99 Names to Speak and One Silent Name to Love

Because they have many Gods; polytheists have many names for God; just as humans have many names for their many relatives and friends. But how can monotheistic religions like Islam and Judaism have many names for the one and only God in whom they deeply believe?

The explanation is that only one of one God’s ‘names’ is a personal name; all the other ‘names’ are appellations that refer to one of God’s many attributes or character traits. As the Qur’an states: “Allah, there is no god except Allah. His are the most beautiful names.” (20:8)

One of the Biblical names or terms for God is “יהוה צבאות” – “Adonai Tzevaot,” often translated as “The LORD of Hosts (armies: see 1 Samuel 17:45).” This phrase is never used in the Torah, but it is used about 250 times in the Prophets and Writings; and would be better translated as the “Fearless One.”

The very first time that the name “יהוה צבאות” – “Adonai Tzevaot” is used in the Bible is in the first chapter of the prophet Samuel when Hannah makes a vow to God promising the LORD that if He gives her a son, she would give her son to the LORD all the days of his life. Childless Hannah suffered for years in her position of societal shame.  Hannah believed in God but surely wondered where was God in the midst of her years of loneliness and embarrassment.

When Hannah prayed this prayer, the first words out of her mouth were “יהוה צבאות” – Adonai Tzevaot O fearless One (be my partner); “if You will indeed look on the affliction (childlessness) of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.” (1 Samuel 1:9-1 We all face various battles in life, whether against a real enemy or an impossible situation. When we call upon Adonai Tzevaot to help us in the midst of our battles we need to be unashamed in our faith, as Hannah was in her prayer and subsequent conversation with the high priest Eli (1 Samuel 1:12-18).

For monotheists the word God is not a name of the one God like Allah or YHVH. It is the generic term for any and every deity, similar to the West Semitic root word EL as it is found in Sumerian and Akkadian Ellil-Enlil, and Hittite and Hurrian Ellel, and Hebrew El-Elohim. While most Gods are personifications of objects or forces of nature, a few are personifications of abstract cultural values like Maat, the Egyptian Goddess of truth, Vagisvara the Buddhist God of speech or Vac, the Hindu Goddess of the spoken word, hearing and sight; who also created the 4 Vedas.

One of the 99 names of God in Islamic tradition that I think is most beautiful is Al Shakur— “The Appreciative One.” There are several verses of the Qur’an which speak of God as “appreciative”: “If anyone willingly does what is good, God is appreciative and cognizant.” (Quran 2:158) and “God will pay them their due and more, from the divine bounty, for God is most forgiving, most appreciative.” (Quran 35:30) “And for anyone who brings about good, We will add goodness to it, for God is forgiving, appreciative.” (Quran 42:23)

This is truly, truly amazing. The Lord God – Originator of heaven and earth, Creator of all that exists, Giver of Life, the Most Powerful of all, King of all kings – is al Skakur, “the appreciative One.” for all human efforts to do good.

Some Muslims say Allah is the Arabic word for God; so the word Allah can be used by non-Muslims to refer to their own religious concept of God. Others vehemently oppose this. They maintain that no believing Muslim should translate the English sentence ‘Zeus is a Greek God.’ as ‘Zeus is a Greek Allah’. It is absurd, sacrilegious, and an affront to Islam. Allah is the name of the one and only God and not just a word.

Jews also have a very special name for God (YHVH) that is untranslatable; and is not even pronounced verbally by Jews any more.

This most important, unique, personal name of the one God is the name that God himself revealed to Moses at the burning bush: YHVH, which appears more than 6,800 times in the Hebrew Bible.

In Exodus 3:13-15, Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’—what should I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”.

Ehyeh is the verb “to be” future tense singular and means I will/could/might/may be/become who I may/could/will/might be/become i.e. Ehyeh is The God of Potentialities, The God of Possibilities, The Living God of Becoming and Transforming, the One who can and will liberate Israel from bondage in Egypt.

Unfortunately, the Greek and Latin translations of this verse were influenced by the Greek philosophical idea that God was similar to a permanent ideal form (like an equilateral triangle) or an unmoved mover; and is not similar to a living personality.

Since the Greeks thought God must be a static unchanging being. they mistranslated “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh’ as ‘I am who I am’ rather than its plain Hebrew meaning of ‘I will be whatever I should be to redeem you” i.e. God Almighty

The Torah continues, “And God said, “You must say this to the Israelites, “I am” (the usual false translation for God’s self revealed name) has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, Ehyeh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ (Exodus 3:13-15)

When Jews speak of God in the third person, God’s name is pronounced Yehyeh and written YHVH– “the One who causes being and becoming, the One who brings potentials into existence.”

The name YHVH was spoken publicly for almost a thousand years, from the time of Moses, throughout the centuries of the 1st Temple of Solomon. But it was ultimately replaced by Adonai (Lord) before the beginning of the 3rd century B.C.E., because God’s actual Holy name was eventually considered too holy to speak audibly.

In later centuries even the substitution Adonai was considered too holy to utter; and the custom among pious Jews till this day is not to use any name for God at all (except in prayer); but to say HaShem–the name (of God) when speaking about God.

The difference between the personal intimate name of God the believer uses in prayer and when reciting his or her holy scripture, and all other names; is a measure of the believers piety and love of the God of his or her own religion.

When Christian believers speak about Jesus they are referring to the “Divine Son of God” who connects them to God the father. When Jews or Muslims speak about Jesus they are referring not to God, but only to a man of God.

When Jews do not utter the name YHVH they are referring to the God who made a covenant at mount Sinai with the descendants of their ancestors; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel. Neither Christians or Muslims connect to God this way.

When Muslims use the word Allah they mean the one God they worship and adore; who sent Prophets, speaking their own language to every nation and tribe in the world, and sent Prophet Muhammad to proclaim the Qur’an in Arabic. This is the same one God; who sent Jesus to proclaim the Gospel and Moses to proclaim the Torah. Neither Jews nor Christians connect to God in this very universal way.

Thus, for Muslims the word Allah is both a generic for the one God of all monotheistic religions; and a special personal Islamic name when spoken with devotion and love by a Muslim.

As a neutral outsider, and an American Reform Rabbi, I can understand why many Muslims would object to Christians using the word Allah in the context of saying that Jesus is the son of Allah. Another word for Divinity is needed. As Prophet Muhammad said: ‘To God belongs 99 names, 100 minus 1, anyone who memorizes them will enter Paradise.

If people of good will use the generic aspect of the word Allah only in a monotheistic context, and use another word for a trinitarian or polytheistic context, we can have more light and less heat in our own religious lives.

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hassidic movement, was a Kaballist mystic. Once he stayed at an inn where the innkeeper was a very simple Jew, mostly ignorant of Torah knowledge. He even read the daily prayers with difficulty. But he and his wife had a wonderful custom; whenever they were asked how things were, they would always answer with hope and gratitude, “praised be God’s name.”

When he heard this, the Baal Shem Tov had a vision and was told: “the words ‘praised be God’s name’ which the innkeeper and his wife stated with honesty and joyish feeling, bring more joy in heaven than your daily holy prayer and meditation!”

And the Qur’an states: “He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the best names.” (59:24) And Prophet David states in his Zabur (Psalm 5::11) “But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them always sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in You.”