allah hafiz vs. khuda hafiz

8/6/2019 Allah Hafiz vs. Khuda Hafiz

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Allah Hafiz vs. Khuda HafizSubmitted by admin3 on 7 June 2011 - 9:29pm

ArticlesIndian Muslim

By Almas Kiran Shamim,

I am a Muslim and I am an Indian. I was born and brought up in this country, speaking Urdu/Hindi and using terms like Namaaz* and Roza**. I have no desire to suddenly change my language because some people find it inappropriate. I absolutely hatethe de-Indianization of Indian Muslims, saying, for example, Ramadan Kareem instead of Ramzaan Mubarak, and salaat instead of namaaz.

Today, someone told me that Khuda hafiz*** is not the correct word to be used, andwe should rather say Allah hafiz. The reason given was that Parsis also use Khudahafiz. I have heard the same ridiculous notion earlier as well. I am very sure that a lot of people reading this also have similar views. In any case, I make itclear to anyone and everyone reading this post, that I, Almas, will not stop say

ing Khuda hafiz.

An auto in Delhi street with "Khuda Hafiz" written in Hindi.

Firstly, for the benefit of the readers, Khuda is a word incorporated into Urdu from Persian (like many other Urdu words). If you do a thorough search, you will find that the word Khuda has a very elaborate meaning from the powerful one to the oto whom sacrifices are offered. To keep it simple, we shall use the commonest meaning for which the term Khuda is used, i.e., God.

When I say Khuda, I mean my God, my Creator, the One to whom I shall return. When I say Khuda, I mean my Allah. However, obviously, not everyone in the world sp

eaks Urdu, and not everyone in the world calls Allah Khuda. Just like not everyonein the world speaks English, not everyone in the world would call Allah God. However, I am not everyone in the world, and I do call my God Khuda. It doesnt matter tome who uses this word for what other purposes. There are people who say that Khuda should not be used because a lot of other people use this term for their God.

Urdu is a language, so is Persian, and anyone who speaks in this language can use Khuda for his God. A Christian from Pakistan can use Khuda, a Zoroastrian from Iran can use Khuda. This, by no means, implies that a Muslim from either Pakistan orIran cannot use Khuda.

When you say that Khuda can also mean the Christian God or the Parsi God or even t

he Sikh or Hindu God, you are actually trying to say that there IS a Christian God, a Parsi God, a Sikh God, a Hindu God besides a Muslim God Allah.

Tell me, is this what you believe in?

Does this make you a Muslim?

Tell me, what is the most important thing to be a Muslim?

The belief in one God.Allah.La ilaha illallah.There is no God but Allah.

So, when anyone says God, what should come to your mind?Allah, because who is Allah but Allah?


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There is one God who created us all, who provides for us all, whether we be Muslim or Hindu or Parsi or whatever. Then what exactly do you mean when you say that so and so people also call their God Khuda?

Do you realize that a Christian Arab also uses the word Allah but for him Allah isthe father of Jesus. So, now, shouldnt I stop using the term Allah too? Do you rea

lize that when Huzur (Salallaho alaihe wasallam) became a Prophet, Arabs belonging to the Jahiliya also worshipped Allah, only that they also worshipped Uzza, Lat, and Manat? So, doesnt this also mean that I should stop using Allah?

A lot of Non-Muslims believe that Allah is some other God, i.e, a God other than their own God. So, doesnt Allah too conjure images other than what we, as Muslims, know Allah means? Now, if Allah despite being used by other sects means Allah then Iam sure Khuda too can mean Allah for me.

When a Christian says Khuda hafiz, he might be leaving you in the protection of God the Father. However, when I, or any other Muslim, say Khuda hafiz, we are leaving you in the protection of Al-Ilah The God.

There are definitely reasons why you can tell me to use Allah hafiz instead of Khuda hafiz. The best being that Allah calls Himself Allah in the Quran. Also, that saying the word Allah itself brings blessings and that it binds the Ummati in a common thread. If you give me these reasons I will agree with you. However, if you give me the stupid reason that a Parsi also calls God khuda than you are going to get a piece of my mind.

Besides, Allah created us all differently there are Muslims with golden hair andblue eyes, Muslims with black skin and curly hair and Muslims with brown skin and black eyes. We eat different food, speak different languages and have different cultures. We are united in our belief and our belief doesnt include us becoming Arabs. No, I dont mean that Allah is for Arabs alone. What I mean is that this su

dden need among Indian Muslims to switch over from namaaz to salaah and the like, and also a sudden defilement of Khuda hafiz, have all arisen (I believe) from that same misconception that Muslim and Arab is synonymous.

It is NOT.

I live in Kerala (at present) and the Muslims here use the term Niskkaram or Namaskkaram for Namaaz / Salaah. Yet, I dont find huge forums on the Internet debating thesage of the term. Nor do I find Keralite Muslims with any sense of shame in their usage of a word that is well known to have Hindu origins (if I can call them that) to refer to the second pillar of Islam. Yet, namaaz, roza, and khuda are so vehently opposed. The only explanation that I can find for this absurd phenomenon is the huge population of Hindi/Urdu Muslims.

Keralite Muslims form a small population and their terms are not so apparent to the larger Muslim world, nor are they a threat. Urdu/Hindi Muslims are a huge group of people and since we have become part of a global community the Urdu/ HindiMuslim terms have somehow stood as competitors to their Arabic counterparts.

With an increasing Western Muslim population, due to an unprecedented rise in reversions, Arabic in its chaste form is being embraced as the sole language of Islam.

In such a scenario, naturally, the older Indian/Pakistani Muslims who use Urdu/Hindi in its various forms, present the single largest alienation. Thus, there is t

his need to extol the usage of Arabic terms, or rather deprecate the usage of Urdu/Hindi terms that the larger Muslim World cannot understand.


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I feel that this is ridiculous. Trust me, my God can understand all the languages he created. He really does. The need to de-Indianize us (Urdu/Hindi Muslims) stems from the belief that how can anything Muslim be non-Arab? It is very similar to the Urdu/Hindi Muslim belief that how can anything Muslim be non-Urdu/Hindi(within India)?

Since most Muslims in India know one or the other form of Urdu/Hindi, even if th

eir mother tongue is something totally different (for example, Tamil), there isa common belief that all Indian Muslims speak Urdu. This is not true. I know Keralite Muslims who dont know the alif of Urdu and yet they are beautiful Muslims.

We need to realize that the pulse of the Ummati, the golden thread that binds usas Muslims, is our belief and not our language. We need to understand that yourGod and my God and his God and her God and that God and this God and their God isfor people who believe that there can possibly be more than one God.

What makes us Muslims is our proclamation: There is One God.

Now, whether I call him God, or Rabb or Khuda or Bhagwaan or Maalik or Parwar dig

not of as much importance as that I call Him and Him alone.

There is only One who can possibly be GodHim Al-Ilah The GodWahadahu la shareekAllahu Akbar.

*Regular prayers that Muslims are supposed to do five times a day

**Fasting*** A common term used by Indian Muslims to say

farwell

.

--

Almas is a medical student in Kerala and blogs at http://almasshamim.blogspot.com/

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Comment viewing optionsSelect your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.Allah Hafiz vs Khuda HafizSubmitted by Afzal Usmani (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 10:30pm.

Its better to use the word which Allah SWT had used for himself in Quran. He used "Allah" in Quran and its unique so should be better. This is my personal opinion. I have no problem with Khuda Hafiz. A little bit problem Kaashif bhai with "Bhagwan Hafiz or Ishwar Hafiz". These words are identified with a specific religion which is different than Islam. So will prefer not to use. Second thing, ALLAH is a unique word and Allah SWT used in Quran for himself

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What is there in naming?Submitted by ABDUL KADER B (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 9:22pm.

Almas,

why all this long humbug discussion. I called it

Ahmed-Giri

! One Mr.Ahmed I knew was speaking too much , showing him more smarter as you are trying to prove yourself!


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You yourself is admired calling God as Allah instead Khuda in one of your finestpara.The religious litrature of Islam in subcontinent is basically in Urdu,Persian and Urdu are sister languages, Muslim period in India ruled by Moughalsused Persian as their official language, hence they used Khuda instead of Allahand latter it is opted by Urdu speaking Muslims.Accordingly there is no harm or wrong calling Allah as Khuda.

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Mr. Abdul Kader quoting yourSubmitted by Almas Shamim (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 10:38pm.

Mr. Abdul Kader

quoting your words"You yourself is admired calling God as Allah instead Khuda in one of your finest para."

and

"Accordingly there is no harm or wrong calling Allah as Khuda."

the exact message of my humbug discussion---- Allah and Khuda are the same. so,why stop me from using

Khuda

?Thank you2nd Mr. Ahmed.:)

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Khuda hi HafizSubmitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 6:22pm.

To, Almas Kiran Shamim : a hurried note, glanced yr subject effort.. encouragedto suggest :1. These are very small things to engage in, ALLAH SWT knows before we utter words. He is all knowing but His listening and speaking and seeing is beyond our apprehension- systems.. that is why He is unique ( AHAD), no one is like Him. Whenwe say I can see the wall, means I can see up to the wall and not beyond BUT when He looks at our requested wall: whole universe with all creations so far andbeyond summons along with the wall ( in question). To tell you the truth, even this explanation is so week that I am ashamed of even daring this explanation with human-sense perception..... To His reality, I can be 100% wrong. Why : It tookages for saints like Maulana Romi to understand this reality but some times ittakes seconds as well, the condition is : ILLA-MASHA-ALLAH ! I quote Hazrat ALIrATa Jis nai Khud ko pehchana, us nai KHUDA ( ALLAH swt ) ko pehchana.2. When you say Khuda Hafiz, you are using 50% Persian and 50% Arabic.3. Its strange in our subcontinent along with Iran, majority of our great saintsand Ulamas have used the word KHUDA, even in Quranic translations ?4. We must use words and deeds based on the Sunnah only.M Jawed Shervani=================================================

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Khuda Hafiz AlmasSubmitted by salafi (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 3:56pm.


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Almas has got it all wrong.its all due to ignorance about Tauheed(oneness in all aspects).She should contacta salafi alim in her area to understand Aqqeday Tauheed.Allah is a proper noun.Allah is the personal name of our creator Allah(swt).for eg.I cannot change your name Almas kiran shamim by translating the

meaning of these three words into other languages.llah is unique word.no one can play games with this word by adding suffixes to other langiagewords like Goddess,gods,godfather,godmother etc.better for her to research in medical feild like gtnaecologist where muslims arebeingsystematically targeted for Ceasarean operations by Govt backed RSS encouragedethnic cleansing in the mothers womb.

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Allah Hafiz vs. Khuda HafizSubmitted by md saifullah khalid (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 2:16pm.

assalamo alaikum,brother i agree vth ur saying dat allah doesnt require languages 2 understand his beleivers allah even not requires word he knows d heart and things going in once mind .he iz all hearer,all knower and there iz none comparable unto him.but for d topic i want 2 say dat calling khuda iz not wrong but its better we call almighty by word allah since dis word contains all attributes of d creator for example if we call almighty by d word rabb it state only one attribute dat of a sustainer and in same way d arabic word "rahman" and "rahim " translated "most gracious" and "most merciful " are both intensive forms referring to different aspects of allah attribute of mercy.

may allah bless us and guide us so dat we keep walking in light of allah

s grace.

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Good point sister. I evenSubmitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 12:12pm.

Good point sister. I even want to add that some of our Islamic scholar say dontsay God because it will add as gods & godes etc. I feel every one who say god isrefer to his GOD which he or she worship. We need to be open minded. Since my business is translation I dont find any difference between God, Bhagwan & Allah its all depends to people who they worshiping.

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Word Allah used in Quraan 2698 timesSubmitted by Abdul Hannan Siwani Nadvi (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 11:59am.

Unnecessary article; without any reason, author says that he will says Khuda, sohe has right to say Khuda.Word Allah is best than word Khuda, because word Allah selected by Allah Himself. Muslims in India can say Khuda, but saying Allah is more comprehensive.

Word Allah used in Quraan 2698 times.Read whole Quraan and then say to me that which word selected by Allah himself, Khuda or Allah.


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Ulema in entire world agreed that Allah is best word to use for Allah, because this name selected by Allah himself.

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appreciation

Submitted by Md. Shafiur Rahman (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 11:23am.

Went through the POST and enjoyed the intellectual presentation. Congratulations!It should also be borne in mind that advocates of using

Allah

,

Salah/Salat

or

Saum

instead of

Khuda

,

Namaz

or

Roza(h)

are also sincere in their belief , but they haven

t attained the intellectual sublimity already attained byAlmas.May Allah (I mustn

t be acused of not using Khuda) guide us!

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khuda hafizSubmitted by mridula (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 8:26am.

well expressed and i fully agree with you.

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allah hafis or khuda hafisSubmitted by shahnawaz mohammed (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 8:18am.

Dear lamas beta

assalam alaikum

i read your complete email. and I would like to say here only one thing. pleasedo not take any offensive or defensive on the subject of Allah hafis, and khudahafis. Since you are medical student you should have very brought way of thinking. you are our future representative of Muslim Ummah. And we should be more strong and more flexible in practicing Islam. I would suggest here do continue whatis very appropriate to you.But at the same time try to accommodate the values from the logical views. I hope my small suggestion will help you in future for youto solve lots of different small issues of Islamic school of thoughts.

jazakallah khair.

shahnawaz mohammedToronto- Canada.

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Congratulations!Submitted by Hamza M Sheth (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 8:00am.

Very good article. I too had faced many people who tried to convince me on suchverbal boundaries. Anyway, courageously written... Congratulations!

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AssalamoailakumSubmitted by Waseem Raja (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 5:45am.

I want that you should know that nowdays some muslims are urging fellow muslimsto use the word Allah instead of kudha because Allah is the name of our Creatordescribed in Quran, so it is better to call the creator by the name that Quran tells us.

So its better to use the Quranic word for religious terminology.

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no harms ... thanks...Submitted by Almas Shamim (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 10:55pm.

no harms ...

thanks...

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Khuda bless you and allSubmitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 3:07am.

Khuda bless you and all Indians - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews & Others

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You

re free to refer to yourSubmitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 3:00am.

You

re free to refer to your deity however - but wouldn

t you want to call Him using one of the Names He has given us? Khuda is not one of those names. I

m notsaying that delegitimizes the use of "Khuda Hafiz" but if someone is encouragingpeople to call on Allah by His Names (as we are commanded to in Surat A

raaf) what

s wrong with that?

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Allah hafiz vs Khuda HafizSubmitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 12:36am.

Very correct. Iagree totally. By the way in arabic bible God is Always called Allah because Allah is the word for that one singular being who created all that is even the quarks and neons the particls of neutron and proton in an atom. thereare are so many languages and people and in Quran God states that He has sent amessenger to all of them some say 124000 not all were arabic therefore in everylanguage and place and people there has to be aword for the Omnipotent,AlmightyCreator and as they are the different names of the same ONE and ONLY ONE WITHOUT PARTNERS, they have to be good as Allah says in quran "Lahul Asmaaul Hasna"meaning all names of Allah are good.

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y to use ALLAH!Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 12:04am.


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aslmlkmthough i hv the doubt over the writer

s sincerity!"i.e he clearly says "i m gonna use this only "that means this article is written with a stubborn mind !and ina mood of never listening! i suspect even ahadith will also b thrown away by writer if they go against this article!

but! i will do my duty as a muslim!!

using khuda is not haram!niether makrooh!! its just unpleasent! reason!!

1. the GOD "ALLAH" has several names! but his most renowned and personal is ALLAH! next is REHMAN then next is RAHEEM! when we hav 99names for him! why use a name borrowed from som other community!?????

2. USE of arabic with the intention dat its the languag of ALLAH and his APOSTLE! will enhance the bi-directional love! so why use the name borrowed frm some other religion???

3.ALLAH is the word used many times in quran! now using that u get 40VIRTUE(NEKIS ) AS U read a quranic word!

4. THE term used by ALLAH

s APOSTLE is ALLAH not khuda so why showing anger in following him?? is this all ur ISLAM IS all about??

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walaykum assalamSubmitted by Almas Shamim (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 10:49pm.

Had you read this part of my article...

"There are definitely reasons why you can tell me to use Allah hafiz instead of Khuda hafiz. The best being that Allah calls Himself Allah in the Quran. Also, that saying the word Allah itself brings blessings and that it binds the Ummati in a common thread. If you give me these reasons I will agree with you. However, if yougive me the stupid reason that a Parsi also calls God khuda than you are going toget a piece of my mind."""

I have clearly stated that i conform with the virtues of using "Allah" and onlydisagree where pp; say that

Khuda

can mean "OTHER GODS".

I agree with you that we should preferably be using words used by Huzur S.A.W Himself.but, you mention about

borrowing words from other communities and religions

...which community my friend?THIS is my community.besides, i wonder what

English

is..... and when did Huzur S.A.W speak in English that we do not consider it

unpleasant

to be used.

Thanks...

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Nice article!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 7 June 2011 - 9:36pm.

Nice article!


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Thanks ....Submitted by Almas Shamim (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 10:58pm.

Thanks ....

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We should learn arabic try toSubmitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 8 June 2011 - 12:53pm.

We should learn arabic try to correct our mistakes if we or doing mistakes by since long time why we correct at this stage So that we must under stand the whatislamic teaching says.

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allah hafiz vs. khuda hafiz

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