Pope Benedict XVI: May Al-Rab (not Allah) Bless You

By Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.
10/12/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

While it is unquestionably true that the Holy Father gave a blessing Arabic, he did not say 'May Allah bless you all!' as Peppard states

In his latest audience, the Pope blessed Arabic speakers in Arabic. It is notable that he did not use the word "Allah" for God, but the word "al-Rab," or Lord.

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CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - On the Commonweal magazine blog, Michael Peppard posted an article entitled "Pope Benedict: 'May Allah bless you all!"

While it is unquestionably true that the Holy Father gave a blessing Arabic, he did not say "May Allah bless you all!" as Peppard states.

Peppard says in his article that there is only one word that could have been used by the Pope, and that word was "Allah."

But in fact, the whole article is built on a faulty premise. There are other words that may be used to refer to God other than Allah, although Allah is certainly one.

The text in Arabic, which can be found on the Vatican website is:

Translated, the meaning is "The pope prays for all Arabic speakers. May God bless you all."

The word used for "God," however, was not Allah, but rather al-Rab or Lord.

Unquestionably, Pope Benedict XVI, influenced by his recent pilgrimage to Lebanon, the publication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Middle East, and touched by the suffering of the Christians in the Middle East, has decided to add Arabic to the Wednesday General Audiences.

The move should not be seen as some sort of capitulation to Islam. Rather, it should be seen as an outreach to those Christians who suffer in the Middle East.

We hope further that some of the Pope's teachings, translated and made available in Arabic, may reach the hearts of the hundreds of millions of Muslims who read and write Arabic.

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Andrew M. Greenwell is an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, practicing in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is married with three children. He maintains a blog entirely devoted to the natural law called Lex Christianorum. You can contact Andrew at agreenwell@harris-greenwell.com.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: al-Rab, Allah, Islam, Muslim, Arab, Coptic, Arab Christians, Arabic, Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

Kamar
2 months ago
Let me point out what Rab means! Rab means "God". Allah is the name of God. In other words, Our Rab is Allah (our God is Allah). Often the name Allah is used along with the word Rab. Rather than just calling Allah, muslims say "Allah Rab-ul Izzath".

"Al" is a simple term used to show respect. In islam, instead of just saying muhammad, we say Al-muhammad.

This is an article published on Wikipedia, which consists of names given to Allah, becasue of all poweful things he is capable of doing. You can see that every name starts with "Al".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Islam
Egan Solo
6 months ago
It is time that the west overcomes its allergy of the word "Allah" as if it is a dirty word.

Allah, in Arabic means, simply, "The God," a tribute to the unicity of God, something all three major religion shares. Further, in most liturgies of the Catholic Church in Arabic, the word Illah which means The God and is a minor variation of the word Allah is used profusely. No Christian of the Middle East has an issue with this word because, fundamentally, it is not a Muslim word. It is a word the Muslims appropriated in a specific way but it not exclusively Muslim.

Al Rab,as correctly reported in the article means "The Lord," as is seen in the response of St. Thomas to Our Lord : "Ya Rabbi wa ya Ilahi" My Lord and My God. Incidentally, "Illah" is the same words as "Allah," different declination as is the case with the name of our Lady: Miriam for some and Mariam for others.

So, I hope we stop making a big deal of these lesser events and we understand that the only way to convert Muslims is not to speak of capitulation and fear but to be holy. One needs only see the influence of St. Sharbel on Muslims and the impact that the incorrupt body of blessed Stephen in Lebanon has on the hearts and minds of many muslim to learn that the only path of peace is the path of holiness; not grammatical gyrations.
Michael
7 months ago
I wrote up my blog based on a reasonable, though it turns out, false assumption. The audio and text were not yet available, and I was misled by the English "God" for "al-Rab" instead of the English "Lord." The great thing about blogs is that they can be updated, and I have done so here: http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=21191
Tom McGuire
7 months ago
And may his words to the Church in the Middle East reach all members of the Church. The Catholic Church is a world Church. It is not us (European and American) in mission to the Asian. Jesus was Asian. The mission is to give and to receive. The door of faith swings both ways. We can learn so much from the suffering of those brave faithful Christians in the Middle East. Let the breath of the Spirit blow!
Paul-Emile Leray
7 months ago
It is about time. Some of my Muslim friends, while at university, seemed to sometimes lead more Christian-like lives than some so called Christians. Of all the Muslims I have met in Canada, I must state that I have very little to criticize in terms of their behaviors. Facts are facts, albeit these are based on my own subjective personal experiences and encounters. Let us be careful to not paint with too broad a brush, for at times it is better to paint like a Picasso instead of simply using a wide nozzled spray gun with a blown out o-ring and letting the paint fly into the wind as it may. There are roses and weeds in every culture, regardless of religion and nationality and political affiliation. It is nice seeing more and more dialogue taking place, leading to greater understanding. We often fear what we do not understand.
Paul-Emile Leray
Laith Georgie
7 months ago
My name is Laith, I speak and write Arabic, and I approved the linguistic part of this article

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