Muslim meaning

Meaning

Peace Maker, Unifier

Etymology

From the verb שלם (shalem), to be or make whole or complete.

Related names

• Via שלם (shalem): Abishalom, Absalom, Bishlam, Islam, Jerusalem, Meshelemiah, Meshillemith, Meshillemoth, Meshullam, Meshullemeth, Salamis, Salem, Salim, Salmone, Salome, Shallum, Shallun, Shalmai, Shalmaneser, Shelemiah, Shelomi, Shelomith, Shelumiel, Shulammite, Solomon, YHWH-shalom

The name Muslim obviously doesn't occur in the Bible because Muhammad finished his work on the Quran six centuries after Christ. But that the proper name Muslim expresses a sentiment that was very much alive in Biblical times is demonstrated by the degree of popularity of the highly similar name Meshullam, which, allowing for some variations, represents a colossal array of Biblical characters.

The name Muslim probably started out as a regular word and only later became used as a name. As such, it's probably the best-known Semitic word in the world, and yet, its proper and rather obvious meaning is unknown to a howling majority of people who use it, apply it to themselves or even their perceived enemies.

The word Muslim, like the closely related word Islam, stems from the familiar Semitic root שלם (shalem), meaning to be whole or complete. This same root also spawns the other famous Semitic word, namely שלום (shalom), meaning peace:

The name Muslim (משלם) relates to the root שלם (shalem) the way the name Muhammad relates to its verb חמד (hamad), meaning to praise or desire, namely by sticking a מ (mem) in front of it. This prefixed מ may turn the root into a participle (which would then mean: completing, or peace-making) or it expresses an agent of instrument that performs the action of the root (same meaning) or the place at which it takes place (which is not applicable).

The name Muslim literally means Peace Maker or Unifier, and probably started out as a regular word meaning precisely that. Here at Abarim Publications we think the name Nazarene reflects a similar thought, namely a motivation to unify all of God's revelations into a singular and harmonized body of knowledge of creation in order to be the best possible stewards of that creation.

The Quran declares the Prophets from Adam to Jesus' disciples and Muhammad to be Muslims, which does not mean that they were of a certain religion, but that they were peace-makers who served only YHWH and purified all beliefs of all people by disproving rubbish and harvesting truths for the sake of Truth.

The "peacemakers" whom Jesus blessed and who would be called the sons of God (Matthew 5:9) are not totalitarian rulers who suppress their subjects' needs and leanings, or folks who demand that we should all retire our most intimate concerns and have another round of chicken nuggets in perfect, sugar-coated harmony, but those people who are able to build bridges between opposing sides and show overbearing similitude of locally polarized opinions.

The Quran is the foundational text of Arabic the way the Books of Moses were the foundational text of Hebrew and those of Homer that of Greek. Without these great foundational texts, the tribal dialects of each basin would have diverged and dispersed or competed each other out of existence, and the speakers of these local dialects would eventually have joined some greater language (like Latin or English) in order to preserve their thoughts and literary culture (the Celts never did that, which is why we have so very little Celtic legends left, which is an eternal shame; see Psalm 16:10).

Before there was wide-spread literacy, specialized bards would travel the language basin and recite the foundational texts so that every speaker could hone and calibrate their own private pronunciation, vocabulary and established narrative archetypes to bolster their own stories and accounts. Since everybody gathered at wells, these bards would go there too, and do their thing while everybody was taking a breather from travelling the greater region and listened. This is also one of the reasons for the name Quran, which means That Which Calls.

In one of the oldest parts of the Bible, this is precisely so told: "Louder than the voice of archers, by the watering-troughs! there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of YHWH" (Judges 5:11, JSP).

In Numbers 21:27, these same watering hole vocalists are discussed: "Therefore 'those who use proverbs' say ...". This word that means 'those who use proverbs' is a plural of a participle of the verb משל (mashal), meaning to speak in a proverb or parable, which obviously implies the authority and learnedness to do so. This denominative verb comes from the noun משל (mashal), proverb or parable, which in turn derives from the verb משל (mashal), meaning to represent or be like. That's rather significant because that's precisely the point of the bards: so that the audience could imitate them and bend their own speech according to the standard. Language itself is a matter of imitation and probably arose naturally among very early humans when they sought to center their individual vocal expression on mutually agreeable forms.

Language is what's given humanity its signature power, and in case you were wondering what the Rings of Power are all about: they are Tolkien's brilliant way of depicting forcibly standardized languages and writing systems, from which all social and political power derives: three oldest Elamite ones, seven Semitic ones, and nine Indo-European ones.

Our plural participle is משלים (moslim), meaning "those who use proverbs", which is a rather pleasing poetic coincidence. Technically this word and the name Muslim have nothing to do with each other, but since the poets are more than free to paint whatever picture they will with the verbal paint they have, there's no guarantee that our plural noun moslim had nothing to do with the formation of the name Muslim.