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Serious The radicalization of Malaysian and Singapore Muslims

duluxe

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Loyal
This is an issue that has been brewing in Malaysia since at least the 1950s. I will point to 2 issues that have perhaps encapsulated the growing trend towards Islamic conservatism in Malaysia.

A: Trends towards Islamic radicalization

1. The issue of the hijab, or as it is called in Malaysia, the tudung. An easy way to gauge how Islam has become more and more something in the public realm is to simply ask someone in their 70s or 60s how many people used to wear the tudung. In the 60s and 70s, Muslims who wore the tudung were in the minority. This trend, following worldwide trends of local versions of Islam to follow "true" Islam from the Middle East, was really catalyzed by the ABIM movement under Anwar Ibrahim. ABIM was a Islamist conservative group that advocated going back to basics, i.e. going back to the core teachings of the Quran, modeling the Middle East. Of course, the meaning of the Quran is subject to debate but this is what ABIM claimed.


2. The Allah issue. As you noted, the Allah issue is a huge one. Essentially, the word "Allah" has been declared only for Muslim usage, despite the word itself being Arabic in origin and having been used for centuries in Malay versions of the Bible. Some churches have had Molotov cocktails thrown at them due to this ahem, inflammatory issue.The issue at heart is really a political one. Islam is increasingly politicized in Malaysia and is used as part of a divide and rule tactic by the ruling government. By highlighting the "Allah" issue, the government establishes itself as protector of Islam, and pits Christians against Muslims with it being the moral arbiter. The sudden growth in these issues can be traced to political causes: as the opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia has grown in strength the government has found it necessary to try to monopolize Islam, even the homosexuality issue has its roots in sodomy accusations thrown against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

B: Non-Muslim responses
Needless to say, non-Muslims in Malaysia have been rather alarmed at such trends. There are growing fears of recurring racial tensions that might manifest itself in a second May 13, 1969, where racial riots claimed hundreds of lives. A common reaction to fear is of course, flight. Malaysia suffers from massive brain drain, with more than 1 million Malaysian working overseas as of 2011. That's out of a small population of 26 million mind you. And that's also not counting the hundreds, if not thousands of, Malaysians who have migrated elsewhere and have become citizens of other countries ( dual-citizenship not being allowed according to Malaysian law).

In summary, this tussle over Islam and controversies will continue apace for as long as it remains a selling point in elections. Which I suspect, it always will.

Ong Kar Jin
 

duluxe

Alfrescian
Loyal
Muslim women in Singapore did not wear the hijab before early 1970!

As proof that the cultural trend of wearing the hijab is a fairly recent phenomenon in Singapore’s history, here are some photos of Muslim women in Singapore/Malaya before early 1970.
In everyday life:
This is a 1950s photograph of a Malay woman carrying her child in a garden

This is a 1950s photograph of an old Malay woman carrying a young child

A photograph of a Malay woman harvesting the grown rice crops


www.aiseyman.com
 

duluxe

Alfrescian
Loyal
grown rice crops A Photo of Malay Muslim ladies at an event

A photograph taken in 1971 of a Malay lady at the Old Tekka Market



From the above photographs, it is evident that before the early 1970’s, the hijab was not part of the Islamic dress code. Then, most Muslim women went about bareheaded or even sporting perms that were popular during that era. Even the more conservative did not wear the hijab, but rather draped a loose shawl or scarf over their head.
The increasing religiousity of Muslims around the region has obviously impacted Muslims in Singapore, as evident from the changes in our daily habits and dress code. While this in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but we should not be so quick to also import the customs and culture of other Muslim nations, and in doing so, erode away our own beautiful Malayan heritage.

www.aiseyman.com
 

dr.wailing

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@ duluxe

The writer of the article in your original post pointed the finger squarely at Anwar Ibrahim and his ABIM movement. That's incorrect.

What is happening is that the Gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, have been pouring hundreds of millions of USD in the form of aid (education, food, etc..) into countries with a sizeable Muslim population. Islamic organizations in Malaysia are recipients of such no-strings-attached aid. Islamic organizations in your country are also recipients. At one point in time your Prime Ministar had considered cutting off such aid but was advised against doing so by Yacock, the so-called moderate Muslim.

Preachers of Islam in Muslim countries, including Malaysia, are beholden to the Gulf Arab states because the costs of their missionary trips, lodging, food, transport, etc...are financed by the latter. It's no wonder that they preach the Wahabhist interpretation of Islam.

The current centre of Islamic (Sunni) learning par excellence is in Egypt. It's financed by massive donations by Saudi Arabia. You can expect that the Sunni world is Wahabhist in form and thought.

Given the above conditions, it's not just Malaysian and Singaporean Muslims are "radicalized". All Muslims are.

The writer seems to base the criterion of "radicalization" on dress code alone. It shows that he's ignorant of global issues and of what governments in the West think. Frankly I've never come across former and current US Presidents and European heads of government calling those who wear the hijab or advocate the wearing of hijab "radicalized Muslims".

It's noteworthy that recent terrorist attacks in the US, Australia and Western Europe were carried out by men who weren't wearing the traditional Arab attire when they committed the heinous crimes. So where's the radicalization if one bases it on attire and dress code?
 
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ChaoPappyPoodle

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Loyal
@ duluxe

The writer of the article in your original post pointed the finger squarely at Anwar Ibrahim and his ABIM movement. That's incorrect.

What is happening is that the Gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, have been pouring hundreds of millions of USD in the form of aid (education, food, etc..) into countries with a sizeable Muslim population. Islamic organizations in Malaysia are recipients of such no-strings-attached aid. Islamic organizations in your country are also recipients. At one point in time your Prime Ministar had considered cutting off such aid but was advised against doing so by Yacock, the so-called moderate Muslim.

Preachers of Islam in Muslim countries, including Malaysia, are beholden to the Gulf Arab states because the costs of their missionary trips, lodging, food, transport, etc...are financed by the latter. It's no wonder that they preach the Wahabhist interpretation of Islam.

The current centre of Islamic (Sunni) learning par excellence is in Egypt. It's financed by massive donations by Saudi Arabia. You can expect that the Sunni world is Wahabhist in form and thought.

Given the above conditions, it's not just Malaysian and Singaporean Muslims are "radicalized". All Muslims are.

The writer seems to base the criterion of "radicalization" on dress code alone. It shows that he's ignorant of global issues and of what governments in the West think. Frankly I've never come across former and current US Presidents and European heads of government calling those who wear the hijab or advocate the wearing of hijab "radicalized Muslims".

It's noteworthy that recent terrorist attacks in the US, Australia and Western Europe were carried out by men who weren't wearing the traditional Arab attire when they committed the heinous crimes. So where's the radicalization if one bases it on attire and dress code?

Saudis and Muslim Brotherhood worked together to spread Islamisation throughout the world. Anwar is well-known for his very strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. So is Mahathir. The Saudis split from the Muslim Brotherhood after they came to power in Egypt and spoke publicly against the Saudis. They will still work together as long as it suits them but the Saudis are quite unnerved by the possibility of a strong Muslim Brotherhood as they do not want a monarchy.

It is also not an issue solely with Wahhabi but Salafi, the larger aspect of Fundamentalist Islam. Wahhabi is a subset of Salafi. Within Salafi are the Deobandis who are powerful in Pakistan and India and have a love for jihad. You are foolish to look at dress code used to commit terror versus dress code for every day living. There is a connection with beards, Islamic or Arabic dress codes and Salafism and the love for jihad to spread Islam and to protect Islamic lands.
 

Agoraphobic

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Loyal
It doesn't concern me what the reasons or driving forces are behind this regressive movement among muslims come from, the way I see it is that these muslims feel inept and uncompetitive in a world where athletic prowess and beauty take precedence over conservative attitudes and so seek to immerse, or hide behind the veil of Islam and claim religious reasons for choosing to do so. If a muslim woman is able to sing, dance, move a crowd, and she becomes a pop-star, that against islam? So best is avoid doing so. Same thing for their men in sports, unable to keep up with the rest of the world, they just vent their anger by going on killing sprees and blaming the west to justify their actions! Any changes to this has to come from within the Islamic societies. I am not saying that all muslims are like that, but that among them, there is enough to display a common collective stance.

Cheers!
 

duluxe

Alfrescian
Loyal
bro NaturalAristocratNoHeart,
Thank for the many insightful points on the stage on Islam in Singapore and Malaysia. The authors points are radicalization as in in becoming more fundamentalistic, more aligned to Arabic Islamic forms. Your points are radicalization to extremism acts of harm to third party and acts of destruction.

Sam/Admin, possible to change the title of this thread to "The sudden ARABIZATION of Malaysian and Singapore Muslims" ? Thank.
 

Jah_rastafar_I

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
The way of their dressing is an indication towards a more conservative outlook and lifestyle. Now if you notice something about islam whenever a muslim is described as "radicalized" his dressing and way of life becomes more conservative. For the females you can see that in their dressing and same for the males where they keep long beards BUT they somehow are more likely to commit violent acts compared to a non radicalized muslim. For muslims somehow the more conservative they become there is a bigger chance for them to commit violent acts compared to other religions. A more conservative christian doesn't act like that for example. The wearing of their tudung is a symptom of it.
 

yinyang

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Don't think changing thread title alters content here.

As CPP and NaturalAristocrat put it, the Saudis are guilty of financing the diff radical groups. From Al Queda to ISIS. Latter is Sunni, so only political lip service to western allies. Their biggest traditional worry is Iran, of Shites sect.

Mid East landscape changed after yanks did Iraq, and left it high and dry to fend itself
 

Satyr

Alfrescian
Loyal
This is an issue that has been brewing in Malaysia since at least the 1950s. I will point to 2 issues that have perhaps encapsulated the growing trend towards Islamic conservatism in Malaysia.

A: Trends towards Islamic radicalization

1. The issue of the hijab, or as it is called in Malaysia, the tudung. An easy way to gauge how Islam has become more and more something in the public realm is to simply ask someone in their 70s or 60s how many people used to wear the tudung. In the 60s and 70s, Muslims who wore the tudung were in the minority. This trend, following worldwide trends of local versions of Islam to follow "true" Islam from the Middle East, was really catalyzed by the ABIM movement under Anwar Ibrahim. ABIM was a Islamist conservative group that advocated going back to basics, i.e. going back to the core teachings of the Quran, modeling the Middle East. Of course, the meaning of the Quran is subject to debate but this is what ABIM claimed.


2. The Allah issue. As you noted, the Allah issue is a huge one. Essentially, the word "Allah" has been declared only for Muslim usage, despite the word itself being Arabic in origin and having been used for centuries in Malay versions of the Bible. Some churches have had Molotov cocktails thrown at them due to this ahem, inflammatory issue.The issue at heart is really a political one. Islam is increasingly politicized in Malaysia and is used as part of a divide and rule tactic by the ruling government. By highlighting the "Allah" issue, the government establishes itself as protector of Islam, and pits Christians against Muslims with it being the moral arbiter. The sudden growth in these issues can be traced to political causes: as the opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia has grown in strength the government has found it necessary to try to monopolize Islam, even the homosexuality issue has its roots in sodomy accusations thrown against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

B: Non-Muslim responses
Needless to say, non-Muslims in Malaysia have been rather alarmed at such trends. There are growing fears of recurring racial tensions that might manifest itself in a second May 13, 1969, where racial riots claimed hundreds of lives. A common reaction to fear is of course, flight. Malaysia suffers from massive brain drain, with more than 1 million Malaysian working overseas as of 2011. That's out of a small population of 26 million mind you. And that's also not counting the hundreds, if not thousands of, Malaysians who have migrated elsewhere and have become citizens of other countries ( dual-citizenship not being allowed according to Malaysian law).

In summary, this tussle over Islam and controversies will continue apace for as long as it remains a selling point in elections. Which I suspect, it always will.

Ong Kar Jin

Some of us still remember the fetching minahs in their baju kurong or kebaya. To get women to wear that ugly hijab is quite a feat. It is rare that women who wear that keep themselves in trim. The hijab hides everything so why bother ?

You are right "Allah" just means God. It is not the name of God. Churches in Indonesia use "Allah". However, over time the word is associated with Muslims. My feeling is why stir the fires ? They are so many other names one can use for God.

Flight, yes. And they are all coming to Singapore.
 

duluxe

Alfrescian
Loyal




Recent Photo: Sports activity, Malaysian kids wearing tudung


Don't make sense to wear hijab for such event...
 
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blueRad

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Loyal
Sadly this is true. Muslim worldwide are aping the Arab world to feel like true Muslims. But then again, the entire Quran is in Arabic. In Malaysia, women athletes get rapped over sports attire that reveal their body figure.

What makes it worse is that Muslim groups are infiltrating liberal camps because Western conservatives generally do not like them. And some of these western liberal groups are fighting for the rights of the women to wear hijab even though the concept of liberal goes against the core concept of liberalism.
 

JohnTan

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
What an Islamophobic post! Everyone knows that Islam is a religion of peace, as endorsed by leading politicians worldwide. Islam is a good religion that has been hijacked by a small minority of radicals.
 

ChaoPappyPoodle

Alfrescian
Loyal
Sadly this is true. Muslim worldwide are aping the Arab world to feel like true Muslims. But then again, the entire Quran is in Arabic. In Malaysia, women athletes get rapped over sports attire that reveal their body figure.

What makes it worse is that Muslim groups are infiltrating liberal camps because Western conservatives generally do not like them. And some of these western liberal groups are fighting for the rights of the women to wear hijab even though the concept of liberal goes against the core concept of liberalism.

The Quran is not entirely in Arabic. The Quran was the first Arabic book that was ever written. The Arabs never had a written language before then. Even their alphabet was incomplete. They used Oral Traditions and reading poetry out loud was one of their sources of entertainment. Hence the Quran was written in rhythmic form. When it was first written, it borrowed numerous words from language found nearby.

Here are a few very interesting facts on early Islam and Muhammed.
1) Muhammed died without compiling the Quran
2) The Quran was compiled by Uthman, the 3rd Caliph
3) Nearly 50 years after his death, the name Muhammed was hardly heard off among Muslims
4) Muhammed's religion was not known as Islam until at least 50 years after the death of Muhammed. The followers were simply called The Believers
5) Non-Muslims saw Islam as a Heretical Christian sect - one of Muhammed's earliest coinage had his face emblazoned over a crucifix
6) The prohibition against the drawing of Muhammed was only strictly enforced in the 16-17th century
7) There is no such thing as the original quran. This was lost and no existing quran can be traced back to Uthman. In fact, when Uthman tried to compile the quran, there were variations. He kept one version and burnt the rest - this is stated in Islamic scripture, the Haddiths.

Image of Muhammed on a Coin
http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=009213

Images of Muhammed
http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/islamic_mo_full/


An incredibly interesting documentary on the mysterious beginnings of Islam
Channel 4 Islam - The Untold Story
https://youtu.be/Rg8n5oGYECE

An Historical Critique of Islam's Beginnings - Jay Smith
https://youtu.be/Zd9lIuUjPs0
 

Jah_rastafar_I

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
The Quran is not entirely in Arabic. The Quran was the first Arabic book that was ever written. The Arabs never had a written language before then. Even their alphabet was incomplete. They used Oral Traditions and reading poetry out loud was one of their sources of entertainment. Hence the Quran was written in rhythmic form. When it was first written, it borrowed numerous words from language found nearby.

Here are a few very interesting facts on early Islam and Muhammed.
1) Muhammed died without compiling the Quran
2) The Quran was compiled by Uthman, the 3rd Caliph
3) Nearly 50 years after his death, the name Muhammed was hardly heard off among Muslims
4) Muhammed's religion was not known as Islam until at least 50 years after the death of Muhammed. The followers were simply called The Believers
5) Non-Muslims saw Islam as a Heretical Christian sect - one of Muhammed's earliest coinage had his face emblazoned over a crucifix
6) The prohibition against the drawing of Muhammed was only strictly enforced in the 16-17th century
7) There is no such thing as the original quran. This was lost and no existing quran can be traced back to Uthman. In fact, when Uthman tried to compile the quran, there were variations. He kept one version and burnt the rest - this is stated in Islamic scripture, the Haddiths.

Image of Muhammed on a Coin
http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=009213

Images of Muhammed
http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/islamic_mo_full/


An incredibly interesting documentary on the mysterious beginnings of Islam
Channel 4 Islam - The Untold Story
https://youtu.be/Rg8n5oGYECE

An Historical Critique of Islam's Beginnings - Jay Smith
https://youtu.be/Zd9lIuUjPs0

there is a documentary about this and do u know they got death threats and it couldn't be aired.

 

ChaoPappyPoodle

Alfrescian
Loyal
there is a documentary about this and do u know they got death threats and it couldn't be aired.


Of course death threats are part and parcel of telling anything new about Islam regardless if its the history or even for a non-Muslims to post something like this even though it comes straight from Islamic scripture.

The Saudis will never allow archaeological work to be done in Mecca to prove their incredibly strange and unsubstantiated historicity of Islam. Only their narrative is allowed. But more truths are coming out as time goes by.
 

duluxe

Alfrescian
Loyal
Re: The arabisation of Malaysian and Singapore Muslims

Marina Mahathir: Malaysia undergoing ‘Arab colonialism’

Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir has criticised the “Arabisation” of Islam in Malaysia amid the institutionalisation and growing conservatism of the faith here. The social activist pointed out that that it is very difficult to find traditional “baju Melayu” for women during Hari Raya as Arab attire like kaftans, which are long tunics, became more popular instead over the years.
“This is just Arabisation. Our culture — it’s colonialism, Arab colonialism,” Marina told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview here.
“Kaftans are easy to wear. But what happened to our tradition, culture, everything? It’s lost,” she lamented, pointing out that Malay women below 50 generally do not know how to tie the ‘baju kurung’ skirt so that it falls into pleats and makes it easier to walk in.
The eldest child of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Islam’s biggest problem in Malaysia is the fear of knowledge of the religion itself.
“Islam has a very strong intellectual history, but there’s no intellect at all in the way Islam is taught here. We’re taught rituals; we’re not taught about the great thinkers and differences between them,” she said.
“When you read the history of Islam when it first came down, it was about doing away with tribalism... but you now have this thing where you’re wanting to go to a tribe, or else, the other tribes, even though all are officially Muslim, are not allowed,” she added.
The Sunni denomination is the prevalent ideology in Malaysia and any other Islamic schools of thought, including Shia, are considered deviant.
Marina also criticised the authorities for “inventing new enemies all the time”, questioning a minister for telling Muslims to watch out for “Quranism” shortly after Dr Mahathir said the Quran is supreme and that hadiths, which are sayings attributed to Prophet Muhammad, come after the holy book.
“It’s a new ‘ism’. Liberalism, pluralism, communism, feminism, Quranism. But racism, fascism, they don’t include,” she said.
Friday sermons sanctioned by the government have repeatedly warned the predominant Muslim community against philosophies like liberalism and pluralism.
Marina hit out at the government’s repeated calls for Muslims to unite and conform, pointing out that it does not allow room for individuality, while Muslim women are criticised when they go against the norm, citing the K-pop concert controversy where Muslim girls in headscarves hugged the Korean artistes, the female BFM journalist who questioned hudud and women in tudung touching canines at a controversial pet-a-dog event.
“Women always get attacked,” said the women’s rights activist.
“The guys get away because you can’t actually tell, unless they’re in a kopiah and beard and they’re touching a dog,” she added.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/m...mahathir-malaysia-undergoing-arab-colonialism
 

duluxe

Alfrescian
Loyal
Re: The arabisation of Malaysian and Singapore Muslims

Sam/Mod, please change the title of this thread to "The ARABISATION of Malaysian and Singapore Muslims" ? Thank.
 

ChaoPappyPoodle

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Loyal
Re: The arabisation of Malaysian and Singapore Muslims

What is happening is more akin to Muhammadization. Arabization occurred with the spread of Islam. What we are seeing is the Sunnah and Sira come alive. Sunnah is the word and ways of the prophet while sira is the biography of the prophet. With women, we are seeing the dress code of his wives and how to act and behave. How men trim their beards, hold a glass of water, which hands to eat with, whether to shave off their armpit hair, etc are all coming to live. And with this comes the most violent aspect of Islamic scripture. While the quran contains violent acts and commands, they pale in comparison to the Sunnah and Sira.

Sample verse from the Sira
The earliest biography (sirat) of Muhammad's life is the work of Ibn Ishaq (85-151 A.H.) who was born in Medina. In this we learn of Muhammad's actions after he had conquered the towns of Khaybar. This event is also accepted and recorded by Ibn Kathir [1].

Kinana b. al-Rabi`, who had the custody of the treasure of B. al-Nadir, was brought to the apostle who asked him about it. He denied that he knew where it was. A Jew came (T. was brought) to the apostle and said that he had seen Kinana going round a certain ruin every morning early. When the apostle said to Kinana, "Do you know that if we find you have it I shall kill you?" he said Yes. The apostle gave orders that the ruin was to be excavated and some of the treasure was found. When he asked him about the rest he refused to produce it, so the apostle gave orders to al-Zubayr b. al-`Awwam, "Torture him until you extract what he has," so he kindled a fire with flint and steel on his chest until he was nearly dead. Then the apostle delivered him to Muhammad b. Maslama and he struck off his head, in revenge for his brother Mahmud. (Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, translated as, The Life of Muhammad, (tr. A. Guillaume), Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 515.)

Sample verse from Sunnah http://www.quranexplorer.com/hadith/english/Hadith/bukhari/004.052.261.html
Bukhari :: Book 4 :: Volume 52 :: Hadith 261
Narrated Anas bin Malik:

A group of eight men from the tribe of 'Ukil came to the Prophet and then they found the climate of Medina unsuitable for them. So, they said, "O Allah's Apostle! Provide us with some milk." Allah's Apostle said, "I recommend that you should join the herd of camels." So they went and drank the urine and the milk of the camels (as a medicine) till they became healthy and fat. Then they killed the shepherd and drove away the camels, and they became unbelievers after they were Muslims. When the Prophet was informed by a shouter for help, he sent some men in their pursuit, and before the sun rose high, they were brought, and he had their hands and feet cut off. Then he ordered for nails which were heated and passed over their eyes, and whey were left in the Harra (i.e. rocky land in Medina). They asked for water, and nobody provided them with water till they died (Abu Qilaba, a sub-narrator said, "They committed murder and theft and fought against Allah and His Apostle, and spread evil in the land.")

The Sira and Sunnah provide context to the quran and in much more graphic fashion. To complete the scope of what we are looking at, the quran commands Muslims to follow the example of Muhammed. Many times in the quran, he is claimed to be the perfect role model for Muslims. With this in mind, when you combine the quran, sunnah and sira, you get a set of teaching that is extremely violent and direct. What makes everything many times more dangerous is the fact that these people truly believe they are fighting for their god and that you are waging war against not them, but their god. This is what they are taught. What you see as violence is something they see as awesome; being able to act out their lives as close as possible to that of their beloved prophet.
 

ChaoPappyPoodle

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Loyal
Re: The arabisation of Malaysian and Singapore Muslims

And Allah is not the generic name for god in Arabic. The generic name for god in Arabic is ilah. This is clearly exemplified in the Islamic oath, the Shahadah. Ilah means god and Allah means Muhammed's god.
Allah is the name of their god. Do not be fooled. This is so obvious but due to non-Muslims being lax and through deliberate propagation many believe Allah is a generic name for god.
 
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