Monday, March 31, 2008

Names

When I was young, I always wished I had a cool name. One with a "Z" in it. "Z" names always sounded cool, they sounded razzy, snazzy. Or thats what it seemed anyway. My cousin had a Z name and he always seemed to get comments about the cool name. I once heard of a guy named Shane (well thats how it was pronounced - in actual fact it was Shaheen). How did this Muslim guy get a cool (read: white?) name like that? His parents must have been pretty cool.

My name on the other hand sounded like a smelly herb. Khalik. Khalik - Garlic, get it? AlhamdulilLah when I discovered my Islam in university (thanks largely to the Malay students with whom I spent a lot of time with), I discovered that my name is really quite cool. Abdul-Khalik, pronounced 'abdul-Khaaliq. Servant of the Creator. And my parents actually registered the whole name with the hyphen and all. May Allah reward them for choosing a name which reflects my (and our all) station with my Lord. We are all servants of our Creator. I am glad therefore and I praise Allah Almighty for giving me a name that reminds me of Him, and not of snazz, razz and sometimes even jazz.

Alhamdulillahi Rabb al-Alamin.