Salaam,
Hi, I'm a recent revert that is struggling with one particular point in Islam, and have not been able to find an answer. Since I came to Islam after examining Jewish beliefs, I have been hooked on the fact that the (a) name of Allah is the Tetragrammaton (Yod Ha Waw Ha) in the Hebrew bible. But the trouble is, I have not found a single Hadith or aya in the Quran that make any mention of that name, nor have I found a theory that satisfies my concern. I've heard mention of a 'secret name' of Allah, that may solve my query, but that too I have not been able to verify in sunnah. It's just striking that a name that the Jews esteem so highly, (so much that they wont even utter it for fear of defiling it), would have no place in Islam. (They even consider it a personal name.) It's very had for me to believe that name would be part of the corruption of the Hebrew Bible, for it is used so so frequently by itself or with the ilah cognate elohim.
I hope someone out there has either a source for this 'secret name' theory or a better solution...
Ma Salaama
Well Brother, i'm not so sure that Allah Subhannahu Wa Ta'Aala
IS the tetragrammaton. i've heard Mufti Ismail Menk define exactly where the name Allah comes from but i don't remember which lecture and as i have over a hundred of them i don't know where to start to look. iirc, it's a contracted form of a long name meaning the one who deserves to be worshipped and perhaps the only one.
the Jews didn't ALWAYS consider the name to be a secret. they stopped pronouncing it in order not to take it in vain , but because they stopped pronouncing it, my belief is that they just plain forgot what it was and therefore was NO SECRET AT ALL!!
check out this excerpt on Ezra:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=578&letter=E&search=Ezra
—In Rabbinical Literature:
Ezra marks the springtime in the national history of Judaism. "The flowers appear on the earth" (Cant. ii. 12) refers to Ezra and Nehemiah (Midr. Cant. ad loc.).
Ezra was worthy of being the vehicle of the Law, had it not been already given through Moses (Sanh.21b). It was forgotten, but Ezra restored it (Suk. 20a). But for its sins, Israel in the time of Ezra would have witnessed miracles as in the time of Joshua (Ber. 4a). Ezra was the disciple of Baruch ben Neriah (Cant. R.); his studies prevented him from joining the first party returning to Jerusalem in the reign of Cyrus, the study of the Law being of greater importance than the reconstruction of the Temple. According to another opinion, Ezra remained behind so as not to compete, even involuntarily, with Jeshua ben Jozadak for the office of chief priest. Ezra reestablished the text of the Pentateuch, introducing therein the Assyrian or square characters, apparently as a polemical measure against the Samaritans (Sanh. 21b). He showed his doubts concerning the correctness of some words of the text by placing points over them. Should Elijah, said he, approve the text, the points will be disregarded; should he disapprove, the doubtful words will be removed from the text (Ab. R. N. xxxiv.). Ezra wrote the Book of Chronicles and the book bearing his name (B. B. 16a).
He is regarded and quoted as the type of person most competent and learned in the Law (Ber. R. xxxvi.). The Rabbis associate his name with several important institutions. It was he who ordained that three men should read ten verses from the Torah on the second and fifth days of the week and during the afternoon ("Minḥah") service on Sabbath (B. Ḳ. 82a); that the "curses" in Leviticus should be read before Shabu'ot, and those in Deuteronomy before Rosh ha-Shanah (Meg. 31b; see Bloch, "Die Institutionen des Judenthums," i. 1, pp. 112 et seq., Vienna, 1879). He ordained also that courts be in session on Mondays and Thursdays; that garments be washed on these days; that garlic be eaten on the eve of Sabbath; that the wife should rise early and bake bread in the morning; that women should wear a girdle (B. K. 82a; Yer. Meg. iv. 75a); that women should bathe (B. Ḳ. 82a); that pedlers be permitted to visit cities where merchants were established (B. Ḳ. 82a; see Bloch, l.c. p. 127); that under certain contingencies men should take a ritual bath; that the reading at the conclusion of the benedictions should be "min ha-'olam we-'ad ha'olam" (from eternity to eternity: against the Sadducees; see Bloch, l.c. p. 137). His name is also associated with the work of the Great Synagogue (Meg.17b).
He is said to have pronounced the Divine Name (Yhwh) according to its proper sounds (Yoma 69b), and the beginnings of the Jewish calendar are traced back to him (Beẓah 6a; Rashi, ad loc.).
According to tradition, Ezra died at the age of 120 in Babylonia. Benjamin of Tudela was shown his grave on the Shaṭṭ al-'Arab, near the point where the Tigris flows into the Euphrates ("Itinerary," i. 73). According to another legend, he was at the time of his death in Babylon, as a courtier in the retinue of Artaxerxes (see Vigouroux, "Dictionnaire de la Bible," ii. 1931). Josephus, however, relates that Ezra died at Jerusalem, where he was buried ("Ant." xi. 5, § 5). In the seliḥah for the 10th of Ṭebet the date of Ezra's death is given as the 9th of Ṭebet (see Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, 580).E. C. E. G. H. I. Br.
—Critical View:
The historical character of the Biblical data regarding Ezra the Scribe (after Ed. Meyer, "Die Entstehung des Judenthums," p. 321) is generally conceded. But the zeal of Ezra to carry out his theory that Israel should be a holy seed ( ), and therefore of absolutely pure Hebrew stock, was not altogether effective; that his views met with opposition is indicated in the books of Ruth and Jonah.
The "book of the law" which he proclaimed at the public assembly (Neh. viii.-x.) is substantially identified with the Priestly Code (P), which, though containing older priestly ordinances ("torot"), came to be recognized as the constitutional law of the congregation (Judaism) only after Ezra's time and largely through his and Nehemiah's influence and authority. E.
according to this, prior to Ezra, the name WAS pronounced, and also infers that maybe, just maybe, Ezra was the "author" of the "book of the law"!
i have a thread about this possibillity, based upon Richard Elliot Friedmans "
Who Wrote The Bible" currently titled
Snakelegs gets her name in another thread. it's a a work in progress.
