SomaliNet Forums

Assalamu Alaikum

Basically one of my iraqi friends said to me how linguistically having Abdi infront of the names of Allah is wrong because Abdillahi would mean 'My Slave Allah' and should be instead Abdullah, 'Slave Of Allah.

Can anyone shed some light on that?

No, your friend is wrong.

Abdi and Abdul waa isku miid

Naming your kids AL-KAREEM, AL-RAUF, AL-QADAR

is shirk

because AL altacreef signifies Allah the one and only

I thought so. Jazakum Allahu khayr

just name ur kids somali names and u wont have to worry about shirk, bidcah and etc.

I think your friend means that normally when ya is added to a word it becomes something that's mine, like abdii - my slave. But this is not the case in Abdillah because in some cases of icrab it's in that form. But the basic form is Abdullah.

Somalis think that Abdi is like Abdul, but in reality the name goes back to pre-Islamic times, it means Hope in Oromo. There are lots of non-Muslim Oromos named Abdi.
Properly, the Arabic name Abdul or Abdi can't be used by itself as a name, it has to have one of the names of Allah after it, like Abdirahman (Darood's real name).
Some Shi'ites will use one of the Shi'i Imams as well, so you'll see Abdul-Hussein or Abdul-Ali.