Can Allah Be Referred to as a Mother in Islam?

Not applicable. This question concerns the permissible names and attributes of Allah in Islamic theology; Judaism has no direct counterpart doctrine governing Allah's titles.

Not applicable. This question concerns Islamic scripture and practice regarding Allah's names; Christianity's debates about maternal imagery for God are a separate theological tradition with no bearing on Islamic rulings.

The short answer is no — Allah cannot be referred to as a mother in Islam, and doing so would be considered theologically impermissible. Islamic doctrine holds that Allah's names and attributes are tawqifiyyah, meaning they're fixed by revelation and cannot be invented or extended by human reasoning. No maternal title appears among the 99 names of Allah, and the Quran consistently uses masculine grammatical forms when referring to Allah, though classical scholars are careful to note this doesn't imply biological gender.

The Quran itself actually addresses the misuse of the word 'mother' in a relational context. In Surah Al-Ahzab, Allah explicitly corrects those who use the term loosely: Quran 33:4 This verse, while addressing a specific social practice (zihar, or comparing one's wife to one's mother), reflects a broader Quranic insistence on precision in language — especially language that touches on sacred relationships. Applying a maternal title to Allah would represent exactly the kind of imprecise, culturally-derived attribution the tradition guards against.

Interestingly, the Quran does use the phrase 'Mother of the Book' (Umm al-Kitab) as a description of the preserved heavenly scripture Quran 13:39, but this is a metaphorical use of the word 'mother' meaning 'origin' or 'source' — it's applied to a concept, not to Allah's person, and it doesn't open the door to calling Allah a mother.

The word rahmah (mercy/compassion), one of Allah's most emphasized attributes, shares a trilateral Arabic root (r-ḥ-m) with rahim, meaning womb. Scholars like Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Sachiko Murata (in The Tao of Islam, 1992) have explored this linguistic resonance, noting it suggests a nurturing, enveloping quality to divine mercy. But this etymological connection is never used to justify a maternal name for Allah — the tradition draws a firm line between recognizing a quality and assigning a title.

It's also worth noting that Sahih Muslim records the Prophet ﷺ using the mother as a powerful symbol of natural, unconditional love Sahih Muslim 6762, which shows that motherhood is honored in Islamic thought — just not attributed to Allah as a name or title.

Not applicable. Concerns Islamic scripture/practice; no direct counterpart.

Not applicable. Concerns Islamic scripture/practice; no direct counterpart.

The Qur’an states that “with Him is the Mother of the Book,” which places “Umm al-Kitāb” in relation to Allah but does not call Allah “mother” Quran 13:39.

The Qur’an also regulates the use of maternal titles in human speech, rejecting practices that misapply “mother” to those who are not biological mothers, indicating care about how this term is used in a religious-legal sense Quran 33:4.

In the hadith cited, “mother” refers to human mothers in the context of birth and early formation, and not to Allah, reinforcing that the term appears for created relations rather than as a divine name or metaphor in these texts Sahih Muslim 6762.

Accordingly, in these passages there is no basis for referring to Allah as “mother,” and the texts themselves do not employ such a designation for Allah Quran 13:39Quran 33:4Sahih Muslim 6762.

Scholarly debates about divine names and attributes are extensive, but with the sources provided here, the language used does not present “mother” as a divine name for Allah; any broader claims would require further evidence beyond these citations Quran 13:39Quran 33:4Sahih Muslim 6762.