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[quote=Anonymous][quote=takoma]A couple of thoughts about this thread, to which I was one of the first responders.  I read the first few pages, in which the bulk of actual responses to the original question were fairly similar to mine, but most of the discussion revolved around a zealot who can't get beyond the egocentric belief that anyone who does not share his/her beliefs will rot in Hell.

So I skipped to the end and found an interesting discussion of Arabic terms.  The comment I like best is that the Arabic term for God, Allah, is a gender-free term.  That is truly rational, since sex only makes sense when both male and female exist, not in a one-of-a-kind being.[/quote]

Thanks for sharing your perspective. Additionally, it can't be plural either, so no gender and no plurality for the word.  Also, in English, the only difference between "god", meaning a false God, and "God", meaning the One True God, is the capital "G". In the Arabic alphabet, since it does not have capital letters, the word for God (i.e. Allah) is formed by adding the equivalent to the English word "the" (Al-) to the Arabic word for "God/God" (ilah). So the Arabic word "Allah" literally it means "The God" - the "Al-" in Arabic basically serving the same function as the capital "G" in English. Due to the above mentioned facts, a more accurate translation of the word "Allah" into English might be "The One -and-Only God" or "The One True God".

The word Allah, according to several Arabic lexicons, means "the Being Who comprises all the attributes of perfection", i.e. the Being Who is perfect in every way (in His knowledge, power etc.), and possesses the best and the noblest qualities imaginable in the highest degree. 
 Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (which is based on classical Arabic dictionaries), says under the word Allah, while citing many linguistical authorities:

"Allah ... is a proper name applied to the Being Who exists necessarily, by Himself, comprising all the attributes of perfection, a proper name denoting the true god ... the al being inseparable from it, not derived..."

So yeh translating Arabic to English can be a daunting task....[/quote]

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