Prophet Muhammad's family and early leaders of Islam:
Muammad--means praised, commendable Khadiija--Prophet's first wife cAli--Prophet's son-in-law--means lofty or exalted Faaima--Prophet's daughter, married to cAli cAa'isha--one of Prophet's wives--means prosperous asan--Prophet's grandson, son of cAli --beautiful, handsome usayn--Prophet's grandson, son of cAli --little beauty cUmar--second Caliph-(succeeder to Prophet Muammad as leader of Islamic community) cUthmaan--third Caliph Bilaal--first Muezzin (caller of Muslims to daily prayers)
Peoples' names based on Names of God
Another class of Muslim names is based on the names of God in Arabic. Allah means The God--The same God whom Jews and Christians worship
The 99 Names of God--called The Most Beautiful Names--have to do with God's many attributes: such as, All-Seeing, All-Knowing, All-Powerful We do this as well--example we say "The Almighty" to refer to God
cAbd--is an Arabic word meaning servant or slave
Not all of the 99 names of God are used as names for people. Some of the most popular ones are:
cAbd Allah --Servant of God cAbd al-cAziiz --Servant of The Almighty cAbd al-Ramaan --Servant of The Merciful cAbd al-Raiim --Servant of The Compassionate cAbd al-akiim --Servant of The Wise cAbd al-Kariim --Servant of The Generous cAbd al-Jabbaar --Servant of The Compeller cAbd al-Majiid --Servant of The Glorious cAbd al-Malik --Servant of The King, The Ruler of All cAbd al-Qaadir --Servant of The All-Powerful
There is no such name as "Abdul" by itself--it would mean "servant of the.....", that is, "Abdul" would be only half a name...
As first names, these are all for males, but they can be used as last names for anyone. In fact, many Arab names can be used as both first and last names. This is partly because many Arabs take their father's first name as their own last name.
You may also hear the words Abu, Umm, Ibn, or Bint in people's names. Abu means father, Umm means mother, Ibn means son, and Bint means daughter. So if a man is named Muammad, you would call his father Abu Muammad and his mother Umm Muammad. You would call his son Ibn Muammad, and his daughter is Bint Muammad.
When Arab women get married, they usually keep their own family name.
