Jewish Firth Is Nameless

The concept of Fitrah is basic to Islamic theology, signifying that there is an innate human disposition towards believing and submitting to the One and only God’s divine personality.

The Quran (30:30) states this concept: “Set your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the Fitrah of God upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of God.”

This verse means that all humans are born with a natural inclination towards God and a sense of morality. The Fitrah is often likened to a seed planted within the human soul, which, if nurtured, blossoms into a spiritual connection. This is why every human band, tribe, nation or empire, has always had one or more religions.

However, prior to the ongoing Jewish religion, all of mankind’s long lasting religions were polytheistic. The oldest known deity in human history is Anu, a Sumerian god worshiped in ancient Mesopotamia. Anu was said to be the father of the other gods and was responsible for the creation of the universe.

Anu was worshiped as early as the 3rd millennium BCE and was considered the king of the heavens. Over time, Anu’s significance diminished as the Babylonians adopted and transformed the pantheon of Mesopotamian gods and for the last 20 centuries Anu has been known only by scholars of ancient history.

In the days of Abraham, the religions of the Near East, Africa and India had many hundreds of different gods, with hundreds of names for their different gods, but for those religions that trace their prophets back to Prophet Abraham, and his two sons Prophets Ishmael and Isaac, the many names of God simply describe different appellations, aspects and attributes of the one God’s multifaceted personality.

Muslims worship the same One God that all God’s Prophets worshipped: “…were you witnesses when death approached Jacob?  When he said unto his sons, ‘What will you worship after me?’  They said, ‘We shall worship your God, the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, the One God, and to Him we submit.” (Quran 2:133)

But one of these One God’s ‘names’, is a very special, unique, personal name for each of the three Abrahamic religions; all the other ‘names’ are appellations or titles that refer to one of One God’s many attributes (creator, ruler, redeemer) or God’s character traits (merciful, just, forgiving).

Thus to say that God is a King, a Judge, or a Savior describes one of many ways God acts and relates. To say that God is a Creator, a Lover or the Compassionate One is to describe one of many character or personality traits of the one and only God. “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.” (Psalm 105:1-3)

In the Zabur of Prophet David, King of Israel; David says to the One God: “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.” (5:11)

Ibn Al-Qayyim writes: The attribute of generosity is an attribute of God who feeds and is not fed. The most beloved creatures to Allah are those who take on his characteristics. Indeed, Allah is noble and loves nobility from his servants, he is knowledgeable and loves the scholars, he is powerful and loves courage, and he is beautiful and loves beauty. (al-Wābil al-Ṣayyib 1/34)

Thus only one of the many appellations of the One universal creator of space and time is special to each Abrahamic religion: Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as its Divine personal name that is always in the believer’s heart and soul. Christians personalized the name of God by connecting it with the name of a very special person, whose message and passion inspired them to transform their lives. The Qur’an, true to its universalizing perspective uses the generic name Allah; but with the intense resonance that Allah became personalized in the Muslim community’s experience.

The words El, Elah, Elohei and Elohim are all pre Abrahamic west Semitic generic terms for a God or for many Gods. In these various forms they appear almost 3,000 times in the Hebrew Bible.

But the most important name of the one God, the name that God himself reveals to Prophet Moses at the burning bush, is 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 liberate Israel from bondage in Egypt. A short version of YHVH is Yah as in Exodus 15:2 “Yah is my strength and my might.” Yah is also a frequent refrain in Prophet David’s Psalms as part of a cheer Hallelujah-Praise Yah.

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 like a living personality.

Since they thought God must be a static unchanging being. they mistranslated “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh’ as ‘I am who I am’ rather than its plain meaning of ‘I can 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 YHVH– “the One who causes being and becoming, the One who brings potentials into existence.”

This name (YHVH) was spoken publicly from the time of Moses and throughout the 3½ centuries of the 1st Temple of Solomon. But during the period of the 2nd Temple it was pronounced as Adonai (Lord) because of the feeling that God’s actual Holy name was too holy to utter audibly.

In later centuries even the substitution 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. Thus, while Christians and Muslims love to voice their special personal name for God, Jews avoid voicing God’s name (YHVH) even in prayer.