Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Question: Assalaamu alaykum,
We named our son Jibril because it is a beautiful name but recently were told that it is in fact haram to name a child by the name of an angel.
What should we do?
Answer: Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
I pray this finds you in the best of health and spirits.
1. It is permitted without disliked to name one’s children with the names of angels. Imam Nawawi mentions that this is the position of the vast majority (jumhur) of Islamic scholarship. [Nawawi, al-Majmu` Sharh al-Muhadhdhab] In fact, he states that there is almost no position of dislike authentically transmitted from recognized scholarship on this.
2. The reason for this is that there are no authentic hadiths prohibiting this, nor any clear prohibited meanings in naming one’s children with the names of angels.
3. The only texts indicating the contrary would appear to apply when there are clear negative connotations in such namings–such as when it resembles the pre-Islamic habit of considering the angels the ‘daughters of God.’
And Allah alone gives success.
wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani