Denny and I were watching Little People, Big World last night, and the episode dealt with an Iraqi family who came to the States to help their kids get the medical attention they need.  The Iraqi family stayed with the Roloffs (the central family in LPBW) for a short time, and before they shared a meal together, the father of the family said a prayer in Arabic.

Because I always pay attention to translation, I made special note of the choices in the closed captioning.  I was pleased to note that the translator decided to use the word God instead of Allah.  Islam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion, and the deity therein is the same Old Testament figure that Christians and Jews worship.  Allah translates literally to God.  It is simply how you say the word God in Arabic.

Language matters, and in this whole anti-Islam spin that the western media has taken, choosing not to translate that one word makes a big difference.  It sets up Middle East versus the West, as if it’s Zeus and Thor duking it out to determine who’s the one true European god.

I remember on September 11th, some right-wing blowhard (Pat Robertson?) said that too many Americans were gay, which meant that Allah had won, and he brought his wrath.  There’s no need to address the obvious stupidity of the argument, but he fell into the fallacy of depicting Allah as some Ultimate Fighter jumping into the cage with God, when really they’re two words for the same figure.

I also find it funny that Allah is on the side of the gays, in his vision.  Wouldn’t that be funny if it were true, if the ultraconservative Muslims (equally offensive to ultraconservative Christians–I’m not giving the bombies a free pass by any means) had gotten it completely wrong and the Muslim god was actually a giant, wrathful drag queen in the sky?