I have a question about Islamic names. My wife just had a baby boy and we named him Kareem. We were told by a couple of people that it is Haram and it should be Abdul Kareem. We were told that we can't name him just Kareem. We looked at various websites about Islamic names and found that both Kareem and Abdul Kareem were proper names for a child. Please reply to us what you might know about this matter.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Please refer to Fatwa 82724.

As for being called Kareem, this is permissible. What is unlawful is to be called Al-Kareem as this name is peculiar to Allah.

Allah Knows best.