What's with the name?

I was resting on the patient bed when suddenly my husband said, "Assalamu’alaikum". He entered the room. My bed was at the middle. On my right there’s skinny lady who just had her c-section that night before. Nobody accompanied her. Not long after that her bed filled with her relatives. I guess they were from Negeri Sembilan from the way they talked to each other. *Derang gelak tak hengat kawan yang sakit tu. Dah la nak jalan pun kena pegang perut. Pray that I won’t experience c-sect in my life, insyaAllah, ameennn!*. There's an empty bed on my left. They asked me where's my baby. I told them that she was in another hospital.

I felt disturbed by the sounds of people talking loudly but at the same time trying to calm myself down. I tried to divert my attention to something else. My husband brought 2 books. I couldn’t remember the title of one of them. Another one was babies’ name book. Honestly, we haven’t selected any name for our 3rd child! No.. I'm not that kinda person who excited to give name to unborn baby, who set his/her name early.

I could switch my brain part easily. From being disturbed by the sound of people talking, to browsing the book. I reminded my husband that this time was his turn to give name to our little princess. I would only give my opinion whether I liked it or not. First criteria - easy to pronounce. Second - it must have no word as below. Third - it should be short *kang panjang² panggil Ela, Awa, Nen jugak. Contoh je la. Tak de kena-mengena dengan yang telah mati atau pun masih hidup :P*. First he chose – Safiyah.

"Sod is not easy to pronounce la dear. Later on the meaning would be different if we pronounce it wrongly". No.. no….. no ﻉ (such as for 'Ali, Fu'ad, 'Adil), no ﺙ (such as Athir), no ﺹ (such as Safiyah), no ﻕ (such as Khair, AfiQ), no ﻁ (such as Tahir), no ﺽ (such as Afdal), no ﺥ (such as Akhtar), no ﺡ (such as Hamidah) no pleasee.... *cerewetnyeeee*. I believe that old generation, and even us, would face difficulties in pronouncing names with those words. For example 'Ali. The correct way to pronounce it is by pressing the word 'Ain and not Alif *salah sebut makna lari beb. Makhraj kena betul. Apa yang kita panggil bakal jadi doa pada si anak*.

Rasullullah saw bersabda maksudnya:

"Sesungguhnya kamu akan diseru pada hari kiamat dengan nama-nama kamu, dan nama-nama bapa kamu, maka indahkan nama kamu itu" (HR Abu Daud)

"Namakanlah dengan nama para Nabi, dan nama yang paling Allah sukai ialah nama Abdullah dan Abdurrahman, dan nama yang paling benar ialah Harith dan Humaam, dan nama yang paling buruk ialah Harb dan Murrah" (HR Abi Wahab al-Jasyimi)

Later my husband chose Syafiah. "Syafiah.. Syafiah..", I spoke slowly to myself. Piece of cake, easy to pronounce. Let's look at the meaning – 'penawar (not knowing that later she'd be an antidote to herself and her family), yang memadai'. Frankly, I have difficulties in pronouncing it first few days! I don’t know why.

Yesterday while browsing for Jawi converter, I've found an interesting fact about her name. It's one of Rasulullah's (pbuh) wives' names! Her complete name was Shafiyyah (different way to write. The important thing is pronunciation in Arab) binti Huyay bin Akhtab bin Sa’yah bin Amir bin Ubaid bin Kaab bin al-Khazraj bin Habib bin Nadhir bin al-Kham bin Yakhurn dari keturunan Harun bin Imra. She was a Jews (her father was one of the leader for Bani Nadhir) before converting to Islam and got married to Rasulullah pbuh. Her interesting story could be read here.

When I was in Q-dees I've found a lot of students with the name of Danish, Danial, Adam, Ammar, Haikal, for example. Danish Danial, Danial Haikal, Ammar Haikal, Adam Fareeq, Adam Harith. These names are so common nowadays. They sound so sweet but it's a bit hard to memorize their similar names and to recognize their faces. I couldn't imagine how they'd be remembered in primary school where there are a lot more students!

And with no exception, our son – Adam. But Adam has only one name and he'd be in front of others as his name start with AD *ada lagi ke mak pak nak letak AB sekarang ni? Yes.. I've known one i.e. Abdullah Syaakir!*. I'll consider Nuh, Hud, Huda, Hana, Mu'adz ('Ain, but I just love this name.. entah kenapa. Sebelum saya suka penyanyi Mu'adz tu lagi. Mu'adz adalah salah seorang sahabat Nabi saw juga) for my next child!! *berangan tak abih aku ni!!

So, what is your criteria in choosing your kid's name? Mind to share... ?