{"id":2625,"date":"2013-03-30T09:49:22","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T09:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/?p=2625"},"modified":"2013-03-30T10:41:10","modified_gmt":"2013-03-30T10:41:10","slug":"hadeeth-about-not-naming-children-yalaa-barakah-aflah-yasaar-and-naafi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/hadeeth-about-not-naming-children-yalaa-barakah-aflah-yasaar-and-naafi.htm","title":{"rendered":"Hadeeth About Not Naming Children Ya’laa, Barakah, Aflah, Yasaar, and Naafi’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, the Ever Merciful…<\/em><\/p>\n

I was asked about the following hadeeth:<\/p>\n

Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullaah reported that the Prophet (S) decided to forbid names like Ya’laa (elevated), Barakah (blessing), Aflah (successful), Yasaar (wealth) and Naafi’ (beneficial) (Reported by Muslim)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[1]<\/strong> Firstly, as an obligation<\/strong>, we say (\u00a0\u0635\u0644\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0639\u0644\u064a\u0647 \u0648\u0633\u0644\u0645\u00a0<\/strong>)\u00a0“sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam”<\/em> when mentioning our beloved Prophet, which\u00a0may be expressed in English with the phrase: May Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace.\u00a0<\/em> It is not permissible\u00a0to change legislated phrases of thikr<\/em> into abbreviations, like (S), (SAW), (PBUH),<\/strong> or the likes. Review the detailed verdicts of the scholars\u00a0and further explanations\u00a0here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

[2]<\/strong> Secondly, this prohibition has been collected by Imaam Muslim and others from two of the Companions, Samurah ibn Jundub and Jaabir ibn ‘Abdillaah, may Allaah be pleased with both of them. There are some slight differences in the wordings of their reports, and the wording mentioned in the question above seems to mix\u00a0some of them\u00a0together.<\/p>\n

[A]<\/strong>\u00a0Samurah’s wording is explicit, that he forbade four names: Aflah, Rabaah, Yasaar, and Naafi’. This is Imaam Muslim’s first narration (#2136).\u00a0 In another narration of the same report (#2137), Najeeh is mentioned in place of Naafi’, along with a reason for the prohibition, that a person\u00a0might ask for someone by these names that linguistically refer to concepts of goodness, and it would be said, “So-and-So (a name referring to goodness) is not here.” (an unintended form of bad speech)<\/p>\n

[B]<\/strong> Jaabir’s wording in Saheeh Muslim<\/em> (#2138) is slightly\u00a0different.\u00a0 He says that the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace) wanted to<\/strong> forbid these names, but later remained silent about them, and then he passed away (without forbidding them). He mentioned five<\/strong> names: Ya’laa, Barakah, Aflah, Yasaar, and Naafi’, and added,\u00a0“And others like them.”\u00a0 Some manuscripts of Saheeh Muslim<\/em> mention Muqbil instead of Ya’laa (very similar in Arabic script). Jaabir also adds that ‘Umar (ibn al-Khattaab) wanted to forbid the names as well, but he left the idea. In al-Bukhaaree’s al-Adab al-Mufrad<\/em> (#833) and Aboo Daawood’s Sunan<\/em> (#4960), Jaabir\u00a0adds the phrase (that means), “If I live\u00a0(long enough), I shall forbid – in shaa’ Allaah<\/em> – (the names),”<\/strong> adding the same reason mentioned in Samurah’s version.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/strong> Regarding its authenticity<\/strong>,\u00a0the hadeeth\u00a0was collected in some of the famous compilations of saheeh<\/em> (authentic) narrations, like Saheeh Muslim, Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan, <\/em>and al-Haakim’s\u00a0Mustadrak<\/em>.\u00a0The hadeeth is clearly authentic, and I do not know any of the scholars who ever doubted its authenticity. However, a\u00a0Muslim TV personality recently published\u00a0the following verdict,\u00a0“This hadeeth doesn\u2019t seem to be authentic as I couldn\u2019t find it.”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In light of the above discussion, I would earnestly advise that we turn to the scholars of Islam, reliable students of knowledge, or at least capable researchers with our\u00a0questions about hadeeth (and Islam in general). Quite honestly, TV personalities tend to have exaggerated reputations with little knowledge to offer.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

[4]<\/strong> The scholars differed over the intended meaning of this hadeeth and the resulting ruling on the usage of the mentioned names.<\/p>\n

[A]<\/strong> The early scholar and specialist at explaining what seem to be problematic narrations, Imaam Aboo Ja’far at-Tahaawee<\/strong> [d.321], may Allaah have Mercy on him, understood that the prohibition\u00a0in Jaabir’s narration\u00a0was not absolute, meaning that the resulting ruling on using these names could not be\u00a0haraam<\/em> (impermissible). Had it been haraam<\/em>, he would have forbidden it, without delaying it for another time. Before he discussed the issue from other angles, his initial\u00a0verdict was that the usage of these names remains\u00a0openly permissible<\/strong>, since no prohibition was\u00a0actually\u00a0implemented (according to Jaabir’s reports alone).\u00a0(Sharh Mushkil al-Aathaar<\/em>, 4\/441)<\/p>\n

[B]<\/strong> However the wording of Samurah’s report seems to be more conclusive: “Do not name your boy… (the names)”<\/strong> This led at-Tahaawee to\u00a0offer an alternative explanation,\u00a0focusing on the rationale offered by the Messenger (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace) in some of the reports,\u00a0that it could be asked if Barakah (for example) is there, and the response would be, “There is no\u00a0Barakah<\/em> (literally: blessing)\u00a0here.” This disliked wording, although unintended,\u00a0could be taken as a bad\u00a0omen by people of weak faith. At-Tahaawee concluded that tiyarah<\/em>\u00a0(giving consideration to bad omens)\u00a0was then absolutely forbidden, which led the Muslims to pay no attention to these kinds of bad omens.\u00a0He further strengthened this line of argument by mentioning historical uses of some of these names, like\u00a0Rabaah, the Prophet’s\u00a0servant, and al-‘Alaa’, his appointed governor\u00a0in Bahrain.\u00a0Thus, he concluded that prohibited names of this type\u00a0need to be proven to have occurred after the prohibition of\u00a0omens, otherwise they should be considered openly permissible.<\/strong> (Sharh Mushkil al-Aathaar<\/em>, 4\/441-447)<\/p>\n

[C]<\/strong> In his explanation of Saheeh Muslim<\/em> (14\/118),\u00a0An-Nawawee<\/strong> [d.676] concludes that it is disliked to use these names and similar ones, but not impermissible.\u00a0 He brings harmony between\u00a0Samurah’s and Jaabir’s narrations quite effectively, saying that Samurah’s affirmation of a prohibition was a suggestive<\/strong> prohibition, not an absolute one, which would mean that using the names is makrooh<\/em> (disliked),\u00a0while Jaabir’s mention of\u00a0refraining from prohibiting them\u00a0referred to\u00a0an absolute\u00a0prohibition that would have made them haraam<\/em>. So he did<\/strong> forbid the names suggestively, but not<\/strong> absolutely, according to this opinion,\u00a0and Allaah knows best.<\/p>\n

[D]<\/strong> Some scholars, like Ibn al-Qayyim<\/strong> in I’laam al-Muwaq-qi’een<\/em>,\u00a0considered the disliked names to be restricted to only those\u00a0identified specifically\u00a0in the text of the hadeeth, allowing no qiyaas<\/em> (analogies) to be made. This is based on what seems to be Samurah’s statement forbidding anyone from narrating other than the four names in the report\u00a0he relayed.\u00a0See: Zaad al-Ma’aad<\/em> (2\/303) of Ibn al-Qayyim. In light of the different narrations and the names found in them, it is more likely that Samurah was demanding that his students be precise in how they narrated his report.<\/p>\n

Other scholars, like\u00a0al-Baghawee<\/strong> [d.516],\u00a0mentioned some additional names that were\u00a0considered by some scholars to be\u00a0intended by the generality of the hadeeth, like: ‘Abdul-___ (with any name of Allaah), Haamid, Muslim, Mubaarak, Maymoon, Salaamah, ‘Aafiyah, and Maymoonah.\u00a0While this might now seem very restrictive, excessive, and even contradictory to narrations encouraging some of these names (like ‘Abdullaah and ‘Abdur-Rahmaan), al-Baghawee identified the problem to be connected to the manners<\/strong> of talking about the absent person<\/strong>, and not his actual name.\u00a0 He offered the following solution:\u00a0When people are\u00a0requested and we need to reply that the person (‘Abdullaah, for example)\u00a0is not present, then all we need to say is: “We are all ‘Abdullaahs (servants of Allaah, or the name being asked about, like\u00a0Haamids, those who praise Allaah, or Mubaaraks, blessed by Allaah), but your friend (named ‘Abdullaah)\u00a0has left!” (Sharh as-Sunnah<\/em>, 12\/339)<\/p>\n

This is an excellent way to understand the issue<\/strong> – If the people are careful about how they would respond to requests for people with such names,\u00a0by using responses like the ones suggested by al-Baghawee,\u00a0then\u00a0in such cases the\u00a0names would not include the potential danger mentioned by the\u00a0Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace).\u00a0Otherwise, they should be considered disliked.\u00a0 This approach to understanding the issue gives priority to the key piece of information found in the narrations – the reason for the prohibition<\/strong> mentioned by the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace) himself.<\/p>\n

I hope that these points are found to be helpful, and Allaah knows best. May Allaah raise the rank of our Messenger and grant him peace.<\/p>\n

Written by: Moosaa Richardson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, the Ever Merciful… I was asked about the following hadeeth: Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullaah reported that the Prophet (S) decided to forbid names like Ya’laa (elevated), Barakah (blessing), Aflah (successful), Yasaar (wealth) and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,85,86,64,180],"tags":[410,420,416,284,411,413,417,418,415,419,414,412],"class_list":["post-2625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-life","category-fiqh-islamic-rulings","category-hadeeth-studies","category-original-articles","category-questions-answers","tag-aflah","tag-assim-alhakeem","tag-barakah","tag-huda-tv","tag-naafi","tag-najeeh","tag-names","tag-prohibited-names","tag-rabaah","tag-saheeh-muslim","tag-yalaa","tag-yasaar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2625"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}