God’s Names: YHVH For Jews And Allah For Muslims – OpEd
The Hebrew Prophet Malachi (2:5 New International translation) states: “My covenant was with him (Messengers Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David), a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them (the commandments) to him (Banu Israel); this called for reverence and he (Banu Israel) revered me and stood in awe of my name (YHVH for Jews and Allah for Muslims).”
Awe and reverence for the one God are basic for all monotheistic religions. As the Qur’an says: “Hold firmly to what We have given (the Torah to) you (Banu Israel) and remember what is in it (the commandments).” (Qur’an 2:63). But why does the one and only God of Judaism and Islam have so many different names?
Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and frequently used by the Muslim community are “the Merciful” (al-Rahman) and “the very Merciful” (al-Rahim). Ar-Rahman: occurs 57 times; and Ar-Raheem: 123 times in the Qur’an. The second one after Allah is Ar Rabb, “The Lord” which occurs 900 times.
In the Quran, there are almost 2,500 different verses where Allah mentions one of His names or attributes and His name Allah is mentioned more than 2,700 times. Although the Qur’an does not directly state that Allah has 99 attribute names it does state that “to Him belong the best names…there is no deity except Him. To Him belong the best names. (Quran 20:8) and “He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the best names.” (Quran 59:24)
For Jews the Tetragram, the four-letter Hebrew name יהוה (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), is the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. “God also said to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. ‘ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exodus 3:13-15).
YHVH is the Hebrew name for the God of the Israelites, sometimes erroneously pronounced “Jehovah”. After the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE), and especially from the 3rd century BCE on, Jews ceased using the name Yahweh for two reasons. As Judaism became a more cosmopolitan religion, the common Hebrew noun Elohim (plural in form but always understood in the singular), meaning “God,” tended to replace Yahweh to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others.
At the same time, the four letter divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered; it was thus replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai (“My Lord”).
In the Quran, there are almost 2,500 different verses where Allah mentions one of His names or attributes and the name Allah is mentioned more than 2,700 times. Although the Qur’an does not directly state that Allah has 99 attribute names it does state that “to Him belong the best names…there is no deity except Him. To Him belong the best names. (Quran 20:8) and “He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the best names.” (Quran 59:24)
It was Prophet Muhammad who said, “Allah has ninety-nine names, i.e. one-hundred minus one, and whoever knows them will go to Paradise.” (Sahih Bukhari 50:894) The ‘minus one’ might refer to the YHVH name revealed to Messenger Moses: “God also said to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. ‘ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exodus 3:13-15). )
The Hebrew Name for the One God of Abraham is YHVH which appears over 6800 times in the Hebrew Bible. It was considered such a sacred name that Jewish people stopped uttering it. They simply referred to God as Ha-Shem, “The Name”.
Muslims worship the same One God that the Hebrew Prophets worshipped: “…were you witnesses when death approached Jacob? When he said unto his sons, ‘What will you worship after me?’ They said, ‘We shall worship your God, the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, the One God, and to Him we submit.” (Quran 2:133)
The Qur’an states: “Say: we believe in God and in what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma’il: Isaac, Jacob and The Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus and the Prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another, among them, and to (the one) God do we bow our will.” (3:84)
Judaism was the religion designed by God for Banu Israel-the Jewish People- and Islam was the religion designed by God for all the earth’s polytheists. As the Qur’an states: “Indeed, the believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabians—whoever truly believes in God and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve.” (Quran 2:62)
Since Judaism was the religion designed by God for Banu Israel-the Jewish People- many of the 70 names for God, especially those used in the Hebrew Bible, connect God with Banu Israel, who were the only ongoing monotheistic religious community in the world during Biblical times.
For example: The Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 1:4, 5:19), and The Shepherd of Israel (Psalm 80:2) and God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob (Exodus 3:15).
The Zabur of David added more ‘personal experience’ names for God like: Elohai Yishi = the God of my redemption (Psalm 27:9), Elohei chasdi = the God of my mercy (Psalm 59:11), Elohim misgabi = God, my high tower (Psalm 59:17), Elohei Yisheinu = God of our salvation (Psalm 65:6), and Elohei Tehilati = the God of my praise (Psalm 109:1).
In the Zabur of Prophet David, King of Israel David says to the One God: “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.” (5:11)
One Biblical name for God that is not yet part of either of the traditional Jewish 70 or Muslim 99 names of God is the name used by Prophet Abraham’s Egyptian wife Hagar, the mother of Prophet Ishmael. It is a special ‘personal experience’ name for God that she alone used when the God of Prophet Abraham responded to her and her son Prophet Ismail’s need: El-Ro’ee.
El Ro’ee means A Self-reflecting God or A God Who Sees (literally mirrors) Me. “Then she (Hagar) called the name of YHVH, who spoke to her, ‘El Ro’ee’, ‘You are a God who sees me’; for she said, ‘Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?’ Therefore the well was called Beer-laHai-roee; the well of the Living One (Al-Hayy in Arabic) who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13-14)
Neither Sarah nor Hagar/Ha-jar are mentioned by name in the Qur’an, but the story of Hagar’s exile from Abraham’s home is traditionally understood to be referred to in a line from Prophet Ibrāhīm’s prayer in the Qur’an (14:37): “I have settled some of my family in a barren valley near your Sacred House.”
Muslim tradition relates that when Hā-jar ran out of water, and Ismāil her child, began to die; Hā-jar panicked and ran between two nearby hills, Al-Safa and Al-Marwah repeatedly searching for water.
After her seventh run, Ismā’īl hit the ground with his heel and caused a miraculous well to spring out of the ground called the Zamzum Well. It is located a few meters from the Kaaba in Mecca.
Perhaps this previously unique Torah name of God, El Ro’ee or Hai Ro’ee; which are Hagar’s ‘personal experience’ names for God, meaning A Self-reflecting God or A Living God Who Sees Me, and the name for the well ‘Beer-laHai-ro’ee’ the well of the Self-reflecting living God; can help bring Christians, Jews and Muslims to see themselves in the eyes of each other better, and thus come closer together in the future.
If all Arabs and Jews can live up to the ideal that ‘the descendants of Abraham’s sons should never make war against each other’ is the will of God; we will help fulfill the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. On that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”…(Isaiah 19:23-5)
