Source of name Abd-Allaah before the Quran

12-9-2001 | IslamWeb

Question:

How did the Arabs know the name "Allaah" since the Prophet's father was named "'Abd-Allaah" and the Quran was not there to tell them of the name "Allaah"? Can you explain this please?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds.  I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Arabs used to have religious spiritual and theological knowledge, which they inherited from their previous Prophets and they received from contact with the people of other religions, like Jews and Christians. On the basis of this knowledge, Arabs used to give their idols names derived from the Names of Allaah. They used for instance to call one of their most famous idols "Al-Lat" which is derived from "Allaah" as mentioned by some scholars. Besides, the Arabs -- as you mentioned – used to call their children by names that are derived from the Names of Allaah.

Allaah Knows best.