Naming Oneself with the Servitude to Allah's Beautiful Names
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Is it permissible to name a person with any attribute or name from the names of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, such as 'Abd al-Sayyid (Servant of the Master) and the like?
The Shaykh:
There is no harm in it. One may name a person with a name from the names of Allah; this is good. However, the names most beloved to Allah are 'Abd Allah and 'Abd al-Rahman. These are the names most beloved to Allah. As for other names from the names of Allah, such as 'Abd al-Ghaffar, 'Abd al-Tahar, 'Abd al-'Aziz, and al-Karim, there is no harm in them. The important thing is that the name is established for Allah, if the evidence indicates so.
Al-Mutallib? No, but that is a pre-Islamic name, or a name from the time of Islam? It is a pre-Islamic name. Al-Mutallib was not named 'Abd Allah. Mutallib ibn Hashim brought his brother from Madinah, for his brother was the grandfather of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) from Madinah, from the Banu Najjar. When he brought his brother from Madinah, the boy was afflicted with a skin condition and became dark in complexion. They thought he was a slave, so they called him 'Abd al-Mutallib. He got the name 'Abd al-Mutallib for this reason.
Is it permissible to name a person with any attribute or name from the names of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, such as 'Abd al-Sayyid (Servant of the Master) and the like?
The Shaykh:
There is no harm in it. One may name a person with a name from the names of Allah; this is good. However, the names most beloved to Allah are 'Abd Allah and 'Abd al-Rahman. These are the names most beloved to Allah. As for other names from the names of Allah, such as 'Abd al-Ghaffar, 'Abd al-Tahar, 'Abd al-'Aziz, and al-Karim, there is no harm in them. The important thing is that the name is established for Allah, if the evidence indicates so.
Al-Mutallib? No, but that is a pre-Islamic name, or a name from the time of Islam? It is a pre-Islamic name. Al-Mutallib was not named 'Abd Allah. Mutallib ibn Hashim brought his brother from Madinah, for his brother was the grandfather of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) from Madinah, from the Banu Najjar. When he brought his brother from Madinah, the boy was afflicted with a skin condition and became dark in complexion. They thought he was a slave, so they called him 'Abd al-Mutallib. He got the name 'Abd al-Mutallib for this reason.
Source
شرح الكافية الشافية في الانتصار للفرقة الناجية [ القصيدة النونية ] [ صالح الفوزان ]، بداية من فصل : وهو الرفيق يحب أهل الرفق — islamhouse.com (1:02:51)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.