al-Maliki
al-Sadr
al-Assad
etc....
Is it like that in all the Middle East countries? I have noticed the same thing in Iran.
2006-11-29 06:02:55 · 11 answers · asked by BeachBum 7 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
its a definite article
al = the
ال
usually, like in al-sadr, its the city or region where the dude is from. muqtada al-sadr, muqtada (the guy from sadr (city))
stephanie- where do you get your ignorance from? is it genetic? or a product of public schooling?
2006-11-29 06:06:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
That song "call me Al" is very popular in the middle east.
2006-11-29 14:28:46 · answer #2 · answered by RustyOwls 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It identifies title eg. The British "Lord Windsor".
It the furtherance of curiosity fulfillment. when you see or hear one of these "al" names it indicates the person is a wealthy landowner. I like that much better than the American style of hiding your wealth behind a title-less name. Instead of George of Kennybunkport it is simply Dubya.
Go big Red Go
2006-11-29 14:29:04 · answer #3 · answered by 43 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They want to make sure that people don't get the wrong idea when they see there long clothing that could be mistaken for a dress. Who would think that AL was a woman!
2006-11-29 14:34:37 · answer #4 · answered by Smoky! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
these names are with respect to their city belong to,or family name,or depiction,al as in enghish: the for example door and the door,is the view now clear?not all middle east counties use it some of them only.
2006-11-29 14:10:47 · answer #5 · answered by lostship 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
And if you're curious about "bin" and "binte":
"In Arabic, the word "ibn" (or "bin" and sometimes "ibni" and "ibnu" to show the final declension of the noun) is the equivalent of the "son" prefix discussed above. In addition, "binte" means "daughter of". Thus, for example, "Ali ibn Amr" means "Ali son of Amr". The word "Abu" means "father of", so "Abu Ali" is another name for "Amr". In medieval times, a bastard of unknown parentage would sometimes be termed "ibn Abihi", "son of his father" (notably Ziyad ibn Abihi.) In the Qur'an, Jesus (Isa in Arabic) is consistently termed "Isa ibn Maryam" - a matronymic - because, in Muslim belief, he had no biological father."
2006-11-29 14:29:13 · answer #6 · answered by doom4rent 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is probably like many Scots having Mc and the Irish having O' in the front of their last names. Just a regional thing.
2006-11-29 14:12:42 · answer #7 · answered by Shane L 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sorry but I know alot of middle eastern people and their names dont all start wil Al-.
2006-11-29 14:10:13 · answer #8 · answered by Perplexed 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Like it's already been said here, it's the Arabic equivalent of:
- Le (French)
- El (Spanish)
- Ha (Hebrew)
2006-11-29 14:25:28 · answer #9 · answered by E A C 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not in Iran.
2006-11-30 02:34:41 · answer #10 · answered by sunny 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋