he worshipped and "Elaha" as worshipped one accorded with...

he worshipped and "Elaha" as worshipped one accorded with "Ketab" means "written" The difference between "Elah" and "Allah" is that Allah is the proper name for "The Exalted God" but "Elah" is not proper name. In fact Allah is a proper distinguishing noun, while "Elah" is a common general noun. To clarify this matter it is helpful to pay attention to this example; Tehran is the capital of Iran. If we say capital it is certain that other than Tehran, Iran has no other capital.

But capital is not the proper name for this city because many other cities throughout the world are also called by this name. With regard to this we repeat that Allah is the name of "The Exalted God" but « is the word for anything worshipped by mankind.

The Holy Quran quotes the Pharoah as saying: "If you will take a god besides Me, I will most certainly make you one of the imprisoned".(26:29) Therefore god is the name for every deity, or in other words any being that is worshipped; any being man praises or any being man is humble before or works to gain his satisfaction.

In the Holy Quran we reed "Have you then considered him who takes his low desires for his god".(45:23) Making his desire his god means that he acts for his hearts and souls' desires. If man works for Allah's satisfaction then they have made Allah their God (deity), but if for their souls' desire they have made the soul their god (deity). Therefore, (Elah) God is the deity that we worship, obey, submit to, and praise.

Such a being becomes (Elah) god and (Ma'bood) worshipped one, and its obedient is thus "Abd" worshipper. 1 there is a remark by Imam Javad (a.s) on the meaning of "worshipper" which greatly enlightens and completes our understanding of this term. It explains when man becomes a worshipper and under what circumstances something takes the title "Elah" god or deity. The Imam (a.s) says: "If someone listens to the words of a speaker, he has worshipped him.

In the event that this speaker speaks from God the listener has worshipped God. And if he speaks for Satan he has worshipped Satan". 2 In this discussion with reference to one important point, the difference between the school of Ahlu'l-bait (Shi'ite) and the school of the Caliphs (Sunni) is clarified. This point being that none of the Ahlu'l-bait ever said "I say", rather they would say the Prophet (s.a.w) said or God ordained.

3 Amir al-Mu'meneen Ali (a.s) never said: "I say" 4 but the second Caliph Omar would say "I say".