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The answer to this question effectively says that Allah is the same deity as Hashem. In Islam, it is considered an equivalent to the shem Hashem, except that one need not be m'kadesh to write it. It is also close to the name אלוה, which is put in a geniza.

If this is the case, would the arabic word, ﷲ, be considered a shem (holy name) relegating a book to geniza? Does it matter that it's a close cognate of one of Hashem's Hebrew names?

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Noach MiFrankfurt
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    dupe? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/36675/759 How is this different from the word God in any other language? – Double AA Dec 16 '14 at 19:24
  • @DoubleAA, another consideration that could help de-dupe this (if [edit]ed into the post) would be the fact that this word is a close cognate of names we know to be holy. – Isaac Moses Dec 16 '14 at 19:37
  • @IsaacMoses Is this a better dupe? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/83/759 – Double AA Dec 16 '14 at 19:41
  • @DoubleAA that one's specifically about electronic usage. – Isaac Moses Dec 16 '14 at 19:43
  • @IsaacMoses It's an implied bipartite question I think: is it a shem? can I type it? That's certainly how the answerers took it. – Double AA Dec 16 '14 at 19:47
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    FWIW, I really don't think this is a duplicate. G-d is a generic term intended in English to be pluralistic. It is not obvious that a specific name associated with a specific religion's concept of the Creator is the same thing (even if that religion more-or-less means the same One we do). – Yishai Dec 16 '14 at 20:04
  • @Yishai How is God a generic term? That's like saying Yishai is a generic term because there are other people named Yishai. Yet you still know I'm pinging you. That's how names work. – Double AA Dec 16 '14 at 20:12
  • @DoubleAA, "Generic term" as in "Not specific to any particular source." – Yishai Dec 16 '14 at 20:41
  • @IsaacMoses, I wrote in the footnote that Allah is cognate to eloah, which IS shemos – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 16 '14 at 20:42
  • @NoachmiFrankfurt I promoted that idea to being part of the question, rather than just in the footnote. – Isaac Moses Dec 16 '14 at 20:43
  • @IsaacMoses, done. – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 16 '14 at 20:48
  • dupe? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/23377/759 – Double AA Dec 16 '14 at 20:50
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    @DoubleAA, that one's specifically about the tetragrammaton and non-Semitic languages, I don't see enough of a connection for dupe. – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 16 '14 at 20:52

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I learned the Arabic version of Echad Mi Yodeya, the refrain of which is allah hu wahid. Upon singing it someone questioned whether or not it was permissible to say that refrain. They consulted Rabbi Yisroel Miller (of Calgary, Alberta) who said that it was not considered either the use of the name of an idol, or a holy name, and was akin to the English word 'God'. If this is the case I do not imagine that it has any significance in the written form either.

Perhaps we can find support to this from a video of Rabbi Menachem Froman zt"l who repeated "Allahu akbar" several times in speaking to members of an Arab village

Monica Cellio
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