Named "Abde Nabi"

28-10-2002 | IslamWeb

Question:

My name is Abd Nebi . Some people told me that I have to change my name. What do you think?

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

It is unlawful to be named Abd al-Nabi (slave of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) as this means allotting to the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) a right that is peculiar to Allah, i.e. enslavering people.
In fact all names that mean being the slave of anybody other than Allah are unlawful. So, anybody who has such names should change them if he can. Otherwise, he is excused as Allah does not burden the person of something that exceeds his ability.
Allah knows best.