‘Allah’ in Early Modern England: An Analysis of the Occurrences of the Word in Early English Books Online

Abstract

Since the publication of Nabil Matar’s Islam in Britain 1558-1685 in 1998, much scholarly effort has been devoted to the study of representation of Islam in early modern English writings. The major focus of such studies has been drama and travel writing. Because of this, our understanding has much advanced concerning approaches to Islam in the period. In the recent years, scholars have paid attention to the early modern works dealing with the Prophet Muhammad and the Holy Qur’an in England and have demonstrated the early modern ways of engaging with the figure of the Prophet and the Holy Qur’an. There is, however, a need to look at more deeply at early modern English texts and analyse the content for some fundamental terms and beliefs of Islam. Therefore, this paper looks at the occurrences of word ‘Allah’ and its context in early modern English works that are included in EEBO. The paper highlights the depth of our understanding concerning the conception of Muslim ‘God’ in early modern England.