The Importance of Muslim Baby Names and Naming in Islam
Naming a child has a profound effect because it exerts a defining impact on that child’s development, as well as its connection to and interaction with the people and things around that child.
The first thing Muslim parents blessed by God with the coming of a newborn should know is that Islam considers the moment of choosing a name and ‘naming’ (tasmiyah in Arabic) one of the pivotal events in all of life. A good Muslim baby name is a fundamental right of a child and the solemn duty of its father (more on this later). That name must announce a new human being’s beauty and its felicitous implications for life in its very being by eloquently linking the child to its Creator and joyousness.
A Muslim baby name is an adornment in this world, an identification of its religion, and the title of honor by which it will be called in the Hereafter.
A child grows within and beneath the hue of its name’s meaning and representation in the most decisive years of its personality formation and psychological orientation, as Khalid (which means “Ever-Blessed”) Dhorat points out in his Rights of Children. A child’s name, therefore, brings to bear a truly fundamental influence on both its self-perception and its presentation in the world for the rest of its life.
Names, not only of people but also of places and things, quite explicitly tell us the state and inclination of the cultures within which they emerge.
For this reason, the Prophet Muhammad, literally “the Praised One,” or “the Man of Praise,” (as contemporary scholar Abdal-Hakim Murad (lit. “The Yearning Servant of the All-Wise”) precisely captures it in his recent Travelling Home), loved and named felicitous names to people and places and tolerated no adverse or inauspicious names for either, changing these on the spot when he came upon such “bad” names. He understood that names had crucial significance wherever they occurred.
He once came to a place named Barren Rough (Ḥuzrah), asked its name and immediately changed it to Verdant Lush (Khudrah). Wâdî Ẓallah (Strays Valley) he renamed Guidance Dale (Shu‘ab al-Hûdd), as ‘Abdullah (“The Servant of Allah) ‘Ulwân reports in his Islam and the Rearing of Children.
In this practice, the Prophet, on him be peace, was following the unchanging Sunnah of Allah, or Way of God, in naming, and Who says of Himself in the Quran:
Yet to Allah belong the Fairest Names of all. So call upon Him with them. And leave alone those who profane His Names. They shall be duly recompensed for all that they have done in life. (Sûrat Al-A‘râf, 7:180)
For Allah is He Who names, and such was the first gift He imparted to our forefather Adam, a divine knowledge of the names of creation that He did not bestow upon even the angels. This account of the Quran differs significantly in import from that of some Biblical interpretations, in which Adam himself devises their names and, thus, according to some accounts, participates in the creating of these beings. This constitutes a fabrication of polytheistic divine association, or shirk, in Islam, as God has no partner in any way or act:
Thus He taught Adam the names of created beings, all of them. Thereafter, He arrayed them before the angels. Then He said: Tell Me the names of these, if you are truthful in saying that man is undeserving of earth’s stewardship. They said: Highly exalted be You! We have no knowledge, other than what You, Yourself, have taught us. Indeed, it is You, You alone, who are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. (Sûrat Al-Baqarah, 2:31-32)
Did the Prophet, on him be peace, speak about choosing a child’s name?
Yes. The Prophet Muhammad, on him be peace, said:
You shall be called by your names and the names of your fathers. So, give good names to your children (Al-Nawawi, Riyâḍ Al-Ṣâliḥîn, Meadows of the Virtuous).
He reportedly said, as well:
Give your children the names of Allah’s prophets. Allah, most powerful and resplendent, most loves the names ‘Abd’Allah (Servant of God) and ‘Abd Al-Raḥmân (Servant of the All-Merciful); and also prefers the good names Ḥârith (Ploughman, Tiller, Cultivator; or also, Great Lion) and Hemm (meaning one who is Determined, Resolute, or Undaunted). And He holds hateful the names Ḥarb (War) and Murrâh (Bitter (in taste), Acrid).
Did the Prophet, on him be peace, connect the names of people to function or conduct?
Yes. The Prophet, on him be peace, cared about the names of people to the extent that he would ask one’s name before assigning any task, especially of honor. Imam Al-Nawawi reports in Riyâḍ Al-Ṣâliḥîn that the Prophet, on him be peace, sought the milking of a camel to satisfy people in need. He asked for volunteers. Eager for the deed of honor and charity, a man stood up:
Your name?” the Prophet, on him be peace, asked. “Al-Murrâh (Bitter),” he replied. “Sit,” said the Prophet, on him be peace.
Another came forward. “Your name?” the Prophet, on him be peace, asked: Ḥarb (War), he said. “Sit,” it was said.
A third time came the offer. In haste for the honor, another stood. “Your name?” the Prophet, on him be peace, asked: “Ya‘îsh, Long-Lived,” came the answer, and he accorded him the privilege of milking.
And while the Prophet, on him be peace, encouraged Muslims to name after the prophets, to propagate their names and histories among us and cement our connection to them, he cautioned Muslims to particular conscientiousness when they named their sons Muhammad after him. We are not to associate his name with any negative expression or untoward behavior, for this name’s association will forever be with its Prophet-namesake, on him be peace. He said:
When you name a son Muhammad, neither hit nor deprive him [meaning using that name].”
He said, also:
Do you name your children Muhammad and then rebuke them therewith too?”
This noble practice is still particularly and widely maintained among the Muslims of the Subcontinent, who often name Muhammad, but regularly apply secondary familiar names and house names to their sons, in reverence and in fear of violating the sanctity of this hallowed name.
Did the Companions follow this manner of naming?
Yes, indeed. Moreover, they seemed to indicate that naming, in general, might influence the fortunes of people.
The great Companion Abdullah ibn Salâm, God be pleased with him, a rabbinical scholar of Torah in Madinah from the Jewish tribe of Banû Qaynuqah, accepted Islam at the hand of the Prophet, on him be peace, upon the Prophet’s arrival in Quba before he entered Madinah after his migration from Makkah. When the Prophet, on him be peace, asked the Rabbi his name he said Husayn ibn Salam. The Prophet, on him be peace, said, “Now you are Abdullah ibn Salâm,” giving him the noblest of names.
Later, Abdullah ibn Salâm, Allah be pleased with him, had a newborn son and took him to the Prophet, on him be peace, who put the boy in his lap, lovingly stroked his head, and named him Yûsuf.
The Companion Abû Mûsa, Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet, on him be peace, named Abû Mûsa’s first son Ibrahim, after the Father of Prophets, and prayed for him.
‘Umar ibn Al-Khaṭṭâb, the Second Rightly Guided Caliph, Allah restore it, asked a man his name:
Jamarah (Firebrand),” he said. “And your father’s name? “Shihâb (Meteor, Shooting Star). “And your tribe? “Ḥurqah (Blaze).” And your homeland? “Hutamah” (Hellfire’s Crusher) on the hillock. “Which hillock?” ‘Umar asked. “Fire-Flair Hillock,” the man answered.
“Rush home,” said ‘Umar, “for the people of your household have burnt to death.” The man reached home to find ‘Umar’s words true. (Al-Muwaṭṭa of Imam Mâlik)
Are there Sharî‘ah requirements for names?
Yes, but the general rule regarding names is that they are permissible (mubâḥ), except for five naming patterns that are prohibited (ḥarâm), both for one to name them or as to the one who continues to use a prohibited name (whether it is one’s personal name or one is calling another by that name):
Names that attribute servitude or worship to anything or anyone but Allah
(eg. ‘Abd Al-Ka‘bah (Servant of the Ka‘bah), ‘Abd Al-Nabî (Servant of the Prophet), ‘Abd Al-Masîḥ (Servant of the Messiah), etc.)
Names of Allah that befit Him alone
(eg. Al-Khaliq (The Creator) or Al-Razzâq (The Sole Provider). Ibn Al-Qayyim adds the following names of Allah to these exclusively divine names: Al-Aḥad (The One), Al-Ṣamad (The Everlasting Refuge), Al-Jabbâr (The Overpowering), Al-Mutakabbir (The Majestic), Al-Awwal (The First), Al-Âkhir (The Last), Al-Bâtin (The Hidden), and ‘Allâm Al-Ghuyûb (The All-Knowing of All the Unseen))
(Names of Allah that are of obviously different meaning when applied to human beings can be used by people, such as ‘Alî (High), Rashîd (Guided Aright), and Ḥalîm (Clement). According to classical scholars, like Ibn ‘Âbidîn, even prefixing the definite article, ‘al’ (‘the’) to these names does not alter this clear difference in meaning as applied to the Creator and the created. So, Allah is Al-Rashîd, The All-Guiding Aright, but Hârûn Al-Rashîd, the celebrated ‘Abbasid Caliph, is Aaron, the Guided Aright, the meaning difference being intuitive and apparent.)
Names in the exclusive province of unbelievers or people of faiths other than Islam
(eg. Names foreign to Islam like Paul, George, Bin Yamîn (Benjamin), etc., in whatever linguistic form, although some hold this to be reprehensible (makrûḥ) not forbidden (ḥarâm).)
Names of idols, false gods, or demons whatever their linguistic origin
(eg. Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, Rhea, Hera, etc.; or Amon, Azazel, Diablo, Lilith, Loki, Shayṭân, Yen-lo-Wang, etc. )
Names that befit no other but the Prophet, on him be peace
(eg. Many of the compound “Sayyid” names, like Sayyid Al-Kul, Master of All, or Sayyid Al-Nâs, Master of the People, etc.)
In addition, eight name patterns are reprehensible (makrûh) but not prohibited (ḥarâm). The first five of these carry a strong stigma. The last three name forms classical Muslim scholars consider objectionable but their common use among Muslims (including some of the objecting scholars themselves!) places them in separate exceptionable categories.