[^16] The proper name might have been assigned to a...

[^16] The proper name might have been assigned to a particular being from the beginning , with no previous common name, though, before using it as a proper name, it might have been used as a general name or attribute, such as Muhammad and 'Ali, which had not formerly been used attributively. Such names, in their new position as proper names belong to the first group.

Consequently, the Glorious Word "Allah", whether aplastic or derived, when used as a proper name, it exclusively refers to the Divine Sacred Being. But, as His Sacred Being is not visible, He is introduced by way of an exclusive epithet that cannot be used to describe other than Allah, such as: "The Being All-Inclusive of all attributes of perfection", yet, it does not mean that the word "Allah" is intended to cover the total of these concepts.

So, any research about the matter and form of this word would not help us to know any more of the meaning of the word as a personal knowledge.

Although the Persian word for Allah, "Khuda", is said to be the abbreviation of "Khud-aa", which is equivalent to "the One whose existence is necessay' or "the Necessary Being" there are some other similar ones, like "Khudawand" and "KadKhuda", one may declare that it means "The Owner" or "The Proprietor", while its common meaning is like "The Creator" or "The Originator".

The most common word used in the Qur'an to denote God is "Ilah" and "Rabb", the first of which is used even in the slogan of monotheism: "La ilaha illallah" (there is no god but Allah). It is, then, suitable to offer an explanation regarding these two words: "Ilah, though on the measure of "fi'al", has the meaning of "maf'ul" , like "Kitab" which means "maktub". So, linguistically it means "ma'bud" [The Worshipped].

One can also add that "Ilah", like many other derivatives, denotes status and meritoriousness. Thus, He can be said to be "worthy of worshipping". So, in the slogan "la ilaha illallah", there would be no need to think of a relevant attribute.

Here, another question may be asked: If "Ilah" means "the One worthy of worshipping", why then it is used in the Qur'an to denote the false deities such as "the Samiri's calf", which is referred to as "your Ilah", or Pharaoh's deities which are referred to as "your Ilahs"?