9. Childbirth and naming children.
A woman goes to her parents’ home after the last pregnancy rite and stays there till her confinement is over. The rites performed by the midwife at birth resemble those of the Hindus. When the child is born the azān or summons to prayer is uttered aloud in his right ear, and the takbīr or Muhammadan creed in his left. The child is named on the sixth or seventh day. Sometimes the name of an ancestor is given, or the initial letter is selected from the Korān at a venture and a name beginning with that letter is chosen. Some common names are those of the hundred titles of God combined with the prefix abd or servant. Such are Abdul Azīz, servant of the all-honoured; Ghani, the everlasting; Karīm, the gracious; Rahīm, the pitiful; Rahmān, the merciful; Razzāk, the bread-giver; Sattār, the concealer; and so on, with the prefix Abdul, or servant of, in each case. Similarly Abdullah, or servant of God, was the name of Muhammad’s father, and is a very favourite one. Other names end with Baksh or ‘given by,’ as Haidar Baksh, given by the lion (Ali); these are similar to the Hindu names ending in Prasād. The prefix Ghulām, or slave of, is also used, as Ghulām Hussain, slave of Hussain; and names of Hebrew patriarchs mentioned in the Korān are not uncommon, as Ayūb Job, Hārūn Aaron, Ishāq Isaac, Mūsa Moses, Yakūb Jacob, Yūsaf Joseph, and so on.[12]