Naji Abi-Hashem, Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion
Allah, The Concept of Naji Abi-Hashem Independent Scholar, Seattle, WA, USA, and Beirut, Lebanon
The word Allah is simply the equivalent of the word God in the Arabic language.
It is not an exclusively Islamic or Christian or Jewish term, but rather a Semitic name.
Actually, the translation of the biblical scriptures into Arabic mainly uses the word el-Rab for the Lord and the word Allah for God.
For example, the first sentence of the book of Genesis reads, Feel Bad’ee Khalaka
Allahu el-Samawatti wa el-Ard – In the Beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1.1).
The expression Allahu Akbar (God is greater) is a common phrase, frequently
repeated by practicing Muslims in daily life and especially in the call to prayer, to emphasize the greatness and transcendence of God (referred to as takbeer).
Similarly, the Fatiha is used as an opening invocation or citation in the Islamic
tradition, Bismil Laahi el-Rahmaan el-Raheem, meaning “In the Name of God, the most Gracious, the most Merciful.”
Therefore, Allah in Arabic is the synonym of the official name of God in other languages.
It is important to stress here, however, that the concept and the worship of God vary considerably among religious traditions, faiths, and practices (Fig. 1).
The Middle East region has given birth to three major religious thoughts and cultures:
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In many ways, their language and worldview are closely related.
Monotheism strongly believes that the creator of life, the organizing principle, and the ultimate reality in the whole existence is God.
Traditional theism believes that God is the creator of heaven and earth and that all universes are under God’s divine providence, guidance, and sovereignty.
All three prohibit anthropomorphic visual images of the divinity, seeing divinity as beyond human image making, although a few images persist in verbal tradition, such as masculine gender
Linguistic Roots
Formally pronounced “Allaahh,” the term is probably a derivative of Al-Ilaah, meaning the Lord or Supreme Divine.
So it has roots in the Hebrew tradition where Elohim is the plural title for God.
This was formed early in time after the transition from polytheistic cultures into monotheistic communities.
It may also have roots in Aramaic as Elaha and in Syriac as Alaha
Interestingly, Allah is never used in plural and has no parallel in the English language; therefore, many manuscripts retain its Arabic form in the translated sacred texts.
Allah is a name and a label at the same time.
It is the act of calling God as the supernatural deity and of referring to God as the one only Lord, with faith and acknowledgment to his existence.
With the increased exposure to the Middle East and Islamic worldview recently, many people in the West have been wondering whether Allah in Islam is the same as God in Christianity.
The global answer is yes! All theistic faiths address God in different terms, labels, and connotations.
Each religion has a rich vocabulary to describe the creator.
For example, Muslims can address Allah in about 99 different names.
Eventually, attributes and titles are plentiful yet the attempts to understand, serve, and relate to the Most High are basically the same.
How people conceptualize and worship God is quite different among and within various religious traditions.
That depends on how God is described or revealed in these sacred texts.
It also depends on how both lay believers and theology scholars interpret their scriptures, their historical backgrounds, their sociocultural conditions, and their psycho-emotional needs, alone as individuals or together as a community of faith.
Internalizing the God Concept
The internalization of God-Allah is closely related to the concept of Imago Dei, which separates humans from other species and grants them a special privilege within the broader universe.
Therefore, God becomes more than a static notion. God becomes an interactive presence, a supernatural agent, and a dynamic reality with intrinsic-extrinsic qualities and clear mental, emotional, and social implications.
Some people perceive God-Allah to be mainly accepting, merciful, compassionate, graceful, and forgiving.
Others may perceive God-Allah to be lawful, truthful, judgmental, critical, and demanding.
Those qualities and perceptions usually shape the individual’s or group’s Allah,
expectations and reflect on their behaviors, attitudes, relationships, and worldview in life.
These functions and dynamics are normally amplified by the person’s background experiences, mental reasoning, emotional stability, psychological needs, and sociocultural heritage.
In a more specific way, it all depends on whether people are more linear or circular in their thinking, impulsive or even in their temperament, accommodating or aggressive in their relational approach, have had positive or negative parent/father figures, possess a black and white mentality, were raised in a moderate or indoctrinated environment, can tolerate grey areas and ambiguity, are able to resolve the developmental identity crises constructively, or is faith part of the problem or solution in their lives.
Some analysts differentiate between the image and the concept of God-Allah.
They bind God image to object-relations theory and God concept to cognitive science and therapy.
To our human mind and psyche, the entity of God is an ontological reality unto which we ascribe anthropomorphic characteristics.
This is an attempt to comprehend the reality of God and to make the divine image similar to our selves.
Some thinkers argue that God concepts must comprise both naturalistic and nonnaturalistic properties.
Virtually, such processes tend to be regulated by a host of psycho-spiritual factors and sociocultural mediators.
Both Biblical and Quranic psychologies (Ilm el Nephiss) highlight the significance of the divine imprints and the image of God-Allah in all humans.
Though they use different terminologies and explanations at times (soul, mind,
spirit, psyche), the underlying principle is basically the same: human beings have the ability to act rationally and relationally, introspect and self-analyze, enjoy responsible free will, experience wide range of emotions, and think about thinking (metacognition).
Some non-Arabic-speaking Muslims learn to recite verses and say prayers in the original Arabic form. Some of them even learn to read the Quran in Arabic.
However, all Muslims believe that the Quran was fully inspired and written in the highest forms of the Arabic
language, reflecting a spiritual dialect and a heavenly language as its source.
According to some experts in the cognitive science of religion, in order to internalize the God concept successfully, a number of features must be included, like intuition and counterintuition, global intentional agencies, operational knowledge and wisdom, powerful interventions in the physical world, and ability to inspire the mind and motivate the attitudes as well as the behaviors.
Certainly, people’s core beliefs about the reality of God-Allah and the ramifications on their mental health and interpersonal relationships, not only during pleasant
seasons but also especially in times of need, crisis, or uncertainty. Naji Abi-Hashem, Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, Page 35-36
