Concept of God in Islam

Assalamu'alaikum wrth wkth.

Pada 24 Januari lalu, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok merayu Kementerian Dalam Negeri membenarkan Herald Catholic menggunakan tulisan Allah dalam edisi terbitan bahasa Melayu sehingga mahkamah membuat keputusan.

What would you say about this? Here is some explanation about the concept of god in Islam.

It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are used in reference to God. This is not the case with Allah. Allah is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender. This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word god which can be made plural, gods or feminine, goddess. It is interesting to notice that Allah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and a sister language of Arabic.

The One true God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates with God. To a muslim, Allah is the Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, Who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to Him. The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was asked by his contemporaries about Allah; the answer came directly from Allah Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Quran, which is considered the essence of the unity or the motto of monotheism. This is chapter 112 which reads;

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Say (O Muhammad) He is Allah the One God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, nor has been begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone.

The unique usage of Allah as a personal name of God is a reflection of Islam's emphasis on the purity of the belief in God which is the essence of the message of all God's messengers. Because of this, Islam considers associating any deity or personality with god as a deadly sin which Allah will never forgive, despite the fact He may forgive all other sins.

I hope that the brief explanation which I extracted from WAMY's pamplet will make us clear whether we can use the word of Allah as the name of God for other religions.