Is allah the "proper noun" name of God?

Liberate · Nov 17, 2006

Moved this discussion to a new thread due to complaints. My apologies to all who felt the thread was hijacked.

Muslims claim allah is the proper noun name of God, i.e God's true name, not a common noun, i.e a generic name like Lord, but the real name of God, just as you are generically called a he, but your real name might be Luke...John... this is a little disconcerting considering to all intense and purposes, arabic did not exist before hebrew; and there is no equivalent of the hebrew name for God as God's proper noun name in the entire quran:

Exodus 3:13-15:
13And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

So we are left with a dilemma, why for 5+ millenias christians and jews have known God by a different proper noun name, only for the quran to arrive 600 years after christianity; and claim God's proper noun name is 'allah' and was always 'allah' since the very beginning? Considering the arabic language itself was still being developed years after the death of it's prophet, the claim is a little, for want of a better word, patronizing.

An indepth study into the roots of the name 'allah' reveals quite a lot of hitherto unflattering information. Of the numerous arabic lexicons about, the lexicon by Edward Lane, stands alone as a classic masterpiece, simply for it's meticulous precision done over a 34 year period. On page 82 of Lane's lexicon there is an entry for the root 'ilaha'

Notice under this root Lane says it means:
"he served, worshipped, or adored; to adore, worship, deify any one, call any one god. He was, or became, confounded, or perplexed, and unable to see his right course. An object of worship or adoration; i.e. a god, a deity; anything that is taken as an object of worship or adoration, according to him that takes it as such. It signifies the goddess; and particularly the serpent; because it was a special object of worship of some of the ancient Arabs; or the great serpent; and the new moon.

On the very next page, p.83 of Lane's lexicon, he describes the origins of the word allah:

Notice that Lane (a christian, despite his decades living with muslims) twice designates the islamic god, with a small g , i.e "only true god" Notice Lane also says that allah is " originally ilaha or ilaaha" It would take some semantic acrobatics of absurd proportions to claim that Lane doesn't mean allah is originally "ilaha or ilaaha" seeing he has given no less than five sources (in brackets) who testify to this. Recall again that the root of this word means "he served, worshipped, or adored; to adore, worship, deify any one, call any one god. He was, or became, confounded, or perplexed, and unable to see his right course. An object of worship or adoration; i.e. a god, a deity; anything that is taken as an object of worship or adoration, according to him that takes it as such. It signifies the goddess; and particularly the serpent; because it was a special object of worship of some of the ancient Arabs; or the great serpent; and the new moon.

Even if this evidence were to be dismissed as the subjective opinions of a christian, the team from answering-christianity (a muslim site)
admits allah is related to ilah. The team from islamic-awareness (another muslim site)understand that allah is related to ilah, the team from islam-online ( a moderate westernized muslim site)understand allah is related to ilah, the team from answering-islam understand allah is related to ilah, Even a [URL="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22+Allah+occur+under+the+root+A-L-H%22&hl=en&lr=&filter=0"]google search categorically states allah and ilah have the same root in Lane's lexicon.[/url]

The evidence that allah and ilah have the same source is damning. This does not mean any arab christian who calls God allah is worshipping a false God, as God knows the heart, but the origins of the word allah, are rooted in idol worship, as implied by the best arabic lexicon available.

_______________________________________________

Islam_mullia said:
I could well understand Christianity, but just
curious why do you say Islam 'makes no sense'?

Liberate said:
Islam makes no sense for the very simple reason, it overrides
commonsense, and it's concept of doing good has already been incorporated in
every other major religion.

Then why the need for islam?

Even the concept of islam's god is acknowledged by the best arabic lexicon from
Edward Lane, a classic masterpiece as having pagan roots. You have already
admitted ilaha refers to "a pagan diety, a new moon,
the great serpent, a god to whoever takes it as such" Even
the team from answering-christianity (a muslim site)
admits allah is related
to ilah. The team from islamic-awareness (another muslim site)
understan
d that allah is related to ilah,
the team
from islam-online understand allah is related to ilah,
the team from
answering-islam understand allah is related to ilah, even a
google search states that allah and ilah have
the same root in Lane's lexicon It does not get any more damning that
this.

Ofcourse westernized moderate mulsims would like to tell you islam even says if
you do good works you are going to paradise, regardless of your religious
persuasion.

Then why the need for islam? Why bother spread the faith?

Why bother converting to islam, if you are still going to be judged on your
good works?

Are those particular ayats abrogated?

Unless ofcourse this is a bare faced lie:

Islam_mullia said:
Once again, Edward Lane did not make a claim that Allah is derived from al-ilah. You may repeat the same argument again and again.

Islam_mullia said:
ilah can mean god, in general, but never did I make a claim that that ilaha is a moon god, serpent, etc. That is a lie.

Liberate said:
Let me remind you of what you said:

Islam_mullia said:
Remember, our interest is not that 'ilaha' cannot mean idols

Liberate said:
Would you like to recant what you just said?
Or do you want to argue that the worshipping of a serpent, or a moon is not idolatry? or do you want to argue on the semantic definition of an idol?

Liberate said:
Neither did I claim Lane said this. Any objective individual reading that thread can clearly see you are obfuscating to avoid the truth. I in no way shape or form stated that Edward Lane said allah is derived from al-ilah

Islam_mullia said:
Great! I have no objection to that.

Liberate said:
What Lane says on page 83 of his arabic lexicon under allah is "originally ilaha or ilaaha". al-ilah and ilah are not the same thing,

Islam_mullia said:
Since you have already pasted page 83 of Lane's (see the second attachment given by Liberate), you might want to read what lane wrote on 'Allah':

1. The word 'Allah' - the 'al' being inseperable from it,

2. The word 'Allah' - not derived or it is originally 'ilaha' or 'ilaaha'. (See the second attachment from Liberate)
(Notice how Liberate twist the words to say 'originally ilaha or ilaaha').

Please explain what it means by " originally ilaha or ilaaha"? This is a simple request, a question you have not answered in any thread, what is that phrase doing there, what does it mean?

Islam_mullia said:

3. In fact, Lane went further to explain right after para (2) above how and why the word 'Allah' is also not a contraction of 'al-ilaha'.

Click to expand...

Again you are obfuscating to save face, I reiterate Lane saying allah being a contraction of al-ilaha was never my argument, (and I suggest you take it up with your islamic sister UmmuIsa who I notice is the one making that argument that allah is a contraction of al-ilah)

Islam_mullia said:

4. The readers can read Lane again and see the lies in Liberate's writings. I have also asked Liberate to get scholars to interprete Lane's but we only see is his unscholarly and confused interpretations.

Click to expand...

If you do not want to take the word of the team from answering-christianity (a muslim site) who admit allah is related to ilah. The team from islamic-awareness (another muslim site) who understand that allah is related to ilah, the team from islam-online ( a moderate westernized muslim site) who also understand allah is related to ilah, the team from answering-islam who understand allah is related to ilah. Even a google search categorically states allah and ilah have the same root in Lane's lexicon.

There really is no point moving the goalposts to save face. So Islam_mullia if you are going to give a meaningful response, I only ask that you explain what Lane means when under allah he says " originally ilaha or ilaaha" Please no red herrings, no misrepresentations and lies that I said Lane claims allah is derived from al-ilaha/al-ilah, just answer this one question.

Liberate · Nov 17, 2006

Liberate said:
Even the concept of islam's god is acknowledged by the best arabic lexicon from Edward Lane, a classic masterpiece as having pagan roots. You have already admitted ilaha refers to "a pagan diety, a new moon, the great serpent, a god to whoever takes it as such"

UmmIsa said:
I do not have Lane's lexicon (although I really want it, its just soo expensive!) so I don't know if it translates 'ilaah' (ilaaha) as a pagan diety, new moon or a god to whomever takes it as such. Yet I can't believe that it does and if it in fact does that is a very grave error.

UmmIsa said:
Ilaah means a god; Allaah mentions in the Qur`aan that there are other gods that people make for themselves (i.e. people, wealth, celestrial bodies, etc). "We wronged them not, but they wronged themselves. So their aaliha (gods), other than Allaah, whom they invoked, profited them naught when there came the Command of your Lord, nor did they add aught (to their lot) but destruction." [11:101] That is why He Says that there in none worthy of worship except Him; New moon is translated as hilaal; Someone who is worshipped and agrees to this is a taaghoot. None of these words (ilaah, hilaal, taaghoot) even share the same root word so I do not see how they can at all be connected.

This is standard islamic apologetics to dismiss a claim without ever looking at it.

UmmIsa said:
Yes, Allaah is an Ilaah, He is THE Ilaah, hence Allaah (al-Ilaah).

I suggest you have this argument with Islam_mullia, allah being contracted from al-ilah was never the argument I said Lane implied. You only prove whichever way you look at it the root ilah damns the god of islam. (I am well aware that the majority of modern muslims say allah is contracted from al-ilah, this is not what I am saying Lane says, but I am asking what the root of allah is)

Liberate said:
Ofcourse westernized moderate mulsims would like to tell you islam even says if you do good works you are going to paradise, regardless of your religious persuasion.

UmmIsa said:
Yes, there are Muslims who say this and I don't know if its because this is their understanding of Allaah's verses (which we are not to interpret using our own understanding) or because they don't wish to hurt anyone's feelings. But only those who 'believe' (meaning Islaam) AND do good deeds will be granted Paradise.

At least you are honest in that respect, since you state muslims are not to interpret the quran with their own understanding, would you care to state which madzhab you follow? (No relevance at all to the discussion, just out of curiousity, it's a little like getting blood from a stone to get muslims here to state the madzhab they follow, as much of what they say contradicts what you have just said about interpreting the quran with their own understanding, as they more than often do just that, without the authority to do so).

UmmIsa said:
Why convert to Islaam? Because it is the only religion that will be accepted on the Last Day. And as far as being judged upon good deeds alone, no one will make it to Paradise solely based on their deeds. The Messenger said that no one enters Paradise except by Allaah's Mercy (may Allaah grant His unlimited Mercy to all of the believers in this life & the next, aameen). And why is that?? Because none of us are sinless and if you commit even one sin you have disobeyed Allaah and He is liable and Just in doing so, to punish you

It is interesting you understand the concept that God is holy, and good deeds, mean nothing, christianity has a similar concept, but where we differ is instead of Mohammed not knowing where he is going, the instigator of our faith knows precisely where He is going, and even islam states Jesus is coming back to judge.

UmmIsa said:

. So there is not one of us who would make it to Paradise on our deeds alone.

Click to expand...

UmmIsa said:
This is why Allaah, again being Merciful,

I have not seen any explicit evidence of allah's mercy except to excuse Mohammed for his various infidelities; i.e when caught in bed with Mariam Hafsa's slave maid in sura 66, which Aisha and Hafsa came up against him for, and he needed the help of allah to sanction his infidelity by having allah say "why forbid what has been made lawful for you" (i.e to continue sleeping with Mariam, after promising Hafsa he wouldn't do it again, when she caught him in the act). Where is the mercy for homosexuals? for pagans? for first time theives? who have their limbs decapitated, where is the mercy for women imprisoned when unable to provide four witnesses to have seen the act of penetration before convicting anyone of raping them? But are instead imprisoned for indirectly admitting to zina (intercourse outside of marriage). Where is the mercy for apostates who are given three days to revert or face death?

UmmIsa said:

mulitiples the reward of the good deed but counts the bad deed as only one bad deed.

Click to expand...

So you believe your good deeds will outweigh your bad deeds? Which part of your madzhabs says this? Suppose your bad deeds are really bad, suppose you are a murderer? or a thief how is that ranked on the eternal scales of judgement?

UmmIsa said:
Allaah is truly without a doubt the Greatest...

Islam also says allah is "the lord of devils" How do you understand this phrase?

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Greetings

I see you insist in pasting refuted material about islam and One and only G-d Allah Allmighty.

I will give you clear proofs.

This is an christian arab site .

Most Recent Archological Discoveries:

Recently Father Pecerillo, a famous Franciscan Archeologist, found more than twenty churches in Madaba at the south of Jordan. From the Forth Century we found houses in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine with this inscription in Arabic :"Bismi Allah al-Rahman al-Raheem" which shows that even people before Islam used this Holy name, "Allah", for GOD Almighty, which proves that the name of GOD Almighty in the Noble Quran, "Allah", is the correct one. This also proves to us that the Bible is not all found. There are still missing pieces in it that disprove trinity.

Further discoveries from an Arabic Roman Catholic web site at http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn04.htm:

Recently also, Father Pecerillo, a famous Franciscan Archeologist, found from the Forth Century (200 years before Islam) houses in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine with this inscription in Arabic :"Bismi Allah al-Rahman al-Raheem" which means in Arabic "In the name of ALLAH, the Most Merciful and the Most Gracious", which again proves that His Holy name existed before Islam and it also proves the True Oneness of Allah Almighty and refutes Trinity.

Here is an analysis to the Arabic words above:

Bismi - Ism = name. Bism = In name, because "Bi" = in. Bismi = In the name of, because the "i" at the end of the word must be added because of the "Bi" addition. When we added "Bi" to the word "Ism", then the "i" must also be added to the end of "Bism" if and only if the word "Bism" is followed by another word, which makes it become all one word "Bismi" which means "In the name of".

Allah - Allah is the name of Allah Almighty. Bismi Allah sounds as "bismillah", but two seperate words. "Bismi" is one seperate word and "Allah" is another seperate word.

Al-Rahman - Al = the. Rahman = merciful. Rahman is derived from Rahmah, which means mercy. Al-Rahman is one word. It is not like English two words "the merciful". No, in Arabic, "the" is combined with the word both are written as one word; "Al-Rahman".

Al-Raheem - Al = the. Raheem = gracious. Al-Raheem = the gracious. Again, Al-Raheem is written as one Arabic word, and not two.

"Bismi Allah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem" = "In the name of Allah the Most Merciful and the Most Gracious".

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Just a few examples for those who are still in doubt . . .
The images below, with the exception of the first image, were taken directly from The Holy Bible in Arabic. Referred to in Arabic as al-Kitâb al-Muqadis (i.e. ,The Holy Book), this is the scripture which is used by Arabic-speaking Christians (of which there are still about 15 to 20 million in the Middle East). So that those unfamiliar with Arabic script have something to compare these images with, the first image below is a verse from the Qur'ân - which is the Muslim scripture. In the images, the Arabic word Allah is underlined in red so that it can be easily identified. Upon comparing the images, one should be able to clearly see that the word Allah appears in both the Qur'ânic and Arabic Bible images. Indeed, the word Allah appears throughout Arabic translations of the Bible, since it is simply the Arabic name for Almighty God. Insha'llah, the examples below will help quell the doubts of those who have been duped into believing that Muslims worship a different god - either by the hostile media or by Christian missionary propaganda. We hope that this serves as enough documentation for those who still have doubts about this. We could think of no other way to prove this point, except to encourage everyone to do further critical and open-minded research on their own. Please, don't forget to compare the images . . .

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[Qu'ran 1:1 - English translation]

"In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful."

[Qur'ân 1:1 - Arabic transliteration]

"Bismi-Allahi ar-Rahmani, ar-Raheem"

[Qur'ân 1:1 - Arabic]

[Genesis 1:1 - English Bible - King James Version]

"In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth . . . "

[Genesis 1:1 - Arabic transliteration]

"Fee al-badi' khalaqa Allahu as-Samaawaat wa al-Ard . . . "

[Genesis 1:1 - Arabic Bible]

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[John 3:16 - English Bible - King James Version]

"For God so loved the world, that . . . "

[John 3:16 - Arabic transliteration]

"Li-annhu haakadha ahabba Allahu al-'Aalama hataa badhala . . . "

[John 3:16 - Arabic Bible]

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[Luke 1:30 - English Bible - King James Version]

" . . . Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God."

[Luke 1:30 - Arabic transliteration]

" . . . Laa takhaafee, yaa Maryam, li-annaki qad wajadti ni'amat(an) i'nda Allahi."

[Luke 1:30 - Arabic Bible]

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[Luke 3:38 - English Bible - New King James Version]

"the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God."

[Luke 3:38 - Arabic transliteration]

"bini Anoosha, bini Sheeti, bini Aaadama, abni Allahi."

[Luke 3:38 - Arabic Bible]

Cont

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Why has the pronounciation of the Name of One and only G-d disturbed some people ?

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Further evidence and explanation

http://members.nbci.com/lordexarkun/Islam/AllahOrigin.html

Introduction
We recently came to know of the ridiculous allegation made by the self-proclaimed Christian Critic of Islam Mr. Quennel Gale that from historical sources, it can be ascertained that the word "Allâh" for God in Arabic originates from pagan sources and have never been used in a monotheistic context. This paper will serve to refute the claim from etymological and historical sources and prove that that the Arabic word for God, "ALLAH" as well as the Hebrew "ELOHIM" and Aramaic "ALAAHA" comes from the common Semitic word "EL" (Ancient Canaanite

.....

So Who Is "ALLAH"?
The Critic many times reiterated that

...before Muhammad, Allah was never worshiped as a single monotheistic god, so we clearly see that Allah has always been pagan, his monotheistic characteristics were the invention of Muhammad.

In answer to this allegation, let us turn to what the Sierra's Reference Encyclopedia says about the word Allâh and its origins:

ALLAH, the name of the Supreme Being in the Islamic religion. The word is a contraction of the Arabic al-ilah ("the God"); the idea and the word are rooted in primitive Arabian tradition in which traces of a simple monotheism are evident.

The article on the word Allah at Infoplease.com says:

Allâh; Pronunciation: [al´u, ä´lu] [Arab.,= the God]. Derived from an old semitic root refering to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the Biblical Elohim...

Note: In Assyrian, Ilu is God, while Ilatu means "goddess".

Encyclopedia Britannica (1992) says:

Etymologically, the name Allâh is probably a contraction of the Arabic al-Ilah, "the God". The name's origin can be traced back to the earliest Semitic writings in which the word for god was Il or El, the latter being an Old Testament synonym for Yahweh.

In Caesar Farah's book, it says:

Allâh, the paramount deity of pagan Arabia, was the target of worship in varying degrees of intensity from the southernmost tip of Arabia to the Mediterranean. To the Babylonians he was "Il" (god); to the Canaanites, and later the Israelites, he was "El'; the South Arabians worshipped him as "Ilah," and the Bedouins as "al-Ilah" (the deity). With Muhammad he becomes Allâh, God of the Worlds, of all believers, the one and only who admits no associates or consorts in the worship of Him. Judaic and Christian concepts of God abetted the transformation of Allâh from a pagan deity to the God of all monotheists. There is no reason, therefore, to accept the idea that "Allah" passed to the Muslims from Christians and Jews.

This passage clearly says that the God who was called Ilah in Southern Arabia was called El by the Israelites. This fact would certainly ruin the Critic's entire 'ILAH is from LIL root of Mesopotamian deities' theory. Why should the Critic, after all, let his readers know that according to two of the Gospels, Jesus was on the cross calling out to El who, if the Critic is right, is the ENLIL of Islam?

The Arabic name Allah consists of the definite article "Al" [the] attached to the noun "Ilahun" [god -- allowing for the classical nunation]. When "Al" is attached, the I (aliph) of "Ilahun" become quiescent, the L of "Al" assimilates in pronunciation with the L of "Ilahun," and the word loses its nunation. Also Modern Arabic drops the final vowel [the case ending] in pronunciation. The resultant pronunciation is "Allah." However, the spelling in the Qur'an is Allah(u/i/a), where is the quiescent but written aliph, and the last vowel is the case ending [u for nominative, i for genitive, a for accusative]. The Arabic word "Ilahun" is the equivalent of Aramaic "Elah" [no case endings in Aramaic] and of Hebrew "Eloah" [no case endings]. It is then obvious that the word "Ilah" comes from a common Semitic root, EL or ILU/IL for the word (g)od, as do the words "Eloah" in Hebrew and "Elah" in Aramaic.

Professor Carleton S. Coon in his book, Southern Arabia, states:

The god Il or Ilah was originally a phase of the moon god, but early in Arabian history the name became a general term for god, and it was this name that the Hebrews used prominently in their personal names, such as Emanu-el, Israel, etc...

So what do you know? According to Professor Coon's statement here, the same name which in Southern Arabia that was originally a phase of the moon god and later became a general term for god (Ilah) was also used in Hebrew names like Emanu-el, which the Critic considers a name for Jesus (pbuh)! Should we now make the claim that the name Emanu-el has actually a pagan heritage?

The following table depicts the common Semitic root word for (g)od, which is El or Ilu and was commonly used in reference to different deities besides the Only True God:

And the next table shows the common Semitic words used in reference to The One True (G)od.

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Jesus pbuh prayed to Allah in aramaic

Several points to learn:

1. "elahh" is the way the word "hhla" (spelled from right to left as it is Aramaic) is pronounced.

2. The words "Elahh", "hhla (read from right to left)" and "Allah" all have the "h" letter and pronunciation in them.

3- "Allah" in Arabic is pronounced as "Al-lawh" or "Al-lah" depending on the sentence that it is used in. In Arabic, the sound of the word "Allah" could be thicker (Allawh) or thinner (Allah) depending on the sentence.

4- The Aramaic word "hhla (read from right to left)", which is transliterated as "elahh" which means "GOD" is pronounced as "El-aw" as show above.

5- The Aramaic word "hla (read from right to left)", which is transliterated as "elah" which means "oak" is pronounced as "Ay-law" also as shown above.

6- "Allah" in Arabic is pronounced as "Al-lawh" or "Al-lah" depending on the sentence that it is used in. In Arabic, the sound of the word "Allah" could be thicker (Allawh) or thinner (Allah) depending on the sentence.

7- The Hebew word "Elohim" is the plural of "Elowah", which is derived from the Aramaic word "Alaha", or "Elahh"; the same as the Arabic word "Allah" or "Allawh" in pronunciation.

If we pronounce the words "Allah" in Arabic and "Elahh (pronounced as 'El-aw')" in Aramaic, then we would hear almost the same exact word.

Some Christians tried to prove that the word "Allah" in Aramaic means "oak". This type of deception is quite common among many of the Christians who hate Islam. In the Aramaic words above "hhla (GOD)" and "hla (oak)", we see an obvious difference between the two words, not only in spelling, but also in pronunciation as well.

The point is however is that we see no "y" sound for the words that mean "GOD" in both Arabic and Aramaic. The "y" sound is only used for the word "oak" as shown above. The slang of the words "Elahh" and "Allah" in Aramaic and Arabic respectively sound almost exactly.

So to say that "Allah" in Arabic means "oak" in Aramaic is a big hoax.

The following translation is found at bible.crosswalk.com:
Thee KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon
Strong's Number: 0426
Original Word: hhla
Word Origin: corresponding to (0433)
Transliterated Word: 'elahh (Aramaic)'
Phonetic Spelling: 'el-aw'
Parts of Speech: Noun Masculine
Definitions:
- god, God
- god, heathen deity
- God (of Israel)

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Do Muslims Worship The Moon God? Refutation To The Myth By Etymological Evidence

Mohd Elfie Nieshaem Juferi

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Christians who try to claim that Allâh () is the name of the "moon god", are influenced by the writings of Dr. Robert Morey, who wrote as such in his book The Islamic Invasion. Regardless, they (and Dr. Morey included) are playing a silly game. The writings of Dr. Morey are nothing more than the thoughts of a mid-Western creationist closet-fascist, and were not originally intended for a wide audience. Regardless, his "evidence" of a so-called moon deity named "Allâh" actually hurts his religion as much as it does Islam. The basic claim is that the pre-Islamic Semitic world (not just Arabia) was the home to widespread worship of a moon god or goddess named "Allâh". The problem with speculations about pre-Islamic deities from the Semitic world in this case is the fact that any inscription prior to the advent of Islam is also prior to the introduction of diacritical marks in the Semitic languages. Why is this a problem? Well, if one claims to have found evidence of a moon god named "Allâh" in Palestine, Syria, or Lebanon, this claim applies to the respective deities of both Christianity and Islam. The first time the word "God" appears in the Bible, it is in

Genesis 1:1, when it states:

B'reshit bara ELOHIM et ha-shama'im, V'et ha-arets.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

While Christians will forever speculate on the word "Elohim" (), honest Hebrew speakers would admit that this archaic word for God has a history that is lost to us. The "royal plurality" hypothesis may be a possible explanation for why the word is plural, but this seems to have been unknown to early Hebrew speakers (such as the Jewish missionary who, according to the Kuzari, competed with Muslims and Christians to convert the king of the Khazars in the eighth century). It is difficult however to translate this word to "gods," as the Hebrew text conjugates the verb "to create" in the singular. Regardless, (Elohim) is a plural forum of a more basic root-word for God, (eloh)

However, if one were to find the word (eloh) (alef-lamed-heh) in an inscription written in paleo-Hebrew, Aramaic, or some sort of Nabatean script, it could be pronounced numerous ways without the diacritical marks to guide the reader. This letter combination (which can be proncounced alah) is the root for the verb "to swear" or "to take an oath," as well as the verb "to deify" or "to worship", as can be seen as follows:

[1]

The root itself finds its origin with an older root, el, which means God, deity, power, strength, et cetera.

So one of the basic Hebrew words for God, (eloh), can easily be pronounced alah without the diacritical marks. Not surprisingly, the Aramaic word for God[2] is (alah). This word, in the standard script (), or the Estrangela script (), is spelled alap-lamad-heh (ALH), which are the exact corresponding letters to the Hebrew eloh. The Aramaic is closely related to the more ancient root word for God, eel.[3]

The Arabic word for God, Allâh () , is spelled in a very similar way, and is remotely related to the more generic word for deity, (ilah). We are quickly starting to notice the obvious linguistic and etymological connections between the respective words for God in these closely related Semitic languages (e.g. Allâh, Alah, and Eloh being related to Ilah, Eel, and El, respectively). So, in conclusion, if monolingual tri-theists want to claim that Allâh/Alah was the name of a tribal moon god, and that worship of such a deity is a gross pagan practice, they should throw their Bibles in the dustbin for including this deity in its text. They should also repudiate Jesus for calling on an version of this deity while on the cross (as per the Biblical account).

...cont

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Allah in the book of Ezra

The word "Allah" as the name of GOD in the Book of Ezra in the Aramaic Bible:

Christians themselves not aware that 'Allah' is actually the God of every prophet, the proof is Old Testament itself. In Aramaic God is 'Elah', in Hebrew is 'Eloah' whereas in Arabic is 'Allah', these 3 are actually related to each other. The different in pronounciation is only on slang.

This passage is taken from Vine's Complete Exposition Dictionary by W.E. Vine, Merrill F.Unger, William White, Jr., Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1996.

This book also has mentioned that Ezra and prophet Daniel were called their God as "Elah". The passage above is more than enough to encounter back the allegation made by some Christians about Allah=Enlil.

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

http://jews-for-allah.org/Why-Believe-in-Allah/Allah-inthe-Jewish-Bible.htm

Allah in the jewish Bible

0rion · Nov 17, 2006

Abdurrahim said:
Greetings

I see you insist in pasting refuted material about islam and One and only G-d Allah Allmighty.

I will give you clear proofs.

This is an christian arab site .

Abdurrahim, you are not disproving anything. Liberate is not stating that the word 'Allah' does not mean 'God'.

Your evidence is that, archeologist found that christians used the word 'Allah' to mean God, but the name of God is not God... it is YHWH in the previous scriptures.

Look at it like this,
Doctor is a profession, the name of the doctor is James.
God is a profession, the name of God is YHWH.

Now, what islam is doing, it has confused the name of God (the profession) to be God. Are you with me this far?

Now, your evidence is that christians that lived before Islam said God to God, that is just fine, but they didn't mean Allah to mean the proper name as muslims think it is.

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

An important book

Beautiful Names of ALLAH mentioned in the Bible
by Dr. S.M. Mohiuddin Habeebi, Syed Ahsan Habibi

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Abdurrahim, you are not disproving anything. Liberate is not stating that the word 'Allah' does not mean 'God'.

Your evidence is that, archeologist found that christians used the word 'Allah' to mean God, but the name of God is not God... it is YHWH in the previous scriptures.

Look at it like this,
Doctor is a profession, the name of the doctor is James.
God is a profession, the name of God is YHWH.

Now, what islam is doing, it has confused the name of God (the profession) to be God. Are you with me this far?

Now, your evidence is that christians that lived before Islam said God to God, that is just fine, but they didn't mean Allah to mean the proper name as muslims think it is.

Yahweh is not a name .

It is derived from verb to be and means "He is".

Jehovah is composed of the abbreviated forms of the imperfect, the participle, and the perfect of the Hebrew verb "to be" (ye=yehi; ho=howeh; wa=hawah). According to this explanation, the meaning of Jehovah would be "he who will be, is, and has been". But such a word-formation has no analogy in the Hebrew language.
The abbreviated form Jeho supposes the full form Jehovah. But the form Jehovah cannot account for the abbreviations Jahu and Jah, while the abbreviation Jeho may be derived from another word.
The Divine name is said to be paraphrased in Apoc., i, 4, and iv, 8, by the expression ho on kai ho en kai ho erchomenos, in which ho erchomenos is regard as equivalent to ho eromenos, "the one that will be"; but it really means "the coming one", so that after the coming of the Lord, Apoc., xi, 17, retains only ho on kai ho en.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08329a.htm

Catholic Encyclopedia

Yahweh and Jehovah are two different attempts at an English reading of יהוה‎ (the Tetragrammaton), which is accepted by both Jews and Christians as being God's Hebrew name, as preserved in the original consonantal Hebrew text.

These consonants read JHWH (in German transcription) or YHVH (in English transcription). It is common to use YHWH.

Jews do not pronounce the name, but use e.g. HaShem ("The Name"). When the Masoretes added vowel points to the consonant text to assist readers, they added the vowels for "Adonai" ("Lord"), the word to use when the Bible text is read.

Also the Septuagint (Greek translation) and Vulgata (Latin translation) use the word "Lord" (kurios and dominus, respectively).

When Christians, unaware of the Jewish tradition, started to read the Hebrew Bible, they read יְהֹוָה‎ with the vowels together with the consonants as written, and obtained 'Jehovah'.

Early Christian literature written in Greek used spellings like Iαουε and Ιαβε that can be transcribed by 'Yahweh'.

In the early 19th century the Hebrew scholar Gesenius [1] proposed the vocalization יַהְוֶה‎, that is, 'Yahweh'. Today many scholars accept this proposal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh

The ancient explanations of the name proceed from Exod. iii. 14, 15, where "Yahweh [31] hath sent me" in v 15 corresponds to "Ehyeh hath sent me" in v. 14, thus seeming to connect the name Yahweh with the Hebrew verb hayah, "to become, to be". The Palestinian interpreters found in this the promise that God would be with his people (cf. v. 12) in future oppressions as he was in the present distress, or the assertion of his eternity, or eternal constancy; the Alexandrian translation 'Eγω ειμι ο ων . . . ' O ων απεσταλκεν με προς νμας understands it in the more metaphysical sense of God's absolute being. Both interpretations, "He (who) is (always the same};" and , "He (who) is (absolutely the truly existent);"import into the name all that they profess to find in it; the one, the religious faith in God's unchanging fidelity to his people, the other, a philosophical conception of absolute being which is foreign both to the meaning of the Hebrew verb and to the force of the tense employed.

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

In the Jewish scriptures, God is called by many names in the Hebrew language, since those are Hebrew texts. The most famous if these names is the name Yahweh. The basic creed of the Jews is found in the Bible in the Book of Deuteronomy 6:5 as follows:
"Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh"

( The New Jerusalem Bible, Deut. 6:4 )

Notice in the above verse that God's name is Yahweh.

That name eventually fell into disuse. The same verse above is quoted in the Christian New Testament, but without the name, as follows:
"Listen, Israel the Lord our God is the one, only Lord"
(mark 12:29).

Notice that this verse from Mark's gospel is identical to the verse from Deuteronomy, except for one obvious difference. The name Yahweh occurred twice in the Deuteronomy verse, but never in Mark's quotation.

Mark, being a Greek writer, replaced the Hebrew word Yahweh with Greek words ho kyrios meaning 'the Lord', and kyrios meaning 'Lord'.

One translation of the Bible renders the above verse from Mark as follows:

" Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah"
(mark 12:29 New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, published by Watch-tower Bible and Tract Society, 1961, revised 1984).

Notice here that now, instead of Yahweh, the name Jehovah is substituted.

The Qur' an also insists that there is no god but one God. In the Qur' an, however, we notice two significant differences from the previous scriptures. The first difference is that the book addresses not Just the Israelites, but all mankind. In the Qur' an it is no longer "Hear O Israel" alone, but rather "O mankind." The
Qur'an says, for example:

"O mankind. Worship your Lord, who has created you and those before you" (Qur' an 2:21).

The second difference from the previous scriptures is that the Qur' an, having been revealed in the Arabic language, uses the Arabic name for the one true God-Allah.
The Qur' an says, for example:

" Allah. There is no god except Him, the Alice, the Eternal"
(Qur'an 2:255).
This name of God is used by Arabic speaking Christians and Jews, and by Muslims of every language.

The New Encyclopedia Britannica says:

"Allah is the standard Arabic word for "God" and is used by Arab Christians as well as by Muslim" (Britannica, 1990 edition, vol. 1, p. 276).

cont

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

Is God's Name Jehovah?

The name Jehovah occurs a few times in the king James Bible. This name, however, arose by mistake.

Harper's Bible Dictionary says that it was "the result of the translators' ignorance of the Hebrew language and customs" (1985 edition, p. 1036). The book World Religions From Ancient History to the present says:
"The name Jehovah is a medieval misreading and does not occur in the Hebrew Bible (edited by Geoffrey parrinder, p. 386).

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible says that the name Jehovah is "an artificial name" (vol. 2,p.817).

Asimov's Guide to the Bible says that the name Jehovah "arose by mistake" (vol. 1, p. 135). The author further says:
"This mistake has persisted and will probably continue to persist" (p. 135).

Is the author right about that last comment?

Does the mistake need to persist?

Certainly not. Good men and women everywhere who concern themselves with doing the right thing will correct their mistake when they understand it to be a mistake. Let us try to understand here how this mistake arose, and how we make correct it.

The most famous name for God in the Old Testament is called the Sacred Tetragrammaton, which means a word consisting of four letters. No one today knows how to pronounce the tetragrammaton, because the four letters, YHWH, are all consonants. How can you pronounce a word without vowels?

The word Jehovah is a mistaken pronunciation of this word. The mistake arose when a
Christian scholar petrus Galantinus (around A.D. 1520) combined the consonants YHWH With vowels belonging to a different word Adonai. The vowels a, o, and a of Adonai, were dovetailed into the four letters to form YaHoWaH. This was written out Jahowah because in Latin the initial J is pronounced like initial Y in English (see Asimov's Guide to the Bible, vol. l,p. 135).

Jahowah was further anglicized Jehovah (sec also The Oxford English Dictionary, 1933 edition, reprinted 1961,p. 564). Even those who continue in this mistake today admit that the name Jehovah arose in this fashion. For example the book The Divine Name that will Endure Forever, says on page 8:

"When it came to God' s name, instead of putting the proper vowel signs around it, in most cases they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say 'Adonai'. From this came the spelling lehouah, and, eventually, Jehovah..." (published by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1984).
The same book says on page 7:
"The truth is, nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced."

cont

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

As for the second reason, the editors of the New Jerusalem Bible explain the meaning of the name Yahweh as follows:

"It is part of the Hebrew verb 'to
be' in an archaic form. Some see it
as a causative form of the verb: 'he
causes to be', brings into exis
tence'. But it is much more
probably a form of the present _

indicative meaning 'he is'" (The New Jerusalem Bible, p.85 notes on Exodus 3:14).

If Yahweh means 'he is', how can that be the name of God? When, for example, a Muslim says, "I believe in Allah as He is, "clearly in that statement God's name is not 'he is'. God's name in that statement is 'Allah'. Notice that if you say that God's name is Yahweh, you are in effect saying that God's name is he is. That does not make any sense, Does it?

And that leads us to the third reason why we should not conclude that Yahweh is the name of God. This name is derived from the statement God made to Moses in Exodus 3:14. There, when Moses asked God for his name, God replied in the Hebrew language, "ehyeh esher ehyeh." The editors of the New Jerusalem Bible explain this as follows:

"The Hebrew can be translated
literally: I am what I am', which
would mean that God does not wish
to reveal his name" (The New Jerusalem Bible, p. 85).

The editors then struggle with the fact that the obvious intention behind Exodus 3:14 is to reveal God' s name.

Their task was to find a name, or anything that can be rendered into a possible name for God. The best they could do, given the text before them, is to convert the phrase 'I am' to 'he is', which in the Hebrew language is Yahweh.

Thus, the name Yahweh is derived through human effort, not expressly revealed by God. But humans can know God's real name only if God reveals it. The Watchtower editors admit this in their booklet The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever, on page6.

"In fact, we could never know God' s name unless the Creator himself told us."

cont

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

(the new Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990 edition, vol. 1, p.276).
EI is a name frequently used for God in the Bible. According to Matthew and Mark, Jesus, on whom be peace, pronounced this name in one of the last statements he uttered (see Mark 15:24; cf. Matthew 27:46).

The Bible begins in Genesis 1:1 by mentioning this name in its full Hebrew from eolith plus the suffix im. The Oxford English Dictionary explains that the Arabic name Allah is related to the Hebrew name Eloah which we know is used again and again in the Bible (see The Oxford English Dictionary, 1933 edition).

Houston Smith, scholar of comparative religion, remarks that the Hebrew name Eloah and the Arabic name Allah "sound much alike" (the World's Religions, 1991, p.222).
Next, we will examine how certain scribes tampered with the Bible and often removed God's name from the text.

---------------------------

Taking out and putting God' s name into the Bible
Watchtower editors are generally concerned with upholding the reliability of the Bible text. However, their obsession with the name Jehovah has led them to claim that this name was present in the New Testament and later removed. Having become convinced that God' s name is Jehovah (or, more correctly YHWH) and that this name must be used by the faithful, Watch-tower editors noticed that this name is absent from the New Testament except for a single chapter in a single book using an incomplete form of the name four times. In the book of Revelation the word Hallelu Yah means 'praise be to Yah, i.e. 'praise be to Yahweh' (See Revelation 19:1, 3,4, 6).
Watchtower editors comment:
"But apart from that, no ancient Greek manuscripts that we possess today of the books from Matthew to Revelation contains God' s name

in full" (The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever, published by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, p. 23).
How will they explain the absence of God' s name? Here is what they say:
There are thousands of copies of the Christian Greek scriptures in existence today, but most of them were made during or after the fourth century of our Common Era. This suggests a possibility: Did something happen to the text of the Christian Greek scriptures before the fourth century that resulted in the omission of God' s name? The facts prove that something did "(The Divine Name...,p. 24)
What did happen? Who removes God's name from God's book? Watchtower editors claim the following:
"The apostate Christian church managed to remove it completely

from Greek language manuscripts of both parts of the Bible as well as from other language versions" (The Divine Name ...,p. 25).

They repeated this claim on p. 27: "Apostate Christians of the second and third centuries removed it [the name] when they made copies of Greek Bible manuscript and left it out when they made translations of the Bible "(The Divine Name ...p.27).

If this is true, one has to wonder what other things may have been changed in the manuscripts. It is also puzzling how on the one hand Watchtower editors maintain the absolute accuracy of transmission of the Bible text, and how on the other hand they claim this serious type of corruption. How would God view the fact that people removed his name from his book? They answer this question with the following question:

"If you were an author, how would you feel about someone who went to grate lengths to remove your name from the book you authored?"

( The divine Name .., p. 27).

Watchtower editors decided to restore God' s name to the Bible. The Hebrew Bible contains the name YHWH 6,828 times. Each time, the Watchtower editors retain the name, except in Judges 19:18 where

keeping the name would make that verse contradict verse 29 in the same chapter. In addition, they believe that the name was removed from 146 places in the old Testament. Finding support in other manuscripts, they added the name into the text those 146 times. Another 72 times, it is not so clear whether the name belongs in the text, so the name is placed in the footnotes.

The Watchtower editors also added the name 236 times in the New Testament to bring it closer to the Old Testament. They also added the name to Corinthians 7:17 of their own accord without any textual support to make the verse clear.

We have already seen in the previous parts that Jehovah and Yahweh are humanly invented names. The four letters on which these names are based also come from humans. It would not be appropriate to explore this fully here, but we have already seen that the four letters were said to be revealed for the first time to Moses whereas if that were true much of genesis would be wrong.

To trace the history of this name YHWH deserves a separate study. However , an indication may be hinted at here. The Israelites had split up between Ephraim in the North and Judah in the South. The Southerners and Northerners each kept their own record of Israelite History and Religion. In the record of the Northerners, the name of God is Eloah plus the im suffix. In the record of the Southerners, the name of God is YHWH.

These records were combined to form the first five books of the Bible. This explains why the creation is related twice, the flood is described twice etc. In the first record of the creation, beginning at Genesis 1:1 you will notice that the name of God is Eloah plus the im suffix. Another creation account begins at Genesis 2:4, and this time God is called YHWH. This name is of obscure origin, and must be regarded as the contribution of the Southerners. It is therefore not a God- revealed name. It is no wonder, then, that none of the Gospels contain it.

The Gospels contain instead the name Eloah which is used some 2500 time in the Bible.

The related Arabic name Allah is used more than 2500 times in the Qur'an. We can say for sure that this is the name that God revealed, because the Qur'an did not change during transmission over the centuries. Now that you know God' s name for sure, you should start using it. As the New Enclopedia Britannica explains, this name is used by Arabic speaking Christians as well as Muslims.

Muslims of every language use this name for . it distinguishes between the true God, Allah, and - the false gods of human invention. The English word God is subject to derivations, but not so the Arabic word Allah. The English word 'God' can be modified to form 'Gods'," Goddess', 'Goddesses', 'Godling', and so forth. In the Arabic language, however, the name Allah is not subject to derivations. No wonder Muslims have a special attachment to this name. Another word in the Arabic language, Hah simply means God. This may refer either to the true God or to any false god. The name Allah, however refers only to the one true God.

As you see it is a long story but YHWH is an artificial name.In fact this word is not a name.

Note the startling resemblance between the languages, very often the same sounding words carry identical meaning in both.

HEBREW ..ARABIC ..ENGLISH
Elah ...Ilah.... god
Ikhud ...Ahud... one
Yaum ... Yaum ..day
Shaloam.. Salaam.. peace
Yahuwa ..Ya Huwa.. oh he

Peace

Abdurrahim · Nov 17, 2006

http://byubroadcasting.org/deadsea/book/chapter2/sec3.html

The Case of the Divine Name in the
DSS Samuel Texts

One can see certain tendencies in sections of the Hebrew Bible that favor the sacred epithet God (Hebrew, Elohim) over the divine name LORD (Hebrew, Jehovah or YHWH, called the Tetragrammaton),38 presumably for theological reasons. An examination of the book of Chronicles reveals that the chronicler preferred the term Elohim "even where his sources (e.g., Samuel and Kings) had employed the divine name YHWH."39 One large section of the Psalms (chapters 4283), shows a marked preference for the divine name Elohim rather than Jehovah, whereas the remaining Psalms frequently use the Tetragrammaton throughout. It has been suggested on more than one occasion that a scribe who was perhaps connected with the Jerusalem Temple reworked Psalms 4283, and for pious reasons frequently substituted Elohim for Jehovah.40

The poetic sections of Job lack the Tetragrammaton in favor of other divine names, with two notable exceptions (12:9; 28:28).41 Jehovah is not attested in the book of Daniel (with the exception of the prayer of Daniel in chapter 9); both the books of Daniel and Ecclesiastes prefer the epithet Elohim.42 The preference for the name Elohim is also found in the memoirs of both Ezra (Ezra 7:2710:17) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 16; 12:2713:31); and here it is appropriate to mention that neither of the divine names Jehovah or Elohim is used in the Song of Songs43 or the book of Esther.44

The extent to which scribes contributed to the preference of the epithet Elohim over the name Jehovah in certain Hebrew texts is unclear; neither is it clear why the divine names Jehovah and Elohim are not found in the Song of Songs or Esther. Choices in favor of the name Elohim may have been made by the chronicler as well as by the redactor of the Psalms.

M. H. Segal summarizes the prevailing view of scholars concerning the avoidance of the Tetragrammaton and the preference of Elohim when he argues that during the postexilic period, "a heightened sense of the sanctity of Deity and of the sacredness of its own proper name led to the avoidance of a too frequent employment of the name Yhwh (Jehovah) which gradually became ineffable, and to its replacement by a synonymous substitute. The first stage in this tendency was the revival of the use of Elohim which appears clearly in the book of Chronicles."45

Interesting

In a previously published paper, I examined the seventeen occasions when one or more of the divine names Jehovah and Elohim appear as a variant reading in the Qumran text of Samuel (4QSama)46 when compared with the Hebrew Bible and the Old Greek Bible.47 I concluded in that paper that the DSS texts of Samuel prefer the name Jehovah in places where the Hebrew Bible prefers the name Elohim.48 Of the seventeen variant readings, the Hebrew Bible avoids or lacks the Tetragrammaton on twelve occasions. If one discounts the three secondary pluses belonging to 4QSama (1 Samuel 1:22; 5:11; 11:9) when the name Jehovah appears to have been added, we are still left with nine occasions when the Hebrew Bible lacks the Tetragrammaton. There is one occasion when the Hebrew Bible reads Jehovah against 4QSama, which reads Elohim (2 Samuel 12:15).

Oxy2Hydr0 · Nov 17, 2006

Liberate said:
Is allah the "proper noun" name of God?

You are on my ignore list, so I will answer the title of your topic, that can only be seen, rather than your usual book posts.

Yes the word Alllaah is a proper noun/name of God Alimighty in the Arabic language.

Edward Lane (A Christian Arabic Scholar) tells you this and Abdul Omar Mannan has perfectly stipulated this in their lexicographic works.

Furthermore NO Arabic lexicon that exits says to the contrary. Other than this I will leave you to Abdurrahim.

LittleLambofJesus · Nov 17, 2006

Oxy2Hydr0 said:
You are on my ignore list, so I will answer the title of your topic, that can only be seen, rather than your usual book posts.

Yes the word Alllaah is a proper noun/name of God Alimighty in the Arabic language.

Edward Lane (A Christian Arabic Scholar) tells you this and Abdul Omar Mannan has perfectly stipulated this in their lexicographic works.

Furthermore NO Arabic lexicon that exits says to the contrary. Other than this I will leave you to Abdurrahim.

What about the name for the LORD God.
After all, it is the LORD that is our God as there can be many lords and many gods. What is arabic for "LORD" btw.

Mar 12:29 And 1161 Jesus 2424 answered 611 him 846, The 3754 first 4413 of all 3956 the commandments 1785 [is], Hear 191 , O Israel 2474; The Lord 2962 our 2257 God 2316 is 2076 one 1520 Lord 2962:

Is allah the "proper noun" name of God?

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Hebrews 2:14.... Pesky Devil, git!

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