Naming girl ‘Anfal’

18-6-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Can we give our baby girl the name Anfal like in Surah Al-Anfal? The Arabic word has different meanings, and I heard that it also means 'increase in goodness. If yes, then can you please tell me all its possible meanings? May Allaah reward you.

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger. 

We do not see any religious impediment to naming your daughter Anfal. The Arabic word Anfaal has many meanings. Al-Qurtubi wrote:

“The word Anfaal is plural of Nafal which means the best of the spoils of war. The world Nafl also means 'an oath'; the hadeeth reads, 'The Jews will exonerate themselves by the oaths (Nafl) of fifty of them.' It also means 'to disown'; the hadeeth reads, '...he (the man who performed L'iaan) intafala (disowned) her child (L'iaan is when a husband accuses his wife of Zina [adultery] and each of the spouses makes an oath that he/she is truthful in his claim and then asks Allaah to curse the one who is lying).' The word Nafal means clover or trefoil (plant). The word Nafl also denotes that which is extra, that which is over and above what is obligatory (supererogatory performance). The grandchildren are described as Naafilah as well because they are extra (beyond one's own immediate offspring). Spoils of war are called Anfaal because they are extra gifts that were deemed lawful for Muslims while they were deemed unlawful to the previous nations; the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, 'I have been given six things which were not given to any of the Prophets before me ... The spoils of war have been made lawful for me (and were not made so for anyone else)...' The Anfaal are the spoils of war.” 

For more benefit, please refer to fataawa 82724 and 87262.

Allaah knows best.