The Battle of the Gods

March 11, 2025

by: Ilse Strauss, International Education Director and Kate Norman, BFP Writer

“Allahu akbar!”

These are often the first words to pierce the subconscious minds of many Jerusalemites in the predawn darkness. They’re not alone. The adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, rings out like clockwork every morning from countless minarets, the thin towers pointing heavenward like green fingers over mosques across cities worldwide. The call stirs the Islamic faithful from their beds before sunrise to attend the first of five ritualistic daily prayers.

“Allahu akbar!”

The phrase reverberates through the silent streets, slipping under doors and window frames, rousing slumbering souls. But what does it mean?

The common translation, “God [Allah] is great,” is misleading. A more precise interpretation is “Allah is greater” or “greatest.” The difference is crucial. It’s a statement of comparison, not simply a declaration of divine majesty. Imagine a child on a playground taunting a playmate: “My dad is stronger than your dad!” It’s not just about being strong—it’s about being stronger, or the strongest.

This phrase, known as the takbir, carries an implicit message: hierarchy, dominance and submission. It declares whose god holds superiority and by extension, whose followers should yield.

But Allahu akbar is not limited to the adhan. It is also the rallying cry of radical Islamist attackers against those deemed infidels or apostates—Christians, Jews and any other non-Muslims. The October 7 massacre was no different.

The Soundtrack of Terror

On that Black Shabbat, Hamas terrorists took perverse pleasure in documenting themselves committing their bloody handywork—and then often publishing the footage themselves, making October 7 one of the best documented atrocities in history.

Wading through the footage of carnage reveals a crucial point. The terrorists did not storm across the border shouting “Viva Palestine!” or “Freedom!” or even “Two-State Solution Now!”

No. Their battle cry was “Allahu akbar.”

This wasn’t about national sovereignty or political disputes. It was about theological dominance—about proving that their god reigns supreme and that everyone else must submit.

When 3,000 Hamas terrorists stormed into Israeli communities that day, spilling the blood of 1,200 men, women, children, babies, grandparents, Jews, Muslims and foreigners—their declaration was that Allah is greater, that Allah is supreme.

Battle Cry

More than a call to prayer for Muslims around the world, the takbir appears frequently in Muslim vernacular. Outside of religious or ritualistic contexts, it is often an expression to show emotion of either shock or joy.

But as demonstrated by Hamas and other Islamist terrorists around the world waging jihad (holy war), the takbir is also a battle cry. This is the rallying call driving the Islamist entities who have vowed to wipe “the Zionist enemy” off the map and establish a global Caliphate, placing Allah—or at least one of his messengers—on the throne.

The takbir “is the battle cry and the anthem for this fight for supremacy,” the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explains. “Victory for Muslims is victory for Islam…Victory comes from [Allah] and proves his supremacy.”

The common translation of Allahu akbar as “God is great,” particularly in the media, “blurs its specific reference to Allah—and not to any other entity or deity,” MEMRI continues, and “strips it of its crucial aspect of Allah’s supremacy over all other entities and deities.”

The takbir appears on the flag of Iran, which was redesigned after the Islamist revolution in 1979, in which the new Islamist regime overthrew the more moderate shah. The phrase also appears on the flags of Afghanistan and Iraq—as well as the black flags of ISIS and other Islamist militant groups.

And when the Supreme Leader of Iran delivers a speech or sermon, the crowd often applauds with shouts and chants of “Allahu akbar”—as well as “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

Proof to the Nations

The God of Israel declared through His prophets throughout the Scriptures that He would bring the Jewish people back from exile to the Land of Israel “for the sake of My holy Name” (i.e. Ezek. 36:21–23). He declares in the same passage: “And the nations shall know that I am the Lord” (v. 23). In Psalm 105:7–11, the Lord vows that He will give “the land of Canaan” to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—the Jewish people. The Land belongs to the Jewish people, God declared, in order for His Name to be glorified, to demonstrate to the nations that He is the one true God.

Since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the San Remo Agreement of 1921, establishing all of the British Mandate of Palestine as a Jewish homeland, the Israelis have shown themselves willing to divide the land—and the Palestinians have not. Since the rebirth of the State of Israel in 1948, the Palestinians have rejected land-for-peace agreements and negotiations time and again to their own detriment. Most recently, in 2005, Israel even withdrew entirely from the Gaza Strip, handing it over to the Palestinians to establish the state they said they wanted alongside their Jewish neighbors.

Yet as clearly evidenced by the cries of “Allahu akbar” on October 7, the only acceptable offer would be no Jewish state. Period. Hamas declared in its charter document in 1988 that “the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Muslim religious trust] consecrated for future Moslem [sic] generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

In short? According to Hamas, the land of Israel is for Allah and his followers only. The charter even quotes from the Koran: “Allah hath written, verily I will prevail, and my apostles: for Allah is strong and mighty.”

The Ultimate Battle

This is the heart of the October 7 massacre, of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and of Islamist regimes’ plans to decimate the Jewish state. The perpetual cycle of violence is not about land, borders or political control. We are witnessing in the Land of Israel—the birthplace of the three Abrahamic religions—the battle of the ages, the battle of the God of the Bible vs. Allah. The former declared that He would give the Land to His people as part of an everlasting covenant, while the followers of the latter vow that they will take the land for their god’s glory.

In a world where truth is increasingly seen as relative, the lines between fact and deception blur. This isn’t a struggle between two equal deities. God Himself makes it clear: “I am the First, and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God” (Isa. 44:6b). Unlike false gods that demand recognition through violence and force, the true God does not seek a place in a hierarchy of deities. He reigns alone.

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