Allah

From Encyclopedia Islam

Allah, the Arabic word for the Creator, Sustainer, and Lord of all that exists, is the sole object of worship in the religion of Islam. It is Allah that was worshipped by all previous Prophets and Messengers, such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and many others, all with the same message of the Oneness of Allah.

In English, the word God is the closest in meaning, however, there is no equivalent of "little-g" god for Allah as there is in English for the word God.

The word for Allah can be derived from the concatenation of two Arabic words - "Al", or the definite article "the", with "ilah", or the word for diety. Combined, they form Al-Ilah, or more properly, Allah, "The diety", indicating that there is one and only one.