Why does Allah use the word "WE"? to refer to Himself?
Sometime Christian missionaries also go to simple Muslims and try to confuse them by taking some verses from the Qur’an and tell them that the Qur’an also supports such doctrines(Many gods).
The term "WE" the Quran is the royal "WE" - as an example when the king says, "WE" decree the following declaration, etc." or, "WE are not amused." It does not indicate plural; rather it displays the highest position in the language. English, Persian, Hebrew, Arabic and many languages provide for the usage of "WE" for the royal figure. It is helpful to note the same dignity is given to the person being spoken to in English. We say to someone, "You ARE my friend." Yet the person is only one person standing there. Why did we say "ARE" instead of "IS"? The noun "YOU" is singular and should therefore be associated with a singular verb for the state of being, yet we say, "ARE" The same is true for the speaker when referring to himself or herself. We say, "I am" and this is also in the royal plural, instead of saying, "I is"
When Allah uses the term "HE" in Quran it is similar to the above answer. The word "HE" is used when referring to Allah out of respect, dignity and high status. It would be totally inappropriate to use the word "it" and would not convey the proper understanding of Allah being who Allah is; Alive, Compassionate, Forgiving, Patient, Loving, etc. It is not correct to associate the word "HE" with gender, as this would be comparing Allah to the creation, something totally against the teaching of Quran.
When Allah uses the term "HE" in Quran it is similar to the above answer. The word "HE" is used when referring to Allah out of respect, dignity and high status. It would be totally inappropriate to use the word "it" and would not convey the proper understanding of Allah being who Allah is; Alive, Compassionate, Forgiving, Patient, Loving, etc. It is not correct to associate the word "HE" with gender, as this would be comparing Allah to the creation, something totally against the teaching of Quran.
The Qur’an says very clearly that there is only One God, Allah. “There is no god but Allah” is the basic principle of Islam. There is no ambiguity about this fact in the Qur’an and there are hundreds of ayat or verses of the Qur’an that make this point very clear. Belief in more than one God is Shirk (polytheism) and a major sin according to the Qur’an.
Whenever in the Qur’an Allah is mentioned in the third person there are always singular pronouns used, such as "HE", "HIM" (Huwa or Hu). Whenever Allah is spoken to in the second person there are also singular pronouns, such as "Thou", "Thine" and "Thee" (Anta, Ka). However only in the first person some times the pronouns "I", "MY" or "MINE" (Ana, Iyaya, ya) are used and sometimes "WE", "US" and "OUR" (Nahnu, Na) are used.
This is a style of speech. Sometime the speaker says "I"and sometime says "WE" We also use that in our conversations. In the Qur’an you will see that often the first person singular such as "I" or "MY" is used, when Allah speaks about His love, care and closeness and forgiveness for His servants. In a similar way the first person plural is often used when Allah speaks about His power, majesty, glory, great deeds or when He speaks about His anger and wrath for the sinners and criminals. (This is, of course, the general use. Sometime the reverse is also the case, depending on the context of the Surah.)
