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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Advice to those who name their children with Western and strange names

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Question:
May Allah keep you safe. This is Abu 'Abdullah from al-Hafar al-Batin. He says: Honorable Shaykh, what is the guidance from your eminence for those who name their children with Western and strange names at the same time?

Answer:
It is recommended to beautify names by choosing a good name for one's children, because a good name has an effect on the one named. It is forbidden to name one's children 'Abd al-Husayn or 'Abd al-Rasul, as this is making a slave of someone other than Allah the Exalted, and it is forbidden. As Imam Ibn Hazm (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "They agreed on the prohibition of every name that makes a slave of someone other than Allah, except 'Abd al-Muttalib." So it is not forbidden to name children by making them slaves to someone other than Allah the Exalted. It is recommended to beautify names. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "The best of names are 'Abdullah and 'Abd al-Rahman."
He makes him a slave to Allah the Exalted. Likewise, he does not name him with disliked names, he does not name him with disliked names that the ear recoils from, because this is a wrong to the one named. It is forbidden to name him with the names of the devils, and also with non-Arabic names that have a bad meaning; he does not name him with them. As for non-Arabic names that do not have a bad meaning, there is no harm in naming with them, because names are not exclusive to the disbelievers; they are shared. So he names him with a good name, and chooses to make him a slave to Allah the Exalted, such as 'Abdullah, 'Abd al-Rahman, 'Abd al-'Aziz, and so on, or Muhammad, or Salih, or any name that carries a good meaning. Yes.
Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 6474- نصيحة لمن يسمي أولاده بأسماء غربية وغريبة - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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