Allah was known to the pre-Islamic Arabs; he was one of the Meccan deities. Encyclopedia of Islam, ed. Gibb, 1:406. Ilah … appears in pre-Islamic poetry.… By frequency of usage, al-ilah was contracted to allah, frequently attested to in pre-Islamic poetry. Encyclopedia of Islam, eds. Lewis, Menage, Pellat, Schacht (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1971), 11:1093. The name Allah goes back before Muhammed. The Facts on File: Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, ed. Anthony Mercatante (New York, The Facts
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