Why do Muslims refer to God as He?

[Booko]

That or just another poor attempt by a male dominated society to create a religion with them at the top. I don't know when it comes to you though Booko. What religion do you follow?

I'm a Baha'i. Preach, please go reread my post. I did say that equality of men and women is a cardinal principle, and not just in words but in practice, I think?

It's hardly "a poor attempt by a male dominated society" when said society isn't male dominated, eh?

 

[lilithu]

Just wondering. I know little of the muslim belief. I know why the other religions do already, just curious about muslims.

The same reason why I said "he" when refering to our soon to be new intern in the office. We haven't hired the person yet and I'm not assuming that we'll hire a male, but "he" slipped out by default. I wouldn't refer to the new person as "it," and saying "he or she" all the time gets tedious. I try to do it anyway, but sometimes slip.

Yes, "he" being default is the result of patriarchalism. But it doesn't mean that Allah is male. Every Muslim with whom I've spoken on this subject says that Allah has no gender.

Allah is all. To say that Allah is male would be to limit Allah to only one half of a binary.

 

[Tigress]

The same reason why I said "he" when refering to our soon to be new intern in the office. We haven't hired the person yet and I'm not assuming that we'll hire a male, but "he" slipped out by default. I wouldn't refer to the new person as "it," and saying "he or she" all the time gets tedious. I try to do it anyway, but sometimes slip.

Yes, "he" being default is the result of patriarchalism. But it doesn't mean that Allah is male. Every Muslim with whom I've spoken on this subject says that Allah has no gender.

Allah is all. To say that Allah is male would be to limit Allah to only one half of a binary.

Exactly. The use of 'he' is simply infused in a great many cultures, and therefore comes naturally to a lot of us, even if one doesn't believe that God has a gender. The pronoun 'he' resonates with a wider audience, and as such, I tend to use it more often than not.

 

[XAAX]

I wonder if these distinctions are merely that or if we have been programmed for so long by male dominated societies as well as religions to see males as superior. It makes no sense otherwise. Why would a religion if given the choice of words when written would it choose a gender. If you say for convenience wouldn’t it have been just as convenient to choose she?

 

[TashaN]

Thank you truth, this answers my question. Next question: If Allah has no gender, why would he be refered to as a He?

First of all, in islam, we can't question God of what he call himself with. Secondly, there is real difficulties when trying to translate certain attributes of God into english, and "He" is one of them. Just because we used to refer to the male as he and to a female as she, that doesn't dismiss the other options we have including being a "He" or "She" without having a gender as human beings do have.

I think of it as identity more than a gender and for the record, Adam and Eve had no ceratin sexual parts when they were in heaven till it appeared when they ate from the tree. They were a couple of a "He" and "She" as separate identities.

Finally, i think there is no point in discussing these stuff because we don't have the right to say to God, why don't you call yourself a "She".

If i used "She" to talk about someone in here so you will know that i'm talking about a woman but when i try to generalize it will always fit when i talk about a person as a "He" to describe both of the sexes in general but not to specify a gender over another. Usually feminist are obssesed of these things and i don't think of any reason which will make us think that God is a descrimnator or somthing. There is alot of things in life which we can get busy with rather than figuering out why God is "He" but not "She" because that will lead to no where because no one have an answer for that as far as i know, unless you think that a feeble mere human being who dicover new things everyday might be knowledgable more than God himself.

All these are just my thoughts because only Allah knows, but we don't unless he gave us the right to know.

 

[lilithu]

I wonder if these distinctions are merely that or if we have been programmed for so long by male dominated societies as well as religions to see males as superior. It makes no sense otherwise. Why would a religion if given the choice of words when written would it choose a gender. If you say for convenience wouldn’t it have been just as convenient to choose she?

I don't see it as thinking males are superior. I really have no such concept. I do see it as being programmed to think of males as default. Male comes to mind first. And I think that is the result of a culture that historically thinks of males as superior. I'm saying that yes, there is a bias there but not as bad as you think. Otoh, it's probably very hard to get rid of.

Look at our language. Man. Woman. Male. Female. For as long as the word for female is simply the word male with something added to it, we are going to think of male as default. We've been socially conditioned to do so.

 

[sister M]

Interestingly it appears that Allah actually had three daughters: Manat, Uzza, and Allat. This is exactly parallel to Wr-alda having the three daughters Lyda, Finda, and Frya.

I have not found in Islamic teachings that there are a connection with Allah SWT and these gods worshiped before the event of Islam. Can you give me the source that confirms your statement?

 

[Valjean]

I understand that in many languages, English included, "he" is the proper default mode. But I also feel we're pussyfooting around an uncomfortable social issue.

People conceive of God as a powerful, high-status being. Most people personify their Gods. When depicted, Gods wear clothes, they have legs, eyes, noses and, if Abrahamic, often a beard.

Philosophers and theologians may conceive of God as a formless, sexless, timeless abstraction, perhaps the Sufi's as well, but popular culture imagines a God in the image of a high-status person of their own society or mythology. In an Abrahamic tradition, this image, reflecting the values of society, is male.

 

[XAAX]

Finally, i think there is no point in discussing these stuff because we don't have the right to say to God, why don't you call yourself a "She".

I beg to differ, I can ask any question of God that I choose and it will be answered. I am just trying to understand why others can’t see the fact that if given the choice, it is obvious why the gender was chosen for reference.
Still the question for you is, if Allah has no gender, why not use "IT"? It would refer to both and neither. I guess the Men who wrote the book didn’t want to give women that much equality. As far as feminist go, they have a good point. The people who tend to miss their point regarding gender fairness are those who are part of the problem. Trust me, I am 100% man, but if it came down to having to choose a gender of God, just for sake of convenience, it would be female. Who brings life into this world…Women…So which gender of the two is more like God…hmmm, Women. Just a thought. It doesn’t surprise me though. All the religions that have stemmed from Judaism have all been male dominant and completely unbalanced. What I don’t get is why the women still by into it.

 

[Sahar]

why not use "IT"?

There is no "it" in the arabic language!!!!!

 

[XAAX]

There is no "it" in the arabic language!!!!!

Nothing equivalent..hmm, kinda shabby for a language...

 

[Sahar]

Nothing equivalent..hmm, kinda shabby for a language...

Listen, you were talking as the Quraan was revealed in English or something!! you are asking why referring to Allah as "He"? that means ur asking abt the arabic grammar. The arabic language has no neuter and when referring to genderless nouns, the masculine pronoun is used, this is how the arabs were talking. Allah has no gender so according to the arabic language, the masculine pronoun is used and the same goes for the angels (for instance) who in Islam have no gender so when talking about them we use the masculine form too n so on. In addition, if we want to change a noun, adjective or a verb in the feminine form, we add extra letters; for example the word muslim, in the feminine form it's muslimah so you will not add those extra letters except in one case; if the one in front of you was a female, if it wasn't why adding those extra letters?!

 

[lilithu]

Nothing equivalent..hmm, kinda shabby for a language...

There is no "he" or "she" in the Chinese language, which will probably seem even weirder to you, but it works out just fine.

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

People conceive of God as a powerful, high-status being. Most people personify their Gods. When depicted, Gods wear clothes, they have legs, eyes, noses and, if Abrahamic, often a beard.

I guess some people do personify God when they think of Him. A muslim does not. There is no description or depiction of Allah in Islam. So when we think of Allah we don't think of anything since there's nothing to think of. In fact we are warned against such thoughts since they lead to a person thinking that actually Allah has hands, feet, face, or a body at all.


I'd like to note that Allah refers itself as a He in Quran because Allah is speaking to us in our language. The pronoun He is relatable to us. It is the default pronoun when the sex is unknown. Like if I say to someone 'yeah I went to the dentist yesterday for my aching tooth' the next thing they'll say is 'really?what did he say?' Then I might answer 'no, it was a woman'. No disrespect was meant. It is simply default to refer to males. We say mankind when we wish to identify all humans. We say womankind when we wish to identify all females.

What I don’t get is why the women still by into it.

We aren't buying into anything. I'm not going to waste my time over the semantics of why Allah is refered to as a He. I am interested in worshipping Allah only. Allah also mentions His hands and His face in Quran but has neither. Allah is formless and as such is also genderless.

If this is a problem then perhaps all languages that incorporate masculine/feminine should be changed. In the spanish language a person can be addressing an entire audience of women, if there is one man present the speech must be in the masculine. This is not gender inequality its language. Gender inequality is when a woman and a man can both do the same job and she gets paid less for no reason. This is not gender inequality at all it's language setup. It is also useless discussion when the issue has been resovled over several posts.

 

[Valjean]

Linguistics 101:

Gender is a type of noun-class. English has three, and has what's called natural gender. English genders correspond to the biological sex of the referent. Most languages don't operate this way, however. Using "gender" as a synonym for sex shows linguistic ignorance.

Some languages have no gender. Many of the more familiar European languages have two or three genders, called masculine, feminine or neuter for convenience, but they don't correspond to sex at all.
Other language's genders correspond features such as animate or inanimate, high, middle or low status; natural or artificial; long-thin vs rounded vs flat, & multi al.

I don't know how Arabic orders nouns into gender. Perhaps Arabic has no "it" and perhaps any noun beginning with an "l" (al Lah) must be masculine.
I'm more interested in how people conceive of God, and how this corresponds to the way a society assigns sex-based status.

 

[TashaN]

Listen, you were talking as the Quraan was revealed in English or something!! you are asking why referring to Allah as "He"? that means ur asking abt the arabic grammar. The arabic language has no neuter and when referring to genderless nouns, the masculine pronoun is used, this is how the arabs were talking. Allah has no gender so according to the arabic language, the masculine pronoun is used and the same goes for the angels (for instance) who in Islam have no gender so when talking about them we use the masculine form too n so on. In addition, if we want to change a noun, adjective or a verb in the feminine form, we add extra letters; for example the word muslim, in the feminine form it's muslimah so you will not add those extra letters except in one case; if the one in front of you was a female, if it wasn't why adding those extra letters?!

Well said sis.

 

[TashaN]

In fact we are warned against such thoughts since they lead to a person thinking that actually Allah has hands, feet, face, or a body at all.

The rule in that is that we just prove for Allah what he proved for himself in the Quran or what prophet Mohammed told us about without imagining it as somthing similar to ours, without examples, without interpreting it and without denying it.

These verses were just examples of what Allah described himself with.

... there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things). (Quran 42:11)

(Allah) said: "O Iblis! what prevents thee from prostrating thyself to one whom I have created with My hands? Art thou haughty? or art thou one of the high (and mighty) ones?" (Quran 38:75)

And call not, besides Allah, on another god. There is no god but He. Everything (that exists) will perish except His own Face. To Him belongs the Command, and to Him will ye (all) be brought back. (Quran 28:88)


No just estimate have they made of Allah, such as is due to Him: on the Day of Judgment the whole of the earth will be but His handful, and the heavens will be rolled up in His right hand: Glory to Him! High is He above the Partners they attribute to Him! (Quran 39:67)

We say mankind when we wish to identify all humans. We say womankind when we wish to identify all females.

Excatly.

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

Yes Truth I am aware of how Allah describes certian aspects of Himself with hands and face and so on. Allah also says He hears and sees. This would normally imply ears and eyes, but we know Allah has not those things. Allah hears and sees in a manner befitting Allah's majesty and being. If for instance Allah does actually have a hand of some type, it is not like our hands and truly we could not imagine it. I was pointing out that Allah mentions many things of Himself that are not to be taken literally. Like when Allah speaks of Himself its 'he' although there is no gender, 'we' although Allah is one not many, 'hands' although Allah has no hands and so forth and on. This is what I speak of. How Allah appears only He knows. We cannot know until we see Allah.

 

[TashaN]

Yes Truth I am aware of how Allah describes certian aspects of Himself with hands and face and so on. Allah also says He hears and sees. This would normally imply ears and eyes, but we know Allah has not those things.

Actually, we don't know whether he has ears or not, because he mentioned that he has eyes and we can't say he doesn't have ears just because he didn't mention it. We just Say that he hears and sees as you said in a manner befitting Allah's majesty and being but we have no right to say that he doesn't have ears unless he mention it himself that he doesn't have.

[14] She floats under Our eyes (and care): a recompense to one who had been rejected (with scorn)!

[39] "Throw (the child) into the chest, and throw (the chest) into the river: the river will cast him up on the bank, and he will be taken up by one who is an enemy to Me and an enemy to him'; but I cast (the garment of) love over thee from Me: and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under Mine eye." (Quran 20:39)

If for instance Allah does actually have a hand of some type, it is not like our hands and truly we could not imagine it. I was pointing out that Allah mentions many things of Himself that are not to be taken literally. Like when Allah speaks of Himself its 'he' although there is no gender, 'we' although Allah is one not many, 'hands' although Allah has no hands and so forth and on. This is what I speak of. How Allah appears only He knows. We cannot know until we see Allah.

Of course, Allah knows best.

 

[chevirman]

Actually I can confirm the replies posted by muslim friends. In Arabic there is no neutral vocabulary as is the case in French. But it doesn't mean that Allah has a masculine form or identity. I am a Turk and in my language nouns have no gender form; we just say "O" for all "he, she and it" and we use "O" for God. He is beyond our measures. And He doesn't have eyes or hands or other kinds of organs as we conceive. But we have eyes with limited capability so that we can understand how He is "All-seeing" to some extent. Or we have ears with limited hearing so that we can conceive how He is "All-hearing". The ego, including our body (ın Arabic and Islamic terminology we call it "ene") is a means of understanding Him (the term "hüve") and His properties. Human is a partial manifestation of Allah and his divine names. It is a very huge subject but very enlightening. I suggest everyone to read "Treaties of Light" by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi.