Many missionaries have cast doubts on the plural personal pronouns Allah uses in the Qur'an to refer to Himself. I am talking about the pronouns 'We', 'Our', 'Us', etc. These premeditated plans to plant doubts in the hearts of both Muslims and non-Muslims, especially truth seekers, have a clear intention to prove the existence of a trinity even in Islam.
They say that since Allah is referring to Himself in plural, then the very Qur'an is testifying for the trinity. However, these doubts find their way only into the minds of the ignorant, or those in whose hearts there is disease and hypocrisy to begin with.
How come they do not ask the same question when the Queen of England refers to herself as We, in her letters and official documents and statements? Wouldn't that mean also that England has more than one Queen?
The answer is that in many languages, including Arabic and English, there is a plural called the majestic plural. This plural is used normally by people of influence and power to refer to themselves, and maybe also to their courts, governments…etc.
"The majestic plural (pluralis maiestatis in Latin) is the use of a plural pronoun to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, pope, or university rector. It is also called the Royal pronoun, the Royal 'we' or the Victorian 'we'. The more general word for the use of "we" to refer to oneself is nosism, from the Latin nos.[1]
In pluralis maiestatis a speaker refers to him or her self in other than the first person and may be implicitly using the third person plural for the plurality they represent. For example, the Basic Law of the Sultanate of Oman opens thus:
On the Issue of the Basic Law of the State We, Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman…[2]
Other instances of use:
* We are not amused. — Queen Victoria (in at least one account of this quotation, though, she was not speaking for herself alone, but for the ladies of the court.)[3]
* In his abdication statement, Nicholas II of Russia uses the pluralis maiestatis liberally, as in "In agreement with the Imperial Duma, We have thought it well to renounce the Throne of the Russian Empire and to lay down the supreme power."[4]
* United States Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover told a subordinate who used the royal we: "Three groups are permitted that usage: pregnant women, royalty, and schizophrenics. Which one are you?"[5][unreliable source?]
* Mark Twain once made a similar remark: "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we.'" [1]
The majestic plural is distinct from the plural of modesty (pluralis modestiae) and the author's plural (pluralis auctoris) or the inclusion of readers or listeners, respectively, the latter often used in mathematics. For instance:
Let us calculate! — Leibniz
We are thus led also to a definition of "time" in physics. — Albert Einstein" [1]
The same thing applies to Allah (swt) when he uses the same plural in his holy books (including the Torah and the Gospel which contain the same plural in Hebrew, yet Jews who read the Torah have never considered it to refer to more than one God).
Speaking of the Jews and Hebrew, the term they normally use to refer to Allah is Elohim. The 'im' ending in this term is just a plural suffix. Literally it would translate into English as Gods. However, they do not consider it a plural of number, rather it is a plural that adds respect and might to the meaning of the term 'Eloh'.
They say that since Allah is referring to Himself in plural, then the very Qur'an is testifying for the trinity. However, these doubts find their way only into the minds of the ignorant, or those in whose hearts there is disease and hypocrisy to begin with.
How come they do not ask the same question when the Queen of England refers to herself as We, in her letters and official documents and statements? Wouldn't that mean also that England has more than one Queen?
The answer is that in many languages, including Arabic and English, there is a plural called the majestic plural. This plural is used normally by people of influence and power to refer to themselves, and maybe also to their courts, governments…etc.
"The majestic plural (pluralis maiestatis in Latin) is the use of a plural pronoun to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, pope, or university rector. It is also called the Royal pronoun, the Royal 'we' or the Victorian 'we'. The more general word for the use of "we" to refer to oneself is nosism, from the Latin nos.[1]
In pluralis maiestatis a speaker refers to him or her self in other than the first person and may be implicitly using the third person plural for the plurality they represent. For example, the Basic Law of the Sultanate of Oman opens thus:
On the Issue of the Basic Law of the State We, Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman…[2]
Other instances of use:
* We are not amused. — Queen Victoria (in at least one account of this quotation, though, she was not speaking for herself alone, but for the ladies of the court.)[3]
* In his abdication statement, Nicholas II of Russia uses the pluralis maiestatis liberally, as in "In agreement with the Imperial Duma, We have thought it well to renounce the Throne of the Russian Empire and to lay down the supreme power."[4]
* United States Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover told a subordinate who used the royal we: "Three groups are permitted that usage: pregnant women, royalty, and schizophrenics. Which one are you?"[5][unreliable source?]
* Mark Twain once made a similar remark: "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we.'" [1]
The majestic plural is distinct from the plural of modesty (pluralis modestiae) and the author's plural (pluralis auctoris) or the inclusion of readers or listeners, respectively, the latter often used in mathematics. For instance:
Let us calculate! — Leibniz
We are thus led also to a definition of "time" in physics. — Albert Einstein" [1]
The same thing applies to Allah (swt) when he uses the same plural in his holy books (including the Torah and the Gospel which contain the same plural in Hebrew, yet Jews who read the Torah have never considered it to refer to more than one God).
Speaking of the Jews and Hebrew, the term they normally use to refer to Allah is Elohim. The 'im' ending in this term is just a plural suffix. Literally it would translate into English as Gods. However, they do not consider it a plural of number, rather it is a plural that adds respect and might to the meaning of the term 'Eloh'.
The number of times where Allah (swt) refers to Himself in a direct form, in singular, using the pronoun 'I' is quite limited. An example of this, is in surah 20, verse 12 where He says to Moses:
'Verily I am your Lord, therefore, in My presence put off your shoes. You are in a sacred valley Tuwa.'
Here Allah (swt) is speaking in direct speech to His prophet (Moses) and introduces Himself by saying 'I am your Lord'.
So as we see, the false claims about the use of the plural 'We' in the Holy Qur'an are totally baseless. They are contradicted by the Qur'an itself which constantly repeats that Allah is ONE. So those who try to find the trinity where there is no trace of it, and try to prove the improvable, are just trying to find an unexisting needle in a pile of hay, so maybe it would be more intelligent for them to save their efforts.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_plural
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