Ilah

[2] The feminine is ʾilāhat (إلاهة, meaning "goddess");[3] with the article, it appears as al-ʾilāhat (الإلاهة).

[4] The Arabic word for God (Allāh) is thought to be derived from it (in a proposed earlier form al-Lāh) though this is disputed.

[5][6] ʾIlāh is cognate to Northwest Semitic ʾēl and Akkadian ilum.

The word is from a Proto-Semitic archaic biliteral ʔ-L meaning "god" (possibly with a wider meaning of "strong"), which was extended to a regular triliteral by the addition of a h (as in Hebrew ʾelōah, ʾelōhim).

The term is used throughout the Quran in passages discussing the existence of God or the beliefs in other divinities by non-Muslims.