ADDRESSING THE WIDESPREAD USE OF INAPPROPRIATE NAMES

• Choosing beautiful and meaningful names and kunyas (honorific appellations) for Muslim children is among the great rights that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) has entrusted to parents. Undoubtedly, they will be questioned regarding how they fulfilled this responsibility.

• We live in an age marked by confusion and heedlessness. Many parents give their children names that are inappropriate, devoid of meaningful significance, or even frivolous—all in the name of modernity—without understanding the Islamic ruling concerning such practices.

• Imam Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (رحمه الله), in his renowned work Tuhfat al-Mawdūd bi Aḥkām al-Mawlūd, which is devoted to the Islamic rulings related to childbirth and naming, dedicated entire chapters to the permissible and impermissible names and kunyas for Muslim children. It is fair to say that few scholars have treated this subject with the same breadth and depth.

• The book whose cover I have attached, entitled Badr al-Tamām fī Man Ḥassana Asmā'ahum al-Nabī ﷺ, authored by the eminent scholar Imam al-Ṣaghānī (رحمه الله), compiles the names of fifty-eight men and six women whose names were considered unsuitable. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard their names and replaced them with names that were more beautiful and in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

• There is a pressing need to read, study, and teach works such as these so that we, as well as our students in Islamic schools, may be guided in choosing names and kunyas that conform to the guidance of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Adam Sharada

July 11, 2026