0

I have named my baby boy "Muhammad Fatir" (Fatir from Surah-e-Fatir). Some people asked to rename him to "Abdul Fatir", as it refers to a quality of Allah.

Is it necessary to rename him "Abdul Fatir" or is the current name also good/right?

Medi1Saif
  • 45,401
  • 13
  • 76
  • 201
Adeel Ahmed
  • 1
  • 1
  • Salam and welcome to Islam SE the Q&A site about Islam. Please consider taking your time to learn more about our site and model by taking our 2 min. [tour] and checking our [help]. – Medi1Saif Nov 18 '16 at 08:41

1 Answers1

1

Even if there are scholars who considered the name al-fatir الفاطر or fatir-u as-Samawaati wa l-Ard فاطِرُ السماوات و الأرض as part of the names of Allah neither of both is quoted in the hadith of Imam at-Tirmidhi, so those scholars whom have quoted them have done Ijtihad to conclude these names as names or attributes of Allah. (see for example in wikipedia AR, EN)

Note that the only attribute which comes from Quran among this both names is فاطِر السماوات و الأرض (fatir-a as-Samawaati wa l-Ard) and here it means Creator of the heavens and the earth

Note that as ashes999 in his answer on Is naming a person using one of Allah's names allowed? quoted the alif-lam (al-, ar- , etc.) prefix is important as without it the uniqueness or emphasize of this attribute to Allah would be absent. However a few exception of this rule exists like dhu l-Jalali wa l-Ikraam ذو الجلال والإكرام ...

فاطِر Fatir isn't therefore a name which is attributed to Allah however the meaning can differ from the creator once it is related to الفاطر or creator or a person who breaks its fast or don't fast, however مُفْطِر (muftir) is a -linguistically- better attribute to describe such a person. Also in Arabic one says:

وَلَدٌ فَاطِرٌ : طَلَعَتْ نَابُهُ
A boy whom's eyetooth came out

the verb fatara فطَرَ can also mean that to split etc.

On the whole one could conclude that Fatir can be accepted as a name as well as Abdu- l-Fatir عبد الفاطر.

Community
  • 1
Medi1Saif
  • 45,401
  • 13
  • 76
  • 201
  • thank you so much for detailed guidance.

    Also I shall be grateful if you could also advise regarding naming Fatir on boy or not, as most of poeple said the name is strong and heavy and try not to name your son after this, as it's meaning is very hard/harsh and could affect boy's health/behaviour..

     – Adeel Ahmed Nov 21 '16 at 11:37
  • @AdeelAhmed this is my own opinion so you are free to take it or leave it: I've given fatwas that it is permissible. I don't really know whether a name has an influence on the characteristic of a person however we consider our son Yusuf to be handsome so maybe there's something about that and our son Omar to be "difficult". I have no clue whether about the possible influence of the name Fatir and personally I might not chose it because it is either related to creator or to a "sinful act" (at least these both meanings are the first that come to mind for an Arabic speaker). – Medi1Saif Nov 21 '16 at 12:31