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"Others get their names from famous Muslim figures," said Lidasan.
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By
Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent
MANILA,
May 4, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Filipinos have succumbed to Western
influence as evidenced by the rise of fast-food chains as well as the
popularity of foreign brands and labels.
But
when it comes down to naming one's child many Filipinos resort to
their religions.
Pedro
delos Santos has two sons; Mark and Matthew.
"It
must be the religious in me that made me and my wife choose the names
of saints to be the names of our boys," he told IslamOnline.net.
"I
want them to be good when they grow up the way the saints did,"
added the 28-year-old father.
Roman
Catholics make up around 80.9% of the country's estimated 89,5 million
population, according to the CIA facts book.
Arabic
Amirah
Ali Lidasan, the leader of the Suara Bangsamoro (United Voice of
Bangsamoro) Muslim group, believes the same goes true for Muslims.
She
said the names Muslims in the Philippines give their children are
mostly "based on Arabic names found in the holy book, Qur`an, or
in Hadith, and most importantly from the 99 names of Allah,
s.w.t."
Her
name stands as a case in point.
"My
grandfather is Amir which means leader in Arabic. My grandmother is
Aminah (honest). My parents combined the two names," she told
IOL.
Amirah
also means princess in Arabic.
"Others
get their names from famous Muslim figures," she added.
Farouk
Bakil, a native of Sulu, concurred.
"I
think the Moros (Muslims of Mindanao) are aware of the names that they
are giving their children," he told IOL.
"Islam
tells the ummah to name their children with meanings related to Allah
s.w.t."
His
name means the just in Arabic.
He
maintains that "before the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521,
almost all inhabitants of the Philippine Islands were Muslims. The
present-day Manila was under the Sultanate of Sulu."
"So,"
he explains, "the names of the Muslims in the islands were
adopted from the Arab traders who were on mission route from the
Middle-East sailing to the southern Philippines."
According
to the CIA facts book, Muslim make up some five percent of the
populace.
The
mineral-rich southern region of Mindanao, the birthplace of Islam in
the Philippines, is home to about 5 million Muslims.
