Use Allah, El Shaddai or HaShem when Naming the Unnameable

Hashem is a Jewish Hebrew term for the One God. Literally, it means “the name.” In the Hebrew Bible the Name of God as revealed by God Himself (Exodus 3:13-15) is made up of four Hebrew letters, and during the Second Temple period was only pronounced on Yom Kippur by the High Priest.

Saying God’s name was considered a very serious and powerful thing, so much so that one of the Ten Commandments prohibits us from saying God’s name in vain.

God defines himself relationally as being presence for his people. The first and most fundamental thing that God says is “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12) So the most important name of the one God, the name that God himself reveals to Moses at the burning bush, is YHVH: which appears more than 6,800 times in the Hebrew Bible.

Also the first century Jewish historian Josephus states (War of the Jews 5.235) that the Jerusalem Temple high priest wore a golden crown engraved with the four letter YHVH name of God

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.

Unfortunately, the Greek and Latin translations of this verse were influenced by the Greek philosophical idea that God was similar to a never changing, 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 need to 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.”

YHVH itself had replaced a much older name of God: El Shaddai. Exodus (6:2-3) relates: God also said to Moses, “I am YHVH. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name YHVH I did not make myself fully known to them.”

In the whole Hebrew Bible the full appellation ‘El Shaddai’ is used only in connection with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Shaddai by itself appears 31 times in the ancient book of Prophet Job, who was not Jewish, and in a few other poetic passages.

In the Greek translation of the Torah, El Shaddai was erroneously translated Pantokrator, all powerful-omnipotent, instead of ‘The God who is sufficient”. The Greek philosophical idea of omnipotence leads to the false contradiction between God’s power and human free will.

God is indeed, more than sufficient. God is and will always be YHVH, the God who enables human hopes of future possibilities of improvement to become realized.

El Shaddai can also be translated as the Nourishing God because the Hebrew word Shaddaim means the twin female breasts. This feminine image may help some women today replace the ancient image of God as an old man with a long beard; with a metaphor more representative of God’s classical attribute of loving concern for His children.

One of the 99 names of Allah in the Qur’an 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 “Why would God punish you if you are grateful and faithful, since God is most appreciative, most cognizant?” (Quran 4:147)

I think this is one of the most profound names of Allah in the Qur’an. It not only refutes the erroneous doctrine of ‘original sin’; it also reminds us that Allah’s generosity always rewards good efforts much more than God punishes bad acts: “As God will pay them their due and more, from the Divine bounty, for God is most forgiving, most appreciative. (Quran 35:30)