Utterly ridiculous: German authorities are trying to get courts to back them in preventing a baby being named “Jihad” — even though it is a completely common name in the Arab world. The most famous Arab columnist (for al-Hayat) is called Jihad al-Khazen. He is broadly speaking a secularist, albeit of the loyal to Saudi interest variety (he has a rich history of being close to virtually every prominent political figure in the region over his long career.) Of course the baby’s father appears to be something of an Islamist, but so what? See Kafr al-Hanadwa’s post for the details.
Dear Issandr,
I’d pointed it out over on the other blog: Germany’s laws are like that. Reda Seyam is a German citizen – and so he may just be prohibited from registering his son under the name of “Jihad”. I think that the whole issue is worthy of debate – how much should a state interfere, what is and what isn’t hate-speech or incitement to violence or glorification of it – but as it stands, the law sets clear limits to naming children.
Btw, it’s also illegal to name one’s child “crusade”. 😉
–MSK
http://www.aqoul.com
[…] El Amrani, writing in The Arabist,says the German authorities refusal to register a child’s name as Jihad – a common Arab name – is ridiculous. “Utterly ridiculous: German authorities are trying to […]
Dear Issandr,
Primarily it has nothing to do with the name itself. German authorities can prevent parents from naming children in a way, which might be considered as harmful. You can’t name your child Donald Duck or Jeep. You can’t just make up names in most regions, however this depends on local authorities. Therefore most names as you find the with children of Hollywood and Rock Stars would have been prohibited.
Now of course it also has to do with the name. As you know very well Germany is not the Arab World. Although Jihad is a normal name in the Arab world it will not be considered as such in Germany. Jihad is word many many people know and which has a very specific meaning in this contest. The word Jihad when used in German normal speak (that is non scientific) is connected to religious war. People would be surprised abut a phrase like the “Jihad against HIV” or similar terms.
There is laws, rules and guide lines how you can name a child in Germany. If you believe it is your legal right to give a child a certain name and the local state representative disagrees, you can challenge him in a court. And then you have multiple court levels where you can take recourse. You may find that rediculous or whatever, but that is proper legal procedure. That has nothing to do with the parents being Muslim or something like that. Hundreds, probably thousands o names get rejected every year and often enough the parents try to get their case through.
I just hope this doesn’t get blown out of proportion… It would be one more story for the street… oh the Europeans are surpressing the Muslim bla bla bla.
What I find ridiculous is that it is a common Arabic name. Obviously, if the father intends it to be an ode to Osama bin Laden, that is something to consider. (And this has not been conclusively established anyway.) I am not particularly concerned about whether this is a form of discrimination against Arab immigrants — I don’t think it is — but once it is established that the name is a perfectly normal one for an Arab to have (and most Arabic names have meanings anyway) they should just let it go. For instance I’ve always liked the name Seif, and have friends called Seif. The full name of Seif is usually either Seif al-Din or Seif al-Islam. That means “Sword of Religion” or “Sword of Islam.” Is that unacceptable too? Again, I don’t see this as a question of discrimination, but as one of common sense.
No, I think Seif al-Din would be OK. The problem is that Jihad is a normal used term in German – of course imported. The is a Mongolian (could be another central Asian country, would have to look it up to be sure) name Pispot. That would not be allowed either. And I am sure in Mongolian Pispot does not mean urinal. Or Thai names with the traditional -porn ending (which means strong and has nothing to do with the word in German) for names would get objections as well. Hitler or Napoleon, which are normal firstnames in Liberia would surely be rejected.
Of course Jihad is a normal name in the Arabic world. But it kind of a provocation to give this name to a child in Germany. Such a thing depends on the perspective and the cultural area you live in.
A name like Seif ad-Din on the other hand would primarily be seen as a name. Most names have meanings and some names have have a strange or special meaning. But as long as people don’t know, that is not an issue. To give you two examples: Claudia, which is a very common name, means the one who limps and my own name means the dark skinned person, which is definetely a weird name for someone whose skin color is more like the inside of a fish. My name actually is derived from the derogatory term “Mor” and would most probably be properly translated as “Nigger”. While Moritz is a proper first name, the straight translation would for sure be rejected.
Alright. that was now a bit chaotic. I hope you understand my point anyway.
Moritz
Ah yes I do understand better now. I suppose it does protect children from insane parents. I’m curious, would “Adolf” be prohibited?
Ya Issandr,
Adolf isn’t prohibited, as it’s an old German name although – understandably – not much used after ’45. “Hitler” however, is prohibited.
Btw, Moritz is wrong about the etymology of his name. The origin is Mauritius, a Christian saint of “moorish” background. The root of the name Mauritius/Maurice/Moritz/Morris is the same as for the word moor/morisco – the greek word maurós (μαυÏ�ός) meaning “black”.
Nothing derogatory in that.
–MSK
http://www.aqoul.com
Hehe. You caught me on that one. OK my explanation was not absolutely correct.
The name is older, that is correct. However the word “Mor” in German is today considered to be very derogatory. But of course, that is not what most people have in mind when they see the name. Most people will think of a story by Willhelm Busch called “Max and Moritz”. It’s about two boys who are rather nasty. They only have pranks in their heads and are behaving vry badly towards all adults. (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_und_Moritz) For that reason my grandmother always objected that calling a boy Moritz is wrong… 🙂
Moritz became more popular again as a name about 20 to 30 years ago. Now it is completely normal to call a child Moritz. This shows very nicely how perception of names can change. It is very well posible that in 10 or 20 years noone would object against Jihad as name.
It used to be that Algeria did the same, albeit for different reasons. They had a list of acceptable names, and for some reason Kahena and Messanissa were not on it (being Berber names and all) and a friend of mine pitched a fit when they said she could not register her children as named.