The things that go into a name in these parts
Pakistan is a country of crores of people and everyone in it has a name, but there has been no research to understand the philosophy behind naming barring Anne Marie Schimmel’s ‘Islamic names’ and Richard Temple’s ‘Dissertation on the proper names of Punjabis.’ Dr Tariq Rahman’s ‘Names – study of personal names, identity and power in Pakistan’ fills this void.
As name is important for every individual therefore there are several books of children’s names in the markets but more are inspired by Wahabism
Litterateurs like Shakespeare would say “What is in a name? That which we call rose by any other name would smell as sweet” whereas philosophers, as usual, will disagree about the logic behind giving names to people. Some argue that names are just labels to make objects recognisable but the Greek philosophers disagreed by arguing that names are words and words have ‘essential meanings of their own.’ Pakistanis go a step further because they think that a name can actually be the reflection of a person’s personality.
A study of Pakistani names which seems simple is actually quite complex and educative. Through names people construct their identities and perceptions as to how others should view them. A name in Pakistan may have more than one word and all or one of these words is meant to authenticate the Islamic or ethnic or caste identity of the person. Some families have traditionally dominated power structures and their family names are retained to command high status in the society whereas other families have enjoyed respectable social status such as the ‘Syeds’ who trace their lineage to the Prophet (PBUH) of Islam so by the words ‘Syed’ or ‘Shah’ in the name, people try to attain ‘ashrafisation’. Names of historical religious significance are used to emphasise the Islamic and Muslim identity of the bearer of the name. That is why ‘Muhammad’, the name of the Muslims’ Prophet (PBUH) is the most popular name followed by ‘Ali’ (AS), the name of his cousin and son-in-law. Another reason why certain historically religious names are very popular in Pakistan is because of Ahadith in which Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) advised Muslims to keep his name as well as ‘the names dearest to Allah’ such as Abdullah and Abdur Rahman (p36). The other most popular names among the Pakistani males across both the Sunnis and the Shia are the names of the ‘Ahl-i-Bayt’, the Prophet’s (PBUH) family which include Fatima (AS) and her sons Hassan (AS) and Hussain (AS) whereas the most popular names among the Pakistani females are Fatima (AS), Amna (RA) and Ayesha (RA).
By analysing the data he collected for this research, the author has been able to discern three trends in the selection of names from 1940s up to 2000 AD i.e. Islamisation, Arabisation, and the quest for novelty.
Over time, there has been a drift from Persianisation to Arabisation of names. Since 1990s, there has been a clear inclination towards Islamisation of names. One explanation can be that people generally think that a name has a religious significance and there is an agreement among the Barelvi, Deobandi and Ahle-Hadith ulema that “names also have an effect on the personality.” (p32)
In Pakistan, over 65 percent of the new born babies are named by the father’s side. Male offspring is the coveted choice in the society
Some Barelvi ulema hold that they advise change of name if the meaning is bad. For example, ‘Javed’ which means the ‘one who lives forever’ is considered presumptuous because no one is immortal whereas the Deobandi ulema feel that as “all things come from God so names cannot be inauspicious.” (p32)
Names are important for every individual. Therefore there are several books of children’s names in the markets but most are inspired by Wahabism. Certain books prohibit all those names that do not have an Islamic component. Some names such as ‘Parvez’ are outlawed by the ulema because the Iranian monarch Parvez tore up Prophet’s (PBUH) letter when it was presented to him. Some people confided to the author in interviews that they changed their names on the instructions of their madrasah teachers. For example, one Mohammad Akbar changed his name when he was made aware that it meant ‘Mohammad the great’ whereas only God could be great. (p45) The author thinks that such a strict approach towards names is owing to the ascendant Saudi/Wahabi influence in Pakistan and adds that some time back the Saudi government banned about fifty names which it believed were against “the culture and religion of the kingdom.” (p45) The author highlighted that among the banned names were surprisingly Abdul Nabi and Abdul Rasool (both mean slave of the messenger) as well as Basmala (with the name of God), Iman (faith) and Nabiyya (female messenger or prophetess). (p45)
The author thinks that names have also been used by some people as a strategy to assert their Islamist and sectarian expression during the last two decades. For example, names like Muawiya and Yazid which could not be found among the names of 1940s/50s are present among the names since the 1990s despite the fact that the word ‘Yazid’ had become a term of abuse among the Muslims of South Asia (p53). As both the names – Yazid and Muawiya — hurt the sensibilities of the Shia therefore they are an anathema for them. The non-Shia have a different take on these two names. The Barelvi and Ahle Hadith ulema acknowledged that the name of Yazid was a metaphor of oppression but felt that “the name of Muawiya is quite justified,” whereas the Deobandi ulema are of the view that “Hazrat Ameer Muawiya was a sahabi and it is blasphemous to disrespect his name. And even Yazid defied the Christians; there is nothing wrong with his name.” (p49)
During the partition of the Indian subcontinent, many innocent people were killed in the communal frenzy because of their names. The last few years witnessed incidents of sectarian frenzy in the country due to which people were killed in cold blood just because they had Shia names such as Ali, Hassan and Hussain, notwithstanding the fact that these names are also kept by the Sunnis. The danger for Sunnis being also killed if they have one of the above mentioned three names being a component of their names was highlighted by a Sunni Baloch journalist whose name was Hussain: “I should not be simply murdered for my parents’ short-sightedness for not foreseeing that 30 years later this name could get their child killed.” This is serious stuff about names yet there are some lighter aspects as well.
In Pakistan, over 65 percent of the new born babies are named by the father’s side. Male offspring is the coveted choice in the society. If a couple had several daughters then one of them is at times named ‘Bushra’ or ‘Saba’ which means good tidings in the hope that the next child born will be male. In the villages of Punjab, sometimes a girl is named ‘bhiravan’ (literally brothers) in the hope to procure a male child. Often, a child is given the name to keep the memory of the ancestors alive. In some instances, if the eldest child is male, he is given a female name to save him from the evil eye. The case in point is the name of Shamim Saifullah Khan, the former principal of Aitchison College, Lahore, who was given the female name ‘Shamim’ which means ‘breeze’ to save him from the evil eye. In a few cases, children are given disgusting or negative names such as ‘Khairati’ (of charity) which shows that on being born the child was given to a ‘faqir’ and then begged back in charity.
Dr Tariq Rehman deserves commendation for conducting such a fascinating research on the Muslim names in Pakistan but readers owe a greater debt to his better half Rehana who spared Rs150, 000 — (pxiii) from her personal savings to enable her husband to conduct this research and promote the cause of scholarship in Pakistan. The author is lucky because there are several scholars whose wives are not so generous in this regard.
(The writer is an academic and journalist. He can be reached at[email protected])
