Huda — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: ه-د-ي (h-d-y), "to guide, to show the way". Hudā is the verbal noun: guidance itself, not the one guided and not the one guiding — the thing given.

From the same root: hadā (he guided), hidāya (guidance), hādī (guide — and al-Hādī is one of the names of Allah), muhtadī (one who is guided), Mahdī (rightly guided), hadiyya (a gift), and ihdinā — "guide us" — the request at the centre of al-Fatiha, said in every unit of every prayer.

In the Qur'an: the word opens al-Baqara's description of the Book: hudan li-l-muttaqīn, "a guidance for those mindful of Allah" (2:2). It is one of the most frequent words in the Qur'an, and the Qur'an calls itself by it.

Why the same root gives "gift". Hadiyya, a present, comes from the same letters as guidance. The lexicographers connect them through the sense of sending something forward to someone — a gift is directed to a person, and so is a path shown.

Spellings: Huda, Hoda, Hüda (Turkish), Huda (Indonesian, Urdu), هدى.

Pronunciation: HU-daa, with a long final vowel written as alif maqṣūra.

Masculine counterpart: Hadi, Mahdi, Muhtadi.