[Next day Mary, Barbara and John came to Salma’s house again. The weather had changed overnight. It was raining heavily.
They found Salma’s mother in the drawing room, so the children joined her in the drawing room.]
JOHN—What a miserable day? I don’t like rain at all. I like sunny days.
MARY—John! You should not forget that just as the sun is important for us, so is rain and air.
BARBARA—We know that all energy comes from the sun. If there is no sun, no living thing can survive on earth, but air and water are equally important. If there is no water or no air, everything on earth would perish.
BUSHRA—You are absolutely right. Air, water and solar energy are all essential for our existence on earth. We should therefore be thankful to God Almighty for providing these things free to us.
You wanted to ask a question last night. What was your question?
JOHN—I had a discussion a while ago with some of the girls in my class at school. They objected to addressing God as ‘He’. Can you explain to us, why do we address God as ‘He’ and not ‘She’?
BUSHRA—God is neither He nor She. These are human terms. The concept of human gender is limited to life on this earth only. Moreover, it does not apply to other forms of life.
For example, an angel cannot be called ‘he’ or ‘she’.
The fact is that certain weaknesses are attributed to women in our society. They are regarded as the weaker sex. That is why, even in the most modern societies, there are campaigns for women’s liberation, implying that men are still treating women unfairly. The very existence of these movements proves the point that women are regarded as weaker than men.
In light of this explanation and because of the distorted usage of the word ‘she’ by human beings, it is not proper to use the word ‘she’ for God, as it implies some sort of weakness, however erroneously.
Let me explain here that the word ‘he’ is not indicative of masculinity. It is just a reference to persons and no more.
Hence, the only pronoun left for us to use for God is ‘He’. If you or your friends do not like it, you have to invent another word. I hope you understand the point.
JOHN—Yes, auntie! We understand now. You have made it clear to us. Thank you very much.