Allâh means 'the Divinity' in Arabic...

Allâh means 'the Divinity' in Arabic: it is a single God, implying that a correct transcription can only render the exact meaning of the word with the help of the expression 'God'. For the Muslim, al lâh is none other than the God of Moses and Jesus. The document produced by the Office for Non-Christian Affairs at the Vatican stresses this fundamental point in the following terms: "It would seem pointless to maintain that Allâh is not really God, as do certain people in the West!

The conciliar documents have put the above assertion in its proper place. There is no better way of illustrating Islamic faith in God than by quoting the following extracts from Lumen Gentium[^47]. 'The Muslims profess the faith of Abraham and worship with us the sole merciful God, who is the future judge of men on the Day of Reckoning . . .'" One can therefore understand the Muslims' protest at the all too frequent custom in European languages of saying 'Allâh' instead of 'God' . . .

Cultivated Muslims have praised D. Masson's French transition of the Qur'an for having 'at last' written 'Dieu'[^48] instead of 'Allah'. The Vatican document points out the following: "Allâh is the only word that Arabic -speaking Christians have for God." Muslims and Christians worship a single God. The Vatican document then undertakes a critical examination of the other false judgements made on Islam.

'Islamic fatalism' is a widely-spread prejudice; the document examines this and quoting the Qur'an for support, it puts in opposition to this the notion of the responsibility man has, who is to be judged by his actions.

It shows that the concept of an Islamic legalism is false; on the contrary, it opposes the sincerity of faith to this by quoting two phrases in the Qur'an that are highly misunderstood in the West: "There is no compulsion in religion" (sura 2, verse 256) "(God) has not laid upon you in religion any hardship" (sura 22, verse 78) The document opposes the widely-spread notion of 'Islam, religion of fear' to 'Islam, religion of love'-love of one's neighbor based on faith in God.

It refutes the falsely spread notion that Muslim morality hardly exists and the other notion, shared by so many Jews and Christians, of Islamic fanaticism.