Allah

Allah ( A(H)L-ə, ə-LAH; Arabic: الله, IPA: [ɑɫˈɫɑː] ) is the Arabic language term for God, and is mainly used for God in Islam as well as other monotheistic conceptions of the God of Abraham. Outside of Arabic languages, it is principally associated with Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name of the Islamic God), although the term was used in pre-Islamic Arabia and continues to be used today by Arabic-speaking adherents of any of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism and Christianity. It is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh (الاله, lit. 'the god') and is linguistically related to other Semitic God names, such as Aramaic (ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ʼAlāhā) and Hebrew (אֱלוֹהַּ ʾĔlōah). The word "Allah" now conveys the superiority or sole existence of one God, but among the pre-Islamic Arabs, Allah was the supreme deity and worshipped alongside lesser deities in a pantheon. Many Jews, Christians, and early Muslims used "Allah" and "al-ilah" synonymously in Classical Arabic. The word is also frequently, albeit not exclusively, used by Bábists, Baháʼís, Mandaeans, Indonesian Christians, Maltese Christians, and Sephardic Jews, as well as by the Gagauz people.