Allah around
the world

On the map

Tap a light to read who says it, and how.

Map: Natural Earth via world-atlas (public domain data). Each light opens its story below.

• Cairo, Egypt “Allah (Arabic); Noute (Coptic)” · Coptic Orthodox Christians

  Egypt's Copts, one of the oldest churches in the world, pray in Coptic and Arabic. In Arabic hymns and Bibles, God is Allah. Source ↗

• Old Cairo (Fustat), Egypt “Allah, in Hebrew letters” · Jewish scholars writing Judeo-Arabic

  The Cairo Geniza, a storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue, kept Jewish letters and books for centuries, many in Judeo-Arabic: Arabic written in Hebrew letters. Maimonides wrote in Judeo-Arabic in Egypt. Source ↗

• St Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, Egypt “Allah” · Orthodox monks and Arabic-speaking Christians

  The monastery library holds Sinai Arabic Codex 151, Paul's letters in Arabic, dated 867. Inside its walls stands a small mosque from 1106, still preserved. Source ↗

• Beirut, Lebanon “Allah” · Arabic-speaking Christians

  The Smith–Van Dyck Arabic Bible was completed and printed here in 1865. It is still the Bible most Arabic-speaking Protestants read. Its first verse: 'In the beginning Allah created the heavens and the earth.' Source ↗

• Balamand Monastery, Lebanon “Allah” · Antiochian Orthodox Christians

  At the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, the ancient hymn 'Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal' is sung in Greek and in Arabic. Source ↗

• Madaba, Jordan “Allah” · Arab Christian families

  Christian families resettled Madaba in the 1880s and found Byzantine church mosaics, including the famous sixth-century map of the Holy Land. Its churches pray in Arabic. Source ↗

• Bethlehem, Palestine “Allah” · Arab Christians

  Arab Christian families have worshipped at the Church of the Nativity for centuries. In their Arabic Bibles, prayers and Christmas carols, God is Allah. Source ↗

• Zabad, Syria “al-ilāh” · Arab Christians of the sixth century

  In 512, a century before Islam, Christians carved a dedication over a shrine door in Greek, Syriac and Arabic. The Arabic line asks God, al-ilāh, to remember them. Source ↗

• Maaloula, Syria “Allah in Arabic; Aramaic at home” · Aramaic-speaking Christians

  One of three villages where Western Neo-Aramaic, a sister language of Arabic and Hebrew, is still spoken. Its people pray in Arabic and Aramaic. Source ↗

• Mor Gabriel Monastery, Tur Abdin, Turkey “Alaha” · Syriac Orthodox Christians

  Founded in 397, one of the oldest working monasteries in the world. Its monks pray in Syriac, where God is Alaha, a close cousin of the Arabic word Allah. Source ↗

• Alqosh, Iraq “Alaha (Syriac); Allah (Arabic)” · Chaldean and Assyrian Christians

  Christians in northern Iraq pray in Syriac, where God is Alaha, and speak Arabic, where God is Allah. Both words grow from the same old Semitic root. Source ↗

• Baghdad, Iraq “Allah” · Arabic-speaking Jews

  Rabbi Saadia Gaon (882–942) led the Jewish academy here and translated the Torah into Arabic. His translation calls God Allah. Source ↗

• Sana'a, Yemen “Allah, in Hebrew letters” · Yemenite Jews

  Yemenite Jewish Bibles set Saadia Gaon's Judeo-Arabic translation beside the Hebrew and Aramaic, verse by verse. A trilingual Bible from Yemen dated 1838 survives in Manchester. Source ↗

• Makkah, Saudi Arabia “Allah” · Muslims

  Muslims everywhere face the Ka'ba here to pray. The Qur'an, revealed in Arabic, calls God Allah and links the house to Abraham. Source ↗

• Valletta, Malta “Alla” · Maltese Catholics

  Maltese grew from Arabic. Catholic Malta prays to Alla, which comes from the Arabic Allah. Maltese is the only Semitic language that is an official language of the European Union. Source ↗

• Palermo, Italy “Allah” · Arabic-speaking Christians of Norman Sicily

  In twelfth-century Sicily, Christians copied the Psalms in Greek, Latin and Arabic side by side. The Harley Trilingual Psalter is now in the British Library. Source ↗

• Córdoba, Spain “Allah” · Mozarabs: Arabic-speaking Christians of al-Andalus

  Christians of Muslim Spain read scripture in Arabic. Tradition credits Isaac Velázquez of Córdoba with an Arabic translation of the Gospels, probably in the tenth century. Source ↗

• Timbuktu, Mali “Allah” · West African Muslim scholars

  Timbuktu's family libraries keep manuscripts in Arabic, and in African languages written in Arabic script, on faith, law, astronomy and medicine. Source ↗

• Kano, Nigeria “Allah” · Hausa-speaking Christians and Muslims

  In Hausa, Christians and Muslims alike say Allah. The Hausa Bible renders Immanuel as 'Allah tare da mu': God with us (Matthew 1:23). Source ↗

• Zanzibar, Tanzania “Mungu; Allah” · Swahili-speaking Christians and Muslims

  Swahili Bibles begin 'Hapo mwanzo Mungu aliumba mbingu na nchi'. Swahili-speaking Muslims also say Mungu, often Mwenyezi Mungu, God Almighty, alongside Allah. Source ↗

• Tehran, Iran “Khoda; Allah” · Persian-speaking Muslims and Christians

  Persian has its own everyday word for God, Khoda. The Old Persian Version of the Bible opens with it, and Muslims use both Khoda and Allah. Source ↗

• Istanbul, Turkey “Allah; Tanrı” · Turkish Muslims

  Turkish Muslims say Allah. Turkish also keeps the old Turkic word Tanrı, God, from before the Turks became Muslim. Source ↗

• Comrat, Moldova “Allah” · Gagauz Orthodox Christians

  The Gagauz are Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christians in southern Moldova. Their language uses Allah for God. Source ↗

• Amritsar, India “Allah, beside Ram, Hari and Waheguru” · Sikhs

  The Guru Granth Sahib names God in many words. A hymn of Bhagat Kabir begins 'Awal Allah nur upaya': first, Allah made the Light (Guru Granth Sahib p. 1349). Source ↗

• Sultanpur Lodhi, India “Karim, Rahim, Allah” · Sikhs

  Tradition says Guru Nanak began his mission here. In a hymn in Persian he addresses God as karim, the Generous, and parvardigar, the Sustainer (Guru Granth Sahib p. 721). Source ↗

• Jakarta, Indonesia “Allah” · Indonesian Christians and Muslims

  Indonesian Bibles say Allah for God: 'Pada permulaan segala sesuatu, Allah menciptakan...' Malay Gospels have used the word since Ruyl's Matthew, printed in 1629. Source ↗

• Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia “Allah” · Malay-speaking Christians of Sabah and Sarawak

  Many Christians in Malaysian Borneo pray in Malay. Their Bibles, like Indonesian ones, translate the Hebrew Elohim as Allah, as Malay Bibles have for about four centuries. Source ↗

• London (Kensington), United Kingdom “Allah (Arabic); Noute (Coptic)” · Coptic Orthodox Christians

  St Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church opened here in 1975, the first Coptic Orthodox church in Europe. Services are held in English and Arabic. Source ↗

• London (British Library), United Kingdom “Allah” · Readers of every faith

  The British Library holds Arabic Christian Bibles and the twelfth-century Harley Trilingual Psalter, where Arabic-speaking Christians sang the Psalms in Arabic. Source ↗

• Manchester, United Kingdom “Allah” · Arabic-speaking Christians

  The Arabic Church in Manchester, a registered charity, gathers Arabic-speaking Christians in the city. In Arabic prayer and song, God is Allah. Source ↗

• Detroit, United States “Alaha; Allah” · Chaldean Catholics

  Detroit has its own Chaldean Catholic diocese, the Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle. Families from northern Iraq pray in Syriac and Arabic. Source ↗