شاربك في الخرا السمع والطاعه فتوجّه دم الحس قفاك هو وأخوه شاربك في الخرا إلى أن أشرفا على بحر النيل ونزلا فيه وكان دم الحس قفاك ماهرًا في العوم وشاربك في الخرا عومه قليل فسبق دم الحس قفاك أخوه شاربك في الخرا فتضايق شاربك في الخرا واشتدّ به الأمر وأشرف على الغرق فالتفت إليه دم الحس قفاك فرأى شاربك في الخرا في شدّة عظيمة فأقبل عليه ووضع يده تحت إبطه وأسنده على ظهره ولم يزل يتلطّف به حتّى أوصله إلى البرّ فلولا أن دم الحس قفاك لبق وإلّا كان شاربك في الخرا غرق
Such naming techniques remind me of a somewhat similar story, which is that a man once said that his wife gave birth to a boy and he heard one man say to another, “Blood slap the back of your neck!”28 so he made that the boy’s name. Then another son was born to him and he heard another man say to someone, “Your moustache in the shit!” so he called him the same. Now, Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck grew up and became a big boy and Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit likewise reached the age of ten, so their father sent them to school, where Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck learned the Qurʾan and Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit did likewise. One day, Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck said to his brother Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit, “Verily, we have determined, O my brother, to hie us unto the river Nile, therein to bathe!” To which Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit replied, “We hear and obey!” So Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck and his brother Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit proceeded to the edge of the river Nile and went in. Now Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck was a skilled swimmer, while his brother Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit hardly knew how to swim, so Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck overtook Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit. At this Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit grew angry, got into difficulties, and would have drowned had not Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck turned and seen that Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit was in a desperate plight. Going to him, he put his hands under his brother’s arms, turned him on his back, and drew him gently along until he brought him to shore. Thus, had Blood-Slap-the-Back-of-Your-Neck not got there first, Your-Moustache-in-the-Shit would have drowned!29
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(ومرّ رجل بغلام يضرب أباه) ويَسْخَرُ به ويَسُبُّه فقال له يا غلام إن لأبيك عليك حق أن لا تَنْهَرَه ولا تُؤْذِيَه وأن تُحْسِنَ الأدب معه ولو كان كافرا فقال له يا سيدي وأنا الآخر لي عليه حق فقال وما حقّك عليه فقال أن يحسن اسمي ويعلّمني القرآن وأن يرشدني إلى أحسن الصنائع وهذا سمّاني دَبّوس * وعلّمني لسان المَجُوس * وصيّرني بين الناس خَلْبوص * أفلا أضربه فقال بل صُكَّه بالنعال * فإنّه مستحقّ لأقبح الفعال *
Similarly, a man once came upon a boy beating his father and mocking and abusing him the while. The man said to him, “Young man, it is your duty not to speak harshly to your father or do him harm! Be he an infidel, you must treat him politely!” to which the boy replied, “Sir, I too have the right to demand certain things of him,” “And what might those be?” said the man. “To give me a decent name, teach me the Qurʾan, and direct me towards a worthy profession. But this man named me Skewer, taught me the language of the Magians,30 and sent me out in public as a buffoon!31 Why then should I not beat him?” The first replied, “On the contrary, you should thrash him with a shoe, for he deserves the very worst that you can do!”
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(ومرّ رجل على سيّدنا عمر بن الخطّاب رضي الله عنه) فقال له ما اسمك قال تَنُّور قال وأمّك قال شَرارة قال وأبوك قال لَهَب قال وفي أيّ واد أنت قال في وادي النار فقال له عمر رضي الله عنه اذهب إلى واديك فإنّ أهلك قد احترقوا قال فمضى الرجل فرأى الأمر كما ذكره سيّدنا عمر رضي الله عنه والأسماء تدلّ على لطافة المسمّى أو على كثافته وفي كلام أهل العلم والتدريب * كلّ أحد له من اسمه نصيب *
And once a man passed Our Master ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may the Almighty be pleased with him, and the latter asked him, “What is your name?” “Oven,” he replied. “And your mother’s?” “Spark.” “And your father’s?” “Flame.” “And in what valley do you dwell?” “In Fire Valley.”32 Then said Our Master ʿUmar, may the Almighty be pleased with him, “Go back to your valley, for your family has all burned!” When the man got home, he found it to be as Our Master ʿUmar, may the Almighty be pleased with him, had said.33 It is a fact that names point to the refinement or coarseness of those who bear them, and, as men of learning and experience relate, “Each man’s name determines his fate.”
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(ويُكَنّوا) أبو شعره وأبو معره وأبو متارد وأبو شوالي وأبو جاموس وأبو قادوس وأبو عفره وأبو دعموم وأبو شادوف وأبو جاروف وأبو مشكاح وأبو رمّاح وأبو نطّاح وأبو بقر وأبو مطر وأبو هودج وأبو خرق النورج وأبو ضلام وأبو شقرير وأبو قشقوش وأبو قسيم وأبو جريده وأبو طعيمه وأبو بليله وأبو زغلول وأبو سيسي وأبو جاهل وأبو قصاله وأبو زباله وأبو بعبوص وأبو نموص وأبو لبده وأبو غده وأبو زعيط وأبو معيط وأبو بريطع وأبو زعيزع وأبو تعيتع وأبو شعيشع وأبو صابر وأبو خنافر وأبو هوير وأبو طرطر وأبو عوكل وأبو حوقل وأبو هبول وأبو عسقول وأبو ربابه وأبو زغابه وأبو طريف وأبو قحيف وأبو عريش وأبو كريش وأبو فتيشه وأبو دشيشه وأبو قَزَق وأبو قَلّوط وأبو جحلاط وأبو جيص وأبو كانون وأبو مقلد وأبو جعباظ
Their kunyahs are Abū Shiʿrah (“Father of Pubic Hair”) and Abū Miʿrah,34 Abū Matārid (“Father of Crocks”), Abū Shawālī (“Father
