QUR'AN USES 'WE' FOR ALLAH ?

Most Common Questions asked by Non-Muslims 
who have some knowledge of Islam

Q3. Qur'an uses ‘We’ For Allah

Question: Does Islam believe in several Gods because the Qur’an uses the word ‘We’ when God speaks in the Qur’an?

QUR'AN USES 'WE' FOR ALLAH

Answer: Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion. It believes in and adheres to uncompromising monotheism. It believes that God is one, and unique in His attributes. In the Qur’an, God often refers to Himself using the word ‘We’. But this does not mean that Islam believes in the existence of more than one God.

Two types of plural

In several languages, there are two types of plurals, one is a plural of numbers to refer to something that occurs in a quantity of more than one. The other plural is a plural of respect.

a. In the English language, the Queen of England refers to herself as ‘We’ instead of ‘I’. This is known as the ‘royal plural’.

b. Rajiv Gandhi, the ex-Prime Minister of India used to say in Hindi ‘Hum dekhna chahte hain’. ‘Hum’ means ‘We’ which is again a royal plural in Hindi.

c. Similarly in Arabic, when Allah refers to Himself in the Qur’an, often He uses     ‘Nahnu’ meaning ‘We’. It does not indicate plural of number but plural of respect.

‘Tawheed’ or monotheism is one of the pillars of Islam. The existence and uniqueness of one and only one God is mentioned several times in the Qur’an. For instance in Surah Ikhlas, it says:

 “Say He is Allah the one and only.”

 [Al-Qur’an 112: 1]

Source: DZN