Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

WHY ALLAH IS ALWAYS MENTIONED AS "HE" ? IS HE A MAN. IF ALLAH  HAS NO SHAPE, THEN THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY REFERENCE SUCH AS "HE" , "SHE" ETC., 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Why is Allah mentioned as “He” in the Holy Qu’ran?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

We are commanded to recognize Allah through his Attributes in the Holy Quran, and through His Signs in the Creation of the heavens and the earth and everything else that exists. And we recognize Allah only through what He has revealed of His Being to us. No person has ever seen Allah Subhanah, and neither has Allah mentioned in the guidance revealed to us, whether He has a physical shape or not!

The reason Allah is always mentioned as a “HE” is because in the language of the Quran, Arabic, there are only two genders: male and female. Unlike English, there is no gender term for ‘it’ in the Arabic language. Thus in the Arabic language, all the things which have not been assigned either the male or female gender, are always referred to using the male gender ‘he’.

Allah is neither a man, nor a woman; He is neither the offspring of someone, neither does He have any offspring. We are to recognize Him not through His shape (if any), size (if any), gender (if any), etc. We have been commanded in the Holy Quran to recognize Him through His Attributes and the Signs in the creation of everything that exists. He is free from any defects whatsoever, and is far beyond and Exalted above our imagination.

This is how Allah describes Himself in the Holy Quran:

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 42 Surah Ash-Shura verse 11:There is Absolutely nothing like Him (Allah) in the whole Universe!!! He is the All-Hearing, The All-Seeing!! To Him Alone belong the keys of the treasures of the heavens and the earth!!

Allah says in Chapter 112, Surah Ikhlas Verse 1-4:Say: He is Allah, the One and Only. Allah is Independent of all, and all are dependent on Him. Neither has He any offspring, nor is He the offspring of anyone; and NONE is equal to Him in rank.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Bani Israel verse 110:To Him (Allah) belong the most beautiful names.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan