Girls’ Middle and Last Names
Question:
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Respected Ulema
- Can we keep my daughter’s last name as my last name “Mohammed”?
- Can we keep my daughter’s middle name as my first name?
- Can we keep my daughter’s last name as my first name ?
جزاك الله خيراً
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum Wa-Rahmatullāhi Wa-Barakātuh.
Rasulullah ﷺ had advised the Sahabah to choose beautiful names with good meanings and would even suggest different, better names for those who had inappropriate ones. Thus, it is found in the Ahadith:
عن أبي الدرداء، قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: “إنكم تدعون يوم القيامة بأسمائكم وأسماء آبائكم فأحسنوا أسماءكم.” (أبو داود – كتاب الأدب: 4948)
On the Day of Judgment, you will surely be called by your names and by your father’s names; so, give yourselves good names.
It was customary since before the time of Rasulullah ﷺ, for children to be named with single names along with attribution to their fathers, and in some occasions, they would be attributed to their mothers with the objective of identification and preservation of the lineage. However, in the last few centuries, since identification has become the sole concern, children are named with multiple names, one of which is used to address them normally. A similar practice was also found in the previous times when wives were attributed to their husbands and slaves to their masters which was all done for the sake of identification.[1] Hence, there will be no harm in placing the middle and/or last names of the father into the daughter’s name as a means of identification.[2]
And Allah Ta’ala Knows Best.
Sibghatallah Ahmed
Student of Darul Iftaa
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Muhammad Zakariyya Desai.
[1] آپ كے مسائل لور ان كا حل (7 / 29)
س: اگر کوئی عورت اپنے نام کے ساتھ خاوند کا نام لگا ئے تو یہ کیسا ہے؟
ج: کوئی حرج نہیں، انگریزی طرز ہے.
[2] فتاوى دار العلوم زكريا (7 / 522)
عجم میں مرکب نام رکھنے کا رواج ہے جس میں ایک اسم محض اور دوسرا تمیز پیدا کرنے کے لیے بطور لقب نیک فالی کے لیے ہوتا ہے مثلا محمد اسم محض ہوگا اور یعقوب تمیز کے لیے بطور تفاول: الله تعالی کرے کہ ان کی صالح نسل چلے، اسی طرح سلطان محمد میں محمد نام اور سلطان بطور تفاول لقب ہوگا کہ الله کرے کہ اس کو غلبہ مل جائے. واللہ ﷻ اعلم.