Question:

Assalamualaikum. I have a question:
My name spelling is ‘Vihaj’ but I found that the correct name is ‘Wahhaj’ as present in Quran Surah An-Naba, Verse 13.

Since my current name spelling ‘Vihaj’ does not have a meaning, should I update my name spelling in documents to “Wahhaj” so that I have correct name spelling with correct meaning?

These days I see some non muslims also keeping the name “Vihaj” so I am getting confused.

Answer:

In the Name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

In and of themselves, letters do not have special significance. Their purpose is to indicate how a word is to be pronounced. When the letters used to spell a word are of the same language as the word, there is a perfect match, and a speaker of the language will ideally be able to pronounce the word properly.

A challenge emerges when transliterating from one language to another (attempting to spell a word in one language with letters from another). Because the goal is to convey to the reader the correct pronunciation of the word, and there is usually no standard method of transliteration from language to language, one word may be transliterated in a variety of ways.

We have seen your name spelled “Vihaj”, “Vahaj”, “Vahaaj”, “Vahhaaj”, “Wahaj”, “Wahaaj”, “Wahhaj”, “Wahhaaj”, and “Wahhāj.” The goal of all of these spellings is to have people say the word وَهَّاج properly.

While it is your choice, rather than going through the legal process of changing the spelling of your name, you can instead inform people of the proper pronunciation of وهاج. As for non-Muslims keeping Muslim names, it is a common phenomenon in the West.

And Allāh Taʿālā Knows Best

Muftī Mohammed Wahaajuddin
Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA

Checked and Approved by:

Muftī Faisal bin Abdul Hamīd al-Mahmūdī
Darul Iftaa Canada (www.fatwa.ca)