How to name your Muslim son
Although it’s still early days for me, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for me to start thinking about naming my son. As for me, my religious teaching requires that I look for meaningful names, good names with good meaning, as some believed that whatever name they choose for their children, it will somehow affect their future life and I think this is true for other religions as well. . . Choosing a good and meaningful name is very important as a name is like a prayer, every day people will call you by name. Imagine that you (without proper knowledge) named your child with a bad name, for example, something that relates to stubbornness or stupidity, people will call your child’s name over and over again and act like a sentence or one wish and you will win. You don’t want that for your kids, do you? So what exactly should you name your child? I will share today some of the tips I have for naming your Muslim child and also a bad way to name your child.
Recommended way to name your child
1. The name of the prophets like Muhammad, Isa, Ibrahim, Nuh, Yaakob, etc.
2. Name taken from Asma ul Husna (99 names of Allah) – Prophet Muhammad SAW once said that Abdul Rahman (Slave of the Generous; Compassionate; Beneficent) and Abdullah (Slave of Allah) are the names that Allah loves the most. I should also point out that to use one of the names of Allah, you must put ‘Abdul’ (meaning ‘slave of’) in front of it and you cannot use ‘Abdul’ with other names except the 99 names of Allah.
3. The name of close friends of the Prophet: Names like Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Saad, Zubair and others are also a good choice for a baby name. They are known as good friends of the Prophets, good leaders, good thinkers, good noble people.
Prohibited way of naming your child
1. Bad and degrading like Sariq (Thieves), Ashiah (those who are immoral), Kilab (Dogs), Jahil (Stupid).
2. Especially for Allah alone as Ahad (the only one).
3. It had no useful meaning like Malikul Amlak (Kings of all kings), Aflah (Prosperous), Yasar (Left – in political terms) as Prophet Muhammad SAW prohibited with his saying:
“Do not call your son Yasar, nor Rabah, nor Najeeh, nor Aflah, since you will say: Is he there?” Then it will be said: ‘No’. There are indeed four, so don’t attribute more to me.” (Reported by Muslim, Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhee)
4. Anything with ‘Abdul’ (Slave of) with attributes other than the 99 names of Allah such as Abdul Uzza (Slave of Uzza), Abdul Kaabah (Slave of Kaabah), Abdul Fulus (Slave of money).
Information about recommended and prohibited names is taken from the book ‘Indahnya Hidup Bersyariat by Dato’ Ismail Kamus’ given to me by my uncle. It’s a good book and I recommend those of you in Malaysia to buy it.