Ḥakam
حكم
Say it HA-kam
Judge, arbiter
At a glance
- Gender
- Boy
- Arabic root
- ḥ-k-m
- Origin
- Arabic
- Found in
- The Companions
- Also spelled
- Hakam, Hakem
Meaning & source
A judge, an arbiter. Ibn al-Athīr (quoted in Lisān) says al-Ḥakam and al-Ḥakīm, among the names of God, mean the One who judges.
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ابْنُ الأَثير: فِي أَسماء اللَّهِ تَعَالَى الحَكَمُ والحَكِيمُ وَهُمَا بِمَعْنَى الحاكِم، وَهُوَ الْقَاضِي، فَهو فعِيلٌ بِمَعْنَى فاعِلٍ، أَوْ هُوَ الَّذِي يُحْكِمُ الأَشياءَ وَيُتْقِنُهَا، فَهُوَ فَعِيلٌ بِمَعْنَى مُفْعِلٍ، وَقِيلَ: الحَكِيمُ ذُو الحِكمة، والحِكْمَةُ عِبَارَةٌ عَنْ مَعْرِفَةِ أَفْضَلِ الأَشياء بِأَفْضَلِ الْعُلُومِ.
Who carried this name
- al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAmr al-Ghifārī Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah, no. 1789 (vol. 2, p. 93)
- al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtaybah, the jurist of Kufa al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, no. 83 (vol. 5, p. 208)
Ruling
What the scholars said about this name
Hāniʾ ibn Yazīd’s people called him Abū al-Ḥakam. The Prophet ﷺ said: “God is al-Ḥakam, and judgement is His; why are you called Abū al-Ḥakam?”, and gave him the kunya Abū Shurayḥ, after his eldest son. The change was to the kunya.
General guidance, not a fatwa. Ask your imam about your own family.