Many are intrigued to know why we address God as "He". This article aims to explain the reasons behind the use of “He” when addressing God, providing proofs and explanations for it.

According to the Islamic concept of God, God has no gender. God is not like His creation and neither does He resemble His creations. He is utterly unique and to compare Him to His creations, including giving Him a gender is completely incorrect.

The word "Allah" is an Arabic word and hence it is important to have an understanding about the Arabic language in order to understand the reason we use “He”. The word "He", which is used to refer to God, is a translation of the Arabic word "Huwa", used in the Quran.

In English, we have three genders namely; Masculine, Feminine and Neutral (He, She and It). In the Arabic language, we have just two genders namely; Masculine and Feminine. There is no explicit neutral gender. This means that even the neutral gender is either represented as Masculine or Feminine. To really comprehend this fact, let us now have a closer look at this part of the Arabic grammatical system.

The Arabic word for Masculine gender is: Huwa. Huwa is used for both male and neutral. So Huwa = He / It.

The Arabic word for Feminine gender is: Hiya. Hiya is used for both female and neutral. So Hiya = She / It

Since the word Allah would fall under neutral gender, the word Allah has to be either addressed as Huwa (He / It) or Hiya (She / It).

Kisah ini diriwayatkan daripada Rasulullah s.a.w. sendiri. Abu Hurairah meriwayatkan daripada Baginda s.a.w. bahawa ada seorang lelaki yang ingin menziarahi sahabatnya yang menetap di sebuah kampung yang lain.

Maka Allah s.w.t. telah menghantar malaikat ke jalan yang dilaluinya untuk memerhatikan lelaki itu. Apabila lelaki itu melalui jalan yang ditunggu oleh malaikat itu, malaikat bertanya: "Ke mana kamu ingin pergi?" Jawab lelaki itu jujur: "Aku ingin bertemu saudaraku di kampung ini." Malaikat bertanya lagi: "Adakah bagi kamu ada apa-apa nikmat yang akan kamu peroleh daripadanya?" Lelaki itu menjawab: "Tidak. Aku menziarahinya hanya kerana  aku menyayanginya kerana Allah." Berkata malaikat: "Sesungguh-nya aku merupakan utusan Allah kepadamu untuk menyampaikan bahawa Allah Taala menyayangimu sebagaimana kamu menyayangi saudaramu kerana-Nya." (Riwayat Muslim)

Orang yang ikhlas bersahabat kerana Allah tidak menaruh apa-apa kepentingan peribadi daripada hubungan persahabatan yang terbina. Bukanlah harta dan pangkat yang dicari walaupun sahabat mampu memberikan kelebihan seperti itu. Namun mereka yakin hakikat persabahabatan yang baik itu hanya Allah yang mampu memberi ganjaran yang terbaik.