50 Names Banned by Law in Saudi Arabia
- Publish date: Sunday، 05 December 2021
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If you deliver a baby in Saudi Arabia today, you will have to be careful about naming him/her. The Saudi interior ministry has issued a list of 50 names that are banned from naming, and according to local newspapers, the names contradict the Islamic and traditional culture of the country.
In this context, the “Gulf News” mentioned that these names fall under three main categories; names that contradict with or offend Islam, names that are associated with royalty, and ones that have a non-Arab or non-Muslim origin.
فيديو ذات صلة
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It is also noticed that some of the names on the list do not fall under any of these three categories; rather, they have been justified by the ministry as “inappropriate.” This makes the matter up for interpretations. For example, Benjamin is the name of prophet Jacob’s (Yaqoub) son according to the Islamic tradition. Yet, the name is banned, and when we dig deeper, we realize that it is also the name of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Thus, to what extent is this fact related to the reason it was banned?
On the other hand, some names that fall under the first category, which is offensive to Islam, are names that start with “Abd” meaning “the worshiper of” in Arabic. This word usually comes before one of God’s 99 names. Therefore, if the word after “Abd” does not refer to God, it is considered to be illegal even if it refers to the prophet.
The list of names included:
Abd Al-Ati
Abd Al-Maslah
Abd Al-Mueen
Abd Al-Nabi
Abd Al-Nasser
Abd Al-Rassul
Abrar
Al-Mamlaka
Alice
Amir
Aram
Barah
Basmla
Basseel
Bayan
Benjamin
Eline
Eynar
Gabrielle
Iman
Kebrel
Larine
Lauren
Linda
Malak
Malika
Maline
Malktina
Mamlaka
Mankhar
Maya
Nabi
Naniya
Nardine
Narine
Poland
Rama
Randa
Reelam
Rital
Sandy
Setaf
Sumu
Tabarak
Taline
Tilaj
Yara
This article was previously published on UAE Moments.To see the original article, click here