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I am a Muslim alhamdullilah. My first name is "Mirza" and I am considering to change it because Mirza is the first name of the leader of qadiani movement, who was/is a blasphemer. What are the implications of having this name since birth in Islam and what If I want to change it. Just for your information, My Grandfathers first name starts with Mirza and also my father's name too (May Allah Grant Them Jannat Al Firdous and All Ahl Al Qaboor).
Is it a must to have father's name in the child's complete name too, for example, Father's name is Abdullah, so should the child name include the word Abdullah or not ?
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Praise be to Allah
Firstly:
You do not have to change your name, so long as this name is common among Muslims in your country, and does not have a reprehensible or bad meaning.
You do not have to change it even if it is similar to the name of the leader of the Qadiani movement or any other disbeliever or heretic. At the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) there were people who were mushrikeen and some of the greatest enemies of Islam, such as Abu Jahl, whose given name was ‘Amr, and ‘Uqbah ibn Abi Mu‘eet, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, al-Waleed ibn al-Mugheerah, and others. Yet despite that, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not change the names of those Sahaabah whose names were similar to the names of these evildoers and disbelievers. He did not change the name of ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him), or the name of ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas, or the name of Umayyah ibn Makhshi al-Khuzaa‘i, or the name of al-Waleed ibn al-Waleed, or many others (may Allah be pleased with them all). This is something that is very well known and such cases are too many to count.
In fact, one of the female Sahaabah was called Naa’ilah, which was the same as the name of the most famous idol of the Arabs during the Jaahiliyyah, which was set up on top of as-Safa. Yet despite that the Prophet (blessings and of Allah be upon him) did not change the names of those female Sahaabah who were called Naa’ilah. That was only because the name Naa’ilah was well known among people and was not a name given only to that idol, as was the case with Hubal, al-‘Uzza and the like. For more information, please see the answer to question no. 217829.
Secondly:
It is obligatory to attribute the son to his father, and to include with the son’s name the name of his father and family, when required, in all official papers, identity documents, and cases where it is required to prove one’s lineage and identity, and so on. The names of fathers and grandfathers should not be changed from those which are recorded and by which they are known, even if they are incorrect or reflect servitude to something other than Allah, because this may lead to loss of knowledge of lineage, severing of family ties, and the loss of people’s rights in cases of debt, inheritance and so on.
It was for this reason that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not change the names of his forefathers or the forefathers of the Sahaabah that reflected servitude to something other than Allah. They were attributed to their grandfathers and they did not feel any embarrassment because of that, just as the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to say: “I am the Prophet, no lie; I am the son of ‘Abd al-Muttalib”, even though his grandfather’s name reflected servitude to someone other than Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
It is obligatory to change a name such as ‘Abd an-Nabi (slave of the Prophet) or ‘Abd al-Ka‘bah (slave of the Ka‘bah) to a name such as ‘Abdullah (slave of Allah), ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan (slave of the Most Gracious), Muhammad, Ahmad, Saalih or other names that are Islamically acceptable. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) changed many people’s names.
But if it is the name of one’s father, if the father is still alive, then he should be told so that he can change his name. But if he is deceased, there is no need to change it, and it should be left as it is, because the Prophet did not change the name of ‘Abd al-Muttalib or other names that indicated servitude to anything other than Allah, such as (the name of his ancestor) ‘Abd Manaaf, because they were known by those names.
And Allah knows best.
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