The word Allah is basically the equivalent of the word God in the Arabic language. It is not an exclusively Islamic or Christian or Jewish term, but rather a Semitic name. Actually, the translation of the biblical scriptures into Arabic mainly uses the word el-Rab for the Lord and the word Allah for God. The first sentence of the book of Genesis, for example, reads as follows: Feel Bad’ee Khalaka Allahu el-Samawatti wa el-Ard – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1.1). And the opening of the Gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Allah in Arabic)” John 1.1. The expression Allahu Akbar (God is Greater) is a common Islamic phrase, repeated frequently by practicing Muslims in daily life, and especially in the call to prayer, to emphasize the greatness and transcendence of God. It is referred to as al-takbeer – the act ascribing greatness. Similarly, the Fatihais used in the Islamic tradition as...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Abi-Hashem, N. (1998). Returning to the fountains. American Psychologist, 53(1), 63–64.
Abi-Hashem, N. (2008). Arab Americans: Understanding their challenges, needs, and struggles. In A. Marsella, P. Watson, F. Norris, J. Johnson, & J. Gryczynski (Eds.), Ethnocultural perspectives on disasters and trauma: Foundations, issues, and applications (pp. 115–173). New York: Springer.
Abi-Hashem, N. (2011a). On cultural resiliency. The Australian Community Psychologist, 23(2), 23–31. Retrieved from http://groups.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/ACP%202%2011.pdf. Accessed 20 Feb 2016.
Abi-Hashem, N. (2011b). Working with Middle Eastern immigrant families. In A. Zagelbaum & J. Carlson (Eds.), Working with immigrant families: A practical guide for counselors (pp. 151–180). New York: Routledge Press.
Abi-Hashem, N. (2013a). Religion and spirituality. In K. D. Keith (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cross-cultural psychology. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. Online version http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118339893.wbeccp453/abstract
Abi-Hashem, N. (2013b, Summer). Revisiting the concept of worldview. APA’s International Psychology Bulletin, 17(3), 68–70. Online version http://internationalpsychology.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/ipb_summer_2013-07-22-1_final.pdf
Abi-Hashem, N. (2014). Religious fundamentalism and terrorism. In D. A. Leeming (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology and religion (2nd ed., pp. 1520–1525). New York: Springer. Online version http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/335724.html
Abi-Hashem, N. (2015). Revisiting cultural awareness and cultural relevancy. American Psychologist, 70(7), 660–661.
Abi-Hashem, N., & Barbuto, I. G. (2013). Social support. In K. D. Keith (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cross-cultural psychology. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. Online version http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118339893.wbeccp504/abstract
Abi-Hashem, N., & Driscoll, E. G. (2013). Cultural anthropology. In K. D. Keith (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cross-cultural psychology. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. Online version http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118339893.wbeccp120/abstract
Armstrong, K. (1993). A history of God. New York: Random Books.
Aten, J. D., O’Grady, K. A., & Worthington, E. L. (2012). The psychology of religion and spirituality for clinicians: Using research in your practice. New York: Routledge.
Barrett, J. L. (2008). Why Santa Claus is not a God. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 8, 149–161.
Barrett, J. L. (2015). Cognitive science of religion and Christian faith: How may they be brought together? Retrieved from http://www.csca.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Barrett2015.pdf. Accessed on 24 Feb 2016.
Barrett, J. L., & Keil, F. C. (1996). Conceptualizing a nonnatural entity: Anthropomorphism in God concepts. Cognitive Psychology, 31, 219–247.
Bowker, J. W. (1973). The sense of God: Sociological, anthropological, and psychological approaches to the origin of the sense of God. Oxford: Clarendon.
Brokaw, B. F., & Edwards, K. J. (1994). The relationship of God image to level of object relations development. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 22(4), 352–371.
Davis, E. B., Moriarty, G. L., & Mauch, J. C. (2013). God images and God concepts: Definitions, development, and dynamics. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5(1), 51–60.doi:10.1037/a0029289.
Fowler, J. W. (1995). The stages of faith: The psychology of human development and the quest of meaning. New York: Harper Collins.
Francis, L. J., Croft, J., & Pyke, A. (2012). Religious diversity, empathy, and God images: Perspectives from the psychology of religion shaping a study among adolescents in the UK. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 33(3), 293–307.
Graham, S. E, & Graham, J. (2011, October 25). Closing the gap between psychology and God: A Harvard psychologist is developing evidence-based treatments for the devout. Scientific America, 90. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=closing-gap-between-psychology-and-god. Accessed 14 Dec 2012.
Hoffman, L. (n.d.). Cultural constructs of the God image and God concept: Implications for culture, psychology, and religion. Costa Mesa: Vanguard University.
Hood, R. W., Hill, P. C., & Spilka, B. (2009). The psychology of religion: An empirical approach. New York: Guilford.
Horst, S. (2013). Notions of intuition in the cognitive science of religion. The Monist, 96(2), 377–398. Online version http://shorst.faculty.wesleyan.edu/files/2012/02/Horst_2013_Monist_Intuitions-libre.pdf
Justice, W. G., & Lambert, W. (1986). A comparative study of the language people use to describe the personalities of God and earthly parents. Journal of Pastoral Care, 40(2), 166–172.
Ladd, K. L., McIntosh, D. N., & Spilka, B. (1998). Children’s God concepts: Influence of denomination, age, and gender. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 8, 49–56.
Lawrence, R. T. (1997). Measuring the image of God: The God image inventory and the God image scales. The Journal of Psychology and Theology, 25, 214–226.
Linendoll, N. (2004). What is spiritual healing? A theological analysis. Retrieved from http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/courses/theo1/projects/2001_linnendoll/index.htm. Accessed 24 Feb 2016.
McDonald, A., Beck, R., Allison, S., & Norsworthy, L. (2005). Attachment to God and parents: Testing the correspondence vs. compensation hypotheses. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 24(1), 21–28. Retrieved from http://www.acu.edu/img/assets/6655/AttachmenttoGodandParents.pdf. Accessed 3 Oct 2015.
McMinn, M. R., Brooks, S. D., Triplett, M. A. H., Hoffman, W. E., & Huizinga, P. G. (1993). The effects of God language on perceived attributes of God. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 21, 309–314.
Meek, T. J. (1960). Hebrew origins. New York: Harper Torchbooks.
Nydell, M. K. (2006). Understanding Arabs: A guide for Westerners (4th ed.). Yarmouth: Intercultural Press.
Odwazny-Peterson, A. (2005). The dynamic God Image: Psychoanalytic object relational, developmental and Jungian theories of God image and their implications for psychotherapy. San Francisco: Institute of Integral Studies.
Piedmont, R., & Muller, J. (2006). Are God image and God concept redundant concepts? Paper presented at the 2006 Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. New Orleans.
Santosh, C. S. (Ed.). (2004). Religious fundamentalism in the contemporary world: Critical social and political issues. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Spero, M. H. (1992). Religious objects as psychological structures. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Stade, R. C. (1970). Ninety nine names of God in Islam: A translation of Al-Ghazali. Ibadan: Daystar Press. Retrieved from http://www.ghazali.org/books/Ghazali-99-Name-of-God.pdf. Accessed 14 Dec 2012.
Tillich, P. (1959). Theology of culture. New York: Oxford University.
Ullah, M. Z. (1984). Islamic concept of God. London: Kegan Paul International.
Wainwright, W. (2009). Monotheism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/monotheism/. Accessed 14 Dec 2012.
Warren, P. (1998). Is the word Allah similar to Elohim? Retrieved from http://www.plim.org/1Allah.html. Accessed 20 Feb 2016.
Worthington, E. L. (1989). Religious faith across the life span: Implications for counseling and research. The Counseling Psychologist, 17, 555–612.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this entry
Cite this entry
Abi-Hashem, N. (2016). Allah, the Concept of. In: Leeming, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_1001-20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_1001-20
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Allah, the Concept of- Published:
- 06 April 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_1001-21
-
Original
Allah, the Concept of- Published:
- 08 April 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_1001-20