Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

To Muslims, 'Mohammed' carries a special meaning

By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN, Times Senior Correspondent
Published December 2, 2007

To anyone with even a passing familiarity with Muslim culture, it quickly becomes obvious that one of the most common names for boys is Mohammed.

So it was hardly surprising that when a British teacher in Sudan asked her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear, Mohammed was the name they chose.

The result, however, was hardly common.

Last week, a Sudanese court convicted Gillian Gibbons of inciting religious hatred and sentenced her to 15 days in jail, followed by deportation to Britain. It was only international outrage that kept the court from sentencing Gibbons, 54, to the full punishment for her "crime": 40 lashes and six months imprisonment.

Among those surprised and dismayed by Sudan's harsh reaction to what seemed an innocent cultural misunderstanding was Dr. Yvonne Haddad, professor of Islam at Georgetown University.

"It's the last thing we need," Haddad told me in a phone interview, doubtless remembering the 2005 furor over cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. But, she quickly added, she considered it "thoughtless" of the teacher to allow the prophet's name on an animal because Muslims consider "animals lesser than humans."

The prophet "is the highest mortal, chosen by God to be the recipient of the message, so you just do not take his name in vain," Haddad says.

Her explanation left me puzzled about one thing. Since Mohammed is so revered, why risk debasing his name by affixing it to so many ordinary mortals, some of whom may not turn out so well. Think Mohammed Atta, one of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

The answer, it seems, lies in the reason many of us choose the names we do for our kids - the hope that the positive qualities suggested by the name will rub off on the bearer. "Hope" itself was once a common moniker in America, along with Faith, Charity and Prudence.

In the case of Muslims, "you want your kids to be the model of good character so when they get the name of Mohammed you aspire for them to be moral people," Haddad says.

Sometimes cited as the world's most common name, Mohammed means "one who is praiseworthy." It is often given to boys as an honorary prefix, followed by the name by which they are more generally known. In Arab countries, it is permissible to call a man "Mohammed" if you are uncertain of his real name.

As the Muslim population of Western Europe soars, Mohammed is increasingly heard in places like Paris and London. Including the numerous variations in spelling, it is now the second most popular boy's name in Britain, behind Jack but ahead of such stalwarts as Thomas, Harry, James and William, the Times of London found.

(The most popular name for Muslim girls born in Britain last year was Aisha, meaning "wife of the prophet," the newspaper said.)

Muslim culture is by no means alone in using the names of revered religious figures. The most common name for girls in the heavily Catholic Hispanic world is Maria - Spanish for Mary, as in the mother of Jesus.

"All the fathers want their daughters to grow up virginal and pure," says Daniel Alvarez, professor of religious studies at Florida International University. "So the whole idea of naming her Maria is you somehow stamp her with the cloth of purity and virginity."

While it is virtually unheard of for Christians of Anglo-Saxon descent to name boys Jesus, it is common in Hispanic countries. But Jesus (pronounced Hey-soos) no longer has the kind of religious connotations for Hispanics that Mohammed does for Muslims.

"It never brings up the image of Jesus; we don't associate it with anything sacred," Alvarez says. "Jesus does not have the religious freight that Mohammed does in the Mideast. People just like the name, probably the way it sounds."

Susan Taylor Martin can be contacted at susan@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 2, 2007, 01:54:09]