Addressing a Person as Rahman
Posted: 2 Jamad-u-Thani 1423, 11 August 2002
| Q.) Is it ok to call a person “Rahman”, or must one say “Abdurrahman” ? [Nadia Asad] |
A.) Rahman is the sole quality of Allah. It is not permissible to call a person only by the name Rahman. He should be called, ‘Abdul-Rahmaan’. And Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Albalagh Note: Rahman is a name of Allah. So just like we cannot refer to a person named Abdullah as Allah, similarly we cannot refer to a person named Abdurrahman as Rahman. Or a person named Abdulwahab as Wahab. These are very common but serious mistakes that are committed out of ignorance. On the other hand a person named Abdurrahim can be called Rahim, because Rahim is not the sole quality of Allah. (The Qur’an itself uses it to refer to Prophet Muhammad 
).