Is Anīsa a Ṣaḥābiyyah’s (Companion’s) Name?

Question:

Alḥamdulillāh, we have been blessed with a new baby girl. We are considering some names and were wondering if ‘Anīsa’ is a ṣaḥābiyyah’s name?

Answer:

In the Name of God, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Jazāk Allāh Khayr/ Thank you for your question. Congratulations on your new family member. May God bless her with the best of this world and the next. May she be the coolness of your eyes. Mabrūk!

The great Shāfīʾe Islamic scholar and historian, Imam Shihāb al-Dīn Abū Al-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī Al-Asqalānī has recorded, in his famous work, ‘Al-Iṣābah Fī Tamīz Al-Ṣaḥābah’, a list of at least 24 ṣaḥābiyyāat (female believers who seen the Prophet -pbuh- and passed away believing in his message) who were named ‘Anīsa’.

They are as follows:

1. Anīsa Ukht Al-Shaymah
2. Anīsa Al-Nakhiyyah
3. Anīsa Umm Saʿīd, Bint Murrah Al Fahriyyah
4. Anīsa bint Abī Harithah bin Sa’asa’ah
5. Anīsa bint Abī Ṭalḥah
6. Anīsa bint Tha’alabah bin Zayd
7. Anīsa bint Khubayb
8. Anīsa bint Rāfiʾ bin Al Mu’alā
9. Anīsa bint Raḥm
10. Anīsa bint Ṣāidah
11. Anīsa bint ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAmr
12. Anīsa bint ʿAdī
13. Anīsa bint ʿAdī Al Anṣāriyyah
14. Anīsa bint ʿUrwah
15. Anīsa bint ʿAmr bin Anamah
16. Anīsa bint ʿAmr bin Qays
17. Anīsa bint Anamah
18. Anīsa bint Qays
19. Anīsa bint Qays Al-Khazrijiyyah
20. Anīsa bint Qays Al-Bukhāriyah
21. Anīsa bint Kā’ab
22. Anīsa bint Muʿādh bin Māes
23. Anīsa bint Hilāl bin Al Mu’alā
24. Anīsa Mawla Rasūl

(May God be pleased with them all)

The meaning of Anīsa is ‘friendly or pleasant companion’.

And Allāh Knows Best