Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
We do not establish “Yahweh” as a Name of Allah based on its occurrence in Jewish scriptures, because there is nothing in the Qur’an or Sunnah that establishes it, according to this fatwa. Regarding reports transmitted from the People of the Book for which our Islamic law provides no evidence confirming or rejecting them, the correct position is to suspend judgment: we neither affirm nor deny them. Not establishing the name does not mean definitively claiming that it did not originally occur in an earlier revelation.
The name “Yahweh” is well known as a designation for God among Jews. Dr. Abdel Wahab El-Messiri stated that it is one of the most frequently occurring and sacred names in the Old Testament, and that Jews traditionally avoided pronouncing it out of reverence.
He also transmitted several explanations concerning the origin, meaning, and pronunciation of the word, while noting that these explanations are not definitive. See: Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism and Zionism, 5/70.
These facts describe the use of the name in Jewish sources and traditions, but they are not by themselves sufficient to establish it as a Name of Allah in Islam. Investigating the origin or widespread use of a term is different from establishing it through Islamic legal evidence.
Reports transmitted by the People of the Book do not all have the same ruling. Rather, they are evaluated according to what is established by the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Ash-Shinqiti summarized the well-known categories of Isra’iliyyat into three:
See: Adwa’ al-Bayan, 4/238.
Suspending judgment means that we do not make a definite claim concerning something for which we possess no evidence establishing or negating it. Thus, we do not accept a report merely because it appears in those books, nor reject it merely because it was transmitted by the People of the Book.
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه reported that the People of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Do not affirm the People of the Book, nor deny them, but say: ‘We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us.’” [Al-Baqarah: 136]
Reported by al-Bukhari (4485).
Abu Namla al-Ansari رضي الله عنه reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Whatever the People of the Book tell you, do not affirm it and do not deny it. Rather, say: ‘We believe in Allah and His messengers.’ If it is false, you will not have affirmed it, and if it is true, you will not have denied it.”
Reported by Abu Dawud (3644), and authenticated by al-Albani in Silsilat al-Ahadith as-Sahihah, 6/712.
Ibn Taymiyyah explained that these texts require refraining from making a judgment concerning matters whose authenticity or falsity we do not know, so that we do not affirm falsehood or deny truth. See: Al-Jawab as-Sahih, 6/461–462.
The fatwa concludes that “Yahweh” should not be established as a Name of Allah because the basis cited for establishing it is found in Jewish scriptures, while there is no evidence in the Qur’an or Sunnah confirming it.
Here, two statements must be distinguished:
“It is not established for us that it is one of the Names of Allah,”
and:
“It is established that it was not a Name of Allah in any previous revelation.”
The first is the conclusion established by the fatwa, whereas the second would require evidence proving such a negation.
According to the same principle, claiming that this term, or part of it, occurs in some names does not settle the matter. Even if such a linguistic connection were established, it would demonstrate a particular use of the term, but it would not take the place of Islamic legal evidence establishing it as a Name of Allah.
“Yahweh” is not established as one of the Names of Allah in Islam merely because it occurs in Jewish scriptures or is widespread in Jewish tradition.
As for whether it was genuinely attributed to an earlier revelation, the proper position is to suspend judgment as long as there is no evidence in the Qur’an or Sunnah either establishing or negating this.
And Allah knows best.