What’s This “WE” Stuff?
In Islam, it is made clear by its adherents that Allah is One, that is, Allah is singular in the sense of only one person. This is totally unlike the LORD God of the Bible who is one God, but three persons: The Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost.
In the following excerpt from the Qur’an, the assertion that Allah is one and only one is made abundantly clear:
4.171 O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not “Trinity”: desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.
Al-Qur’an, (An-Nisa [Women])
Now, those who hold to Islam will agree that the above passage is indeed correctly translated into English. I will not state where I got the translation, but I do also know that it is indeed correct. However, let’s take a look at the following passages from the Qur’an and see what they say:
37.4 Verily, verily, your Allah is one!-
37.5 Lord of the heavens and of the earth and all between them, and Lord of every point at the rising of the sun!
37.6 We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars,-
37.7 (For beauty) and for guard against all obstinate rebellious evil spirits,
Al-Qur’an, (As-Saaffat [Those who set the Ranks, Drawn Up in Ranks])
Hmmm. That’s very interesting. At least it was for me when I discovered it some years back. Did you note the use of the pronoun “We” and to whom that pronoun applies? Can this be confirmed by other passages from the Qur’an? Unfortunately for the Muslim, it certainly can. In the following passage, the plural pronouns flow like water.
37.74 Except the sincere (and devoted) Servants of Allah.
37.75 (In the days of old), Noah cried to Us, and We are the best to hear prayer.
37.76 And We delivered him and his people from the Great Calamity,
37.77 And made his progeny to endure (on this earth);
37.78 And We left (this blessing) for him among generations to come in later times:
37.79 “Peace and salutation to Noah among the nations!”
37.80 Thus indeed do we reward those who do right.
37.81 For he was one of our believing Servants.
37.82 Then the rest we overwhelmed in the Flood.
Al-Qur’an,(As-Saaffat [Those who set the Ranks, Drawn Up in Ranks])
“Us,” “We” and “our” abound in the above passage. And, like the other passage, those pronouns apply to Allah. Yet, the first passage quoted above was express and adamant that Allah is one only, no plurality at all in Allah. Nonetheless, the two passages immediately above severely contradict the assertion of the first passage quoted.
Now, I know that Muslims will scream over this and insist that the above two passages were mistranslated and an infidel has defiled their “Holy” book by bringing this up and pointing out the “mistranslation.” However, that is not the case. The two passages that declare Allah to be a plurality came from the very same source as the first passage that declared Allah to be singular only. Moreover, a Muslim translated it, not an unbeliever. To add icing to the cake (so to speak), I know someone who is in a second semester of Intensive Arabic, and doing quite well at it, and they checked the passages and verified them and they are indeed translated correctly, and it is indeed plural.
So then, what’s this “WE” stuff, and which part of the Qur’an are they supposed to believe? After all, if they are confused about the nature of Allah in their “Holy” book, is it any surprise they are belligerent when confronted with the truth of the word of God?
