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I like it when arabic phrases are changed to be more palatable to western know-nothings. Ask the guy saying "alhamdulillah" if he means Allah or if he means Go

I like it when arabic phrases are changed to be more palatable to western know-nothings. Ask the guy saying "alhamdulillah" if he means Allah or if he means God.

TeMPOraL 3y ago
Isn't this the usual "accurate translation vs. localization" issue? There was a more poetic name for it, IIRC. It's an old problem.
- gizmo686 3y ago
  This is an even more subtle point. In Arabic, Allah is simply the word for "God". As it turns out, Allah is also the English word for "Muslim God". To take an English example, imagine a Christian saying "God is great", with an option to translate it as either: "God (generic) is great"; or "The Christian God is great". Sure, he was probably thinking of the Christian God when he spoke, but making that explicit in the translation still changes the meaning.
alephnerd 3y ago
"Alhamdulillah" is Arabic for "Praise be to god" and is used by Muslims nowadays as an alternative to Allah u Akbar, Takbir, or Narai-e-Takbir because those 3 terms have been co-opted by Jihadists. This is the equivalent of translating "Praise Jesus" to "I love god and hate abortions" Also, Allah to Arabic native speakers can be used to mean "The Lord" in general. Levantine Christians and even some older Mizrahis will use Allah in daily parlance for "God" or "Lord". For example, in colloquial Hebrew, Yalla/Ya Allah is a common expression similar to "Oh God" or "Jesus" or "Come On" when annoyed.
- bilalq 3y ago
  This comment was posted elsewhere in this thread, but I feel like the incorrect portion here begs correcting again. > "Alhamdulillah" [...] is used by Muslims nowadays as an alternative to Allah u Akbar, Takbir, or Narai-e-Takbir because those 3 terms have been co-opted by Jihadists. That's just flat-out false. Allahuakbar is a phrase of critical religious significance and tied to one of the pillars of Islam (Salat). Alhamduillah has always been a common phrase. Both are used daily by Muslims globally, even those who are not religious. They are far too deeply rooted in the creed and traditions of Islam to be able to be co-opted.
adrian_b 3y ago
That question is meaningless, because "Allah" is the translation into Arabic of the English word "God". Neither of these two words is a name of a god, which normally does not matter, because both the Christians and the Muslims believe that there exists only one god, so it is not necessary to have a proper name for that god. Obviously, whenever a Christian believer or a Muslim believer speaks about the "God", they speak about the only god they believe in, so it makes no sense to ask them which god they mean. A non-believer may speak about the God of the Muslims and about the God of the Christians, to make clear the intended meaning, and the latter phrase might be translated into Arabic with words meaning "the Allah of the Christians".
- jrh3 3y ago
  They are the same God though, for Christians and Muslims. The God of Abraham.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - Nathanba 3y ago
    muslims deny the divinity of Jesus and therefore do not have the same God.
    - Viliam1234 3y ago
      So do Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. How do you distinguish between "having a different God" and "having different beliefs about the same God"?
      - gampleman 3y ago
        Depends if you believe it's the same god or not... But if we both claim to know a guy called John Brown, but I say he's kind, generous, hard working but a little dim and you say John Brown is hedonistic, self-entered and brilliant, are we talking about the same person? Normally if our descriptions are similar enough that we can chalk it up to perspective, we might think it is. But if our descriptions of the person become strongly contradictory, we must conclude that we are talking about a different person. Now if we both claim that there is only one John Brown in existence, then we might be willing to overlook slightly more of the inconsistencies, because the alternative is that one (or both) of us is misguided/wrong/a liar.
triceratops 3y ago
> Ask the guy saying "alhamdulillah" if he means Allah or if he means God. It's like asking whether someone means cake or gateau. Islam is an Abrahamic religion which means they worship the same deity as Jews and Christians.
- cwillu 3y ago
  It's only Allah if it's from the Alla region of France, otherwise it's just Sparkling God.
smnrchrds 3y ago
"Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God" with capital G. Arab Christians use "Allah" to refer to God as well, and you can find the same word in Arabic translations of the Bible. Here is a page from the Arabic website for the Holy See (Vatican). Just go to this page and search for الله : https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/ar/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/ar/encyclicals/docu...

I like it when arabic phrases are changed to be more palatable to western know-nothings. Ask the guy saying "alhamdulillah" if he means Allah or if he means God.

TeMPOraL 3y ago

Isn't this the usual "accurate translation vs. localization" issue? There was a more poetic name for it, IIRC. It's an old problem.

gizmo686 3y ago
This is an even more subtle point. In Arabic, Allah is simply the word for "God". As it turns out, Allah is also the English word for "Muslim God". To take an English example, imagine a Christian saying "God is great", with an option to translate it as either: "God (generic) is great"; or "The Christian God is great". Sure, he was probably thinking of the Christian God when he spoke, but making that explicit in the translation still changes the meaning.

alephnerd 3y ago

"Alhamdulillah" is Arabic for "Praise be to god" and is used by Muslims nowadays as an alternative to Allah u Akbar, Takbir, or Narai-e-Takbir because those 3 terms have been co-opted by Jihadists. This is the equivalent of translating "Praise Jesus" to "I love god and hate abortions" Also, Allah to Arabic native speakers can be used to mean "The Lord" in general. Levantine Christians and even some older Mizrahis will use Allah in daily parlance for "God" or "Lord". For example, in colloquial Hebrew, Yalla/Ya Allah is a common expression similar to "Oh God" or "Jesus" or "Come On" when annoyed.

bilalq 3y ago
This comment was posted elsewhere in this thread, but I feel like the incorrect portion here begs correcting again. > "Alhamdulillah" [...] is used by Muslims nowadays as an alternative to Allah u Akbar, Takbir, or Narai-e-Takbir because those 3 terms have been co-opted by Jihadists. That's just flat-out false. Allahuakbar is a phrase of critical religious significance and tied to one of the pillars of Islam (Salat). Alhamduillah has always been a common phrase. Both are used daily by Muslims globally, even those who are not religious. They are far too deeply rooted in the creed and traditions of Islam to be able to be co-opted.

adrian_b 3y ago

That question is meaningless, because "Allah" is the translation into Arabic of the English word "God". Neither of these two words is a name of a god, which normally does not matter, because both the Christians and the Muslims believe that there exists only one god, so it is not necessary to have a proper name for that god. Obviously, whenever a Christian believer or a Muslim believer speaks about the "God", they speak about the only god they believe in, so it makes no sense to ask them which god they mean. A non-believer may speak about the God of the Muslims and about the God of the Christians, to make clear the intended meaning, and the latter phrase might be translated into Arabic with words meaning "the Allah of the Christians".

jrh3 3y ago
They are the same God though, for Christians and Muslims. The God of Abraham.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Nathanba 3y ago
  muslims deny the divinity of Jesus and therefore do not have the same God.
  - Viliam1234 3y ago
    So do Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. How do you distinguish between "having a different God" and "having different beliefs about the same God"?
    - gampleman 3y ago
      Depends if you believe it's the same god or not... But if we both claim to know a guy called John Brown, but I say he's kind, generous, hard working but a little dim and you say John Brown is hedonistic, self-entered and brilliant, are we talking about the same person? Normally if our descriptions are similar enough that we can chalk it up to perspective, we might think it is. But if our descriptions of the person become strongly contradictory, we must conclude that we are talking about a different person. Now if we both claim that there is only one John Brown in existence, then we might be willing to overlook slightly more of the inconsistencies, because the alternative is that one (or both) of us is misguided/wrong/a liar.

triceratops 3y ago

> Ask the guy saying "alhamdulillah" if he means Allah or if he means God. It's like asking whether someone means cake or gateau. Islam is an Abrahamic religion which means they worship the same deity as Jews and Christians.

cwillu 3y ago
It's only Allah if it's from the Alla region of France, otherwise it's just Sparkling God.

smnrchrds 3y ago

"Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God" with capital G. Arab Christians use "Allah" to refer to God as well, and you can find the same word in Arabic translations of the Bible. Here is a page from the Arabic website for the Holy See (Vatican). Just go to this page and search for الله : https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/ar/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/ar/encyclicals/docu...