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Ilah

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ʾIlāh (Arabic: إله; plural: آلهة ʾālihat) is an Arabic term that means deity, or anyone that is worshipped.[2] The feminine form is ʾilāhat (إلاهة, meaning 'goddess'); with the article, it appears as al-ʾilāhat (الإلاهة).[3] The word is spelled either إلٰه with an optional diacritic alif to mark the ā only in Qur'anic texts or (more rarely) with a full alif, إلاه.

Gilded statuette of El from Ugarit,[1] Father of the gods; explains the origin of the word Ilah.

In its form as a possessive suffix with an -i ending, it is most commonly used to refer to the God of the monotheistic faiths, and is translated as 'my God'. The more commonly used standalone word for God in Arabic is Allah, conjectured to be a compound form of the Arabic definite article Al ('the') + Ilah, though this is a matter of dispute.

Etymology

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The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh', Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning 'gods' is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm.[4]

Cognate forms of El are found throughout the Semitic languages. They include Ugaritic ʾilu, pl. ʾlm; Phoenician ʾl pl. ʾlm; Hebrew ʾēl, pl. ʾēlîm; Aramaic ʾl; Akkadian ilu, pl. ilānu.

The form ilah appeared only rarely in Aramaic personal names identified in cuneiform texts from Babylonia (c. 700–100 BCE). It was however more commonly used in possessive suffix form ilahi, with a final -i, appearing as the second component in personal names, for example, Mannu-kî-ilahī ('Who is like my God') or Abī-ilahī ('My father is my God').[5]

Current usages

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Silver Rupee Ilahi coin struck in the name of Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, minted in Ahmadabad, from his regnal Year 47

The Arabic word for God (Allāh) is thought to be derived from it (in a proposed earlier form al-Lāh) though this is disputed.[6][7] The term is used throughout the Quran in passages discussing the existence of God in the context of oneness of Allah also to refer the beliefs in other divinities by non-Muslims. Notably, the first statement of the šahādah (the Muslim confession of faith) is "There is no god (ʾilāh) except the God (Allāh)", which declares belief in pure monotheism.[8]

The vocative form with possessive suffix -i, Ilahi ('my God') is commonly used in everyday speech and in the liturgies of Arab Christians.[9] In the sung prayers of the Muslim faithful in Turkey, Ilahi means "for God".[10] Conversely, in the sung prayers of the Sufi Isawiyya order, ilahi is repeated in their silsila chants over and over with the meaning 'my God'.[11] In Persian, ilahi also has the meaning of 'my God' and is used as an exclamation with the secondary meaning of "I hope".[12]

The Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar issued Ilahi coins, a reference to the religious philosophy din-i Ilahi ('the religion of the divine', or '... of my God') that he promulgated, using Ilahi also as the name of the calendar era for his empire beginning in 1556 (963 AH) with the meaning of both 'divine' and 'my God'.[13]

Ilahi appears in the title of a 1974 poem by Samih al-Qasim , "Ilahi, Ilahi, limadha qataltani ('my God, my God, why have you killed me?').[14] Another Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, includes "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?" ("Ilahi ilahi limadha takhallayta `anni"; إلهي.. إلهي؟ لماذا تخلّيت عنّي؟ لماذا تزوّجت مريم) in his poem "Ward aqall" ('Fewer roses'; 1986).[15] This refrain from the Book of Matthew, addressing God just as did Jesus on the cross (Matthew 27:46), is repeated three times in the poem's stanzas.[16][15]

Rabi wa Elahi ('my Lord and my God'), is a collection of Arabic liturgical songs produced by Syrian and Palestinian Christians in 2022, inspired by the words of Saint Francis of Assisi after he received the stigmata: "My God and my everything".[17]

References

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  1. ↑ Negbi, Ora (1976). Canaanite Gods in Metal: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Syro-Palestinian Figurines. Tel Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology. pp. 48, 115.
  2. ↑ Wehr, Hans (1979). A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-02002-2.
  3. ↑ Kitto, John (1862). A Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature. Vol. 1. p. 241.
  4. ↑ For example: Keller, Catherine (2009). "The Pluri-Singularity of Creation". In McFarland, Ian A. (ed.). Creation and Humanity: The Sources of Christian Theology. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-664-23135-4. [...] Elohim – a flux of syllables, labial, multiple. Its ending marks it stubbornly as a plural form of "eloh"; here (but not always) it takes the singular verb form [...]
  5. ↑ Personal Names in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonia (c. 750–100 BCE): An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 128.
  6. ↑ Zeki Saritoprak (2006). "Allah". In Oliver Leaman (ed.). The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 9780415326391.
  7. ↑ Vincent J. Cornell (2005). "God: God in Islam". In Lindsay Jones (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA. p. 724.
  8. ↑ Hollenberg, David (20 October 2016). Beyond the Qur'an: Early Isma'ili Ta'wil and the Secrets of the Prophets. University of South Carolina Press. p. 116. ISBN 9781611176797.
  9. ↑ Phillott, Douglas Craven; Powell, Ashley (1926). Manual of Egyptian Arabic.
  10. ↑ Whittaker, Sue (2021). Music and Liturgy, Identity and Formation:A Study of Inculturation in Turkey. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
  11. ↑ Jankowsky, Richard C. (2021). Ambient Sufism: Ritual Niches and the Social Work of Musical Form. University of Chicago Press. p. 44.
  12. ↑ Phillott, Douglas Craven (1919). Higher Persian Grammar for the Use of the Calcutta University: Showing Differences Between Afghan and Modern Persian; with Notes on Rhetoric. Vol. 1. p. 373.
  13. ↑ Gandhi, Menka (2004). THE COMPLETE BOOK OF MUSLIM & PARSI NAMES.
  14. ↑ Kassis, Shawqi (Winter 2015). "Samih al-Qasim: Equal Parts Poetry and Resistance" (PDF). Journal of Palestine Studies. 44 (2). University of California Press – on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies: 43–51.
  15. 1 2 Snir, Reuven (2008). "'Other Barbarians Will Come': Intertextuality, Meta-Poetry, and Meta-Myth in Mahmoud Darwish's Poetry". In Khamis, Hala and; Rahman, Najat (eds.). Mahmoud Darwish: Exile's Poet, Critical Essays (PDF). p. 137.
  16. ↑ Antoon, Sinan (17 March 2014), Mahmoud Darwish: My God Why Have You Forsaken Me?
  17. ↑ "The writings of St Francis become liturgical songs in Arabic", Custodia Terrae Sanctae, 14 January 2022

Bibliography

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  • Georgii Wilhelmi Freytagii, Lexicon Arabico-Latinum. Librairie du Liban, Beirut, 1975.
  • J. Milton Cowan, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. 4th edn. Spoken Language Services, Ithaca (NY), 1979.
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