January 9, 2010
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Allah
I wandered down onto Revelife a few days ago, and across a piece of ignorance so ripe – yet so common – that I couldn’t resist correcting it. Link.
A piece of ongoing political crap in Malaysia gave an opportunity to some ignorant lout to fasten onto the Arabic Word or (title) that English speakers render as ”God,” and commented “who cares if we can use the name of a false god?” This is a comment so dumb that it ought to be corrected, just as we would feel it right to teach a backward child that 1 + 1 = 2, or “cat” is nor spelled with a “k,” so here’s my reproduced reply:
@BiblicalTruth2@xanga - I think you mean “a false god,” not “an false god,” but in either case, you are wrong.
“Allah,” though used as a name, and so thus described for convenience, is actually a title based on a description. In Arabic, “Al” corresponds to the definite article, which is the word “the” in English, and in French, “Le” or “La.”
The word “lah” in Arabic means “one,” and thus “Allah” means “The One,” so it doesn’t refer to “a god,” whether true or false, but to the One God worshipped by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
This fact is known to anyone who takes the fraction of time needed to obtain the most basic of education in these matters.
Really, I should be ashamed of myself for bullying such a moron. It’s so easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. This leads me onto another question: is there a part of the world where people do shoot fish in barrels?
Here’s my first published…. ….and now my second, on 6 January 2010 
Comments (15)
It’s just like “elohim” which, as you know, “el” is spanish for “the” and “ohim”, Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, which regulates trademarks in the European Union. Yet another sign that a Jewish world conspiracy is behind the EU.
I understand that Arab Christians also use the word Allah. Much like “God” it is not a name but a title
That sounds like a sport worth starting if no one does. Maybe your next book should focus on that?
@FoliageDecay - You’re a bad, bad man to mock such a serious matter. You should remember the words of the ancient hymn:The Prince of Peace will smash thy chopsIf thou dust not repent
@trunthepaige - I’ve read this, although I’ve never travelled much in the arab world. The closest I came was Istanbul, in Turkey, a city beautified by many ancient mosques. All Muslims that I know will automatically use “God” to refer to the deity when speaking English, and “Allah” when speaking their own tongue. When I speak what little arabic I know, I’ll automatically stay in that tongue and use “Allah.”
Sheesh. He probably thinks that all Muslims are ‘infidels’ too. Love the book cover, by the way….
@FoliageDecay - On shooting fish in a barrel? It may be good for a short story. But if I wrote on shooting self in foot…. There’s enough material in that for a series. While I’m on the subject, I finally got “Zorn” published on the sixth of this month, and it should be appearing on Amazon anytime in the next two weeks.
Hooray for Zorn being published.And because I don’t care about people being dumb about religion…shooting fish in a barrel (providing the barrel is filled with water) is not as easy as some would have you believe. The way the light refracts and makes it tricky to tell where the fish is actually makes it very hard to shoot the fish. I learned that one on Mythbusters.THE MORE YOU KNOW!
@disillusionisreal - hmm yes, “lacking in fidelity.” More scope coming up for basic lessons in language and logic. But seriously, there is such ignorance of the basics in this most volatile of areas that it presses forward as almost a duty to do something to to cure it. Never mind the question of whether there is or is not a God; what about simple self interest? Dark stupidity like this, in a world where nuclear bombs can be thrown about?I guess you mean the “Wake of the Raven” cover. It occured to me a few days ago that it probably looked better as a link to amazon than an obscure snippet of text. sometimes it takes a while for the obvious to sink through to me. I’m mighty pleased with it myself, but I’ve never been able to discover who was hired to design it.
@darkoozeripple - What serious matter did I mock?
@anaraug - You’re a bad, bad man to mock such a serious matter. You should remember the words of the ancient hymn:The Prince of Peacewill smash thy chopsIf thou dust not repent
@FoliageDecay - I seem to have given you the comment intended for anaraug (sweats) Just to think, it might have been something like cash, or a spare concubine.
@logicalemu - I wouldn’t care about people being dumb about religion either – it’s a free world - except when said dummies start to use chunks of half-assed logic to thrust pain onto others. It’s difficult to think out positions on complex matters, but on elementary points - such as all religions being fundamentally the same – it’s just the beginners class “Common Sense 101.” To take some kind of a moral stance: “It’s my DUTY to correct these misguided ones!” is to risk being as blind and arrogant as they are. But…. we live as creatures of flesh and blood in a practical world, where accumulated follies can pile up and stink until we’re all poisoned. So in obvious cases, let’s take out the garbage.
@logicalemu - Mythbusters eh. You fancy the guy with the mustache and the bald head, don’t you? I know you.
@darkoozeripple - Kari, actually :-p