Be the first person on your block to pronounce her name correctly!

Mostly, I hear the name of the contemptible San Bernardino murderess Tashfeen Malik given as Tash-FEEN Ma-LEEK, though I’ve sometimes even heard it pronounced Taf-SHEEN Ma-LEEK.  (Which reminds me of the old joke about the agnostic insomniac dyslexic who lies awake at night, wondering if there’s a Dog.)

I’ve been puzzled about this pronunciation, wishing that I could see the original Arabic-script writing of the name.

I think I may have found it.

If I’m correct, it’s تاشفين ملك.  Which would mean, as I suspected, that the proper pronunciation is Tash-FEEN MA-lik or, if you prefer, Tash-FEEN MAA-lik.  (You get the rough idea.)

So now you can pronounce her name better than a news anchor!

But here’s an interesting part.  It may not actually be her name at all — which might explain why her background has proven difficult to trace.  Tashfeen Malik may actually have been an assumed name, a nom de guerre.  And only a partial one, even at that.

I usually find Walid Shoebat far too extreme and unnuanced for my tastes, but his proposed link between the woman who called herself “Tashfeen Malik” and the eleventh-century Moorish warrior and prince Yusuf b. Tashfin (or Yusuf b. Tashfeen, يوسف بن تاشفين ) may be quite significant.  See his discussion here.

Shoebat thinks that her adopted name may come from the Arabic phrase تاشفين ملك الموحدين (tashfeen malik al-muwahhideen), which means “Tashfeen [or Tashfin], king of the unitarians [those who teach the oneness of God].”

That would suggest that the supposed name Tashfeen Malik is incomplete, which would certainly cause a problem for finding information about her past — if it’s even her real name, which it may not be.

I trust that the FBI is aware of this.  Should I be so trusting?