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(; plural: ) is an Arabic term meaning " deity" or " god". The feminine is (, meaning " goddess"); with the article, it appears as . It appears in the name of the monotheistic god of Islam as , translated, that is, "the god". It is also used by Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews, but also use other terms such as Rabb, or "Lord" - a title also used by Muslims for Allah - similar to the Hebrew use of Adonai, which is the most frequently used by Jews of all languages, along with HaShem or "the Name". Amongst Christians, Yasu - an Arabic transliteration of the name of the Christian Jesus - Yahweh, or Shaddai, translated, that is, "Almighty", are common, with some other names and titles generally borrowed as transliterations from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. In Malaysia, it is illegal for Christians, Jews, or any other non-Muslim to refer to their God as "Allah".
is cognate to Northwest Semitic and Akkadian ilum. The word is from a Proto-Semitic archaic biliteral meaning " god" (possibly with a wider meaning of "strong"), which was extended to a regular triliteral by the addition of a h (as in Hebrew , ). The word is spelled either with an optional diacritic alif to mark the only in Qur'anic texts or (more rarely) with a full alif, .
The term is used throughout the Quran in passages detailing the existence of God and of the beliefs of non- Muslims in other divinities. Notably, the first statement of the (the Muslim confession of faith) is, "there is no but ", that is, translated,"there is no god except Allah".