Changing the name of a disbeliever
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The first question of Fatwa No. ( 5612 )
Q1: There are often disbelievers among the residents of our country who do not perform the prayer. Some of them are guided by Allah from their disbelief to the oneness of Allah (tawhid) through listening to a sermon from a preacher, or because of the company of a righteous person. After they submit to the oneness of Allah, they go to the teachers of our country and ask the teachers to change the names they bore during their disbelief to Islamic names. I do not know whether this is obligatory or not?
A1: It is not obligatory to change the name of a disbeliever who has embraced Islam after entering the religion, unless his name is prohibited by the Shari'ah; such as 'Abd al-Yaghuth, 'Abd al-Husayn, 'Abd al-'Uzza, or 'Abd Manat. In that case, it is obligatory to change his name of shirk (associating partners with Allah) to an Islamic name, but it is not obligatory to change the names of his father or his ancestors. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q1: There are often disbelievers among the residents of our country who do not perform the prayer. Some of them are guided by Allah from their disbelief to the oneness of Allah (tawhid) through listening to a sermon from a preacher, or because of the company of a righteous person. After they submit to the oneness of Allah, they go to the teachers of our country and ask the teachers to change the names they bore during their disbelief to Islamic names. I do not know whether this is obligatory or not?
A1: It is not obligatory to change the name of a disbeliever who has embraced Islam after entering the religion, unless his name is prohibited by the Shari'ah; such as 'Abd al-Yaghuth, 'Abd al-Husayn, 'Abd al-'Uzza, or 'Abd Manat. In that case, it is obligatory to change his name of shirk (associating partners with Allah) to an Islamic name, but it is not obligatory to change the names of his father or his ancestors. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.