New Convert: Should I change my name to a Muslim name?

Generally, the names of Muslims have positive or sublime meanings, and may serve as the basis for developing one’s identity and personality. Some Muslim children may be named after important persons in Muslim history, such as the Prophets, their companions and relatives, or successful leaders, scientists, or poets. Other names may reflect an attribute of God, with the prefix Abd (servant) designating the named person, as in Abd al-Rahman, “servant of the Most Merciful”. Still other names may imply a characteristic, such as patience. Having an Arabic name, however, is not required by Muslims, nor is it a prerequisite for one who decides to become Muslim. In fact, many Muslims have non-Arabic names, such as Jennifer (English), Shabnam (Persian), and Serpil (Turkish).


Muslim converts are perfectly entitled to keep their name as long as the name does not carry polytheistic connotations, and is a dignified, respectable name. There is no problem with keeping their birth name.


Why is adopting a Muslim name so important upon conversion?

Two important reasons are given below, but otherwise, adopting a Muslim name is not necessary.

· For the sake of identification as a Muslim
· When a Muslim wants to enter Makkah and Madinah to perform Hajj or Umrah, he has to produce documents to show that he is a Muslim as Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter these cities.

Can converts retain their previous names?

Yes he/she certainly can do so. Here are examples of names of people who have converted:
Hassan Guy Eaton previously known as Guy Eaton, Ruke Aldeen Smith, Aisha Gouverneur, Abdel Rashid Skinner, Ahmed Holt, Murad Aldeen, Ibrahim Hewitt, Ahmad Bullock, Ahmed Thomson, Jodi Anway, Mohammadzadeh, Susan Elsayyad, Jamilah Kolocotronis Jitmoud
Islam emphasizes that Muslims should have good names and give good names to their children. It is reported in a hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "You will be called on the Day of Resurrection by your names and the names of your fathers, so have good names." (Reported by Abu Dawud)


During the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when people used to accept Islam, he would not require all people to change their names. He used to change only those names that carried wrong meanings or un-Islamic ideas and concepts. The Prophet's wife `A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said about the Prophet, "He used to change bad names." (Reported by at-Tirmidhi)


For instance, `Umar had a daughter whose name was "`Asiyah" (meaning disobedient or rude). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) changed her name to "Jamilah" (the Beautiful- see Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith no. 4301) Abu Dawud has mentioned many names of people and places that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) changed because they had bad meanings. (see Hadith no. 4305) Imam al-Bukhari mentioned that Sa`id ibn al-Musayyib said that when his grandfather came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the Prophet asked him about his name. He said, "Hazn" (meaning Hard). The Prophet said, "You are Sahl. (meaning soft, easy)." The man said, "I do not want to change the name that my father gave me." His grandson Sa`id used to regret and say afterwards that they kept on experiencing the hardness in their family. (Reported by al-Bukhari)


One can only change one's own name, but one cannot change the family name or name of one's parents, unless they are alive and accept the change. So the new Muslims should change their first names, if they contain wrong or bad meanings. As far as their last names are concerned they should not be changed, because it is also forbidden in Islam to take the name of someone other than one's own biological father. Allah says in the Qur'an, "Proclaim their real parentage. That will be more equitable in the sight of Allah. And if you do not know their fathers, then they are your brothers in the faith…" (Al-Ahzab: 5)


References:

1. http://www.themodernreligion.com/convert/islam_conversion_main.htm
2. http://www.islamawareness.net/Names/names_fatwa003.html

What is the ruling on so-called test-tube babies?

Praise be to Allaah.

This matter has been studied by the Islamic Fiqh Council (Majma’ al-Fiqh al-Islami), who issued the following statement:

One: The following five methods are forbidden according to sharee’ah. They are forbidden either in and of themselves, or because of their consequences such as mixing lineages, not knowing who the child’s mother is, or other reasons that are objectionable according to sharee’ah.

1. When fertilization takes place between sperm taken from the husband and an egg taken from a woman who is not his wife, then the embryo is placed in his wife’s womb.

2. When fertilization takes place between sperm taken from a man who is not the husband, and an egg taken from the wife, then the embryo is placed in the womb of the wife.

3. When fertilization is done externally between the sperm and egg of the couple, then the embryo is placed in the womb of a woman who volunteers to carry it (“surrogate motherhood”).

4. When fertilization is done externally between the sperm of a man who is not the husband and the egg of a woman who is not the wife, then the embryo is placed in the womb of the wife.

5. When fertilization is done externally between the sperm and egg of the two spouses, then the embryo is placed in the womb of another wife (of the husband).

Two: The sixth and seventh methods are acceptable as a last resort in cases of necessity, when it is certain that all necessary precautions have been taken. These two methods are:

6. When the sperm is taken from the husband and an egg is taken from the wife, fertilization is done externally, then the embryo is planted in the womb of the wife.

7. When the sperm of the husband is taken and injected into a suitable place in the cervix or womb of the wife so that fertilization may take place internally.

Other reservations that pose a concern in this matter include: the uncovering of the woman’s ‘awrah and most private parts; the possibility of mistakes in the laboratory; the possibility that some weak-minded people in some hospitals may breach their trust and deliberately switch eggs or sperm in order to make the operation a success and earn more material gains. So we have to be extremely cautious when dealing with this matter. And Allaah knows best.

Al-Majma’ al-Fiqhi, p. 34. (http://www.islam-qa.com/)

Islam briefly.....

The basic belief in Islam is the Oneness and Incomparability of God the Lord of Creation. Except for God, everything else is part of Creation. Islam teaches that only God has the right to be worshipped. Worshipping others whether they be Prophets, angels, sages or saints is a grave sin. Muslims are however not allowed to revile other objects of worship. In Islam, any good action is considered part of worship.

A Muslim is one who submits to the Will and Laws of God in order to establish peace within himself, his family, society and the world. The revelations that Prophet Muhammad received from God is collectively called the Quran. It collates and restates the wisdom of past revelations to Messengers of God who were sent to people living in different parts of the world at different times in history. Muslims learned how to worship God through the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. To believe in Prophet Muhammad is to believe in all the Prophets and Messengers of God who preceded him. Muslims also believe that Prophet Muhammad is the last of the mighty chain of Prophets and Messengers of God.

For many centuries from the eighth century C.E. onwards, Muslims demonstrated a creative and innovative zeal by, categorically speaking, holding the torch of civilisation and balanced science and knowledge. They believed that humanity has reached a stage where humankind should be mature enough to relate God’s Guidance to new situations, new forms of knowledge, new discoveries and to science and technology.

There are five fundamental principles of Islam. They are:

• There is nothing worthy of worship but God and that Muhammad is the Prophet of God
• Praying five times a day
• Fasting from dawn to dusk during the month of Ramadan. This is to teach self-restraint, empathy for the poor and hungry and enables one to shun vices and enhance one’s humanitarianism and spirituality
• Paying the social welfare (obligatory) tax on wealth known as Zakat
• Performing the pilgrimage to the House of God, “Ka’bah” in Mecca, if able to do so.


Islam is also a religion of peace and the Prophet has said that Muslims should pray daily (constantly) for world peace. Islam only allows wars in self-defence and to help a community that appeals for help against oppression. All forms of aggression are otherwise strictly prohibited. When the earlier Muslims had to defend themselves they did so ethically by not resorting to scorching the earth policy, damaging the environment, destroying crops, mutilating bodies, attacking non-combatants, women, children or monks.

Position of Women in Islam

Islam considers both man and woman as equals. God only accepts taqwa or piety as the criteria for merit. Islam values marriages and encourages family life. Monogamy is the norm while polygamy is allowed under difficult or special circumstances. A Muslim woman also retains her maiden name after marriage and is free to enter into contracts in her own name.

Today, Muslims form the majority in more than 50 countries. Muslims also have their own collective organisation known as the Organisation of Islamic Conference (O.I.C).

In Singapore, Muslims form 15 percent of the population and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore is responsible for the religious affairs of the Muslims such as administrating more than 70 mosques, Islamic schools (“madrasahs”) and endowments (“waqaf”).


Source: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/PE/FOF_2003/religions_islam.html

Is Islam intolerant of other religions?

Myth: Islam is intolerant of other religions because

the Qur'an condemns the other religions as false

The Creator has taught us in the Qur'an and Sunnah that all other `religions' and ways of life are unacceptable to Him if a person is aware of Islam. The Qur'an states (translation),

"And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers."[3:85]

However, even though the Creator has clearly specified that no other way of life is acceptable to Him except Islam (i.e. submission to Him as embodied in the Qur'an and Sunnah), He has also commanded the Muslims to be tolerant of people who espouse other creeds. From the Sunnah, specifically in the study of the Sunnah called Al-Awsat by Al-Tabarani, we find regarding those non-Muslims living in the Islamic state,

The Messenger of Allah (saas) said, "One who kills a non-Muslim person under protection (Arabic: dhimmi) will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise."

Also from the Sunnah, specifically in a report from Al-Khatib, we find that the Messenger of Allah (saas) also said:

Whoever hurts a non-Muslim person under protection, I am his adversary, and I shall be an adversary to him on the Day of Resurrection.

In short, Islam is intolerant of false ideas, however it is tolerant of the people who hold to those ideas. One historical example of Muslims living up to the standard of Islam can be found from the time of the Spanish Inquisition. During that disaster sprung by misguided Catholics, some Spanish Jews fled to Muslim Turkey and to this day, there is a community of Spanish-speaking Jews in Turkey. Another example may be found during one of the Crusader invasions from Western Europe. Some of the the Catholic Western European knights were so likely to rape, murder, and pillage the Jews and Orthodox Christians, that when the Muslims won, they were treated as a liberating force by those non-Muslims.

The dealings of the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, with other religions can best be described in the verse of the Quran:

“To you be your religion, to me be mine.”

The Arabian Peninsula during the time of the Prophet was a region in which various faiths were present. There were Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, polytheists, and others not affiliated with any religion. When one looks into the life of the Prophet, one may draw on many examples to portray the high level of tolerance shown to people of other faiths.

Marmaduke Pickthall, whose translation of the meanings of the Qur'an remains one of the most popular today, also commented on the subject:

In Spain under the Umayyads and in Baghdad under the Abbasid Khalifas, Christians and Jews, equally with Muslims, were admitted to the Schools and universities - not only that, but were boarded and lodged in hostels at the cost of the state. When the Moors were driven out of Spain, the Christian conquerors held a terrific persecution of the Jews. Those who were fortunate enough to escape fled, some of them to Morocco and many hundreds to the Turkish empire, where their descendants still live in separate communities, and still speak among themselves an antiquated form of Spanish. The Muslim empire was a refuge for all those who fled from persecution by the Inquisition.

The Western Christians, till the arrival of the Encyclopaedists in the eighteenth century, did not know and did not care to know, what the Muslim believed, nor did the Western Christian seek to know the views of Eastern Christians with regard to them. The Christian Church was already split in two, and in the end, it came to such a pass that the Eastern Christians, as Gibbon shows, preferred Muslim rule, which allowed them to practice their own form of religion and adhere to their peculiar dogmas, to the rule of fellow Christians who would have made them Roman Catholics or wiped them out.

If Europe had known as much of Islam, as Muslims knew of Christendom, in those days, those mad, adventurous, occasionally chivalrous and heroic, but utterly fanatical outbreak known as the Crusades could not have taken place, for they were based on a complete misapprehension.

It was not until the Western nations broke away from their religious law that they became more tolerant; and it was only when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance and other evidences of the highest culture. Before the coming of Islam it had never been preached as an essential part of religion.” (Madras Lectures on Islam)

In this age of racial profiling and targeted killings directed at Muslims this, Islam's, true attitude towards religious tolerance may sound other-worldly.

WORD For WORD: Is ‘mosque’ derived from ‘mosquito’?

In these days of paranoia, one hears Muslims say that the English word “mosque” should be laid aside because it has been derived from “mosquito”. Nothing could be farther from the truth

A reader asked from the wonderful Lahore journal “Renaissance” if the English word mosque was derived insultingly from mosquito. He had read it in a book titled “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam”.

The book said that during the Crusades, King Ferdinand of Spain had said that he would swat the Muslims like mosquitoes, and that was the origin of the word mosque, the place where the “mosquitoes” prayed.

As the title suggests the book was a spoof. The definition given there is also a spoof and anyone taking it seriously runs the risk of being an idiot. Adnan Zulfiqar of “Renaissance” gave a very appropriate reply: the word had come from Spanish mezquita meaning mosque and became current long after King Ferdinand had had his day.

The Spanish-Portuguese civilisation that confronted the Arab conquest twisted the Arab words around quite a lot. Spain saw some of the most beautiful mosques being built on its soil. The place was called masjid by the conquerors and was taken as mesquita by the locals, which is mezquita in modern Spanish.

There is something to be said about the way Arabs themselves pronounce the sound “j”. We are told that Arabic doesn’t have the “g” sound. We have two versions of the word Gilani. The Arabs will say Jilani. Golan Heights are Jolan Heights in Arabic.

But there are Arabs that naturally convert “j” into “g”. For instance, Jemal Nasser is Gemal Nasser in Egypt. How would the Egyptians say masjid? While the spelling remains the same, the word will come out masgid. That’s not difficult to convert into mesquita.

English etymology makes it clear that mosque came into English in the 17th century from Italian moschea and French mosquee. The resemblance with mosquito is accidental. Mosquito came from Spanish as a derivative of mosca (fly).

Look at what we have done to masjid in Punjabi. The word is maseet and there is classical Punjabi poetry which you can read only if you pronounce masjid as maseet. After that you can’t blame the Russians when they call it mechet.

For the Russian version you have to blame the Turks who coined their version of it as mescit. Of course the Turkish “c” has to be pronounced “j” but you can’t control how others adapt to the pronunciation. The Turks themselves convert “d” to “t” in Muslim names: Najmuddin is Necmettin.

If the Americans have an idiot’s dictionary about mosque, we too have our idiot’s dictionary saying picnic is actually pick a nigger, explaining how in the South the whites hanged blacks while having an open-air snack. The word in fact has come from French pique-nique.

The Spanish gave us another word by twisting the Arabic original. (In fact there are hundreds of such words.) The word for Muslim is moro, which is how we label the Muslims of the old Spanish-owned Philippines. The origin was Moravidun, the North African Muslim dynasty that ruled Spain.

In fact the moravids were old inhabitants of North Africa. We find the Greeks also calling them mauros, the word from which the name of the country Mauritania (and probably also Morocco) is derived. English word moor for North Africans has been applied to describe all Muslims. Morris dance in English is actually moorish dance and the dark-skinned cherry morello also comes from there. Proper name Maurice indicates origin from Africa.

From specific to generic is a natural trend in languages. Look what we did to Franks, the inhabitants of France, out on their first crusade to the Middle East. We made Farangi out of Frank in Persian and then applied farangi to all white men, including the British. Farang is not France but all the West. *

- Khaled Ahmed

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-2-2003_pg3_7

Halal vs Haram

The Problem is not Islam

There is a misperception in the west that Islam promotes terror, women repression and backward thinking. I don’t blame westerners for viewing Islam the way Muslims portrayed it; I blame Muslims for misbehaving in the name of Islam. There has never been a greater enemy to Islam than Muslims themselves; Muslims misrepresented Islam and made it look like that.

I believe that one of the lessons that a lot of people missed, is that religion evolves. Two examples to point out; first, Muslims believe in all prophets from Abraham to Mohammed - including Moses and Jesus - and the revelations given to them by the one God (Allah). We know that it’s all about good and evil, and we also know that the rules and guidelines changed – or to be more specific, increased - from one prophet to the next depending on the circumstances, but why? Since God knows everything, the rules and guidelines could have been given more or less the same to all of them! But the rules change with time and depending on the circumstances; i.e. they evolve.

Second example is alcohol. God banned alcohol in stages; first, Muslims were not allowed to pray while drunk; but then after that rule was broken, God forbidden alcohol. It could have been easily banned in the first revelation; but it had to evolve. These are clear indications that Islam - or any religion for that matter – should evolve, as long as it doesn’t offend God (Allah).

It’s all about interpretation! The rules and guidelines can be interpreted differently, as we have different sectors within Islam that have different interpretations, depending on the way it’s been look at and who looked at it. Therefore, these rules and guidelines should also be interpreted differently depending on the time and place.

There are three factors that contributed to Islam’s bad image:

1. Tribal culture

The tribal culture is a serious problem; albeit, many Arabs have been urbanized, their culture is derived from the tribal culture, especially when it comes to women and honour. Women were repressed before Islam; but many were also repressed after Islam! The reason is not Islam, it is the tribal traditions!Islam advocated equality between human beings regardless of race and gender. But because the gender issue can be argumentative, I will say - for argument sake - that Islam differentiated between men and women; but even then, Islam undoubtedly gave women more rights than what women had anywhere else at that time - 1400 year ago - which should’ve been embraced and progressed not regressed; only tribal mentality didn’t give up all traditions that easily. Female infanticide was one of the tribal traditions that Islam prohibited!

Honour killing is not an Islamic practice, it’s a tribal tradition to preserve the honour of the tribe/family; yet many justify this act as an Islamic law! Islam does not distinguish between men and women when it comes to punishment, whether it’s for unlawful sex or any other reason. But to justify honour killing as an Islamic law, all you need to do is to look at the rules and guidelines with a tribal mentality.Therefore, it is important to differentiate between Islamic culture and the Middle East culture. For example, Islam prohibit sex before marriage for both men and women; whereas the ME culture only prohibit women! Non-Muslims in the ME are part of ME culture which is influenced by tribal culture; therefore, they consider honour - and other values - same way their Muslim neighbours consider it.

2. Fundamentalists

If you accept that Islam can be interpreted differently depending on how you look at it; then you will accept that fundamentalists can justify what they advocate! To be honest, I find it hard to understand how they justify killing innocents in the name of Islam!The problem of many fundamentalists is that they are retrogressive; now that makes all the blinded followers retrogressive too. They either look back at the Caliphate's era or the Prophet’s era, and they dream of making today look like centuries ago! Therefore, their actions and interpretations are not of today, but of centuries ago. For example, Wahhabists want to make today’s world look like the Prophet’s era, they want to make it look like 1400 years ago and they don’t want to move on!

There is no need for me to talk about the roots and reasons for terrorism as it is irrelevant to this subject; however, what is relevant is the damage caused by terrorism. Terrorism damaged Islam and Muslims more than anything else; the impact of 9/11 on the Muslim community around the world was gigantic; Muslims became target of racism and hatred; Westerners looked at them differently after that day; Islam became a feared religion, a religion that export terrorism and oppress women! And I don’t blame westerners because they love their freedom and democracy and want to protect it, I blame the fundamentalists and their followers who don’t want to evolve!

3. Leaders of Muslim countries

Most of the leaders don’t care about Islam more than they care about their own people! However, what they care about is the chair and for that they need to justify their existence, the emergency laws, the oppression, etc; and what can do the job better than pro-Arabism, anti-Imperialism and anti-Zionism!Pro-Arabism, anti-Imperialism and anti-Zionism, that sounds like the Islamic fundamentalists agenda! Exactly! They have the same agenda and for their survival, they have to encourage the retrogressive fundamentalists! Could that backfire?Furthermore, they persecute, oppress, torture and unjustly kill their own people; women - and human - rights are appalling; justice is merely a tool used to protect themselves and Islam is the excuse!

I think history repeats itself; I always compare the Arab Muslim world today with the European Christian world few centuries back, i.e. in the Middle Ages. The Church was powerful then, and later were in a power struggle with the state; but what happened when the church was powerful? Were there any human - and women - rights? How about anti-Semitism? What about justice? Sort of similar to what we have now in the Muslim world! We are just few centuries behind! But it looks like we are catching up.

Islam is being abused by Muslims and that’s why it has a bad image. Justice for Muslims and Islam would be served best if we get rid off tyranny, fundamentalism and tribal mentality and replace them with secularism, freedom and democracy.

Ahmad Wednesday, March 30, 2005
http://iraqiexpat.blogspot.com/