Allah

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

The Arabic name for God, used before Islam and in several Arabic-speaking religious traditions.

‘الله’ and Allāh in a modern typographic illustration. The written name does not depict the deity; this graphic is not evidence dating its pre-Islamic useIL Archive · CC BYLicense · Image source

Text

Allah is the central Arabic name for God in Islam and is also used by Arabic-speaking Christians and others. Epigraphic evidence attests its use before Islam. A common linguistic analysis relates the form to al-ilah, but the history of the form and the deity’s roles in each setting need separate study. Pre-Islamic use does not alone demonstrate an unchanged theology. ^[1] ^[2]

References and notes

Ahmad Al-Jallad, Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction, Journal of Semitic Studies 70/2 (2025) Abstract and study metadata: pre-Islamic attestations. No detailed inscription translation is derived from the abstract. Full text may require access. Return to the text ↑
Celene Ibrahim, Islam and Monotheism, Cambridge University Press (2022) The God in Islamic Theology excerpt consulted while preparing the article; link to the book, which was not read in full. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

Edition 2 · 10 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

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IL Archive, «Allah», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/allah