Question:
Sayidina Mouhammad’s (s) full name is : Mouhammad ibn AbdAllah ibn Muttalib ibn Hachim. (s) His father’s name is Abd-Allah, but he’s father died before Islam revelation. So when the pre-Islamic people where using this name to which Allah are they doing reference?
Answer:
Several pre-Islamic men were named `Abd Allah, such as `Abd Allah b. Jad`an, the Prophet’s business partner `Abd Allah b. al-Sa’ib, the great poets `Abd Allah b. Salma and `Abd Allah b. Hubal Akhu Bani Salaman, `Abd Allah b. al-Harith b. Sakhbara the first husband of Umm Ruman (wife of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq), Abu Bakr himself was named `Abd Allah b. `Uthman… The Arabs before Islam knew that Allah is the Creator: “And if you ask them who created them, they will surely say: Allah. How then are they turned away?” (Q 43:87), “And if you ask them: Who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely answer: al-`Aziz al-`Alim (The Exalted, the Knower), created them” (43:9, cf. 10:31), but they associated other gods with Him: “They worship beside Allah that which neither hurts them nor profits them, and they say: These are our intercessors with Allah” (10:18, cf. 29:65 and 39:3).
Hajj Gibril
