Musa — Name Meaning in Islam

Origin: Mūsā comes into Arabic from Hebrew Mosheh. The Torah account connects it to being drawn out of the water. Early Muslim exegetes report a Coptic derivation instead, from the Egyptian words for water and for tree — the two things between which the infant's basket was found. Both explanations describe the same scene, and the lexicographers do not settle between them.

Who carried it: the Prophet Musa. He is named more often in the Qur'an than any other Prophet — well over a hundred times — and more of his life is narrated than of anyone else's: the basket on the river, the flight to Madyan, the fire at the mountain, the staff, Pharaoh, the parting of the sea, the tablets, the calf, and the long journey with the servant of Allah in Surah al-Kahf. He is called Kalīm Allāh, the one to whom Allah spoke directly — "and Allah spoke to Musa with speech" (an-Nisa 4:164).

Spellings: Musa, Moussa, Mousa, Moosa (Urdu), Musa (Turkish, identical), Musa (Indonesian), Moïse (French, through Greek and Latin — the same name), موسى.

Pronunciation: MOO-saa. The Arabic ends in alif maqṣūra (ى), so the final vowel is long even though it is written as a yāʾ.

Often paired: Musa and Harun as brothers; Musa Kazim as a compound.

Feminine counterpart: none formed from the name.