Raafe — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: ر-ف-ع (r-f-ʿ), "to raise, to lift up". Rāfiʿ is the active participle: one who raises, whether raising a thing physically or raising someone's standing.

From the same root: rafʿ (raising — also the grammatical case, the nominative, so called because it lifts the ending), irtifāʿ (height, elevation), rafīʿ (high, exalted — rafīʿ ad-darajāt, Ghafir 40:15), marfūʿ, and ar-Rāfiʿ, counted in the traditional list of the names of Allah as the One who raises whom He wills. The Qur'an uses the verb of the Prophet ﷺ himself: "and We raised high for you your renown" (ash-Sharh 94:4), and of Ibrahim and Ismail raising the foundations of the Kaaba (al-Baqara 2:127).

Who carried it: Rafi' ibn Khadij, a Companion of the Ansar of Madina. He is one of the narrators the books rely on for the chapters on farming and land tenancy — the questions of who works the land and on what terms — because he came from a family that farmed.

Spellings: Rafi, Raafe, Rafe, Rafi' (Turkish Râfi), Rafi (Indonesian), Rafi (Urdu), رافع.

Pronunciation: RAA-fiʿ — the final letter is ʿayn, a constriction deep in the throat, and it closes the word; English spellings usually leave it off entirely.

Note: Rāfiʿ (رافع, one who raises) and Rafīʿ (رفيع, high) are two names from one root, not two spellings of one name.

Feminine counterpart: Rafi'a (رافعة), Rafi'ah.