The Quran, Allah and Plurality Issues

Sam Shamoun

The Quran, much like the Holy Bible, uses plural pronouns for God even more so than what we find in God’s true Word. Here are several examples:

This is part of the tidings of the things unseen, which We reveal unto thee (O Apostle!) by inspiration: Thou wast not with them when they cast lots with arrows, as to which of them should be charged with the care of Mary: Nor wast thou with them when they disputed (the point). S. 3:44 Y. Ali

And no soul can die except by ALLAH's leave, - a decree with a fixed term. And whoever desires the reward of the present world, WE will give him thereof; and whoever desires the reward of the Hereafter, WE will give him thereof; and WE will surely reward the grateful. S. 3:145 Shakir

Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to HIM some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing. S. 17:1 Shakir

Note the confusion of this last text. If you take that sentence seriously, then there are at least four persons involved here. Person A to whom glory is given, person B is the servant of person A, and persons C and D (or more) who are the subject and the speakers of this whole sentence. Actually, who is "him"? … so that WE show to HIM some of … surely HE is the … seeing. Doesn’t the structure suggest that the HIM and the HE should be the same?

Whatever the case maybe, this point is clear. The Quran does use plural pronouns for Allah.

Some Muslims claim that the plural pronouns are used in a majestic sense, that these reflect the use of the royal plural denoting the splendor and grandeur of Allah. But as the late, great Christian scholar and evangelist to the Muslims St. Clair W. Tisdall wrote in the following argument which he put in dialogue form between a Muslim (M) and a Christian (C):

139. M. There is nothing in the Qur'an to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

C. We accept it on the authority of the Bible alone. Yet there are two facts in the Qur'an which cannot be properly explained or understood except by accepting the doctrine. The first is, that God is spoken of as One, He is called God (الله Allah), Lord (الرب Ar Rabb) in the singular, and addressed as Thou. The other is, that He is represented as speaking of Himself in the plural as We, Us. Examples are found in almost every Surah: for example, in Surah XCVI., Al 'Alaq, supposed to be the first Surah revealed to Muhammad, God is called "the Lord" (v. 8), and "God" (v. 13) in the singular, and yet in v. 17, He says, "We too will summon the guards of hell," using the plural. Does not this imply the existence of some kind of plurality, other than that of attributes, in the Divine Unity?

140. M. Certainly not. The "We" is used, as kings use the word, to imply majesty.

C. On what authority do you say this so positively? If the Qur'an is from God, nothing in it can be unmeaning. Whatever God says is true: and this expression, so often repeated in the Qur'an, may contain deep teaching. We observe that, in the use of the plural, the Qur'an agrees with the Bible, since we find, for instance, in Gen. i. 26; iii. 22; xi. 7, the very same expression used. Those parts of the Bible which teach the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity may possibly explain the reason of this, as far as the Bible is concerned. If the Qur'an was revealed to confirm the Torah and the Injil, perhaps this is one of the points in which it does so.

141. M. The Jews explain these passages by saying that God was addressing the angels.

C. That is because the Jews reject the Gospel, which the Qur'an "confirms." But whether their explanation be right or wrong, will it explain the use of the plural in the Qur'an?

142. M. No, it will not: but the doctrine of the Trinity is contrary to the Qur'an. (Tisdall, A Manual of the Leading Muhammadan Objections to Christianity [Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1904], Chapter V, "Objections Against Certain Leading Christian Doctrines (continued)", pp. 153-154; source)

Besides, the royal plural doesn’t at all help the Muslim cause since it actually implies that Allah was addressing his royal court, his heavenly council. The online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, writes in regards to the purpose and function of the royal plural:

Pluralis majestatis ("majestic plural") is the plural pronoun where it is used to refer to one person alone. This is also known as the "royal we" or the "Victorian we" because it has usually been restricted to august personages such as monarchs, bishops, Popes, and university rectors. The reason behind the pluralis majestatis is the idea that a monarch or other high official ALWAYS SPEAKS FOR HIS OR HER PEOPLE.

Examples of purported instances:

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.)
We are a grandmother. Margaret Thatcher announcing the birth of Mark Thatcher’s son Michael in 1990.

It is to be distinguished from pluralis modestiae, also pluralis auctoris (inclusion of readers or listeners). For instance:

Let's calculate! Leibniz
We are thus led also to a definition of "time" in physics. Albert Einstein

It was said that United States Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover told a subordinate that used the royal we: "Three groups are permitted that usage: pregnant women, royalty, and schizophrenics. Which one are you?"

There is no such thing as the "Papal we". The pope may use the "Royal we". (Source; underline and capital emphasis ours)

And regarding the use of "we" this same source states:

The royal we (Pluralis Majestatis) is the first-person plural pronoun when used by an important personage to refer to himself or herself. Its best known usage is by a monarch such as a king, queen, or pope. It is also used in certain formal contexts by bishops and university rectors.

In the public situations in which it is used, the monarch or other dignitary is typically speaking, NOT IN HIS OWN PROPER PERSON, BUT AS LEADER OF A NATION OR INSTITUTION. Nevertheless, the habit of referring to leaders in the plural has influenced the grammar of several languages, in which plural forms tend to be perceived as deferential and more polite than singular forms. This grammatical feature is called a T-V distinction.

Popes used the we as part of their formal speech up until recent times. John Paul I was the first to dispense with this practice, instead using the singular I. John Paul II continued to use the singular.

The editorial we is a similar phenomenon, in which editorial columnists in newspapers and similar commentators in other media refer to themselves as we when giving their opinions. Here, the writer has once more cast himself or herself in the role of spokesman: either FOR THE MEDIA INSTITUTION who employs him, or more generally ON BEHALF OF THE PARTY OR BODY OF CITIZENS who agree with the commentary. (Source; underline and capital emphasis ours)

Thus, appealing to the royal plural in order to account for the Quran’s use of plural pronouns only proves that Allah is speaking on behalf of other divine or heavenly beings. In fact, the Quran itself and early Muslim references provide evidence that the plural pronouns do indeed refer to a group, either because Allah himself is a plural entity or because there are several others associated with Allah in his works. For instance, this Muslim source actually thinks it is refuting Trinitarians when it makes the following assertion:

Some Christians – because of their ignorance – think that the plural pronoun which is used to show respect in verses such as "Verily, We have given you (O Muhammad) a manifest victory" [al-Fath 48:1] and "Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’aan…" [Yoosuf 12:2] is proof of their false belief in trinity. 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said:

The view of the salaf (early generations) of this ummah and of its imams and later generations is that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) heard the Qur’aan from Jibreel, and Jibreel heard it from Allaah. The use of plural forms in such phrases is the style of Arabic speech used to refer to one who is of high standing AND HAS HELPERS WHO OBEY HIM. So if his helpers do something by his command, he says, "we did it". This is like when a king says, "We conquered this land, we defeated this army" and so on. Because he did that through the actions of his helpers. Allaah is the Lord of the angels and they speak not until He has spoken, and they act in accordance with His commands; they do not disobey the commands of Allaah, rather they do what He commands. Moreover He is their Creator and the creator of their deeds and their power. But He has no need of them; He is not like a king whose helpers do things by their own strength. So what He says when He does something through His angels is, "We did it", this is more appropriate and He is more entitled to say it than some king.

This plural form is ambiguous and the Christians try to use it as evidence against the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), when they find such phrases in the Qur’aan as "Verily, We have given you (O Muhammad) a manifest victory" [al-Fath 48:1], etc. But Allaah condemned them for ignoring the clear verses in the Qur’aan which state that God is One, but they cling to the ambiguous verses which may be interpreted as referring to one who has a peer with him, or to one who has helpers who are his slaves and creation. They follow the ambiguous verses, seeking to stir up confusion in this manner. This is confusion in the heart, by thinking that there are many gods, and seeking to twist the meaning. No one knows the true interpretation except Allaah and those who are well versed in knowledge. (Question No. 12713, Is the trinity that the Christians believe in mentioned in Islam?; source; bold, capital and underline emphasis ours)

Thus, by trying to refute the Trinitarians this Muslim scholar ended up proving our case that the plural does indeed refer to more than one entity, i.e. that it refers to a group working together collectively! We will shortly see why this admission is so damaging to the Muslim position. But what makes this particular article even more interesting is that the writer admits that there are so-called ambiguous Quranic verses which can be understood and even interpreted to mean that Allah does indeed have peers and helpers! In other words, he is not denying that such verses can be found in the Quran but that these texts are merely ambiguous and vague at best!

Another Muslim author makes the same point:

These words, innaa (“Verily We”) and nahnu (“We”), and other forms of the plural, may be used by one person speaking on behalf of a group, or they may be used by one person for the purposes of respect or glorification, as is done by monarchs when they issue statements or decrees in which they say “We have decided” etc. ... If an aayah of this type is causing confusion, it is essential to refer to the clear, unambiguous aayaat for clarification[sic], and if a Christian, for example, insists on taking ayaat such as ... [al-Hijr 15:9 - interpretation of the meaning] as proof of divine plurality, we may refute this claim by quoting such clear and unambiguous aayaat as ... [al-Baqarah 2:163] ... and other aayaat which can only be interpreted in one way... Every time Allah uses the plural to refer to Himself, it is based on the respect and honour He deserves, and on the great number of His names and attributes, and on the great number of His troops and angels. (Yahya Adel Ibrahim, The Meaning of the Pronoun “We” As used in The Qur’aan, source; underline emphasis ours)

Muslim biographer Ibn Ishaq recorded an encounter that allegedly took place between Arabic speaking Christians and Muhammad where the former appealed to the Quran’s use of plurals as proof for Allah being a plurality:

The names of the fourteen principal men among the sixty riders were: ‘Abdu’l-Masih the ‘Aqib, al-Ayham the Sayyid; Abu Haritha b. ‘Alqama brother of B. Bakr b. Wa’il; Aus; al-Harith; Zayd; Qays; Yazid; Nubayh; Khuwaylid; ‘Amr; Khalid; ‘Amr; Khalid; ‘Abdullah; Johannes; of these the first three named above spoke to the apostle. They were Christians according to the Byzantine rite, though they differed among themselves in some points, saying He is God; and He is the son of God; and He is the third person of the Trinity, which is the doctrine of Christianity. They argue that he is God because he used to raise the dead, and heal the sick, and declare the unseen; and make clay birds and then breathe into them, so that they flew away; and all this was by the command of God Almighty, ‘We will make him a sign to men.’ They argue that he is son of God in that they say he had no known father; and he spoke in the cradle and this is something that no child of Adam has ever done. They argue that he is the third of three in that God says: We have done, We have commanded, We have created and We have decreed, and they say, If He were one he would have said I have done, I have created, and so on, but He is He and Jesus and Mary. Concerning all these assertions the Quran came down. (The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes by Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi, Tenth impression 1995], pp. 271-272; bold and underline emphasis ours)

Apart from this Muslim source distorting what Christians truly believe, in an obvious attempt of justifying the Quran’s errors regarding essential Christian doctrine (*; *; *; *), do notice that neither the Christians believed nor does this Muslim source respond by saying that the plural pronouns were in reality royal plurals. The Christians believed that the plurals pointed to a real numerical plurality within Allah, that the Quran was actually affirming that there are distinct divine persons. Taking these plurals as a "royal we" that refers to only one person seems not to have been a natural understanding for these people who were native speakers of the language at the time of Muhammad.

An examination of the Quran shows that these Christians were correct:

Shall I seek other than Allah for judge, when He it is Who hath revealed unto you (this) Scripture, fully explained? Those unto whom We gave the Scripture (aforetime) know that it is revealed from thy Lord in truth. So be not thou (O Muhammad) of the waverers. S. 6:114 Pickthall

The speaker here, whom we are supposed to believe is Allah, says that he will not seek a judge other than Allah and also uses singular and plural pronouns interchangeably.

Surely We shall inherit the earth and all that are upon it, and unto Us they shall be returned. And mention in the Book Abraham; surely he was a true man, a Prophet. And mention in the Book Abraham; surely he was a true man, a Prophet… So, when he went apart from them and that they were serving, apart from God, We gave him Isaac and Jacob, and each We made a Prophet; and We gave them of Our mercy, and We appointed unto them a tongue of truthfulness, sublime. And mention in the Book Moses; he was devoted, and he was a Messenger, a Prophet. We called to him from the right side Of the Mount, and We brought him near in communion. And We gave him his brother Aaron, of Our mercy, a Prophet… And mention in the Book Idris; he was a true man, a Prophet. We raised him up to a high place. These are they whom God has blessed among the Prophets of the seed of Adam, and of those We bore with Noah, and of the seed of Abraham and Israel, and of those We guided and chose. When the signs of the All-merciful were recited to them, they fell down prostrate, weeping. Then there succeeded after them a succession who wasted the prayer, and followed lusts; so they shall encounter error save him who repents, and believes, and does a righteous deed; those -- they shall enter Paradise, and they shall not be wronged anything; Gardens of Eden that the All-merciful promised His servants in the Unseen; His promise is ever performed. There they shall hear no idle talk, but only 'Peace.' There they shall have their provision at dawn and evening. That is Paradise which We shall give as an inheritance to those of Our servants who are godfearing.

We come not down, save at the commandment of thy Lord. To Him belongs all that is before US, and all that is behind US, and all between that. Not one of you there is, but he shall go down to it; that for thy Lord is a thing decreed, determined. Then We shall deliver those that were godfearing; and the evildoers We shall leave there, hobbling on their knees. When Our signs are recited to them as clear signs, the unbelievers say to the believers, 'Which of the two parties is better in station, fairer in assembly?' And how many a generation We destroyed before them, who were fairer in furnishing and outward show! S. 19:40-42, 50-53, 56-74 Arberry

Notice once again how the entity addressed as "God", "the All-merciful", "thy Lord" is distinguished from those speaking of themselves as "We," "Our," "Us." These individuals even say that they only come down by the Lord’s command, which obviously means that they are different persons from Allah. Here, again, is that particular section:

And we do not descend but by the command of your Lord; to Him belongs whatever is before us and whatever is behind us and whatever is between these, and your Lord is not forgetful. Shakir

The reader should be able to spot the problem with the above. These same persons claim to have been the ones that commissioned the prophets, who grant believers Paradise, and are those who punish evildoers. In other words, these individuals speak as if they are God since they use language that only God can use.

This isn't the only place where the Quran does this, as these next citations demonstrate:

These are the Signs of God: WE rehearse them to thee in truth: verily Thou art one of the apostles. Those apostles WE endowed with gifts, some above others: To one of them God spoke; others He raised to degrees (of honour); to Jesus the son of Mary WE gave clear (Signs), and strengthened him with the holy spirit. If God had so willed, succeeding generations would not have fought among each other, after clear (Signs) had come to them, but they (chose) to wrangle, some believing and others rejecting. If God had so willed, they would not have fought each other; but God Fulfilleth His plan. S. 2:252-253 Y. Ali

These are the Signs of God: WE rehearse them to thee in Truth: And God means no injustice to any of His creatures. S. 3:108 Y. Ali; cf. S. 45:6

The speakers (who is supposed to be Allah) say that they recited the verses from God to Muhammad, and that they also were responsible for endowing the apostles with the ability to perform miracles!

Here is a final example:

Lo! verily, ye and that which ye worship, Ye cannot excite (anyone) against Him. Save him who is to burn in hell. There is not one of US but hath his known position. Lo! WE, even WE are they who set the ranks, Lo! WE, even WE are they who hymn His praise S. 37:161-166 Pickthall

Allah, the one supposedly speaking at this point, uses plural pronouns to say that he knows his position, sets the ranks, and is the one who hymns the praises of God! In other words, Allah is the "We" and the "Us" here who is praising and worshiping Allah.

He again goes on in this same surah to praise Allah:

But (now that the Qur'an has come), they reject it: But soon will they know! Already has Our Word been passed before (this) to Our servants sent (by Us), That they would certainly be assisted, And that Our forces, - they surely must conquer. So turn thou away from them for a little while, And watch them (how they fare), and they soon shall see (how thou farest)! Do they wish (indeed) to hurry on Our punishment? But when it descends into the open space before them, evil will be the morning for those who were warned (and heeded not)! So turn thou away from them for a little while, And watch (how they fare) and they soon shall see (how thou farest)! Glory to thy Lord, the Lord of Honour and Power! (He is free) from what they ascribe (to Him)! And Peace on the apostles! And Praise to God, the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds. S. 37:170-182 Y. Ali

These examples of Allah praising, which indicates that there are others who exist as Deity to whom Allah directs these praises, perhaps explain how the Quran could say that Allah prays for both Muhammad and believers:

He it is who prays for you and His angels too, to bring you forth out of the darkness into the light, for He is merciful to the believers. S. 33:43 Palmer

Verily, God and His angels pray for the prophet. O ye who believe! pray for him and salute him with a salutation! S. 33:56 Palmer

Thus, these examples of Allah praising and praying demonstrate that there are other beings who exist as God.

For more on the issue of Allah praying please read the following:

http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/q_jesus_praying.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Menj/pbuh.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Menj/pbuh2.htm

The Quran even testifies that there is more than one Creator:

We created man of an extraction of clay, then We set him, a drop, in a receptacle secure, then We created of the drop a clot then We created of the clot a tissue then We created of the tissue bones then We garmented the bones in flesh; thereafter We produced him as another creature. So blessed be God, the fairest of creators! S. 23:12-14 Arberry

Allah is said to be the best of creators, with the implication being that there are others who can also create. In fact, Allah’s very own Spirit is said to be one of these creators:

And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East, And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art God-fearing. He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I MAY BESTOW ON THEE a faultless son. She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste? He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. S. 19:16-21 Pickthall

Notice several things from the above text:

• Allah switches from singular to plural pronouns ("Me," "We", "Our").
• Allah sends his Spirit who appears as a man to Mary.
• The Spirit says to her that he has come to give her a son, namely Jesus, implying that he created him. In fact, other texts give us an idea of how Jesus’ creation by the Spirit took place:

And she who guarded her virginity, so We breathed into her of Our spirit and appointed her and her son to be a sign unto all beings. S. 21:91 Arberry

And Mary, daughter of 'Imran, whose body was chaste, therefor We breathed therein something of Our Spirit. And she put faith in the words of her Lord and His scriptures, and was of the obedient. S. 66:12 Pickthall

We gather from the foregoing that the Spirit created life in Mary’s womb after Allah breathed him into her body, her private part. Otherwise, why do these verses even bother mentioning that Allah breathed his Spirit inside of Mary if it wasn’t for the purpose of informing the readers that the Spirit was the agent used to create Jesus? How else could that Spirit say in 19:19 "that I may bestow on thee a faultless son"?

There are several other texts which provide further confirmation that the Spirit can and does create:

Verily We created man of potter's clay of black mud altered, And the jinn did We create aforetime of essential fire. And (remember) when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am creating a mortal out of potter's clay of black mud altered, So, when I have made him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, do ye fall down, prostrating yourselves unto him. S. 15:26-29 Pickthall

Allah blows his Spirit into the first man with the obvious purpose of animating Adam’s body. Therefore, these references all prove that the Spirit is a/the C/creator. They further show that the Spirit creates in the same fashion and in the same exact manner that Allah does, i.e. the Spirit creates life in the womb just like Allah does, which suggests that the Spirit is equal to Allah and therefore deserves to be identified as "the best of creators."

Moreover, according to Islamic tradition this Spirit whom Allah sent to create Jesus is the angel Gabriel:

<and he appeared before her in the form of a man in all respects.> [19:17] This means that he came to her in the form of a perfect and complete man. Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah, Ibn Jurayj, Wahb bin Munabbih and As-Suddi all commented on Allah's statement…

<then We sent to her Our Ruh,> "It means Jibril." …

<She said: "Verily, I seek refuge with the Most Gracious from you, if you do fear Allah."> This means that when the angel (Jibril) appeared to her in the form of a man, while she was in a place secluded by herself with a partition between her and her people, she was afraid of him and thought that he wanted to rape her. Therefore, she said…

<Verily, I seek refuge with the Most Gracious from you, if you do fear Allah.> She meant, "If you fear Allah," as a means of reminding him of Allah. This is what is legislated in defense against (evil), so that it may be repulsed with ease. Therefore, the first thing she did was try to make him fear Allah, the Mighty and Sublime. Ibn Jarir reported from ‘Asim that Abu Wa'il said when mentioning the story of Maryam, "She knew that the pious person would refrain (from committing evil) when she said…

<"Verily, I seek refuge with the Most Gracious from you, if you do fear Allah." He said: "I am only a messenger from your Lord…"> This means that the angel said to her in response, and in order to remove the fear that she felt within herself, "I am not what you think, but I am the messenger of your Lord." By this he meant, "Allah has sent me to you." It is said that when she mentioned the (Name of the) Most Beneficent (Ar-Rahman), Jibril fell apart and returned to his true form (as an angel). He responded … ‘I am only a messenger from your Lord, to provide to you the gift of a righteous son.’ (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura 19:16-21; source)

And:

<And We breathed into it (private part) through Our Ruh,> meaning, through the angel Jibril. Allah sent the angel Jibril to Maryam, and he came to her in the shape of a man in every respect. Allah commanded him to blow into a gap of her garment and that breath went into her womb through her private part; this is how `Isa was conceived. This is why Allah said here…

<And We breathed into it through Our Ruh, and she testified to the truth of her Lords Kalimat, and His Kutub,> meaning His decree and His legislation. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura 66:12: source)

Apart from the assertion that Gabriel is the Spirit whom Allah sent to create Jesus, these Muslim commentators introduce a major difficulty. Here it says Allah commanded Gabriel to blow into her private part. But both 21:91 and 66:12 say "WE breathed …." which obviously means that Allah himself breathed into Mary. Thus, if Allah is the one who breathed into Mary, and yet these commentators say Gabriel actually breathed into her then the logical conclusion is that Gabriel is Allah, and is one of the persons speaking as the divine "We" in these texts! This also means that Gabriel isn’t the Spirit but is the one who breathed the Spirit into Mary, which means that Allah, Gabriel and this Spirit are all God!

Now we completely disagree with the Muslim expositors’ claim that the Spirit is Gabriel, but regardless of whether these Muslim exegetes are correct on this point, their comments demonstrate that the Quran does present someone other than Allah who is able to create life exactly like God! And yet the Muslim position of the Spirit being Gabriel ends up making an angelic creature identical to God, and is therefore nothing more than an act of idolatry on their part.

Moreover, let the readers recall that earlier we cited verses where the authors of the Quran claimed to be reciting the verses of Allah to Muhammad:

These are the portents of Allah which WE recite unto thee (Muhammad) with truth. Then in what fact, after Allah and His portents, will they believe? S. 45:6 Pickthall

What makes this rather interesting is that another text specifically identifies Gabriel as a conveyor of the Quran, as one of the entities who brought down the Quran to Muhammad!

Say: 'Whosoever is an enemy to Gabriel -- he it was that brought it down upon thy heart by the leave of God, confirming what was before it, and for a guidance and good tidings to the believers. S. 2:97 Arberry

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that Gabriel is part of that very group who were responsible for reciting the Quran to Muhammad. In other words, the plural pronouns "We," "Us," and "Our," which the Quran often uses, include Gabriel since he was one of those who addressed Muhammad. Yet this would mean that Gabriel is speaking as God since, as we saw in some of the above examples, these very speakers who revealed the Quran to Muhammad are presented as saying and doing things that only God can say and do!

Putting it simply, the Quran identifies Gabriel as God or at least a being who is equal to Allah!

A Plural Arabic Noun Used for Allah

There are many Muslims who boast that the word Allah is superior to the English word God since the former cannot be feminized, pluralized etc., whereas the latter can. As one Muslim apologist put it:

By what name do we call God?
The Muslims prefer calling the Supreme Creator, Allah, instead of by the English word ‘God’. The Arabic word, ‘Allah’, is pure and unique, unlike the English word ‘God’, which can be played around with.
If you add ‘s’ to the word God, it becomes ‘Gods’, that is the plural of God. Allah is one and singular, there is no plural of Allah. If you add ‘dess’ to the word God, it becomes ‘Goddess’ that is a female God. There is nothing like male Allah or female Allah. Allah has no gender. If you add the word ‘father’ to ‘God’ it becomes ‘God-father’. God-father means someone who is a guardian. There is no word like ‘Allah-Abba’ or ‘Allah-father’. If you add the word ‘mother’ to ‘God’, it becomes ‘God-mother’. There is nothing like ‘Allah-Ammi’, or ‘Allah-mother’ in Islam. Allah is a unique word. If you prefix tin before the word God, it becomes tin-God i.e., fake God. Allah is a unique word, which does not conjure up any mental picture nor can it be played around with. Therefore the Muslims prefer using the Arabic word ‘Allah’ for the Almighty. Sometimes, however, while speaking to the non-Muslims we may have to use the inappropriate word God, for Allah. Since the intended audience of this article is general in nature, consisting of both Muslims as well as non-Muslims, I have used the word God instead of Allah in several places in this article. (Dr. Zakir Naik, "Concept of God in Islam"; source)