Maiden Name v. Husband’s Name

QUESTION:

I am a Muslimah revert. When I reverted I changed my first name to an Islamic name, and changed my last name to my husband’s last name, without knowing that it is forbidden to do so due to implying you are of a different lineage. My husband is also a revert and we were both unaware of this ruling.

From birth, my father had no involvement in my life, hence, my birth certificate is registered using my mother’s last name. After making enquiries, I was advised to adopt my father’s name on the basis of it being Islamically correct. Upon looking into the meaning of my father’s last name, I discovered it has an anti-Islamic connection to it, which has deeply disturbed me and I’m unsure of what action to take in regards to this issue.

The surname itself is “Alderson” and it means “son of an old army” or “son of an old warrior”, which doesn’t come across as anti-Islamic. However, intensive research revealed the “Alderson family crest”, which has a logo with images of both suns, but some variations have pictures of people’s heads in the logo, along with boars.

Looking into what this symbolism means, I discovered more information which related to the heads of the people in the family logo, which are “saracens heads”. “Saracens” was a term used by medieval Christians in reference to Arabs and Muslims. The term’s meaning evolved over time: it originally described Arab tribes in the Sinai and other desert regions, but after the rise of Islam, it became a broad term for all Muslims, regardless of their specific ethnicity like Turk or Arab.

The Oxford Dictionary carries two meanings of the word which states

1. An Arab or Muslim, especially at the time of the Crusades.
2. A nomad of the Syrian and Arabian desert at the time of the Roman Empire.

Knowing that a variation of the Alderson family crest has pictures of Muslims heads on it along with pictures of the boar (pigs heads), I’m unsure if this is an appropriate name to adopt being a Muslimah. I also don’t know enough about my father’s family history to know if this symbolism has anything to do with my family in particular.

Please advise a way to resolve this inner conflict.

ANSWER:

First of all, we would like to debunk the false impression that a wife adopting her husband’s surname is incorrect. Surnames are used to identify oneself with a specific clan or family. When a woman marries, she enters her husband’s family and becomes a member of it. When a woman takes her husband’s surname, it simply indicates that she is married into a particular family. Allah Ta’ala says in the Quraan Al-Karim:

يأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ

اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ ١٣ سُورَةُ الحُجْرَاتِ

“O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into races and tribes, so that you may identify one another. Surely the noblest of you, in Allah’s Sight, is the one who is most pious of you. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.”

In principle, Shari’ah does not make it compulsory upon a woman to change her surname, nor does it deem it impermissible. She is at liberty to keep her maiden name or to adopt her husband’s surname.

It should be noted that, using surnames was not common during the era of Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. People were generally known by their father’s name (son of so-and-so, and daughter of so-and-so). They used to use ‘Ibn’ (son of…) and ‘Bint’ (daughter of…), instead of a surname after one’s name.

However, as time passed, the practice of calling people by their first names followed by their surnames (family names) became common, as is still the trend and practice up to today.

It should be noted that Islam places significant value on a person’s lineage. The Ahaadith issue severe warnings to anyone who deliberately attributes himself to someone other than his father. This is impermissible as it is misleading, and involves demonstrating ungratefulness to one’s father and denying him his fundamental parental rights.[ ]

Consider the following prophetic traditions:

عَنْ عَاصِمٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عُثْمَانَ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ سَعْدًا وَهُوَ أَوَّلُ مَنْ رَمَى بِسَهُم فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ – وَأَبَا بَكْرَةَ ، وَكَانَ تَسَوَّرَ حِصْنَ الطَّائِفِ فِي أُنَاسٍ ، فَجَاءَ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالاً سَمِعْنَا النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ” مَنِ ادَّعَى إِلَى غَيْرِ أَبِيهِ وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ فَالْجَنَّةُ عَلَيْهِ حَرَامٌ ” . (صحيح بخاري – ٤٣٢٧

Narrated by Abu Uthmaan: ‘I heard from Sa’d and from Abu Bakrah…They both said, “We heard the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam saying, ‘If somebody claims to be the son of somebody other than his father knowingly, he will be denied Paradise (i.e. he will not enter Paradise),’.” (Sahih Bukhari- 4327)

عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ التَّيْمِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ خَطَبَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالِبٍ فَقَالَ مَنْ زَعَمَ أَنَّ عِنْدَنَا، شَيْئًا نَقْرَأُهُ إِلَّا كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَهَذِهِ الصَّحِيفَة … وفيها قال النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم … وَمَنِ ادَّعَى إِلَى غَيْرِ أَبِيهِ أَوِ انْتَمَى إِلَى غَيْرِ مَوَالِيهِ فَعَلَيْهِ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ لَا يَقْبَلُ اللهُ مِنْهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ صَرْفًا وَلاَ عَدْلاً ( صحيح المسلم – ۱۳۷۰)

“…and he who claims anyone else as his father besides his own father, or makes one his ally other than the one (who freed him), there is a curse of Allah Ta’ala, that of His angels and that of the whole mankind upon him. Allah Ta’ala will not accept the obligatory act of worship, nor the supererogatory act (as a recompense) from him on the day of Qiyamah.” (Sahih Muslim-1370).

However, observing how surnames are used today, it is clear that surnames are generally used for identification, rather than as a yardstick for determining a person’s lineage.

Consider the following from Encyclopedia Britannica:

“Surname, also called family name, or last name, name added to a “given” name, in many cases are inherited and held in common by members of a family. Originally, many surnames identified a person by his connection with another person, usually his father (Johnson, MacDonald); others gave his residence (Orleans, York, Atwood [i.e., living at the woods]) or occupation (Weaver, Hooper, Taylor). A surname could also be descriptive of a person’s appearance (Little, Red) or his exploits (Armstrong).”

The use of family names/surnames has become common in modern times. If a woman has a specific surname prior to marriage and chooses to replace it with her husband’s surname, this is not considered “altering one’s lineage” or “assigning oneself to someone other than one’s father.” The wife does not deny her lineage to her father; rather, she expressly acknowledges him. There is also no deception because it is widely known in the community that she is the daughter of so-and-so.

There is no problem if a woman chooses to keep her maiden surname while introducing herself as “the wife of so and so,” as can be seen in many Ayaah of the Quraan Al-Karim.

On the other hand, if it is the culture and way of life in a particular place, where it is understood that those women who insist on keeping their maiden surnames are specifically those women who have a liberal and modern mindset, and do so based on feminist ideals, that is an entirely different problem. In cases like these, Islam is used as a launchpad for their own agendas as it suits them. Those Islamic rules which do not serve their agenda are ignored, discarded, and at times, demeaned. This type of mindset -liberation of women – in the pious garb of “women are supposed to keep their original surname”, should be a point of extreme caution for a pious Muslim woman.

To summarize, it is permissible, though not required, for a wife to adopt her husband’s surname for identification purposes, as long as she does not intend to mislead others or absolve herself of her lineal ascription to her father.[ ]

Secondly, in Islam, a person is not blamed or held accountable for the history or actions of their ancestors, nor for old symbols connected to their family name—especially when those symbols come from non-Islamic cultures and have no meaning in their life today. The surname “Alderson” may have historical links in European tradition to symbols used during the Crusades, but today it does not carry any clear anti-Islamic meaning. In Islamic law, a name is only considered impermissible if it has a Haraam meaning—such as promoting Shirk, sin, or disbelief. Since “Alderson” does not contain any forbidden meaning, it remains a permissible and neutral surname in Islam, despite its distant history.

However, notwithstanding the above, if you still feel distressed by utilizing such a surname, then you may change it to a surname that suits you. Remember, a surname doesn’t necessarily define a person’s lineage, as mentioned above. In reference to this, we can take a cue from the following incident:

Once, a student by the name of ‘Al-Ghain’ came to study in Azaadville. A peculiar name indeed! Nevertheless, as soon as Hadhrat Moulana Abdul Hamid Sahib came to know of this, he immediately, in the most loving manner, physically changed this student’s name to Abdul Ghaffaar without any questions asked. So, if a name can be changed due to it having some questionable connotations, then, to a greater extent, a surname (which has absolutely no real basis in Shari’ah as such) can be changed!

(Partially adapted from Darul Ifta Azaadville Archives)

  فتح الملهم بشرح صحيح الإمام مسلم للشيخ شبير أحمد العثماني [281/3] دار إحياء التراث العربي، الأولى، ١٤٢٦

قال النووي : وهذا صريح في غلظ تحريم انتماء الإنسان إلى غير أبيه ، أو انتماء العتيق إلى ولاء غير مواليه ؛ لما فيه من كفر النعمة وتضييع حقوق الإرث والولاء والعقل ، وغير ذلك ، مع ما فيه من قطيعة الرحم والعقوق

  آپ کے مسائل اور ان کا حل، للمفتی محمد یوسف لدھیانوي [266/8] مكتبه لدحيانوي، الثاني، ۲۰۱۱

– اگر کوئی عورت اپنے نام کے ساتھ خاوند کا نام لگائے تو یہ کیسا ہے ؟

ج ……………کوئی حرج نہیں، انگریزی طرز ہے۔

ALLAH TA’ALA ALONE IN HIS INFINITE KNOWLEDGE KNOWS BEST!

ANSWERED BY:

Mufti Abdur Rahman Abdur Razak

Date: 08 Jumaadal-Ulaa 1447 / 30 October 2025

CHECKED AND APPROVED BY:

Mufti Yacoob Vally Saheb