Post date: 01-Feb-2011 23:43:36
Among the issues that are often raised by people wishing to affirm their belief in Islam is the pressure they feel to change their names to something ‘Islamic’. Those readers with an elementary knowledge of fluid mechanics will know that pressure is produced by the resistance to flow and it is thus a suitable analogy for what occurs to ‘new’ Muslims and to Muslims in society. They wish to flow smoothly within the matrix of faith and many are happy to change their names but for others while being congratulated on their choice of faith, told to honour parents and family relationships they are also encouraged to abandon something that is, for some, their only remaining link to their heritage, their name.
In my own case I have Arabic names and English names which together exceed the space on most official and semi-official forms. My parents were honest, moral and generous people and if I were to reject them and the names they gave me I would be rejecting the niamat of Allah (swt) because through their teaching I became humane and with the freedom they gave me to reason, a monotheist. The rest came later, much later. However, many ‘Islamic’ names of Arabic, Persian and Indian derivation are pre-Islamic in origin and even refer to tribal deities. Further, since in 5:48 the Qur’an confirms earlier scriptures except where it supersedes or abrogates them there is no wrong in taking names used by Ahl al-Kitab whether Arabised or not. It is more an issue of group identity and exclusiveness that although common to all peoples is surely something we should seek to remove from ourselves.
Names are what symbolise, in a very concrete way, our humanity. People entering an army, prison or those living under a dictatorship often have their shoes, belts and names taken away. They are degraded, made worthless and de-humanised. They become cattle to feast upon or dogs ready to be trained to perform their masters will. You may think my terminology offensive but I prefer to be offended by truth rather than negated by falsehood and prevarication. A friend named Stephen always became annoyed and spoke out if someone called him ‘Steve’ because he was not ‘Steve’. He was Steph and to call him something else was to disregard what he truly was. So, the resistance to adopting ‘Islamic’ names should not be seen as reluctance to become ‘fully’ Muslim but as an attempt to retain the ‘I’ of human identity and continue to worship Allah (swt) as free beings.
Names have an important place in the Qur’an. Allah (swt) does not teach Hadhrat Adam (as) language He (swt) taught him (as) the names of all things. (Q 2:31, 33) Nouns are fixed in time. If we throw a brick into the air it may be said to fly but it does not become a bird. Likewise a name is the symbol of all we were and all we will become whatever or wherever we are. It is what Allah (swt) knows us to be. While mistakes are forgiven, “Call them by (the names of) their fathers: that is more just in the sight of Allah.” (Q 33:5) Even if we have parental authority over someone their name is their own. As with any property how it is used, within legal limits, is at the discretion of the owner. Thus if someone wants to be called anything under the Sun it is their right but if someone else changes a name by one syllable deliberately then that right has been usurped. Of course most names, trademarks and endorsements excluded, have no monetary value. Just like rights which have no intrinsic monetary value. Just like rights they merit protection because if we make the smallest exception to a right it ceases to be a right and a name becomes something other than what it should be.
Changing a name alters our perception of what is before us just as our niyat in prayer must be exact or we do something other than the prayer. Shirk begins with names. He (swt) said: “Punishment and wrath have already come upon you from your Lord: dispute ye with me over names which ye have devised - ye and your fathers,- without authority from Allah? then wait: I am amongst you, also waiting.” (Q 7:71) The sin in this is that by using an unapproved name for Allah (swt) we may be worshipping an idol created within our mind and not Allah (swt) as he defined Himself (swt). What would be the reaction of Muslims if someone were to split the tashdid lam with a kisrah? Yet the creatures of Allah (swt) do it to each other without thought. Perhaps we should remember our belief that the responses to the questioning in the grave begins with a list of names.
Muslims are instructed to wish for their brothers, and sisters, what they would wish for themselves. How then should we regard the negotiator’s ploy of undermining an opponent’s self-worth with the deliberate ‘mistake’ of calling Sam Stan etc? The hurt in the eyes of an old acquaintance greeted as Mahmood when his name is Ahmad? These are things that even as accidents, for courteous humanity and for submission to Allah (swt), must be avoided.
For wits like Oscar Wilde or comedians like the Monty Python team the abuse and misuse of names is a source of humour but for people who cherish a Book and remember a Name awake and asleep there are other considerations. O people of justice take one more step and also become people of mercy. Do not judge yourselves with assumptions grounded in the names of other people. See them for what they are and move towards salvation. And if we meet and I mispronounce your name please forgive me and correct me since I do not wish to be an oppressor. Even to the extent of one letter.