 I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the accursed. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah, the Merciful. Welcome to this new and innovative series in which we are discussing a very important question that affects an increasing number of our Muslim communities worldwide, especially in the West. And that is, how can we make sure new Muslims converts to Islam, reverts, first generation Muslims? How can we make sure they are truly a part of the community, a part of the umma, not parts of the umma that get sort of broken off and left in the corner, but a full part of the umma? How can we make sure new Muslims are welcome and not only welcome, but also, inshallah, are contributing members of the community who help build a better world, as well as a better Muslim community for everyone. And inshallah, can also work in outreach activities to help bridge the sometimes distance between the Muslim community and the broader society, which we oftentimes have in the West. In the past few episodes, we've been discussing some ways in which we can try to deal with the fact that sometimes people who come to Islam, although we believe that Islam is the religion for all peoples and all times, sometimes things happen that push them away from the community. They don't get integrated into the community. Many of our communities are ethnically or culturally based. And I told you a secret, too. I will tell you the secret again. The good advice that, inshallah, we are discussing on these programs is not only for converts and reverts to Islam. It may also be beneficial to you or you. Or another one of our dear viewers, people who may be returning to Islam after living a life which maybe was not focusing that much on Islam or may be useful for people who don't have a lot of family ties in the Muslim community. We never know people's situations. However, these programs are centered around the challenges that many people who become Muslim face. Challenges that many of us may not be aware of. We may see that Convert Brother or Sister at the mosque for years and may not speak to them, may not necessarily know what they are dealing with. Today, I'm going to bring up a question that many people like to argue about. Something that people feel very passionate about and are very open and forthright in giving their opinions about. And that is, should we be encouraging converts to Islam to change their names, to Islamic names? So whether the converts come from an English-speaking background and their name is Sarah or Rebecca or Mary, Michael, Steve, John, should we be encouraging them to call themselves instead Fatima and Zahra and Ahmed and these names? Or perhaps they may come from other language backgrounds. They may have a Chinese name, a Japanese name. Keep in mind converts to Islam do not only come from Western backgrounds, they may come from India. I've known a number of Indian brothers and sisters who converted from Hinduism. It's natural. Of course, there's a lot of Muslims in the subcontinent. I've known Christian Arabs who convert. But the question here is, should they be asked or pushed to take a Muslim name? By Muslim name, I mean Islamic-sounding name, like Muhammad. That's a very common Muslim name. Names, of course, are very powerful, very significant. They're very central to who we are and how we present ourselves to the world. When you tell someone your name, you're telling them, who am I? Where am I from? What do I believe? What is important to me? Names carry a lot of significance. Indeed, they are practically the only thing that we own. You might have all of your possessions taken away from you, which still have your name. You will keep your name on the Day of Judgement. Allah Ta'ala will call out to you by your name on the Day of Judgement. It is something we'll take with us into the ahra. And so it is natural that people would want to have a name that they feel reflects something good, first of all, something positive, but also something that is meaningful to them, whether it is a characteristically Islamic name or not. Indeed, even if you think about it, in the Holy Qur'an, Allah Ta'ala speaks of one of the new things that Adam brought forth was telling the angels their names, right? The angels were dubious about Adam. What is this new creation being created for? This creation has a potential flaw. He has the capacity to maim and kill and shed blood and so forth. So why create this insan? So Allah Ta'ala tells Adam to tell the, he teaches Adam the names, and then he tells them to the angels. And from this, the angels understood that there was some capacity in Adam that they had not recognized before. So names, one can say, can even have a divine significance. Now, as with the question we were discussing last time, for those of you who were with us, which is the question of whether or not we should be encouraging people who convert to Islam to present their stories in public, conversion stories, I feel strongly that this is an issue that we really have to respect the best interest of the person we are speaking to. And let me emphasize again, this is not only about converts to Islam, someone might be born Muslim and named Christine, for example, I had a friend from Lebanon who was named Christine, which is not a characteristically Muslim name. They may be under pressure to change their name, or they may have shortened their name to Mo, for example, Muhammad Mo. They may be asked, maybe you should change it back. So it's not only affecting converts, but frequently it does. And people oftentimes have a lot of advice to give converts about whether or not they should adopt a Muslim name. So what are some reasons why someone might do this? One is that there's a natural human desire for the outside to match the inside, especially with respect to our brothers. You know, at least with sisters, if a sister is wearing a headscarf, that's a good indicator that she might be a Muslim. It's not a guarantee, but it's an indicator. Sometimes our brothers don't have as many outer indicators. So someone might feel that what is inside of them, let's say they're Islamic belief, inshallah, also, will I have, Ahl al-Bait, alaykum as-salam, it may not necessarily reflect what comes out on the outside. So if you send in your resume or CV to a job, and for example, it says Sarah Goldenberg, or Israel Rosenberg, and then you show up in your hijab, or your Muslim beard, and so forth, there might be a bit of surprise because there's a disconnect between the identity that is being portrayed by the name versus who you actually are. This can be disconcerting to people. So some people may simply say that my religion is number one, my belief, inshallah, is number one, and I would like the name that I am known by in society to reflect that. This is their decision. Some people are very against this. They say, no, no, no, the prophet, peace be upon him and his family, he never changed the names of his Sahaba. What history book are you reading? Yes, the prophet didn't change all of the Sahaba's names, but he didn't change some of them. People named Abdashams, people named Haram, but like this kind of name, we should not have a good meaning. He encouraged them or he advised them to change it. He renamed them, actually. And so this is not haram to change one's name. It's not against the sunnah. It's simply not a requirement, albeit if one has a genuinely un-Islamic name, such as being named maybe Randy, which has some un-Islamic meanings, what one may think that it is a good idea to change. I'm not saying you have to, but I'm saying there might be an extra motivation in these cases. However, even if it's not a name that requires, you know, requires changing, so to speak, you may simply want to because you feel that you want your name, what you're known by in society, and jalla before lata'ala, before the angels, to reflect that which is most important to you. And again, I'll point out, this is not just about people who convert to Islam. For example, I had a friend named Iram once, and when she reached young adulthood, she realized that while her parents had named her Iram because Iram had lofty pillars and so forth, it was also destroyed. And she thought, well, maybe I don't wanna be named after something that was destroyed in the Holy Quran. So she talked with her family and they decided to change her name to Iman, which she was more comfortable with. So there are many reasons why someone may choose to change their name. What are some ways we can support people's decision to do this? One is simply too accepted because it is a very personal decision, and it's a bit like marriage. If someone is thinking about changing their name, you know, you can talk with them about it. If they have done it, then that's it, it's done. It's like if someone is engaged, you may say, well, brother or sister, you know, are you really sure about this? You know, maybe there's this problem or that problem. Once they're married, you say, Alhamdulillah, congratulations, you can't really say anything. Similarly, if someone has already adopted a new name, it's not really the right time to tell them that they shouldn't have done this or why they shouldn't have done it or why the Prophet didn't change the Sahabah's names and so forth. Also, there's a tendency for some people, and I know this is out of a good intention and the goodness of people's hearts. Sometimes you have a conversation and you have this conversation a lot. Person number one, what's your name? Person number two, Ahmed. Person number one, no, what's your real name? Person number two, doesn't quite know what to say. This is because a name is deeply personal. When you ask someone what is your name and they give you a response and you do not accept that response, it's as if you're invalidating their entire self. If they say, my name is Ahmed and they say, no, no, no, your name is not Ahmed, what kind of message is that sending? So please, be thoughtful before engaging someone in a question which comes across as invalidating their entire identity and again, sends the message that you are different. So that is one thing. However, they may not wish to change their name. They may have a name that is meaningful to themself. It may be a name that's used in their family. It reflects their ethnic origins. It may have a meaning that's very beautiful, maybe even a very Islamic meaning. Most of the names we use in English are very old. They do have deeper meanings. A lot of these names are biblical. They may not even be obviously biblical but they've come into the language from Hebrew, maybe through Greek also. Some of these names, Elizabeth, for example, meaning God is abundant or an oath by God. This is something which has a very nice meaning. Or Rebecca, one of the wives, according to the Bible of Nabi Ishaq, alaihissalam, Michael, who is like Allah or God. That's also a very beautiful name. So these names have meaning too and the bearer of these names may not wish to change them. This is also a personal decision and something we should support them in, insofar as there's no necessity to do this. The important thing I firmly believe is to respect the best interests of the person you are speaking to. Many times, and this is not limited to Islam in the Muslim community, sometimes we become very involved in what we feel is best for someone or our perspective on someone that we don't always necessarily take the time and effort to listen, to see what is inside of them, what is affecting them. And one of the best things we can do when giving advice is taking time to listen to people. As a wise person once said, not only to listen, but to repeat what they're saying, to show that we understand it, to make sure we understand it, maybe we're understanding it wrong. And use that to be a good friend, be a good brother, be a good sister in faith and inshallah give them advice that will be most useful in the situation. This is indeed a very heated issue. Inshallah when we do discuss this issue, I know people have very strong views about whether new Muslims should change their names or not. I've heard many of your strong views. But inshallah we can look at both sides of the issue and understand that ultimately everyone's situation is different and in the end, this is something which is not only between the person in the society or the person in their family, but also between the person and Allah Ta'ala. Wa-akhrud-a-awana an-al-hamdulillahi Rabb-e-da'alamin Wa-as-sallallahu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa-ala ahli-baytahi ta'yabin al-Tahireen.