When 'Ruhaan' Is A 'Muslim' Name!
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
17 July
2023
Growing
religious polarisation has jolted India. One TV actress Dipika Kakar, known for
her roles in popular shows, has recently given birth to a son. After being
discharged from the hospital, Dipika brought her new-born home. Excited to
share the news with her fans and followers, she uploaded a video on social
media announcing her son’s name. However, the video has since been deleted.
Dipika Kakar, Shoaib Ibrahim and Ruhaan with their family members.
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In the
now-deleted video, Dipika revealed that she had named her son “Ruhaan” which
means “kind, spiritual.” Little did she know that her choice of a Muslim name
would lead to trolling and controversy. Her fans took to social media to
express their anger and disappointment over her decision. As a result, Dipika
decided to delete the video.
People
trolling her must know that Dipika is now Faiza. She's married to one Shoaib
Ibrahim, who has also acted in TV serials. After getting married to Shoaib, she
embraced Islam. Why should others have any issue?
Names are
names. They're not determined by any religion. But we're conditioned to
compartmentalise people as per their names. A leading English daily carried a
small article nearly two decades ago. It was written by a Hindu couple. The
couple lived in Saudi Arabia and Central Asia for many years as both were educationists,
teaching English. They picked up rudimentary Persian and Arabic as well and
loved the names of Muslim children who were their students. So, when they were
blessed with a male child, they christened him Yasir (Arabic for 'wealthy and
prosperous'). Got to say, a beautiful name. That was in the mid-sixties! But
when they returned to India, their young son complained that he would always be
mistaken for a Muslim. Finally, the parents rechristened him and gave a '
Hindu' name to their son. Things have changed in 'modern' India, so much so
that a Muslim book-vendor in Poona is often asked by Hindus and also by Muslims
(Poona doesn't have very many Urdu-speaking people) as to why his name is Samir
(variantly spelled Sameer) because Sameer is a common Hindu name that means
Zephyr in English or Bayaar in Hindi. These people don't know that the
Arabic name Samir/ Sameer means 'holy', 'jovial', 'loyal' or 'charming.' Such
dismal fate has befallen the word 'Samar’.
It's a common name, predominantly used by Hindus. It means 'Yuddh,' 'battle' or 'jung.' But it also means
' Fruit ' or 'Produce' in Arabic (its origin is doubtful as the word Samar
meant fruit in Pahlavi and even in Pashto). A poet Samar Usmanabadi has had to
change his name as people think that his name means 'Yuddh' in Hindi.
The poor guy is a Muslim and didn't mean 'battle'! We're living in strange
times when innocuous names are also on the radar. By the way, my mother wanted
to name me Arghaab (Exalted and Lofty in Dari, Afghan variant of
Persian), but I chose Sumit for myself as I knew that such a difficult but
beautiful name with a Ghain (it's spelt Ain/Re/Ghain/Alif/Be) would never be
enunciated correctly by the fast dwindling Urdu-knowing people on the
sub-continent and the Hindus would alienate me because of my (Muslim) name.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/dipika-polarisation-ruhaan-muslim/d/130226
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