Is “Yahweh” Referred to in the Quran?
Is “Yahweh” Referred to in the Quran?
By Ebrahim Saifuddin
There are Christians who tend to make a point that the Bible mentions in Exodus 3:14 that the name of God is “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” (depends on where one puts the vowels) but this name does not appear in the Quran. Hence they claim that the Quran cannot be the Word of God and Prophet Muhammad (saw) cannot be a Messenger of God, because there is no reference to the personal name of God which appears in the Old Testament 6823 times.
YHWH (Yahweh) in the Bible
Let’s first read the concerned verse in the Bible in context:
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, 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, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. – [Exodus 3:13-15]
The Hebrew word that is translated as “I AM” in English, is YHWH (known as the Tetragrammaton) which commonly the Christians read as Yahweh or Jehovah by inserting vowels. The Hebrew form of YHWH is as below:
יהוה
Valentine’s Day – A Day for the Muslims?
Valentine’s Day – A Day for the Muslims?
By Ebrahim Saifuddin
Another day yet approaches on which Muslims become inane and participate in it with much ebullience. Every 14th of February across the globe, couples give each other gifts as a sign of their love. Most of them do not even know why they are celebrating this day and what the origin of this day is. Apart from other people, across the Muslim world such acts are carried out on this day as well.
Historians link this day to a certain St. Valentine. The Catholic Church identifies some three saints who were martyrs and all three were called Valentine. There are variations in theorigin of this day. Some say that this day originates from a Roman called Valentine who was asked to give up Christianity but refused to do so and thus was killed on 14th February 269 C.E., the day which was also allocated to love lotteries. Another tradition arises from the time of Emperor Claudius II. He came to a conclusion that single men made better soldiers and thus made it illegal for young men to marry. No wives, no families – hence better soldiers. During this time St. Valentine was a priest at the temple and he found the actions of Claudius outrageous and thus defied the emperor. He married off young men in private. When the emperor got to know the actions of Valentine, he sent him to jail and according to certain sources; he was to be put to death. In 496 C.E., the 14th of February was set as a day to honor St. Valentine by Pope Gelasius.
