Baby Names (Arab? Muslim? Islamic?)

 

We Muslims understand and appreciate our children are given to us as blessings and challenges from Almighty Allah (God).

We are rewarded (or punished) by the way we treat our families, and do our duty, to be responsible while we enjoy life with our children.

We thank Allah for our offspring and offer them our most important give from Allah - OUR TIME.

 - NAMES - As soon as a child is born, it is their right to have a proper, good name.

We must choose our children's names wisely. After all their name will influence the way children see themselves and the way they are treated by others.

Good names have good impact on the hearts. Strong names give way to strong impressions. Weak names may have negative impressions.

 - Names of honor and dignity make life more confortable and less likely to be ashamed or saddend.

Remember, names are a major influence on your child from the start and even up to the end of their life.

Choose wisely. Ask Allah to guide you, in your choice and to help your child all through this life and to get a better life in Paradise.

Second - "Adivce" - before you choose the name:

1 – DON'T RESTRICT CHOICES of names of our prophet, peace be upon him, or his companions. Names of people living at that time and place may even be strange to people of our times.

Al-Mawardi said this about choosing names: "The name should have a good meaning and be appropriate for the one who is so called, and it should be common among people of his class and community."

Choose a proper, easy to say and easy write name with proper meaning, not weird or odd name in today's society. Strange names cause them to be ashamed, bullied and bothered by others.

If you choose a name from one of the prophets, companions or any righteous person, think of the child first, make it suitable for them and their enviornment, they will grow up in.

2 – ARABIC NAMES? It's not necessary to only chose from Arabic names. A good name with a good meaning and positive feelings can be considered.

Avoid names of negative or bad meanings or goes against beliefs in Islam.

Scholars strongly urged us not to imitate other faiths or twisted meanings when choosing names of our children.

   

We Don't Have to Give Our Kids Arabic Names

We do need to avoid names from other religions or cults. It is not allowed to use such names, imitating other faiths with names belonging only to their religion.

When considering a non-Arabic name having a good meaning, not copying other religions, it is OK to use it.

Prophets, peace be upon them, had good names and gave proper names to their own children. These can be considered and chosen for our children, but we are not limited to only Arabic names. 

Examples include may include Isra’el (Israel), Ishaaq (Isaac), Moosa (Moses) and Haroon (Aaron). 

3 – AVOID UGLY OR ARROGANT NAMES - Al Tabari quotes Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Baari (10/577): 

"We should not use names with ugly meanings, or praising someone, or insulting names even if it is not intended to describe them.

It is disliked when a name descibes a person, but it doesn't fit the one who is named it.

Porphet, peace be upon him, changed peoples names to something more fiting to describe the person."

Other disliked names spread in some Muslim countries are names including words like "Al-Deen" or "Ud-deen" and 'Al-Islam", like "Nur Al-Deen" and "Imad Al-Deen" or "Nur Al-Deen" and so on. These are disliked by scholars for both females and males, because these suggest exaggerted praise.

Shaikh Bakr Abu Zayd said; "This is due to high status of these two words, "Al-Deen" (way of the faith) and "Al-Islam" (Submission, obedience and sincerity to God in peace), forming names including these words gives a false claim, almost a lie."

Based on this, most scholars say such names are 'makruh' (seiously disliked), while a few scholars even say it is 'Haram' (forbidden) to use such names. Some suggest the meanings are incorrect and cannot be applied to a person. First these were titles, and later names were added, then used as names. Tasmiyat al-Wulood (p. 22). 

4 – GIRLS NAMES - It is essential to avoid names with meanings provoking desire, like "Fitnah" or "Faatin" (implying temptation", or "Naahid" or "Naahidah" (prominet breasts). 

Avoid giving names of angels to girls, because this is imitating the mushrikeen (people who think angels are daughters of God).

Sheikh Bakr Abu Zayd said: "Regarding giving girls names of angels, it appears to be haram (forbidden), due to imitating mushrikeen (idolators) who regarded angels as 'daughters of Allah', far above their saying, is He. Similarly, it is haram (forbidden) to call a girl "Malak" or "Malakah" (angel). Tasmiyat al-Mawlood (p. 24).

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GOOD NEWS – We Just Added A Lot More NAMES 

Master List of BOY & GIRLS 

(and a big link just below that):

LIST for BOYS NAMES ~ & ~ LIST for GIRLS NAMES

Allah is All-Knowing

From Sheikh Muhammad Munajid on www.IslamQA.com