The Names of the Messenger of Allah

The famous names of Muhammad (peace be upon him) that we know are Muhammad and Aḥmad. But he has some additional names, the meanings of which follow. The name that was given to him by his parents was Muhammad (peace be upon him) — and who was the one who named him Muhammad? Who was it? His grandfather, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, is the one who named him Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The name Muhammad means to be eternally praised, for he (peace be upon him) obliges praise from people for his characteristics, his sayings, his actions, and he is the embodiment of praise, and he is therefore Muhammad. So Muhammad means a person who draws praise. Muhammad (peace be upon him), as already mentioned, is praised eternally. Allah (swt) has fulfilled the meaning of his name. There is no human being that ever lived in history who was praised like Muhammad (peace be upon him). He is praised day and night.

Aḥmad — the name Aḥmad comes from the same root. Muhammad and Aḥmad come from the root ḥamd. And what does ḥamd mean? Praise. When you say "Alḥamdulillāh," praise be to Allah. So both the names Muhammad and Aḥmad are derived from the same root. Muhammad means a person who draws praise, so he is praised; Aḥmad means that he praises Allah. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is the most among us in praising Allah (swt). There is no person that ever lived who praises Allah in the way Muhammad (peace be upon him) does. So here you have two meanings: Muhammad means he is the most praised, Aḥmad means he praises Allah the most. These are the two famous names of Muhammad (peace be upon him).

But he has also told us some of his other names, and these are from hadith. One of his other names is al-Ḥāshir. Al-Ḥāshir means the Gatherer, to whom humanity will be resurrected in his wake. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is the first to be resurrected among the creation, then mankind will be resurrected following him. So the first person to be resurrected will be Muhammad (peace be upon him), and then people will come after that — he is first on the Day of Judgment.

Al-Muqaffī, the successor — for he (peace be upon him) is the last of the prophets and messengers, and there shall be none succeeding him. So Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last; al-Muqaffī is the last.

Al-Māḥī, the eraser, that erases and eradicates kufr. There is no prophet who will succeed in eliminating kufr entirely except Muhammad (peace be upon him). That mission hasn't been fulfilled yet, because his ummah are still carrying on that mission, but the eventual victory of Islam, which will be the culmination of human history, will be a moment in time when the whole world will be Muslim, and that will be carried on by the ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him) under the leadership of ʿĪsā (peace be upon him). So Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the one who will be successful in eradicating, erasing, kufr from the face of the earth. So he is called al-Māḥī: he will erase and eradicate kufr.

One of his other names is Nabī al-Malḥamah, the Prophet of the Fierce Battle. Al-malḥamah is a fierce battle, and it's also a series of battles. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was named the Prophet of al-Malḥamah, the Prophet of the Fierce Battles. One can give different interpretations to that. One meaning is that his ummah are the greatest in terms of jihad — there is no ummah that has fought jihad like the ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him). That's one meaning. Another meaning that could be drawn from this name of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is that the future of humanity after Muhammad (peace be upon him) will be that of very fierce battles, and we have seen examples of that in World War One and World War Two.

History is divided into stages. We are now living in the stage of Muhammad (peace be upon him), which extends until the Day of Judgment. So events that are happening now, even though they might not be done by Muslims, we are still living in the era of Muhammad (peace be upon him). And everyone living on the face of the earth is part of the ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the sense that he is their prophet. Whether they accept it or not is a different question, but they are part of it, and on the Day of Judgment they will be asked about him. They won't be asked about ʿĪsā, they won't be asked about Mūsā — they will be asked about Muhammad (peace be upon him): did you follow him or not?