Arabic
Allah
- What it means
- God, the One God. Said by Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians and Jews.
- How it is misused
- Treated as the name of a separate “Muslim god”, or heard only in news of violence.
- Say it well
- Say “Allah, the Arabic word for God”.
Common Ground · Know
Words worth
knowing
Twenty words that matter to Jews, Christians and Muslims: what each means to the people who use it, how it gets misused, and how to say it well.
Allah · God · Lord · HaShem · Abba · Allāhu akbar · In shā' Allāh · Mā shā' Allāh · Salām · Shalom · Jihad · Sharia · Kāfir · Goy · gentile · Infidel · Crusade · Muslim · Islamic · Islamist · People of the Book · Abrahamic · Antisemitism · Anti-Muslim hatred
English
God
- What it means
- From a Germanic root, not related to Allah or Elohim. Used by all three faiths.
- How it is misused
- Some Muslims prefer “Allah”, to avoid “gods” and “goddess”.
- Say it well
- Both are fine. Follow the speaker's own usage.
Hebrew · Greek · Arabic
Lord
- What it means
- Jews say Adonai in place of God's Name; Christians say Lord of God and of Jesus; Muslims say Rabb, “Lord of the worlds”.
- How it is misused
- Heard as meaning the same thing in all three when it doesn't.
- Say it well
- Say whose “Lord”, and what it refers to.
Hebrew, “the Name”
HaShem
- What it means
- How many Jews refer to God in everyday speech, out of reverence.
- How it is misused
- Sometimes mocked as evasive.
- Say it well
- Use it when quoting Jewish speakers; explain it once.
Aramaic, “father”
Abba
- What it means
- The word Jesus (peace be upon him) used in prayer (Mark 14:36).
- How it is misused
- Popularly said to mean “Daddy”; scholars dispute that.
- Say it well
- Say “Father (Aramaic Abba)”. Muslims do not call God “Father”.
Arabic, “God is greater”
Allāhu akbar
- What it means
- Said in every Muslim prayer, at the call to prayer, in joy and at births. Arab Christians say it too.
- How it is misused
- Shouted by some attackers, so many people hear it only that way.
- Say it well
- Know its everyday use first. Its misuse is the Name used in vain.
Arabic, “if God wills”
In shā' Allāh
- What it means
- Said of anything in the future (Qur'an 18:23–24). Christians say the same: “If the Lord wills” (James 4:15).
- How it is misused
- Joked about as meaning “never”.
- Say it well
- A shared humility phrase. Use it as a bridge.
Arabic, “what God has willed”
Mā shā' Allāh
- What it means
- Praise and admiration, and a guard against envy.
- How it is misused
- Rarely misused; often misunderstood.
- Say it well
- Gloss it once.
Arabic · Hebrew, “peace”
Salām · Shalom
- What it means
- The greetings as-salāmu ʿalaykum and shalom aleichem. As-Salām is a Name of Allah; Shalom is a name of God in Jewish law.
- How it is misused
- Not misused: a perfect “same word” moment.
- Say it well
- Use it.
Arabic, “striving”
Jihad
- What it means
- In the Qur'an: patient endurance, argument and self-defence. Later writers spoke of the greater, inner jihad and the lesser, armed one.
- How it is misused
- Used by extremists to justify terror; used by others to brand all Muslims.
- Say it well
- Say “striving”. Never use it as shorthand for terrorism.
Arabic, “path to water”
Sharia
- What it means
- The divine way of life: prayer, ethics, family, law. Distinct from fiqh, the human, fallible working-out of it.
- How it is misused
- A scare word (“sharia law taking over”).
- Say it well
- Sharia councils in England are not courts and cannot override UK law.
Arabic, from “to cover”
Kāfir
- What it means
- In the Qur'an, ingratitude or covering the truth; in 57:20 it simply means farmers, who cover seed.
- How it is misused
- Extremists use it against other Muslims; in South Africa it became a racial slur.
- Say it well
- Explain it with care; never use it as a label for people.
Hebrew · Latin, “nation”
Goy · gentile
- What it means
- In the Bible goy means any nation, including Israel; later, non-Jews.
- How it is misused
- Antisemitic propaganda falsely presents it as proof of contempt.
- Say it well
- Say “non-Jew” in plain English.
Latin, “unfaithful”
Infidel
- What it means
- A medieval Christian term, often for Muslims; a loose rendering of kāfir.
- How it is misused
- Used as an insult in both directions.
- Say it well
- Avoid it, except to explain its history.
Latin
Crusade
- What it means
- The medieval Latin Christian military campaigns, especially 1095–1291.
- How it is misused
- Painful history for Muslims, Arab Christians and Jews, who were massacred in the Rhineland in 1096.
- Say it well
- Avoid it as a metaphor.
English
Muslim · Islamic · Islamist
- What it means
- A Muslim follows Islam; “Islamic” describes the faith and its civilisation; “Islamist” usually means a political ideology.
- How it is misused
- “Islamist” used to mean any Muslim, or a terrorist.
- Say it well
- Never use “Islamist” as shorthand for “Muslim”. Name the group and the act.
Arabic, ahl al-kitāb
People of the Book
- What it means
- The Qur'an's term for Jews and Christians, honoured as receivers of earlier scripture, invited to “a common word” (3:64).
- How it is misused
- Sometimes read narrowly, to mark outsiders.
- Say it well
- A warm bridge term. Use it with its verses.
English
Abrahamic
- What it means
- A modern umbrella term for Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
- How it is misused
- Overused to mean “all the same”.
- Say it well
- Say “the God of Abraham, understood differently”.
English
Antisemitism
- What it means
- Hostility to Jews as Jews. Spelt without a hyphen, as CST and the IHRA spell it.
- How it is misused
- Denied, or used loosely.
- Say it well
- Name it, and report it.
English
Anti-Muslim hatred
- What it means
- Hostility to Muslims as Muslims. The UK government now uses “anti-Muslim hostility”; “Islamophobia” is also widely used.
- How it is misused
- Denied, or used loosely.
- Say it well
- Name it, and report it.