Addressing ‘Abd al-Rahim as “O Rahim”

Question

Question: In our area, people named ‘Abd al-Rahim (عبد الرحيم), ‘Abd al-Quddus (عبد القدوس) and the like are called “O Rahim”, “O Quddus”. Zayd says that calling them this way is a sin, because in “Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar”, on p. 238, it says: [ar]من قال لمخلوق يا قدوس…[/ar] “Whoever says to a created being, ‘O Quddus’…”, — from which impermissibility is understood. Is Zayd’s understanding correct or wrong? If it is correct, it is difficult for the common people to avoid this; so what course should be adopted?

Answer

To utter the name of Allah the Most Pure about someone while glorifying him is to acknowledge him at the rank of Allah, and that is kufr (disbelief). But to utter some word with regard to its lexical meaning, where sharing in the name of the Most Pure God is not intended, is not kufr. In the case asked about, no attention is paid to the meaning; rather, the proper name (‘alam)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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