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124-424: Some even refer to him as the national figure of Maghreb mysticism as he was such a forerunner of Sufism in this geographical area. Devoted to the fervent service of God, he helped introduce looking into oneself and harmonizing internal occurrences with the external observances through asceticism. Among his most famous students were Ibn 'Arabi (d. 637/1240) and the historian Ibn Hammad (d. 628/1230). Abu Madyan

248-559: A Sufi practice known as dhikr Allāh ( Arabic : ذِكر الله , lit. "Remembrance of God"), the Sufi repeats and contemplates the name Allah or other associated divine names to Him while controlling his or her breath. The Islamic tradition to use Allah as the personal name of God became disputed in contemporary scholarship, including the question, whether or not the word Allah should be translated as God . Umar Faruq Abd-Allah urged English-speaking Muslims to use God instead of Allah for

372-700: A Muslim background living in Libya. In 2019, the proportion of Melillans that identify themselves as Roman Catholic was 65.0%, the Roman Catholic churches in Melilla belong to the Diocese of Málaga . Roman Catholicism is the largest religion in Ceuta , in 2019, the proportion of Ceutans that identify themselves as Roman Catholic was 60.0%. The Roman Catholic churches in Ceuta belong to

496-707: A good number of them still well preserved, were built in his honor next to his tomb by the Marinid kings, who controlled Tlemcen in the 14th century. One such monument is the Mosque of Madrasa. His tomb became the center of fine architecture and is still a place of pilgrimage for many Sufis today. The basic principles and virtues taught at Madyan’s school in Bejaia were repentance ( tawba ), asceticism ( zuhd ), paying visits to other masters, and service to experienced masters. He emphasized futuwa (youth/chivalry) but only when accompanied by

620-681: A million Europeans , Tunisia was home to 255,000 Europeans , and Libya was home to 145,000 Europeans . In religion, most of the pieds-noirs in Maghreb are Catholic. Due to the exodus of the pieds-noirs in the 1960s, more North African Christians of Berber or Arab descent now live in France than in Greater Maghreb. Prior to independence, the European Catholic settlers had historic legacy and powerful presence in Maghreb countries. Recently,

744-544: A natural barrier that severely limited contact between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa . The Berber people have inhabited western North Africa since at least 10,000 BC. Partially isolated from the rest of the continent by the Atlas Mountains (stretching from present-day Morocco to present-day Tunisia) and by the Sahara desert, inhabitants of the northern parts of the Maghreb have long had commercial and cultural ties across

868-606: A political union of the North African countries, which they call al-Maghrib al-Kabir (the grand Maghrib) or al-Maghrib al-Arabi (the Arab Maghrib). Some 9,000 years ago, Earth's tilt was 24.14 degrees, as compared with the current 23.45 degrees. Around 3,500 BC, these changes in the tilt of the Earth's orbit appear to have caused a rapid desertification of the Sahara region forming

992-525: A small number of Anglicans. A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria . The number of Moroccans who converted to Christianity (most of them secret worshipers) are estimated between 40,000 -150,000. The International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 estimates thousands of Tunisian Muslims have converted to Christianity. A 2015 study estimate some 1,500 believers in Christ from

1116-509: A supreme deity of their pantheon . The term may have been vague in the Meccan religion . According to one hypothesis, which goes back to Julius Wellhausen , Allah (the supreme deity of the tribal federation around Quraysh ) was a designation that consecrated the superiority of Hubal (the supreme deity of Quraysh) over the other gods. However, there is also evidence that Allah and Hubal were two distinct deities. According to that hypothesis,

1240-434: A testament ( wasiyya ) and a creed ( akida ). He encouraged the free expression of emotions rather than rigidity, but also made known his support of asceticism complete devotion to God and a minimalist lifestyle. Maghreb The Maghreb ( / ˈ m ɑː ɡ r ə b / ; Arabic : ْاَلْمَغْرِب , romanized :  al-Maghrib , lit.   'the west' [ælˈmaɣrɪb] ), also known as

1364-503: A universal deity, unlike Yahweh who closely follows Israelites . Since the first centuries of Islam, Arabic-speaking commentators of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith used the term Allah as a generic term for the supreme being. Saadia Gaon used the term Allah interchangeably with the term ʾĔlōhīm . Theodore Abu Qurrah translates theos as Allah in his Bible, as in John 1:1 "the Word

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1488-608: A while in Sabta ( Ceuta ) with fishermen. Afterwards, he went to Marrakesh , where he served in the Almoravid army defending the city. Soon after, Abu Madyan traveled to Fez to complete his education. He left for Fez at about the end of the Almoravid era or at the beginning of the founding of the Almohad state. There, he studied under Abu Ya’azza al-Hazmiri , ‘Ali Hirzihim , and al-Dakkak. It

1612-572: Is ʼElāh ( אלה ), but its emphatic state is ʼElāhā ( אלהא ). It is written as ܐܠܗܐ ( ʼĔlāhā ) in Biblical Aramaic and ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ( ʼAlāhā ) in Syriac , both meaning simply "God". The unusual Syriac form is likely an imitation of the Arabic. Regional variants of the word Allah occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions. According to Marshall Hodgson , it seems that in

1736-515: Is "the interchangeability of al-ilāh and allāh in early Arabic poetry even when composed by the Christian ʿAdī ibn Zayd . The majority of scholars accept this hypothesis. A minority hypothesis, seen with more skepticism, is that the term is a loanword from Syriac Alāhā . Grammarians of the Basra school regarded it as either formed "spontaneously" ( murtajal ) or as the definite form of lāh (from

1860-566: Is Turks, who migrated with the expansion of the Ottoman Empire . Africans from south of the Sahara joined the population mix during centuries of trans-Saharan trade . Traders and slaves went to the Maghreb from the Sahel region. On the Saharan southern edge of the Maghreb are small communities of black populations, sometimes called Haratine . In Algeria especially, a large European minority, known as

1984-635: Is also frequently, albeit not exclusively, used by Bábists , Baháʼís , Mandaeans , Indonesian Christians , Maltese Christians , and Sephardic Jews , as well as by the Gagauz people . While it is an Arabic word and has historically been used by Muslims and non-Muslims alike in the Arab world , the usage of "Allah" by non-Muslims has been controversial in non-Arab parts of the Muslim world , especially Malaysia , where it became illegal for non-Muslims to use "Allah" after

2108-631: Is believed to have emerged in North Africa. Common subclades include E1b1b1a, E1b1b1b and E1b1b1*. E1b1b1b is distributed along a west-to-east cline with frequencies that can reach as high as 100 percent in Northwest Africa. E1b1b1a has been observed at low to moderate frequencies among Berber populations with significantly higher frequencies observed in Northeast Africa relative to Northwest Africa. Loosdrecht et al. 2018 demonstrated that E1b1b

2232-580: Is generally pronounced [ɑɫˈɫɑː(h)] , exhibiting a heavy lām , [ɫ] , a velarized alveolar lateral approximant , a marginal phoneme in Modern Standard Arabic . Since the initial alef has no hamza , the initial [a] is elided when a preceding word ends in a vowel. If the preceding vowel is /i/ , the lām is light, [l] , as in, for instance, the Basmala . The history of the name Allāh in English

2356-418: Is in line with the spirit of the 18 - and 20-point agreements of Sarawak and Sabah. The word Allāh is always written without an alif to spell the ā vowel. This is because the spelling was settled before Arabic spelling started habitually using alif to spell ā . However, in vocalized spelling, a small diacritic alif is added on top of the shaddah to indicate

2480-682: Is most likely indigenous to North Africa and migrated from North Africa to the Near East during the Paleolithic . Haplogroup J-M267 is another very common haplogroup in the Maghreb, being the second most-frequent haplogroup in the Maghreb. It originated in the Middle East , and its highest frequency of 30%–62.5% has been observed in Muslim Arab populations in the Middle East. A study found out that

2604-507: Is no deity but God) or sometimes " lā ilāha illā inta/ huwa " (There is no deity but You / Him ) and " Allāhu Akbar " (God is the Most Great) as a devotional exercise of remembering God ( dhikr ). The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for "God" than "Allah". Similarly, the Aramaic word for "God" in the language of Assyrian Christians is ʼĔlāhā , or Alaha . (Even

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2728-411: Is primarily inhabited by peoples of Arab and Berber mixed ancestral origin. Arabs inhabit Algeria (70% to 80% ), Libya (97% ), Morocco (67% ), and Tunisia (98% ). Berbers inhabit Algeria (20% ), Libya (10% ), Morocco (35% ), and Tunisia (1% ). Ethnic French, Spanish, West African, and Sephardic Jewish populations also inhabit the region. Centuries of Arabization and Arab migration to

2852-575: Is principally associated with Islam , but the term was used in pre-Islamic Arabia and continues to be used today by Arabic-speaking adherents of any of the Abrahamic religions , including Judaism and Christianity . It is thought to be derived by contraction from al - ilāh ( الاله , lit.   ' the god ' ) and is linguistically related to God's names in other Semitic languages , such as Aramaic ( ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ʼAlāhā ) and Hebrew ( אֱלוֹהַּ ʾĔlōah ). The word "Allah" now implies

2976-574: Is that usage has been long-established and local Alkitab ( Bibles ) have been widely distributed freely in East Malaysia without restrictions for years. Both states also do not have similar Islamic state laws as those in West Malaysia. In reaction to some media criticism, the Malaysian government has introduced a "10-point solution" to avoid confusion and misleading information. The 10-point solution

3100-549: The 99 Names of Allah ( al-asmā' al-ḥusná lit. meaning: 'the best names' or 'the most beautiful names') and considered attributes, each of which evoke a distinct characteristic of Allah. All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Merciful" ( ar-Raḥmān ) and "the Compassionate" ( ar-Raḥīm ), including

3224-528: The Arab Maghreb ( Arabic : اَلْمَغْرِبُ الْعَرَبِيُّ , romanized :  al-Maghrib al-ʿArabi , lit.   'the Arab west') and Northwest Africa , is the western part of the Arab world . The region comprises western and central North Africa , including Algeria , Libya , Mauritania , Morocco , and Tunisia . The Maghreb also includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara . As of 2018,

3348-485: The Arabic Presentation Forms-A block, which exists solely for "compatibility with some older, legacy character sets that encoded presentation forms directly"; this is discouraged for new text. Instead, the word Allāh should be represented by its individual Arabic letters, while modern font technologies will render the desired ligature. The calligraphic variant of the word used as the emblem of Iran

3472-470: The Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym Arabs in the 11th century played a major role in spreading Bedouin Arabic to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as the southern areas near the Sahara . It also heavily transformed the culture in the Maghreb into Arab culture , and spread Bedouin nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant. These Bedouin tribes accelerated and deepened

3596-526: The Diocese of Cádiz y Ceuta . The earliest documented Jewish presence in the Maghreb dates to the third century BCE, with Jews being settled in eastern Libya by the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt. During the Roman Empire , Jewish communities expanded across the Maghreb, with archaeological evidence, including synagogues and inscriptions, indicating their presence in what are now Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco from

3720-659: The Fatimid Caliphate . The most enduring rule was that of the local Arab empires of the Aghlabids , Idrisids , Salihids , Sulaymanids , Umayyads of Cordoba , Hammudids , Nasrids , Saadians , Alawites and the Sennusids , as well as the Berber empires of the Ifranids , Almoravids , Almohads , Hammadids , Zirids , Marinids , Zayyanids , Hafsids and Wattasids , extending from

3844-758: The Gulf of Tunis ( Carthage , Utica, Tunisia ) along the North African littoral , between the Pillars of Hercules and the Libyan coast east of ancient Cyrenaica . They dominated the trade and intercourse of the Western Mediterranean for centuries. Rome 's defeat of Carthage in the Punic Wars (264 to 146 BC) enabled Rome to establish the Province of Africa (146 BC) and to control many of these ports. Rome eventually took control of

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3968-467: The Kaaba was first consecrated to a supreme deity named Allah and then hosted the pantheon of Quraysh after their conquest of Mecca , about a century before the time of Muhammad . Some inscriptions seem to indicate the use of Allah as a name of a polytheist deity centuries earlier, but nothing precise is known about this use. Some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who

4092-625: The Kabyles were pushed to the north. The Berbers took refuge in the mountains whereas the plains were Arabized. These Arabs had been set upon the Berbers by the Fatimids in punishment for their Zirid former Berber clients who defected and abandoned Shiism in the 11th century. Throughout this period, the Maghreb most often was divided into three states, roughly corresponding to modern Morocco, western Algeria, and eastern Algeria and Tunisia . The Maghreb region

4216-676: The Malaysian and Indonesian languages (both of them standardized forms of the Malay language ). Mainstream Bible translations in the language use Allah as the translation of Hebrew Elohim (translated in English Bibles as "God"). This goes back to early translation work by Francis Xavier in the 16th century. The first dictionary of Dutch-Malay by Albert Cornelius Ruyl, Justus Heurnius, and Caspar Wiltens in 1650 (revised edition from 1623 edition and 1631 Latin edition) recorded Allah " as

4340-484: The Spanish Catholic Reconquista . Other European contributions included French, Italian, and English crews and passengers taken captive by corsairs . In some cases, they were returned to families after being ransomed; in others, they were used as slaves or assimilated and adopted into tribes. Historically, the Maghreb was home to significant historic Jewish communities called Maghrebim , who predated

4464-512: The Sunni Maliki school. Small Ibadi communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating marabouts and saints' tombs is found throughout regions inhabited by Berbers. This practice was also common among the Jews of the region. Any map of the region demonstrates the tradition by the proliferation of " Sidi "s, showing places named after the marabouts. This tradition has declined through

4588-671: The Umayyad capital of Damascus in the 7th century AD. The term was used to refer to the region extending from Alexandria in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Etymologically, it means both "the western place/land" and "the place where the sun sets", in contrast to the Mashriq , the Fertile Crescent and eastern part of the Arab world. In Aḥsan al-Taqāsīm fī Ma'rifat al-Aqālīm (c. 985 AD), medieval Arab geographer Al-Maqdisi used

4712-505: The " pied noirs ", immigrated to the region, settling under French colonial rule in the late 19th century. As of the last census in French-ruled Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, there were 1,050,000 non-Muslim civilians (mostly Catholic , but including 130,000 Algerian Jews ) in Algeria, 10 per cent of the population. They established farms and businesses. The overwhelming majority of these, however, left Algeria during and following

4836-608: The 10th century, as the social and political environment in Baghdad became increasingly hostile to Jews, some Jewish traders emigrated to the Maghreb, especially Kairouan , Tunisia. Over the following two or three centuries, such Jewish traders became known as the Maghribi, a distinctive social group who traveled throughout the Mediterranean world. They passed this identification on from father to son. Their tight-knit pan-Maghreb community had

4960-467: The 12th century. Christianity was still a living faith. Although there were numerous conversions after the conquest, Muslims did not become a majority until some time late in the 9th century. During the 10th century, Islam became by far the dominant religion in the region. Christian bishoprics and dioceses continued to be active and continued their relations with the Christian Church of Rome. As late as

5084-515: The 14th to 16th centuries, the Maghreb experienced an influx of Jews fleeing from Spain and Portugal due to growing persecution and the Spanish Inquisition . Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and the forced mass conversions in Portugal in 1497, many Sephardic Jews settled in North Africa, establishing new communities and integrating with the existing Jewish populations. In

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5208-561: The 20th century. A network of zaouias traditionally helped teach basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions. Communities of Christians, mostly Catholics and Protestant , persist in Algeria (100,000–380,000), Mauritania (10,000), Morocco (~380,000), Libya (170,000), and Tunisia (100,750). Most of the Roman Catholics in Greater Maghreb are of French, Spanish, and Italian descent, with ancestors who immigrated during

5332-459: The 7th-century introduction and conversion of the region to Islam. The earliest recorded Jewish settlement in the region dates back to the third century BCE under Ptolemaic rule in what is now Libya, although Jewish presence may have begun even earlier. Jewish communities continued to develop throughout the Roman period in present-day Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, with evidence of their existence during

5456-452: The 8th to 13th centuries. The Ottoman Empire also controlled parts of the region for a period. Centuries of Arab migration to the Maghreb since the 7th century shifted the demographic scope of the Maghreb in favor of the Arabs. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the region was ruled by European powers: France ( Algeria , Tunisia , Mauritania and most of Morocco ), Spain ( northern Morocco and Western Sahara), and Italy ( Libya ). Italy

5580-518: The Almohade doctors of that town. The Almohads were disturbed at his increasing reputation and wanted to get rid of him. Eventually, Madyan settled in the town of Béjaïa where he established a mosque-school ( zawiya ). The sheer amount of fame and influence that Abu Madyan evoked raised serious concern from the political powers of the time. The Almohad Caliph Ya’qub al-Mansur summoned Abu Madyan to Marrakech for this reason so he could talk to Abu Madyan himself. Upon his summoning to Marrakech, Abu Madyan

5704-404: The Arab migrations to the Maghreb increased genetic similarities between Maghrebis and Middle Easterners. Haplogroup J1-M267 accounts for around 30% of Maghrebis and has spread from the Arabian Peninsula, second after E1b1b1b which accounts for 45% of Maghrebis. A study from 2021 has shown that the highest frequency of the Middle Eastern component ever observed in North Africa so far was observed in

5828-407: The Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta , whose population is almost entirely Catholic , uses Alla for "God".) Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim bismillāh , and also created their own Trinitized bismillāh as early as the 8th century. The Muslim bismillāh reads: "In

5952-400: The Arabization process, since the Berber population was gradually assimilated by the newcomers and had to share with them pastures and seasonal migration paths. By around the 15th century, the region of modern-day Tunisia had already been almost completely Arabized. As Arab nomads spread, the territories of the local Berber tribes were moved and shrank. The Zenata were pushed to the west and

6076-416: The Arabs of Wesletia in Tunisia , who had a Middle Eastern component frequency of 71.8%. According to a study from 2004, Haplogroup J1 had a frequency of 35% in Algerians and 34.2% in Tunisians. The Maghreb Y chromosome pool (including both Arab and Berber populations) may be summarized for most of the populations as follows, where only two haplogroups E1b1b and J comprise generally more than 80% of

6200-420: The Atlantic Ocean. Historians and geographers disagreed, however, over the definition of the eastern boundary. Some authors place it at the sea of Kulzum (the Red Sea ) and thus include Egypt and Barqa ( Cyrenaica ) in the Maghreb. Ibn Khaldun does not accept this definition because, he says, the inhabitants of the Maghreb do not consider Egypt and Barqa as forming part of Maghrib. The latter commences only at

6324-503: The Classical World, with coastal colonies established first by Phoenicians, some Greeks, and later extensive conquest and colonization by the Romans. By the 2nd century of the common era, the area had become a center of Phoenician-speaking Christianity. Its bishops spoke and wrote in Punic , and Emperor Septimius Severus was noted by his local accent. Roman settlers and Romanized populations converted to Christianity. Carthage subsequently exercised informal primacy as an archdiocese , being

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6448-528: The Day Of Judgement. The Qur'an declares "the reality of Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf of His creatures." Allah does not depend on anything. Allah is not considered a part of the Christian Trinity. God has no parents and no children. The concept correlates to the Tawhid , where chapter 112 of the Qur'an ( Al-'Ikhlās , The Sincerity) reads: قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ۝ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ۝ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ۝ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ ۝١ In

6572-512: The Jewish and Christian theologies. Languages which may not commonly use the term Allah to denote God may still contain popular expressions which use the word. For example, because of the centuries long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula , the word ojalá in the Spanish language and oxalá in the Portuguese language exist today, borrowed from Andalusi Arabic law šá lláh similar to inshalla ( Arabic : إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ ). This phrase literally means 'if God wills' (in

6696-450: The Kabyle people were the only or one of the few in North Africa who remained independent. The Kabyle people were incredibly resistible so much so that even during the Arab conquest of North Africa they still had control and possession over their mountains. The pressure put on the Western Roman Empire by the Barbarian invasions (notably by the Vandals and Visigoths in Iberia) in the 5th century AD reduced Roman control and led to

6820-421: The Levant. Due to the distribution of E-M81 (E1b1b1b1a), which has reached its highest documented levels in the world at 95–100% in some populations of the Maghreb, it has often been termed the "Berber marker" in the scientific literature. The second most common marker, Haplogroup J , especially J1 , which is typically Middle Eastern and originates in the Arabian peninsula, can reach frequencies of up to 35% in

6944-507: The Maghreb since the 7th century shifted the demographic scope of the Maghreb in favor of the Arabs. Various other influences are also prominent throughout the Maghreb. In northern coastal towns, in particular, several waves of European immigrants influenced the population in the Medieval era. Most notable were the moriscos and muladies , that is, the indigenous Spaniards (Moors) who were forcibly converted to Catholicism and later expelled, together with ethnic Arab and Berber Muslims, during

7068-443: The Maghreb region, such as the Idrisids , Aghlabids , Sulaymanids and more. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable. Commodities traded included such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves . Various Islamic variations, such as the Ibadis and the Shia , were adopted by some Berbers, often leading to scorning of Caliphal control in favour of their own interpretation of Islam. The invasion of

7192-404: The Maghreb up to the second half of the 20th century. In 2020, couscous was added to UNESCO 's Intangible Cultural Heritage list . Allah Allah ( / ˈ æ l ə , ˈ ɑː l ə , ə ˈ l ɑː / A(H)L -ə, ə- LAH ; Arabic : ﷲ , IPA: [ɑɫˈɫɑːh] ) is the Arabic word for God , particularly the God of Abraham . Outside of the Middle East , it

7316-451: The Maghreb. Medieval Muslim historians and geographers divided the Maghreb region into three areas: al-Maghrib al-Adna (the near Maghrib; also known as Ifriqiya ), which included the lands extending from Alexandria to Tarabulus (modern-day Tripoli ) in the west; al-Maghrib al-Awsat (the middle Maghrib), which extended from Tripoli to Bijaya ( Béjaïa ); and al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (the far Maghrib), which extended from Tahart ( Tiaret ) to

7440-427: The Mediterranean Maghreb corresponds with the 100 mm (3.9 in) isohyet , or the southern range of the European Olive (Olea europea) and Esparto Grass (Stipa tenacissima) . The Sahara extends across northern Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Its central part is hyper-arid and supports little plant or animal life, but the northern portion of the desert receives occasional winter rains, while

7564-415: The Mediterranean Sea to the inhabitants of the regions of Southern Europe and Western Asia . These trade relations date back at least to the Phoenicians in the 1st millennium BC. (According to tradition, the Phoenicians founded their colony of Carthage (in present-day Tunisia) c.  800 BC ). Phoenicians and Carthaginians arrived for trade. The main Berber and Phoenician settlements centered in

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7688-434: The Muslim conquest. The second major influence was the large-scale conversions to Islam from the end of the 9th century. Many Christians of a much reduced community departed in the mid-11th century, and remnants were evacuated in the 12th by the Norman rulers of Sicily. The Latin-African language lingered a while longer. There was a small but thriving Jewish community, as well as a small Christian community. Most Muslims follow

7812-405: The Protestant community of Berber or Arab descent has grown significantly as additional individuals convert to Christianity , especially to Evangelicalism . This has occurred in Algeria, especially in the Kabylie , Morocco, and in Tunisia. The Catholic population in Libya is estimated to number 100,000, The Catholics are the largest Christian denomination, followed by c. 60,000 Copts and

7936-407: The Universe. Pagans believed worship of humans or animals who had lucky events in their life brought them closer to God. Pre-Islamic Meccans worshiped Allah alongside a host of lesser gods and those whom they called the "daughters of Allah." Islam forbade worship of anyone or anything other than God. Some authors have suggested that polytheistic Arabs used the name as a reference to a creator god or

8060-524: The ability to use social sanctions as a credible alternative to legal recourse, which was weak at the time anyway. This unique institutional alternative permitted the Maghribis to very successfully participate in the Mediterranean trade. This facilitated contacts between the Maghrebi and European Jewish communities, particularly in trade in the pre-colonial period. The most important points of contact were Livorno in Italy with its harbour frequented by Tunisian merchants and Marseille in France with its counterpart,

8184-419: The authority of 10th-century Muslim scholar Al-Marzubani , "Allah" was also mentioned in pre-Islamic Christian poems by some Ghassanid and Tanukhid poets in Syria and Northern Arabia . Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in pre-Islamic polytheistic cults . According to the Quran exegete Ibn Kathir , Arab pagans considered Allah as an unseen God who created and controlled

8308-430: The coastal plains of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya — was expanded in modern times to include Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. During the era of al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula (711–1492), the Maghreb's inhabitants — the Muslim Maghrebis — were known by Europeans as the " Moors ". The Greeks referred to the region as the "Land of the Atlas", referring to its Atlas Mountains. Before

8432-409: The colonial era. Some are foreign missionaries or immigrant workers. There are also Christian communities of Berber or Arab descent in Greater Maghreb, made up of persons who converted mostly during the modern era, or under and after French colonialism . Prior to independence, Algeria was home to 1.4 million pieds-noirs (ethnic French who were mostly Catholic), and Morocco was home to half

8556-421: The country experienced a social and political upheaval in the face of the word being used by Malaysian Christians and Sikhs . The etymology of the word Allāh has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists. Most considered it to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- and ilāh " deity , god" to al-lāh meaning "the deity, the God". Indeed, there

8680-420: The early centuries CE. During the early Muslim era, Jews flourished in major urban centers such as Kairouan, Fez, and Tunis, despite facing intermittent persecution, notably under the Almohads . The influx of Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, fleeing pogroms, forced conversions and expulsions in the 14th to 16th centuries, further augmented the Jewish presence in North Africa. Another significant group

8804-415: The early centuries CE. Under early Muslim rule, Jews flourished in major urban centers such as Kairouan, Fez, and Tunis, with the Jewish community in Kairouan particularly noted for its significant intellectual and cultural contributions. However, Jews also encountered periods of persecution, particularly under the Almohad Caliphate (12th–13th centuries), which imposed severe restrictions on non-Muslims. In

8928-514: The entire Maghreb north of the Atlas Mountains. Rome was greatly helped by the defection of Massinissa (later King of Numidia, r.  202 – 148 BC ) and of Carthage's eastern Numidian Massylii client-allies. Some of the most mountainous regions, such as the Moroccan Rif , remained outside Roman control. Furthermore, during the rule of the Romans, Byzantines, Vandals and Carthaginians

9052-605: The establishment of modern nation states in the region during the 20th century, the Maghreb most commonly referred to a smaller area, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlas Mountains in the south. It often also included the territory of eastern Libya, but not modern Mauritania. As recently as the late 19th century, the term "Maghreb" was used to refer to the western Mediterranean region of coastal North Africa in general, and to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in particular. During

9176-638: The establishment of the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa in 430 A.D., with its capital at Carthage. A century later, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent (533) a force under General Belisarius that succeeded in destroying the Vandal Kingdom in 534. Byzantine rule lasted for 150 years. The Berbers contested the extent of Byzantine control. After the advent of Islam in Mediterranean Africa in

9300-498: The five-verse inscription was retranslated: "(1)This [inscription] was set up by colleagues of ʿUlayh, (2) son of ʿUbaydah, secretary (3) of the cohort Augusta Secunda (4) Philadelphiana; may he go mad who (5) effaces it." Irfan Shahîd quoting the 10th-century encyclopedic collection Kitab al-Aghani notes that pre-Islamic Arab Christians have been reported to have raised the battle cry " Ya La Ibad Allah " (O slaves of Allah) to invoke each other into battle. According to Shahid, on

9424-741: The forementioned above al-Aḥad ("the One, the Indivisible") and al-Wāḥid ("the Unique, the Single"). According to Islamic belief, Allah is the most common word to represent God, and humble submission to his will, divine ordinances and commandments is the pivot of the Muslim faith. "He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind." "He is unique ( wāḥid ) and inherently one ( aḥad ), all-merciful and omnipotent." No human eyes can see Allah till

9548-575: The harbour for Algeria and Morocco. The Maghreb region produced spices and leather, from shoes to handbags. As many of the Maghrebi Jews were craftsmen and merchants, they had contact with their European customers. Today, among Arab countries, the largest Jewish community now exists in Morocco with about 2,000 Jews and in Tunisia with about 1,000. The Maghreb is divided into a Mediterranean climate region in

9672-519: The hearing of the appeal. In October 2013 the court ruled in favor of the government's ban. In early 2014 the Malaysian government confiscated more than 300 bibles for using the word to refer to the Christian God in Peninsular Malaysia. However, the use of Allah is not prohibited in the two Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak . The main reason it is not prohibited in these two states

9796-476: The heterogenous Maghrebi ethnic melting pot. A study from 2017 suggested that these Arab migrations were a demographic process that heavily implied gene flow and remodeled the genetic structure of the Maghreb, rather than a mere cultural replacement as claimed by older studies. Recent genome-wide analysis of North Africans found substantial shared ancestry with the Middle East , and to a lesser extent sub-Saharan Africa and Europe . The recent gene flow caused by

9920-526: The latter corresponding to the Jewish custom to refer to Yahweh as Adonai . Most Qur'an commentators , including al-Tabari (d. 923), al-Zamakhshari (d. 1143/44), and al-Razi (d. 1209), regard Allah to be a proper name. While other names of God in Islam denote attributes or adjectives, the term Allah specifically refers to his essence as his real name ( ism'alam li-dhatih ). The other names are known as

10044-488: The majority of J1 (Eu10) chromosomes in the Maghreb are due to the recent gene flow caused by the Arab migrations to the Maghreb in the first millennium CE. The J-M267 chromosome pool in the Maghreb is derived not only from early Neolithic dispersions but to a much greater extent from recent expansions of Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula , during which both southern Qahtanite and northern Adnanite Arabs added to

10168-407: The most important center of Christianity in the whole of Roman Africa , corresponding to most of today's Mediterranean coast and inland of Northern Africa . The region produced figures such as Christian church writer Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 202); and Christian martyrs or leading figures such as Perpetua, and Felicity (martyrs, c. 200 CE); St. Cyprian of Carthage (+ 258); St. Monica ; her son

10292-548: The name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized bismillāh reads: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God." The Syriac , Latin and Greek invocations do not have the words "One God" at the end. This addition was made to emphasize the monotheistic aspect of Trinitarian belief and also to make it more palatable to Muslims. The word Allāh

10416-665: The north, and the arid Sahara in the south. The Maghreb's variations in elevation, rainfall, temperature, and soils give rise to distinct communities of plants and animals. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) identifies several distinct ecoregions in the Maghreb. The portions of the Maghreb between the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea , along with coastal Tripolitania and Cyrenaica in Libya, are home to Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub . These ecoregions share many species of plants and animals with other portions of Mediterranean Basin . The southern extent of

10540-437: The obedience of devotees to their master, the avoidance of disagreements between devotees, justice, constancy, nobility of mind, the denunciation of the unjust, and a feeling of satisfaction with the gifts of God. Because of his focus on the acceptance of one’s emotions, Madyan and his followers refused to confine themselves to only asceticism and meditation alone, but instead lived day to day by maintaining close relationships with

10664-421: The people around them. Along with sharing his knowledge and ideas with his disciples, Abu Madyan wrote many poems and spoke in proverbs in order to connect with the masses and not just the intellectuals. According to Yahya B. Khaldun, Abu Madyan's teachings may all be summed up in this verse which he often repeated, "Say Allah ! and abandon all that is matter, or is connected with it, if though desirest to attain

10788-452: The period from 639 to 700 AD, Arabs took control of the entire Maghreb region. The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early Umayyad times in the 7th century, and from then the Arab migration to the Maghreb began. Islamic Berber kingdoms such as the Almohads expansion and the spread of Islam contributed to the development of trans-Saharan trade . In addition, several Arab dynasties formed in

10912-404: The philosopher St. Augustine , Bishop of Hippo I (+ 430) (1); and St. Julia of Carthage (5th century). Donatist Christianity mainly spread among the indigenous Berber population, and from the late fifth and early sixth century, the region included several Christian Berber kingdoms. Islam arrived in 647 and challenged the domination of Christianity. The first permanent foothold of Islam

11036-726: The pre-Islamic times, some Arab Christians made pilgrimage to the Kaaba , a pagan temple at that time, honoring Allah there as God the Creator. The Syriac word ܐܠܗܐ ( ʼĔlāhā ) can be found in the reports and the lists of names of Christian martyrs in South Arabia, as reported by antique Syriac documents of the names of those martyrs from the era of the Himyarite and Aksumite kingdoms In an inscription of Christian martyrion dated back to 512, references to al-ilah ( الاله ) can be found in both Arabic and Aramaic. The inscription starts with

11160-405: The prevalence of Ishmael , whose God was that of Abraham , in pre-Islamic Arab culture. In contrast with pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism , as stated by Gerhard Böwering , God in Islam does not have associates and companions, nor is there any kinship between God and jinn . Pre-Islamic pagan Arabs believed in a blind, powerful, inexorable and insensible fate over which man had no control. This

11284-421: The previous ligature is considered faulty which is the case with most common Arabic typefaces. This simplified style is often preferred for clarity, especially in non-Arabic languages, but may not be considered appropriate in situations where a more elaborate style of calligraphy is preferred. Unicode has a code point reserved for Allāh , U+FDF2 ﷲ ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM , in

11408-414: The pronunciation. In the pre-Islamic Zabad inscription , God is referred to by the term الاله , that is, alif-lam-alif-lam-ha. This presumably indicates Al-'ilāh means "the god", without alif for ā . Many Arabic type fonts feature special ligatures for Allah. Since Arabic script is used to write other texts rather than Koran only, rendering lām + lām + hā' as

11532-439: The province of Tripoli and includes the districts of which the country of the Berbers was composed in former times. Later Maghribi writers repeated the definition of Ibn Khaldun, with a few variations in details. The term Maghrib is used in opposition to Mashriq in a sense near to that which it had in medieval times, but it also denotes simply Morocco when the full al-Maghrib al-Aqsa is abbreviated. Certain politicians seek

11656-522: The region had a population of over 100 million people. The Maghreb is usually defined as encompassing much of the northern part of Africa, including a large portion of the Sahara Desert , but excluding Egypt and the Sudan , which are considered to be located in the Mashriq — the eastern part of the Arab world. The traditional definition of the Maghreb — which restricted its scope to the Atlas Mountains and

11780-488: The region. Its highest density is found in the Arabian Peninsula . Haplogroup R1 , a Eurasian marker, has also been observed in the Maghreb, though with lower frequency. The Y-DNA haplogroups shown above are observed in both Arabic speakers and Berber-speakers. Haplogroup E is thought to have emerged in prehistoric North Africa or East Africa, and would have later dispersed into West Asia. The major subclades of haplogroup E found amongst Berbers belong to E-Z827 , which

11904-523: The reign of Pope Benedict VII (974–983), a new Archbishop of Carthage was consecrated. From the 10th century, Christianity declined in the region. By the end of the 11th century, only two bishops were left in Carthage and Hippo Regius . Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) consecrated a new bishop for Hippo. Christianity seems to have suffered several shocks that led to its demise. First, many upper-class, urban-dwelling, Latin-speaking Christians left for Europe after

12028-476: The renewers of the religion. Abu Madyan went to Mecca where he met the great Muslim saint, Jilani , and completed his spiritual training under him. On his return, he went to the town of Béjaïa where he practiced very strict asceticism and acquired an honorable reputation for his knowledge. People would come far to both listen to his public lectures and consult him on certain manners. People believed he could even perform miracles. His beliefs were in opposition to

12152-649: The rule of the Berber kingdom of Numidia , the region was somewhat unified as an independent political entity. This period was followed by one of the Roman Empire 's rule or influence. The Germanic Vandals invaded after that, followed by the equally brief re-establishment of a weak Roman rule by the Byzantine Empire . The Islamic caliphates came to power under the Umayyad Caliphate , the Abbasid Caliphate and

12276-597: The sake of finding "extensive middle ground we share with other Abrahamic and universal traditions". Most Muslims use the Arabic phrase in shā'a llāh (meaning 'if God wills') untranslated after references to future events. Muslim discursive piety encourages beginning things with the invocation of bi-smi llāh (meaning 'In the name of God'). There are certain other phrases in praise of God that are favored by Muslims and left untranslated, including " Subḥāna llāh " (Glory be to God), " al-ḥamdu li-llāh " (Praise be to God), " lā ilāha illā llāh " (There

12400-542: The sense of "I hope so"). The German poet Mahlmann used the form "Allah" as the title of a poem about the ultimate deity, though it is unclear how much Islamic thought he intended to convey. Some Muslims leave the name "Allāh" untranslated in English, rather than using the English translation "God". The word has also been applied to certain living human beings as personifications of the term and concept. Christians in Malaysia and Indonesia use Allah to refer to God in

12524-419: The staple foods, as opposed to Eastern Arab, where bread, crushed wheat or white rice are the staple foods. In terms of food, some similarities beyond the starches are found throughout the Arab world. Among other cultural and artistic traditions, jewellery of the Berber cultures worn by Amazigh women and made of silver, beads and other applications was a common trait of Berber identities in large areas of

12648-525: The statement "By the Help of al-ilah". Archaeological excavation quests have led to the discovery of ancient pre-Islamic inscriptions and tombs made by Arab Christians in the ruins of a church at Umm el-Jimal in Northern Jordan , which initially, according to Enno Littmann (1949), contained references to Allah as the proper name of God. However, on a second revision by Bellamy et al. (1985 & 1988)

12772-521: The strip along the Atlantic coast receives moisture from marine fog, which nourishes a greater variety of plants and animals. The northern edge of the Sahara corresponds to the 100 mm isohyet, which is also the northern range of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) . The countries of the Maghreb share many cultural similarities and traditions. Among these is a culinary tradition that Habib Bourguiba defined as Western Arab, where bread or couscous are

12896-584: The superiority or sole existence of one God , but among the pre-Islamic Arabs, Allah was a supreme deity and was worshipped alongside lesser deities in a pantheon . When Muhammad founded Islam, he used "Allah" to refer to the same unitary God who met Abraham , according to the Bible and the Quran . Many Jews, Christians, and early Muslims used "Allah" and "al-ilah" interchangeably in Classical Arabic . The word

13020-609: The term Allah in any other but Muslim contexts, but the Malayan High Court in 2009 revoked the law, ruling it unconstitutional. While Allah had been used for the Christian God in Malay for more than four centuries, the contemporary controversy was triggered by usage of Allah by the Roman Catholic newspaper The Herald . The government appealed the court ruling, and the High Court suspended implementation of its verdict until

13144-511: The term Arab regions ( Arabic : أَقَالِيمُ ٱلْعَرَبِ ) to refer to the lands of Arabia , Iraq , Upper Mesopotamia , Egypt and the Maghreb. This constituted the earliest documented differentiation between the terms Maghreb and Gharb (Muslim lands west of the Abbasid capital, Baghdad ). The former referred to the present-day Maghreb whereas the latter incorporated the Levant and Egypt in addition to

13268-469: The time surpassed him in religious and intellectual influence. His school produced hundreds of saints and out of the 46 Sufi saints in the Rif region, 15 were his disciples. People still visit his tomb today for asking God through him, which is called tawassul , they visit him from all around the world. There are very few surviving writings from Abu Madyan, and of those that do still exist, there are mystical poems,

13392-495: The total chromosomes: The original religions of the peoples of the Maghreb seem to have been based in and related to fertility cults of a strong matriarchal pantheon . This theory is based on the social and linguistic structures of the Amazigh cultures that antedated all Egyptian and eastern Asian, northern Mediterranean, and European influences. Historic records of religion in the Maghreb region show its gradual inclusion in

13516-622: The translation of the Dutch word Godt . Ruyl also translated the Gospel of Matthew in 1612 into the Malay language (an early Bible translation into a non-European language, made a year after the publication of the King James Version ), which was printed in the Netherlands in 1629. Then he translated the Gospel of Mark , published in 1638. The government of Malaysia in 2007 outlawed usage of

13640-411: The truth goal." Aside from attaining Ghawth status and teaching hundreds and hundreds of disciples, Abu Madyan left his mark in more ways than one. He gained immense popularity because he was relatable, despite his high scholarly status. He had a personality and way of speaking that united people from all walks of life, from the common people to the academics. Even to this day, scholars say that no one of

13764-482: The vast majority of the genetic markers of the populations of the Maghreb. Haplogroup E1b1b is the most frequent among Maghrebi groups, especially the downstream lineage of E1b1b1b1a , which is typical of the indigenous Berbers of North-West Africa. Haplogroup J1 is the second most frequent among Maghrebi groups and is more indicative of Middle East origins, and has its highest distribution among populations in Arabia and

13888-557: The verbal root lyh with the meaning of "lofty" or "hidden"). The use of Allah as the name of a deity appears as early as the first century . An inscription using the Ancient South Arabian script in Old Arabic from Qaryat al-Fāw reads, "to Kahl and lh and ʿAththar ( b-khl w-lh w-ʿṯr )". Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages , including Hebrew and Aramaic . The corresponding Aramaic form

14012-450: The war for independence. In comparison to the population of France, the Maghrebi population was one-eighth of France's population in 1800, one-quarter in 1900, and equal in 2000. The Maghreb is home to 1% of the global population as of 2010. The Y-chromosome genetic structure of the Maghreb population seems to be modulated chiefly by geography. The Y-DNA Haplogroups E1b1b and J make up

14136-511: Was al-Dakkak that provided him with the khirka , the cloak passed from Master to student in the study of Sufism. Abu Madyan was particularly fascinated with mysticism by Sidi Ali Ibn Harazem . After finishing his studies with his master Abu Ya'za, he traveled to the Orient. During his time in the Orient, he became familiar with the works of Al-Ghazali , one of the most prominent theologians, philosophers, and mystics of Sunni Islam regarded as one of

14260-559: Was born in Cantillana , a small town about 35 km away from Seville , in 1126. He came from an obscure family and his parents were poor. As he grew up, he learned the trade of a weaver as it was a popular practice at the time. His insatiable hunger for knowledge, however, piqued his interest in the Qur'an and the study of religion and mysticism . After crossing the Strait of Gibraltar , he worked for

14384-819: Was expelled from North Africa by the Allies in World War II . Decolonization of the region continued in the decades thereafter, with violent conflicts such as the Algerian War , the Ifni War and the Western Sahara War . Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia established the Arab Maghreb Union in 1989 to promote cooperation and economic integration in a common market . The union implicitly included Western Sahara under Morocco's membership. However, this progress

14508-467: Was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities. There is disagreement on whether Allah played a major role in the Meccan religious cult. No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed. Muhammad's father's name was ʿAbd-Allāh meaning "the slave of Allāh". The interpretation that Pre-Islamic Arabs once practiced Abrahamic religions is supported by some literary evidence, being

14632-810: Was occasionally briefly unified, as under the Almohad Caliphate , Fatimids and briefly under the Zirids . The Hammadids also managed to conquer land in all countries in the Maghreb region. After the 19th century, areas of the Maghreb were colonized by France , Spain , and later Italy . Today, more than two and a half million Maghrebi immigrants live in France, many from Algeria and Morocco. In addition, as of 1999 there were 3 million French of Maghrebi origin (defined as having at least one grandparent from Algeria, Morocco, or Tunisia). A 2003 estimate suggests six million French residents were ethnic Maghrebi. The Maghreb

14756-406: Was probably influenced by the study of comparative religion in the 19th century; for example, Thomas Carlyle (1840) sometimes used the term Allah but without any implication that Allah was anything different from God. However, in his biography of Muḥammad (1934), Tor Andræ always used the term Allah , though he allows that this "conception of God" seems to imply that it is different from that of

14880-537: Was replaced with the Islamic notion of a powerful but provident and merciful God. According to Francis Edward Peters , "The Qur'ān insists, Muslims believe, and historians affirm that Muhammad and his followers worship the same God as the Jews ( 29:46 ). The Qur'an's Allah is the same Creator God who covenanted with Abraham ". Peters states that the Qur'an portrays Allah as both more powerful and more remote than Yahweh , and as

15004-424: Was short-lived, and the union is now largely dormant. Tensions between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara re-emerged, reinforced by the unresolved border dispute between the two countries. These two conflicts have hindered progress on the union's joint goals. The toponym maghrib ( Arabic : مغرب ) is an Arabic term that the first Muslim Arab settlers gave to the recently conquered area situated west of

15128-605: Was taken ill and died before he reached his destination in 594/1198, near the river of Ysser ( يسر ). His last sigh was supposedly "Allah al-Haqq." He was buried in al-‘Ubbad near Tlemcen, Algeria. His funeral was widely commemorated by the people of Tlemcen and he has been considered the patron saint and protector of Tlemcen ever since. A mausoleum was built by the order of the Almohade sovereign, Muhammad al-Nasir, too shortly after his death. Many princes and kings of Tlemcen have contributed to this mausoleum since his demise. Many monuments,

15252-429: Was the founding in 667 of the city of Kairouan , in present-day Tunisia . Carthage fell to Muslims in 698 and the remainder of the region fell by 709. Islamization proceeded slowly. From the end of the 7th century, over a period of more than 400 years, the region's peoples converted to Islam. Many left during this time for Italy, although surviving letters showed correspondence from regional Christians to Rome up until

15376-585: Was with Allah". Muslim commentators likewise used the term Allah for the Biblical concept of God. Ibn Qutayba writes "You cannot serve both Allah and Mammon.". However, Muslim translators of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia rarely translated the Tetragrammaton , referring to the supreme being in Israelite tradition, as Allah . Instead, most commentators either translated Yahweh as either yahwah or rabb ,

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