Arab monotheists (like the Hanafists).

I have two interpreted Qur'ans. One is on my computer, it's an app from the Apple store. The other is a pretty famous interpretation by A.J. Arberry, a professor from Cambridge who studied and ended up converting to Islam. My computer uses "Allah" but the hardcopy uses "God."

Why does one choose one over the other? Why is Allah so consistently used in an Islamic context? You never see Bibles with everything in English except for the word God, so why Qur'ans? (Even though in Arabic bibles the term Allah is used)

Answer

It's probably because "Allah" is the Arabic word for God. Arabs relate to the Arabian language. Islam is a more or less young religion compared with Judaism and Christianity. Many moslems like to read the Quran in its original language: Arabic.

Western societies are rather Christian or Jewish. Their cultural background isn't even Arabic. The German word "Gott" (English: God), for example, has got its origins in Indo-Germanic. When Christianity was forced upon the Germanic tribes, the Christians adopted Germanic customs to make it easier for the non-Christian "barbarians".

Jews like to use YHWH, Yahweh ... But in Germany they also use the term "Gott" when they are talking about their God.

Answer

''Allah'' in Arabic means God. It is also used by Arab Christians, and I read from a source that it was also used by Christian and Jewish Arabs in the Bible before Islam was found.

Answer

Here is an youtube link related to your question , hope that be useful for you .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xcwmJFsywo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Answer

i love this question. it`is quite philosophical. :)

i think there is only one reason which is ( How any religion describe "God, Allah etc." ? ) 
for example I am muslim and christianity believes jesus is the god`s son but islam see that is wrong and it`s kind of disparagement and we believe jesus is a messenger like prophet Mohammed and other prophets. So i will be cautious with using "The God" because the customary for using "The God" is that christianity description about The god.

i hope you can understand me very well because it`s quite difficult subject compare to my English level.

Answer

Allah is arabic word when someone translates it into English some uses God but most of them uses Allah ,now why Allah because its widely used in arabic scriptures and is the most familiar word for any Muslim than any other to be used for God ,let me explain you with another example in Sub continent(India  and Pak)people also uses word "khuda" hope you know that its an persion word used for God but most of us uses Allah ,every language has different name to use for God but Allah is arabic word and common between Muslims belong to different countries so its better to translate this word in its original form into different languages.

Answers · 9

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