Luqman — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: uncertain, and the lexicographers say so. Some link Luqmān to ل-ق-م (l-q-m), the root of luqma, a mouthful of food, read on the fuʿlān pattern. Others hold the name foreign, pointing out that Arabic grammar treats it as a diptote, which is how it treats non-Arabic proper names. Neither party claims certainty, and the meaning is not what the name is given for.

Who carried it: Luqman, whom the Qur'an names and whose name the thirty-first chapter carries. Allah says of him: "We gave Luqman wisdom" (31:12). The sūra then quotes his counsel to his son — first that he associate nothing with Allah, for that is a great wrong (31:13), and then, in a passage read to children across the Muslim world, that he keep up prayer, enjoin good and forbid wrong, bear what befalls him, not turn his cheek from people in scorn, walk with moderation and lower his voice (31:17-19).

Note: the Qur'an does not call him a Prophet. The commentators differ, and the majority hold that he was a wise servant of Allah given wisdom rather than revelation.

Spellings: Luqman, Lukman, Lokman (Turkish), Lukman (Indonesian), Luqman (Urdu), Louqman (French), لقمان.

Pronunciation: luq-MĀN — the q is qāf, made far back against the uvula, not the k of "look".