MUHAMMAD (NAME)

Unicode "Muhammad" ligature

'Muhammad' is a common anglicized spelling of the Arabic given name مُحمد ''muḥammad'', from the root Ḥ-M-D "praise".

Contents

Etymology

History

Statistics

List of prominent people named Muhammad

First names

Patronymics

Surnames

Other

See also

References

Etymology

The name ''Muhammad'' is the transliteration of an Arabic name that comes from the Arabic passive participle from the Triconsonantal root of H-M-D ("praise"), meaning "the praised one". A strict transliteration is ''.
Other Arabic names bearing a resemblance include Mahmud, Ahmed, Hamid and al-Hamid, one of the 99 names of God meaning "The Blesser".
The name is also transliterated as '''Mohammad''', '''Mohammed''', '''Mohamed''', '''Muhammed''', '''Mahommed''', '''Mehmed''', '''Mehmet''', '''Mahomet'''^[2]. In Latin, it is '''Mahometus''' and Μωάμεθ (''Moameth'') in Greek. In Chinese, it is written as '穆罕默德'(Mùhǎnmòdé). In Russia, while the name of Muhammad the Islamic prophet is typically spelled Мухаммад (Mukhammad), as a given name among the Muslims of Russia, the most common spelling is Магомед (Magomed).
"Muhammad" itself might not be the most common transliteration, but it is the most correct among the most used.

History

A legend states that the first person named ''Muhammad'' was the Islamic prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632),^[3] however, some Muslim sources contradicts this. The Encyclopaedia of Islam states:
Ibn Ishaq's "The Life of Muhammad" includes a particular person named Muhammad that was killed in c. 570 CE, the Year of the Elephant, and who was related to the known events of that year.
During the prophet's era, men like Muhammad ibn Maslama bore the same name.
It is stated that the name was "very rare" among Arabs of that era.^[4]
The name became common among Muslims already during his generation of Muslim men, for example Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr (631–658).
The name ''Muhammad'' appears four times in the Quran, the following verses: , , and .^[5]
The hadeeth ''"The best names are those which describe one as a slave of Allaah or which are derived from the name Muhammad"'' is not sahih according to many Islamic scholars.^[6]
It has been argued that the name is related to the word "Paraclete" that is to be found in the bible.
On February 7, 1965, in the U.S., the man born as Cassius Clay became famous when he adopted Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.^[7] He thus became arguably the most known Muhammad in the U.S., and also the one to introduce the name to many people there.
In Bangladesh, the abbreviation Md is sometimes used.
On January 15, 2003, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported:
:

Statistics

Muhammad is a very popular surname, ranking 4,194 out of 88,799 for people of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census.
In May 2006, it was reported that statistics indicate that some 8,928 Danish Muslims carry the name Muhammad and that in 2004 alone, more than 167 new-born babies were registered with the prophet's name.^[10]
According to the sixth edition of ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'' (2000), Muhammad is "probably the most common given name" in the world, including variations.^[11] It is estimated that more than 15 million people in the world bear the name Muhammad.^[12]

List of prominent people named Muhammad

First names

Prominent Muhammads include:

Patronymics

Patronymics are named inherited directly after ones father.

Surnames

Surnames are family names, usually shared by everyone in the family.

Other

See also

★ Arabic name

★ Wikipedia pages beginning with "Muhammad"

References

1. Ali, Wijdan. "From the Literal to the Spiritual: The Development of Prophet Muhammad's Portrayal from 13th Century Ilkhanid Miniatures to 17th Century Ottoman Art". In ''Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art'', eds. M. Kiel, N. Landman, and H. Theunissen. No. 7, 1–24. Utrecht, The Netherlands, August 23-28, 1999, p. 7
2. This form is deprecated by Muslims - see: http://www.answering-christianity.com/umar_hassan/exact_comparison.htm
3. See Hadith of the prophecy of Muhamamd's name
4. http://www.balagh.net/english/ahl_bayt/the_message/06.htm
5. http://quranicteachings.co.uk/muhammad.htm
6. http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=72249&ln=eng
7. http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1965/february_7_1965_129443.html
8. Unless otherwise noted, figures are from http://www.name-stats.com/search.php?subject=Muhammad&submit=Search
9. http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Muhammad
10. http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=31519
11. http://www.bartleby.com/65/mu/Muhammd.html
12. http://articles.syl.com/thenamesarabicacceptandreject.html