بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
What's in a name? We want our beautiful little ones to have beautiful names. But which names are really beautiful, and which are the most pleasing to Allah the Exalted? The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) has left guidance for us in this matter as he has done in all other matters. So let us look at some of the best names to give to our children.
Giving the Child a Name Indicating Servitude to Allah the Exalted
The child is given a name indicating servitude to Allah by calling him 'Abd (slave of...) followed by one of Allah’s beautiful names, those which are confirmed for Him and the most beloved of such names to Allah - the One free of all imperfections - are 'Abdullah (the slave of Allah) and 'Abdur-Rahman (the slave of the Most Merciful) as shown by the Hadith:
"The most beloved of your names to Allah - the Mighty and Magnificent - are 'Abdullah and 'Abdur-Rahman" (Reported by Muslim & Abu Dawud)
The name ar-Rahman is so special that it is the only name of Allah which forms an ayah by itself (Qur'an, Ar-Rahman 55:1). It encompasses the infinite extreme mercy (due to the balaghah) that Allah bestows on His slaves.
Then these are followed in excellence by similar usage of the rest of Allah’s names to indicate the person’s servitude to Him, such as ‘Abdur-Raheem (the slave of the Bestower of Mercy) and ‘Abdul-Lateef (slave of the One knowing the Most Hidden Matters and the One Most Gracious and Kind to His slaves), and so on.
Being the ‘abd (servant) of Allah is the highest status we can reach. Whenever Allah calls us by this name in the Qur'an, He expresses His love to us:
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
Say, ‘O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.’ [Qur'an, Az-zumar 39:53]
يَا عِبَادِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ وَلَا أَنتُمْ تَحْزَنُونَ
O My servants, no fear will there be concerning you this Day, nor will you grieve. [Qur'an, Az-Zukhruf 43:68]
Allah calls the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) his ‘abd on special occasions only – whenever He is highlighting the Prophet’s high status.
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing. [Qur'an, A-Isra' 17:1]
أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يَنْهَىٰ o عَبْدًا إِذَا صَلَّىٰ
Have you seen the one who forbids a servant when he prays? [Qur'an, Al-'Alaq 96:9-10]
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُ عِوَجًا ۜ ﴿١
[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance. (1) [Qur'an, Al-Kahf 18:1]
The Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) established the example for us in this by putting into practice, so he called on of his sons ‘Abdullah and he called the son of Abu Talhah: ‘Abdullah. He furthermore called the son of another ‘Abdur-Rahman and there are many more examples. Therefore, we find that a large number of the Companions gave these two names to themselves and their children so that the number of them carrying this name was near to three hundred and Ibnus-Salah mentions that they numbered about two hundred and twenty.
It is no wonder that many of the special young companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) were given the name 'Abdullah: 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al Aas, 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr, 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) renamed the Jewish Sahabi Al Husayn ibn Salam to Abdullah.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) changed the name of the very famous sahabi whose original name was 'Abdul 'Amr, popularly known as 'Abdur Rahman ibn Awf (may Allah be pleased with him), one of the ten promised paradise and the most wealthy of the companions at the time. It is also the name of Abu Bakr’s (may Allah be pleased with him) son 'Abdur Rahman ibn Abi Bakr.
Giving a Child a Name After One of the Prophets of Allah
It is said that the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:
"Call yourselves by the names of the Prophets." (Part of a Hadith reported by Ahmed & Abu Dawud)
And he (Allah bless him and grant him peace)) said:
"You may name with my name." (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And we find that following this principle, he called his own son Ibrahim - after the name of his forefather Ibrahim (peace upon him), he (sallallahu alayhi wassallam) said:
"A son was born to me this night and I called him after my forefather Ibrahim." (Reported by Muslim & Abu Dawud)
He likewise called the son of Abu Musa ‘Ibrahim’ and he called a son of ‘Abdullah ibn Sallaam ‘Yusuf’ after the Prophet Yusuf (peace be upon him). (Reported by Ahmad)
This also used to be practiced by the Bani Israel as the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) informed us and approved of with his saying:
"They used to name their children after the Prophets and the pious people who came before them." (Reported by Muslim)
Names of the prophets which appear in the Qur'an:
Adam
Idris (Enoch)
Nuh (Noah)
Hud (Heber)
Salih (Methusaleh)
Lut (Lot)
Ibrahim (Abraham)
Ismail (Ishmael)
Ishaq (Isaac)
Yaqub (Jacob)
Yusuf (Joseph)
Shu’aib (Jethro)
Ayyub (Job)
Dhulkifl (Ezekiel)
Musa (Moses)
Harun (Aaron)
Dawud (David)
Sulayman (Solomon)
Ilyas (Elias)
Alyasa` (Elisha)
Yunus (Jonah)
Zakariya (Zachariah)
Yahya (John the Baptist)
Isa
Muhammad
Other names in the Qur'an
There are other righteous people who were worthy of mention in the Allah’s book, other than the prophets:
Maryam: She is such a special woman that a whole surah has been dedicated to her. She is mentioned by the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) as one of the four best women in the world.
Dhul Qarnayn: There is debate as to whether he is a prophet or not. Nevertheless, he was a king whom Allah had blessed with wahi. He is the one who built the dam that still prevents Ya’juj and Ma’juj from coming out and causing destruction everywhere in the world.
Imran: father of Maryam (alayhassalaam)
Talut: King of Bani Israel whose army went to defeat Jalut.
Zayd (ibn Haritha): The slave of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) who was formerly married to Ummul Mu’minin Zaynab bint Jahsh.
Apart from these, there are many beautiful words in the Qur'an that can be used as names. Some examples are: Husna, Bushra, Lamiah, Salim, Zakiyah, etc.
Names given by the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace):
Hasan: When Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) was born, Ali wanted to name him Harb (war). The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked him to name him Hasan (meaning good, handsome) instead.
Husayn: When Husayn was born, Ali again wanted to name his son Harb, but the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace)asked him to name him Husayn (meaning small Hasan).
Muhassin: Ali was perhaps very fond of ‘Harb’, because when he had another son, he again wanted to name him that. But the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, ‘He is Muhassin.’ Then he said, ‘I have named them according to the names of the sons of Harun: Shabr, Shubayr, and Mushabbir. [al Adab al Mufrad]
Maymunah: Her original name was Barrah. She was one of the Mothers of the Believers, and after marriage the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) named her Maymoona (meaning ‘blessed’).
Giving the Child a Name After One of the Pious People
Naming after the Pious People - The Companions, The Martyrs and the Scholars - both the Men and Women of Them.
Hoping that the child will grow up to love and respect them and follow their way and adopt their manners in righteousness, knowledge and seeking martyrdom. For this reason the noble companion az-Zubayr ibn al-Awam (may Allah be pleased with him) chose the names of some of the martyrs from the Companions for his ten sons, hoping that they would become like them. So he named one 'Abdullah after 'Abdullah ibn Jahsh the martyr of Uhud, and 'Urwah after 'Urwah ibn Mas'ood, and Hamzah after Hamzah ibn 'Abdul-Muttalib - the noblest of the martyrs, and Ja'far after Ja'far ibn Abi Talib - the martyr of Mutah, and Mus'ab after Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr - the martyr of Uhud and what was mentioned is not specific to the males - rather it is for both the males and the females. So it is indeed praiseworthy and beneficial for the correct upbringing of daughters that they be called after the names of the pious women and those who participated in Jihad from the female companions and those after them, hoping that they will follow them in piety, chastity and manners, and from these names are: Faatimah, Maryam, Asma', Sumayyah, Nusaybah, Khawlah and others from the pious and believing women.
From the names of the Prophet’s Daughters:
Zaynab
Ruqayyah
Umm Kulthum
Faatimah az-Zahra
From the 10 Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) who are promised Paradise, may Allah be pleased with them all.
Abu Bakr (573-634 C.E)
Omar (584-644 C.E)
Othman (577-656 C.E)
Ali (600-661 C.E)
Talhah (596-656 C.E)
Zubayr (596-656 C.E)
Abdur-Rahman (580-652 C.E.)
Sa’d (600-675 C.E)
Sa’id (593-673 C.E)
Abu Ubaydah Aamir (583-638 C.E)
From the names of the mothers of the believers:
Khadijah
Sawdah
Aisha
Hafsah
Zaynab
Ramlah (Umm Salamah)
Hind (Umm Habibah)
Juwayriya
Safiyyah
Maymunah
From the other great companions
Ubayy
K'ab
Hanzalah
Anas
Bilal
Ja'far
Hamzah
Urwa
Usamah
Sumayyah
Asma
Khawlah
Nusaybah
Barakah (Umm Ayman)
From the great imams:
Nu'man (Imam Abu Hanifa Nu'man bin Thabit ibn Zauti)
Malik (Imam Malik bin Anas)
Shafi'i (Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ibn Al-Abbas bin Usman bin Shafi'i)
Ahmad (Abu Abdullah Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hambal Shaibani Al-Maruzi)
May Allah grant us beauty inwardly and outwardly, enable us to follow the footsteps of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and his righteous companions, and grant our future generations names that are beloved to Him and His beloved Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace). Ameen.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.
And Allah knows best and He alone grant success.
Wassalaam
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