Have you ever contemplated the uniqueness of the word “Allah الله”? Have you ever wondered what many generations thousands of years before us envisioned the meaning of the word “Allah الله”? Have you ever encountered a word in Arabic with the same unique structure as the word “Allah الله”? Though at least two billion Muslims globally pronounce the word “Allah الله” numerous times a day, yet thinking about the individual letters that encompass the word “Allah الله” rarely encountered. Thus, the purpose of this article is to share with you the unique structure of the word “Allah الله” in the Arabic language.
Evidence:
While Prophet Abraham (PBUH) was challenging his people and he recited Sura 6, Verse 80, that includes the word ‘Allah الله .’ And he also defied them and said, “Do you dispute with me concerning ‘Allah الله ‘ while He has guided me.” Though ‘Allah الله ‘ guided Abraham, yet the structure of that word was neither explained nor investigated. Furthermore, Prophet Moses (PBUH) persisted in inviting Pharaoh and his regime to Islam. Despite the conspiracy of assassinating him, a man from Pharaoh’s administration, who had concealed his faith, said: “Will you slay a man because he says, ‘My Lord is Allah’?” (Sura 40, Verse 28.) Yet neither Prophet Moses (PBUH) nor that Muslim man explained or investigated the word ‘Allah الله .’
While Arabs before Islam were monotheistic (Takoosh, 2009, p. 273), and Prophet Abraham (PBUH) left his family, his wife, and his son Ismail, in Mecca and asked Allah to guard them. According to Sura 14, Verse 37), and Prophet Abraham (PBUH) invoked Allah and said, “O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivable valley by Your Sacred House (the Ka′bah at Makkah).” According to numerous Verses in the Holy Quran, Arab believed in the unity of Allah. For example, Sura 39, Verse 38 stated that if you had asked Arabs before the time of Prophet Mohamed (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) “Who created the heavens and the earth?” they would surely say, ‘Allah الله.’ Furthermore, Sura 31, Verse 25 indicated if you had queried them, “Who created the heavens and earth?” they would surely say, ‘Allah الله.’
Analysis:
The word ‘Allah الله ’ in Arabic has a unique structure that no other word in Arabic or English could maintain its basic meaning with removal of one of the four letters. If we dissect the word ‘Allah الله’ into its individual letters we will have the following four letters:
ا ل ل ه الله After removing the first letter, then the remaining letters are
ل ل ه لله, after removing the second letter, then the remaining letters are
ل ه له. And after dropping the third letter then we have ه هو. Thus, despite the elimination of one letter at a time, the monotheistic meaning of the word is maintained because the four groups of letters
ل ه له , ل ل ه لله , ا ل ل ه ,الله and ههو, are synonyms and equivalent to the word ا لله.