Abdullah (name)

Abdullah
Pronunciation Arabic: [ʕabˈdɑllɑ], [ʕabdullaː]
Egyptian Arabic: [ʕɑbˈdɑllɑ], [ʕæbˈdellæ]
Turkish: [abduɫˈɫɑ]
Gender Male
Language(s) Arabic
Origin
Meaning Servant of God
Other names
Variant form(s) Abd Allah, Abdala, Abdalla, Abdallah, Abdellah, Abdilla, Abdollah, Abdulah, Abdulai, Abdulla

Abdullah or Abdallah is the primary transliteration of the Arabic given name, Arabic: عبد الله‎, built from the Arabic words Abd and Allah (Allah itself composed of al- and Ilah). The first letter a in al-Ilah in its native pronunciation is often unstressed and commonly transliterated by u, a stressed a is often used as well, although any vowel can also be used. It is one of many Arabic theophoric names, meaning slave of Allah.

Humility before Allah is an essential value of Islam, hence Abdullah is a common name among Muslims. It is common among Arabic-speaking Jews, especially Iraqi Jews. The feminine equivalent is Amatullah. The name is cognate to and has the same meaning as the Hebrew Abdiel and, more commonly, Obadiah. The name of the Jewish Rabbi in Medina before Islam came was Abdullah Ibn Saba. The word Allah existing in the Arabic Talmud and other Jewish scriptures.

Also, the Christian Arabic Bible at that time and still does, use the word Allah for God. Presently in the Middle East, Christians sometimes name their children, and use as a family name, Abdallah. The use of this name is perhaps attributed to the passage in Matthew 25:14-30 which refers to the parable of the talents and the three servants. The parable praises the good servants and could have led to the use of the name Abdullah among Arab Christians. Furthermore, the father of the prophet Muhammad was named Abdullah. A Hispanicized version of the name is Abdala or Abdalá.

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