Allahumma

Allāhumma (Arabic: ٱللَّٰهُمَّ) is a term of address for Allah, the Islamic and Arabic term for one God. It is translated as "O Allāh" and is seen as the equivalent of "Yā Allāh". Some grammarians (such as Sibawayh) argue that it is an abbreviation of يا ألله أمّنا بخير (yā ʾallāhu ʾummanā bi-khayr)^[1] (with the meaning of "O God, lead us in goodness");^[2] others have argued without explanation that the suffix ـ مَّ (-mma) takes the place of yā (O).^[3] Muslim scholar Ibn ʿĀshūr, in his explanation of Sūrat ʾĀl ʿImrān, suggests that the word Allāhumma is of Hebrew or of Qaḥṭāni derivation.^[4]

Christian usage

Hafs ibn Albar, a 9th-10th—century Christian Visigothic author in Al-Andalus, translated the Biblical Psalms into Arabic. Rather than using the standard word for God, "Allah", he used Lahumma or Allahumma inspired by the Hebrew word Elohim.^[5]

See also

• List of Islamic terms in Arabic
• Dua Allahumma kun li-waliyyik
• Elohim

References

1. ʿImād Zakī al-Bārūdī, ʾAsmāʾ allāh al-ḥusnā: dirāsa taṭbīqīya wa naẓarīya. Cairo (1999): al-Maktaba at-tawfiqiya. (page 106)(Arabic)
2. "Al M'ani, entry for 'أمّ'". Retrieved 2014-11-04.
3. Sibawayh et al islamweb.net (in Arabic)
4. tafsīr of ibn ʿĀshūr quran.ksu.edu.sa (in Arabic)
5. Schippers, Arie "Hafs al-Quti's Psalms in Arabic rajaz metre (9th Century): a Discussion of Translations from Three Psalms (ps. 50, 1 and 2)." Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 86 (1998), page 139.