Through the name the person achieves mystical relation with the Almighty

“Globalization and the intensity of the integration issues during the recent years increased the importance and turned the issue of identity into a main topic of all contemporary ethnic, national and religious communities”, said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Yalamov during a discussion “Man and name” organized by Grand Mufti’s Office in the Museum of Sofia on 15th of December.
In the discussion moderated by the Deputy Grand Mufti Birali Birali took part also Prof. Dr. Kalin Yanakiev, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mihail Gruev, lecturers at SU “St. Kliment Ohridski” and Dr. Sefer Hasanov, lecturer at the High Islamic Institute.
In his report on the topic “Identity and name”, Assoc. Prof. Yalamov emphasized that the importance of identity objectively is determined by its nature and social role. It reflects the role of self-determination or how one person defines his affiliation, with which ethnic, national and religious community he is identified.
“The problem of identity and identification is related with the existence of a number of selves. The self gradually realizes that it is identical with itself and different from the others. In this way the individual identity is formed, it is a result of many identities – ethnic, national, religious, cultural, political, class and others”, considers the former Rector of the High Islamic Institute. According to him the collective identity is created by the combination of the individual selves. It is the image of a particular ethnic, national and religious community and is formed in the process of historical development based on the ethno-national consciousness and the cultural differences.
“The Muslims in our country based on their cultural –religious realities have created a specific naming system, though it has its nuances, generally the system brings Islamic character”, further said Assoc. Prof. Yalamov. According to him after the inclusion of the Turks to Islam, the Turkish naming system was synchronized with the Islamic religious identity. “Personal names in Islam are extremely important because the nature of the person is expressed by his name and not by his face, which is changing with age”, also said the former university lecturer.
He believes that the person achieves a mystical relation with the Almighty through his name, with it the Muslims will face Allah. In the Hereafter the people will be named by their personal names. The established by the Turkic-Turkish-Islamic tradition naming system continues to be used by the Muslims in Bulgaria. 60 % of the names used by them are of Turkish origin, 38 % - of Arabic, and only 2 % - of Persian. The most common name is Muhammad and its derivatives Ahmed and Mehmed.
Naming the newborn is an important moment in the family life of the Muslims. Small celebrations are organized on this occasion. The name is given either by the imam or by the eldest man in the family. Traditionally the newborn brings the name of its grandmother, grandfather or of a respectable by the family personage.
“Changing of names depersonalize the identity. The totalitarian regime which carried a policy of homogenization tried to form a homogeneous ethnic Bulgarian nation. It organized a number of campaigns for changing the names of the people from minority communities”, said Assoc. Prof. Yalamov. According to him the grouping of Todor Zhivkov turned into a state policy the idea for changing the identity, applied several times in the third Bulgarian state.