Lesson plan
Ilah
from Ugarit, Father of the gods; explains the origin of the word Ilah. ( ; plural: ) is an Arabic term that means deity, or anyone that is worshipped. The feminine form is ( , meaning 'goddess'); with the article, it appears as ( ). The word is spelled either with an optional diacritic alif to mark the only in Qur'anic texts or (more rarely) with a full alif, . In its form as a possessive suffix with an -i ending, it is most commonly used to refer to the God of the monotheistic faiths, and is translated as 'my God'. The more commonly used standalone word for God in Arabic is Allah, conjectured to be a compound form of the Arabic definite article Al ('the') + Ilah, though this has been a matter of dispute.
Article summary
from Ugarit, Father of the gods; explains the origin of the word Ilah. ( ; plural: ) is an Arabic term that means deity, or anyone that is worshipped. The feminine form is ( , meaning 'goddess'); with the article, it appears as ( ). The word is spelled either with an optional diacritic alif to mark the only in Qur'anic texts or (more rarely) with a full alif, . In its form as a possessive suffix with an -i ending, it is most commonly used to refer to the God of the monotheistic faiths, and is translated as 'my God'. The more commonly used standalone word for God in Arabic is Allah, conjectured to be a compound form of the Arabic definite article Al ('the') + Ilah, though this has been a matter of dispute.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.