Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

As salaam alequm

I have named my son Aftaab, but people say that it is not a Bohri name & not suggested by

Syedna. Thus i will have to change his name during his Misaaq.

Kindly clarify as i am confused? is Aftaab not proper in Islam.? 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Name aftaab

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

A name assigned to each individual is no more than a sign or recognition of that person; and there is absolutely no obligation or compulsion in Shariah that a believer is obliged or required to keep a ‘traditional’ Islamic or ‘muslim’ name. One is at complete liberty to assign any good wholesome name to their off-spring in absolutely any language they will or please.

The only names which Islam prohibits from assigning to a believer are names which connote or denote polytheism or disbelief (Abdul-Lat, Abdul-Uzza, (slaves of the pagan gods like Lat and Uzza…. or names like ‘Abdul-Rasool’, ‘Abde-Ali’ or ‘Abdul-Hussain’ (slaves of some of the pious slaves of Allah), or names like Ramdas (slave of the Hindu god Ram), etc.; or names which have an inherit evil or vile meaning.

Other than names which connote polytheism and disbelief, or names which have an inherently evil meaning….Islam has allowed the believers the complete freedom to chose and assign any good wholesome name in any language they will and please.

The term and name ‘Aftaab’ is obviously not from the Arabic language, but rather a term of the Urdu/Persian language which literally means ‘the sun’. The Arabic term for the ‘sun’ is ‘Shams’ which is also happens to be the name assigned to one of the Surahs of the Glorious Quran (Surah 91 As-Shams).

Thus if one wishes to name their off-spring ‘Aftaab’ or ‘Shams’, it would be considered a perfectly good and acceptable name in Islam.

Your Question:……..but people say that it is not a Bohri name & not suggested by Syedna. Thus i will have to change his name during his Misaaq.

Respected brother, because the determination of some sects of right and wrong, truth and falsehood, permissible and forbidden, lawful and unlawful in Islam is not based entirely upon the clear guidance of the Glorious Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Mohamed (saws)……but rather these people chose to make their criterion of the lawful and unlawful in their sect based on the sole word of their self-appointed ‘holy men’ and ‘priests’, their followers are at the mercy of their self-invented determinations which may or may not be in accordance with the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah Taubah verse 31:

31 They take their ‘priests’ and their ‘holy men’ to be their ‘Rabbs’ (lords gods) beside Allah.

Narrated Hadrat Adi ibn Hatim (r.a.), who was formerly a Christian that when he came to the Messenger of Allah (saws) with the intention of understanding Islam, he asked him (saws) regarding the verse of the Quran 9:31: ‘They take their priests and their holy men to be their ‘Rabbs’ (lords gods) besides Allah!’. Adi said: ‘O Messenger of Allah (saws), this verse accuses us of making our scholars and our monks as our ‘Rabbs’ besides Allah, but we do no do so!’. The Messenger of Allah (saws) asked: ‘Is it not a fact that you accept as ‘haraam’ what they declare ‘haraam’, and ‘halaal’ what they declare as ‘halaal’?’ Adi confessed: ‘Yes, we do.’ The Messenger of Allah (saws) then said: ‘What is that other than making them your ‘Rabbs’ besides Allah?’

If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any other guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of being led astray.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan