God is Infinite, transcendent above any and all complete comprehension. No finite human mind can fully comprehend the infinite true reality that is the precious Lord. Thus, in order to make Himself better known, God describes Himself in ways, although inherently incomplete, that His finite servants can understand. Hence the names and attributes of God that are mentioned in Islamic tradition. There are many more than the famous 99 Names of God in the Islamic sacred literature. Yet, the 99 Names are the most famous, and they provide the believer with only a glimpse, a small one at that, into the beauty that is God. Indeed, He is not circumscribed by these attributes; He is more than they. Still, it allows the finite human mind to know Who his or her fully unknowable Creator is.

Yet, what should we do with the names? Many Muslims have the names of God in beautiful frames hung on the walls of their homes. Some have them hung around their necks. Some sing the names in songs or prayer sessions. Some repeat the names over and over. All of these are good things. I, however, want to go even further: I want to reflect on these names and attributes and try to understand what they mean for me, allowing me - and I hope and pray you as well - to get to know my Lord a little better. And there is no better name with which to begin than Allah.

In May 2005, I was blessed to be on a cable television program during which I discussed with a Christian minister (an ex-Muslim) and another Christian whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God. The minister answered that question unabashedly in the negative: Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God.

I both agree and disagree: if by “God” the minister means Jesus Christ, then no, Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God. If, on the other hand, the “God” to which he was referring is the Deity to whom Christ himself directed his pleas in the Bible, then I strongly disagree. Muslims, Christians and Jews most definitely worship the same God.

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This God is the God of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Aaron and of Jesus Christ himself. It is the God to whom Jesus refers in this passage in the New Testament:

“And it came to pass, that, as he [Jesus] was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he [Jesus] said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” (Luke 11:1-4)

The One whom Jesus called “Our Father” is the God Whom I worship. When a “certain ruler” came to Jesus and asked him, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18), Jesus replied, “Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that is, God” (Luke 18:19). The “only thing that is good” according to Jesus is the God whom I worship. When, according to the Gospel account in Mark, Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is interpreted as, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). The “El” on Whom Jesus called is the God that I worship.

The overwhelming majority of Muslims call this God by the Arabic name “Allah.” This has prompted some to claim (absurdly) that this “Allah” is the pagan moon god, to which the Prophet Muhammad wanted his followers to pray. “Allah was the moon god from Mecca,” says Rev. Pat Robertson on his website. “That is why Islam has the crescent moon. The flag of Turkey has a crescent moon with a star in it. Well, the crescent moon is because Allah was the moon god, and that is the deal.”

First of all, the crescent moon is a late symbol for Islam, being first used by the Ottoman Turks. It was not a symbol used by the Prophet Muhammad. Second, there was a moon god, and its name was “Seen,” among many others. None of the pagans confused this god for the One True God, Allah.

“Allah” is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, the God of Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and Jesus. He is the “Elohim” of the Old Testament, and “Eloi” in the New Testament. The name Allah comes from the same root word that forms the basis for the words used for God in the Bible: “Elohim,” “ha Elohim,” and “ha Eloh.” “Allah” also comes from the same root word as the Aramaic word for God, which is “Alaha.” In fact, if Jesus Christ were alive today, because his language is Aramaic, he would call God by the name “Allah.”

“Elohim,” the Hebrew word for God, is derived from the word “eloh,” which means “god.”

The “im” is a plural of abstraction, appended at the end for respect. “Allah” is also related to the word “ilah,” which is Arabic for “god.” Thus, these three words - “eloh,” “alah,” “ilah” - are etymologically equivalent, just as “Deus,” “Dios,” and “Dio” are equivalent names for God in Latin, Spanish, and Italian respectively. The proto-Semitic root for “eloh,” “alah,” and “ilah” is “’LH,” which means “to worship.” Therefore, the literal meaning of “Elohim,” “Alaha,” and “Allah” is “the one whom is worshiped.”

“Eloi,” the name Jesus cried out on the cross in the account according to Mark, comes from this very same root word for God. Thus, “Allah” is not some foreign god whom the Muslims worship, but the very same God that Jesus called upon during his ministry on earth. If you were to pick up a copy of an Arabic translation of the Bible, you will find the word used for God is none other than “Allah.”

Does this mean that the name “God” is inaccurate? I have heard some Muslims say that the only proper name to call God is “Allah.” This could not be farther from the truth. The word “God” dates back to at least the Neolithic Period. It is derived from the proto-Indo-European word “gheu,” which means “to invoke” or “to supplicate.” “God,” in fact, is a past participle of “gheu,” and thus means “the one who is invoked,” very similar to the meaning of the word “Allah,” which is “the one whom is worshiped.” In fact, the Persian name for God, “khoda,” comes from this same root.

What’s more, the word “God” dates back to before Christianity, and its earliest documented use is in the poem Beowulf. Thus, to use the word “God” to refer to “Allah” is not only proper, it is linguistically correct for me as a native English speaker. It is important for Muslims to understand this, not only so that they can defend against the silly charge that Allah is the “moon god,” but also so that they can use a little wisdom when speaking about God to various audiences.

Whenever I give a Friday sermon, I usually call God by the most beautiful of all His names, “Allah.” Yet, when I speak to non-Muslims about God, I use the word “God.” That is more familiar to them, and if we insist that the only name for God is “Allah,” we falsely give the impression that we worship a “foreign” God, and not the God of Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and all the Prophets. Our God is the God of all, and to me, the names are interchangeable, and whichever word I use - “God” or “Allah” - is completely immaterial.