Meaning of Wallaahi, Billaahi and Tallaahi

31/12/2012| IslamWeb

  Question

Es selamu alejkum May Allah reward you for your work. I want you to ask you, what does the word ''Wallahi Billahi Tallahi'' means? Thank you for the answer. 

Answer

 All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The three words have different meanings depending on their context in speech. They may be said and mean swearing by Allah, because the Arabic letters Waaw, Baa’a, Taa’a are used for swearing, so if a person says Wallaahi, Billaahi, or Tallaahi, it means that he swears by Allah or makes an oath by Allah.

On the other hand, if the word “Allah” is preceded by the letter Waaw or Baa’a, then it could mean other than swearing. For example, if someone says “Ista’antu Billaah”, i.e. I seek help from Allah, then the letter Baa’a here is for seeking help.

Likewise, the letter Waaw could mean Ist’inaaf (i.e. to indicate beginning a new sentence to make a different point); like the saying of Allah "Wallaahu Rau’oofun Bil Ibaad" (which means): {And Allah is Kind to [His] servants.}[Quran 2:207]

As regards the letter Taa’a, if it is added to the word "Allah", it only means swearing by Allah.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb