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Is it permissible to diminutive the name "Abd al-Ilah" to "Ulayhi" by analogy with the diminutivization of "Abd al-Malik" to "Mulayki"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is permissible to diminutive the first part of a genitive construct name, such as "Ubayd al-Aziz" (a diminutive of Abd al-Aziz) and "Ubayd al-Rahman" (a diminutive of Abd al-Rahman). However, it is forbidden to diminutive the second part (the mudaf ilayhi or genitive complement) if it is one of the names of Allah the Almighty. If a diminutive name is coined from both the mudaf and mudaf ilayhi, there is no harm, such as saying "Uzyz" (a diminutive of Aziz) and "Duhaym" (a diminutive of Abd al-Rahman). Sheikh Ibn Baz issued a fatwa permitting diminutivizing names, whether they are 'Abd-names' (names beginning with 'Abd', meaning 'servant of') or others, as long as the person does not dislike it, in which case it would fall under mocking with nicknames. Sheikh Al-Khudair also issued a fatwa permitting coining and diminutivizing names as long as it does not involve diminutivizing the names of Allah. As for the name "Abd al-Malik," it is permissible to say "Mulayk" (a diminutive of Malik) or "Malooki." However, for the name "Abdullah," it is not permissible to say "Aloohi" (a diminutive of Allah) due to the offensiveness of the word and because divinity (uluhiyyah) is exclusively for Allah the Almighty.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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