Back to search

Is it polytheistic to call people by names from among Allah's Most Beautiful Names, bearing in mind that some Companions and Imams were named with names such as "Malik" and "Wahhab"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The names of Allah Almighty, in terms of their exclusivity to Him, are divided into two categories: names exclusive to Him that are not applied to anyone else, such as "Allah" and "Ar-Rahman," and it is forbidden to name humans with them. The second category consists of names that are not exclusive to Him and may be applied to humans and used for naming, such as "Sami'" (All-Hearing) and "Basir" (All-Seeing). There is no harm in being named "Malik" (King/Owner) or similar names, and it does not necessitate the addition of "Abd" (servant of) before it. Similarly, calling "Abdul-Hakeem" by "Hakeem" is permissible. It is not permissible to accuse Muslims of Shirk (polytheism) or Kufr (disbelief) without verification. As for the name "Wahhabis," it is a label given by the enemies of the da'wah (call/preaching) of Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and no one calls himself by it.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy