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<\/a>(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I repeat a few words about Arabic\/Islamic names that I hope some will find helpful.<\/p>\n
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There are certain basic elements. \u00a0For instance, there is the kunya<\/em>, an honorific given to married parents that includes the name of their eldest son. \u00a0The father of Yusuf<\/em> (\u201cJoseph\u201d) would thus be known as Abu Yusuf<\/em>, from the Arabic Ab\/Abu<\/em> (\u201cfather\u201d), while the mother would be called Umm Yusuf<\/em>. \u00a0Abu Nasr al-Farabi, shown above, seems to have been the father of a son named Nasr (or, as some would spell it, Nasser).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Yusuf\u2019s father and mother will, of course, have their own personal names. \u00a0The masculine parental unit might be Muhammad<\/em>, for example. \u00a0Actually, the odds are good that he will<\/em> be, since, I\u2019m told, Muhammad<\/em> is the world\u2019s most common given name. \u00a0(Variant forms include Turkish Mehmet<\/em>, as well as other versions of the same h-m-d<\/em> root \u2014 which conveys the idea of \u201cpraise\u201d \u2014 such as Mahmud<\/em> [\u201cpraised\u201d] and the comparative or superlative Ahmad<\/em> [\u201cmost praised\u201d].) \u00a0The mother might be Maryam<\/em> (\u201cMary\u201d). \u00a0Yusuf will, in this case, also be known as Ibn Muhammad\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cthe son of Muhammad\u201d).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve read the Old Testament, you\u2019ve seen the Hebrew cognate to Arabic ibn<\/em>. \u00a0It\u2019s ben<\/em>. \u00a0Think of Benjamin<\/em>, \u201cthe son of the right [hand].\u201d \u00a0(Yamin<\/em> means \u201cright\u201d in Arabic, as in Hebrew.) \u00a0Think, for that matter, of Judah Ben Hur \u2014\u00a0<\/em>\u201cthe son of Hur,\u201d as he\u2019s occasionally called in the film.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n You\u2019ve also seen the Hebrew cognate to Arabic Ab\/Abu<\/em> (\u201cfather\u201d). \u00a0Think of Abimelech<\/em> (\u201cmy father is a king\u201d; Arabic malik<\/em> = English king<\/em>) and of Abraham<\/em> (which probably originally meant something like \u201cfather is exalted\u201d).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The feminine equivalent of ibn<\/em> (\u201cson\u201d) is bint<\/em> (\u201cdaughter\u201d). \u00a0So Yusuf\u2019s sister will be, say, Soraya bint Muhammad<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ibn<\/em>\u00a0and bint<\/em>\u00a0are often abbreviated as, respectively, b.<\/em> and bt<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Someday, Yusuf himself will very likely have a son. \u00a0Let\u2019s call that son Khalil<\/em>. \u00a0That will give us a three-generation genealogical chain: \u00a0Abu Khalil Yusuf b. Muhammad<\/em>. Such chains can be (and, in classical times, often were) extended indefinitely. \u00a0Thus, for example, the great eleventh-century physician and philosopher Avicenna or Ibn Sina was, in full,\u00a0Ab\u016b \u02bfAl\u012b al-\u1e24usayn ibn \u02bfAbd All\u0101h ibn al-\u1e24asan ibn \u02bfAl\u012b ibn S\u012bn\u0101<\/em>.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Sometimes, particularly in the premodern or classical period, other identifiers are attached to names: \u00a0To take an example, we might run into\u00a0Abu Khalil Yusuf b. Muhammad al-Baghdadi<\/em>, which would indicate that there is some connection with Baghdad (on the part of either the son or the father). \u00a0Or\u00a0Abu Khalil Yusuf b. Muhammad al-Dimashqi\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cthe Damascene\u201d or \u201cthe one from or connected with Damascus\u201d) or al-Misri<\/em> (indicating a connection with Misr<\/em> [Egypt]) or al-Halabi<\/em> (\u201cthe one from Halab [Aleppo]\u201d), or al-Turki<\/em> (\u201cthe Turk\u201d) or al-Farisi<\/em> (\u201cthe Persian\u201d). \u00a0This term is called a nisba<\/em>. \u00a0The philosopher Abu Nasr al-Farabi seems to have been connected with a place called Farab or Faryab, located somewhere in Central Asia.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In other cases, we\u2019ll see descriptive titles. \u00a0One of the earliest significant masters of Arabic prose is the eighth-century Persian\u00a0Ab\u016b Muhammad \u02bfAbd All\u0101h R\u016bzbih ibn D\u0101d\u016bya\u00a0(Persian:\u00a0\u0627\u0628\u0648 \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0639\u0628\u062f\u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0631\u0648\u0632\u0628\u0647 \u0627\u0628\u0646 \u062f\u0627\u062f\u0648\u06cc\u0647<\/span>\u200e\u200e) \u2014 \u2018Abd Allah Ruzbih, who was the father of Muhammad and the son of Daduya (a pre-Islamic Iranian name) \u2014 who is by far most widely\u00a0known as\u00a0Ibn al-Muqaffa\u2018<\/em> (Arabic:\u00a0\u0627\u0628\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0642\u0641\u0639<\/span>\u200e\u200e). \u00a0Al-Muqaffa\u2018<\/em>\u00a0means \u201cthe one with the crushed hand,\u201d because\u00a0\u2018Abd Allah Ruzbih\u2019s father had been a government functionary who was punished by having his hand crushed after being convicted of embezzlement.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Then there is the laqab<\/em>, which offers another way of distinguishing one person from another. \u00a0One example of this can be seen in the name of the most famous of the \u2018Abbasid caliphs, Harun al-Rashid<\/em> (\u201cAaron [compare Hebrew Aharon<\/em>] the Rightly-Guided\u201d). \u00a0Other examples include Aladdin<\/em> (\u2018Ala al-Din<\/em>, \u201cExalted One of the Religion\u201d), Sayf al-Dawla<\/em> (\u201cSword of the State\u201d), al-Mansur<\/em> (\u201cthe Victorious\u201d), al-Tawil<\/em> (\u201cthe Tall\u201d). \u00a0The famous author of the Rubaiyat<\/em>, known in English as Omar Khayyam<\/em>, is \u2018Umar the Tentmaker<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Many Arabic\/Islamic personal names are compounds \u2014 very commonly combining the word\u2018abd\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cslave\u201d or \u201cservant\u201d) with one of the ninety-nine \u201cMost Beautiful Names\u201d (al-asma al-husna<\/em>, which refer to\u00a0divine attributes). \u00a0Thus, we commonly find \u2018Abd al-Karim\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cSlave of the Noble One\u201d), \u2018Abd al-Rahman<\/em> (\u201cSlave of the Merciful One\u201d), \u2018Abd al-Wahhab<\/em> (\u201cSlave of the Generous One\u201d), \u2018Abd al-Malik\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cSlave of the King\u201d),\u00a0and\u2018Abd Allah<\/em> or Abdullah<\/em> (\u201cSlave of God [Allah]\u201d). \u00a0Arabic-speaking Christians sometimes bear the name \u2018Abd al-Masih<\/em> (\u201cSlave of the Messiah\u201d). \u00a0You may have noticed the closely related name of a \u201cminor\u201d Hebrew prophet, Obadiah<\/em>. \u00a0He was the \u201cservant\u201d or \u201cslave\u201d (compare obad-<\/em> to \u2018<\/em>abd<\/i>) of\u00a0Yah<\/em> (= the first syllable of the divine name Yahweh<\/em> or Jehovah<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Such compound names are inseparable.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Permit me to explain with three\u00a0examples:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 1. \u00a0Gamal Abdel Nasser<\/em>, the leader\u00a0of Egypt until his death in 1970, was typically referred to in the American press as President Nasser<\/em> or, simply, as\u00a0Nasser<\/em>. \u00a0More accurately, his name was Gamal \u2018Abd al-Nasir<\/em>. \u00a0(Gamal<\/em> represents the Cairene Egyptian pronunciation of the standard Arabic word jamal<\/em>, meaning \u201cbeauty.\u201d) \u00a0\u2018Abd al-Nasir<\/em> means \u201cSlave of the Victor [i.e., of God].\u201d \u00a0Abdel<\/em> and Nasser<\/em> aren\u2019t the Egyptian president\u2019s middle and last names. \u00a0They are one<\/em> name. \u00a0On its own, Abdel<\/em> (= \u2018Abd al-<\/em>) means simply \u201cslave of the.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s an incomplete thought. \u00a0And anybody familiar with President Nasser\u2019s biography (which prominently includes the disastrous Six-Day War with Israel) won\u2019t easily confuse him with God the Victor.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Kareem Abdul-Jabbar<\/em> was a great basketball player for the UCLA Bruins, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Los Angeles Lakers. \u00a0I sometimes heard him referred to as, simply,\u00a0Jabbar<\/em>. \u00a0But, again, Jabbar<\/em> is a divine name. \u00a0It means \u201comnipotent.\u201d \u00a0Kareem, who was Lew Alcindor<\/em> before his conversion to Islam, is \u2018abd al-jabbar<\/em>, \u201cslave of the Omnipotent One.\u201d \u00a0And, just for the record, although he was a remarkably good basketball player I myself can testify that he sometimes missed free throws.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Finally,\u00a0back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the FBI ran a sting operation (called ABSCAM) that netted the convictions of, among others, one member of the United States Senate and six members of the House of Representatives \u2014 all but one of them Democrats, I\u2019m happy to say. \u00a0To carry it out, the Bureau set up a phony Arab company called Abdul Enterprises<\/em>. \u00a0Now, though, you know enough about Arabic naming practices to realize that this corporate name was very fishy. \u00a0Would a native speaker of Arabic really call his company Slave-of-the Enterprises<\/em>? \u00a0Heck, even one of the two fictional shaykhs behind the supposed firm was named Kambir Abdul Rahman (\u201cKambir, Slave of the Merciful\u201d).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Can you now see the practical benefits of learning Arabic? \u00a0You<\/em> would never have fallen for the ABSCAM sting.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 I repeat a few words about Arabic\/Islamic names that I hope some will find helpful. \u00a0 There are certain basic elements. \u00a0For instance, there is the kunya, an honorific given to married parents that includes the name of their eldest son. \u00a0The father of Yusuf (\u201cJoseph\u201d) would thus be known as Abu Yusuf, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[198,66,2950,2583,4462,3865,3862],"class_list":["post-72601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arabic","tag-islam","tag-islamic","tag-names","tag-naming-conventions","tag-onomasticon","tag-onomastics"],"yoast_head":"\n