'Abdullah' as a female's name
21-11-2005 | IslamWeb
Question:
My questions are:
1) If all human being have equal right in worshiping Allaah regardless of sex [practicing all Islamic teaching like giving good names and others] in fact those very good names like Abdillah, Abdisamad, Abdirahman, etc. are belongs to male [i.e. slave of Allaah, Rahman, Samad]. But, do female have such similar or equivalent name like of that? If yes what are they? Can we name a female of such name Abdisamad, Abdirahman? If female are not given those names by Islamic principles, why are they not given?
2) I see most of the time when a non-Muslim person embraces Islam; he is either given a new name or asked to be given a new name. But I wonder whether Abubakr, Umar, Osman, and Ali are given these names as new name or their own original names they were given by their parents?
If they were their own original names, what about Bilal bin Rabai, a person of Aabash, I think if I am not mistaken this name [Bilal bin Rabai] is a new given name.
But, my question is why was he given a new name and not remain with his own original name like 'Abubakr', 'Umar', 'Osman', and 'Ali' who had given him that name? What was his original name? Are there names called 'Islamic name'?
3) If one reaches people praying and are on a step of Rukoo, he continues with them. So when the pray is ended, is it must for him to re-pray the Raka'h that he reached on Rukoo step? Or if he does not pray, is it also possible?
Please I need a good clarification on these matters with Daleel.
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 is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
We have already issued Fataawa 86226 and 86954 clarifying that whoever catches up with the Rukuu' with the Imaam he catches up with the whole Rak'ah and the Rak'ah is complete and counted. We have also issued Fatwa 84551 clarifying that a person who embraces Islam is not obliged to change his name and that at the time of the Prophet 
many people embraced Islam and he did not order them to change their names unless they contained a meaning that is contrary to Islamic Law. When Bilal embraced Islam he did not change his name as the questioner claimed.
As regards whether there are any similar names for females, the answer is yes, like the name Amatul-Allaah and Amatur-Rahmaan and so on. Abdullaah Ibn Awf 
named one of his daughters Amatur-Rahmaan, and Abu Bakra Ath-Thaqafi named his daughter Amatul-Allaah. Moreover, the name of Um Al-Fadhl Bint Hamza Ibn Abdulmuttalib 
was Amatul-Allaah.
As regards naming a female with Abdus-Samad, 'Abdullaah, or 'Abdur-Rahamaan, then this is terminologically wrong, as such names are only given to males and cannot be given to females and we are not aware of any Muslim in the past who had given the name Abdus-Samad or 'Abdur-Rahamaan to a female.
Allaah Knows best.