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Comments on Is according to any major Judaic sect, naming god Allah is idolatry?
Parent
Is according to any major Judaic sect, naming god Allah is idolatry?
A fundamental Muslim practice is naming the god of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Ishmael in Arabic Allah (ٱللَّٰه) while not necessarily denying that the name of god in Hebrew is Yahwah (יהוה).
This may or might not be considered idolatry within Judaism; if Arabic has any liturgical significance in Judaism, or if Quranic or even pre Islamic Arabic (in which the word Allah also exists) is considered a sacred language in Judaism, than there is an even smaller chance that this would be idolatry by any major Judaic sect.
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No, there are no forbidden languages in Judaism. Not from any perspective. Arabic didn't even exist for centuries after Judaism was founded.
"Allah" is just a word. I'm a Persian-American Jew, and while the Farsi word for God is "khodah," a few words are rooted in Arabic and thus include the "-allah" suffix. We use them, and "khodah," without reservation in our community -- all of the most religious people in our community do in Farsi.
As a note -- none of these is the name of God from any religious perspective. These are words used that refer to the idea of God. The name of God is a separate topic.
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