Safai inscriptions, which were frequently used in Jordan, Syria, Western Iraq, Northwest Saudi Arabia and Lebanon between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD, give data about the belief in Allah in pre-Islamic Arabs. Before starting the flood, as the title suggests, the flood will not be about the concept of God in Islamic belief, but about the worship of God in pre-Islamic Arabs with Safai inscriptions. Allah is written with lh ( 𐩡𐩠) ( Modern Arabic:له) in Safai inscriptions. Ahmad Al-Jallad wrote in his Safai dictionary that this form is a god’s name that can be read as Allāh or Lāh. However, according to language experts, including himself, it is more appropriate to read it as “Allāh”.
Due to the gemination rule in the language, the slide is read twice. There were also Arabs in Arabia who wrote in different languages. We can confirm from the inscriptions that they wrote the form Lh as Greek αλλας (Allos). In the following inscriptions, there are Greek writings of theophoric Arabic names (tmlh, whblh, etc.) with lh at the end. This is how we confirm the reading of “Allah”. Whblh = Ουαβαλλας /wahb-allāh/
Let us confirm the accuracy of the pronunciation of the names Vehballah (gift from God) and Abdallah (servant of God) in ancient Greek and Latin inscriptions published by Enno Littmann.
Going back to the Safai inscriptions, although they were used by pagans, it was quite common to give theophoric names referring to Allah, as it is today. Photo 1 ʿbdlh (Abdallah) – place marked in blue
- Photo grmlh (Garmallah)
- Photo by tmlh (Taymallah)
Names containing God’s names are not specific to Allah. It was common to name gods in this way. An example of this is Huyay bar Taymdushara “Huyay, son of Taymdushara”, a Nabataean name containing the god Dushara in Jordan/Umm al-Jimal.
In the Safai inscriptions, things such as spoils, rain and security are asked from God. Usually, other gods are mentioned along with prayers to make them work. While worships such as offering offerings to Allah are known, what they specifically do for Allah and what kind of god they see Allah as is unclear. Safai inscriptions were often used for important rituals such as mourning for the dead. That’s why writers curse the texts to prevent them from being damaged. Transcript: h lh w lt ʿrg w kmh l- ḏ yʿwr h- ḫṭṭ Translation: O God and God, make the one who engraves this inscription blind and lame.
Another example: Transcript: h rḍy {w} lh {ʿ}{w}rm ʿwr Translation: O Ruda and Allah, blind whoever engraves the inscription.
Using Allah and the god Dushara as an example of prayer: Transcript: h lh w dśr ġyrt l-ḏ rġm Translation: “O Allah and Dushara, let there be blood money (as punishment) for those killed.”
Nṣb are obelisks made for sacrifices to their gods. According to Ibn al-Kalbī, naṣb means erecting an idol or a stone representation of a god. In Safai inscriptions, it is written that sacrifices were made to gods such as Baalshamin (sky god) and Allat on these stones. Praying to God on the erected Nṣb (cult stone): Transcript: w l-h mnṣb fh ʾlh slm Translation: “And he erected this cult stone. O Allah, give protection.”
A Safaitic inscription in Jordan where animals are sacrificed as burnt offerings to Allah, oaths are sworn and Allah is called Hayy (الحيّ): ʾṣly w ʾqsm b-ʾlh ḥy l-hdy ʿẓm “He made a burnt offering and swore by the Living God. (ʾaqsama billahi)
Although we say that the adjective Hayy is a Qur’anic adjective, Qur’anic adjectives were not always used for Allah before Islam. For example, similar to ʿālimu l-ġayb (the one who knows the unseen), there is a goddess who knows the unseen named ʾlt ʾ-ġb (Goddess of the Unseen) in the Safai inscriptions. As another example, the following inscription contains the epithet ālim for the god Ruda. In Islam, it is used as an attribute of Allah. (Q35:38 ʿālimu ġaybi l-samawāti wal-ʾarḍi)
If we look at the frequency of mention of gods in Safai inscriptions, Allah is the 9th most mentioned god. His name is mentioned 41 times in total. Allat is worshiped by far more than other gods, being mentioned 1473 times. From here we can say that the most dominant god in pre-Islamic Northern Arabia was Allat.
Allah may have been the most dominant god around Mecca. In Islamic history, a structure close to henotheism (worshiping idols to reach God) is drawn around Mecca. However, it is not possible to reach such a conclusion from the Safai inscriptions. Here, a god is more in the background. If we remember that the polytheists see Allat as the daughter of God in the Quran, we can conclude that their pantheon is different from Northern Arabia. Because there are Safai inscriptions in Wādī as-Sū/Syria where Allat is mentioned as the daughter of the god Ruda.
We can say that the bond that is tried to be established between Allah and Allat in the academy is always platonic and weak. Allah is mentioned with Allat several times. However, not even an inscription mentioning Al-Lat, Al-Manat and Al-Uzza together was found. This incident remains dark for now. Allah’ın Safai yazıtlarda Tevrat’ın tanrısı YHWH olarak görüldüğüne bir işaret bulunmaz. Aksine pagan context’te anılır ve Yahudilere karşı kendisinden yardım istenir. Transkript: rḥbt m-yhd w h l{h} flṭ Tercüme: “Yahudilerden Ruhba’yı kurtar, Ey Allah’ım!
MCA Macdonald says that in the Hismaic inscriptions written at the same time as the Safai inscriptions, the extension -m was added to Allah and Allat, and thus h lh -m (Aḷḷāhumma) and h lt-m (Hāllātomma) were established in the language in Northern Arabia. Finally, let me add this, “Allah comes from Al-Ilah.” Those who say it usually think of it in modern Arabic. However, Arabs switched to modern Arabic in the 6th century. While Allah was written with the form Lh ( 𐩡𐩠 ) in the previous inscriptions, they need to explain how this change occurred.
