Question:

My father has an old friend, and my father calls his friend’s wife “Mother of the Believers” because her name matches one of the Mothers of the Believers. He also calls one of his old friends “Noah.” Is he permitted to do this?

Answer:

As for the first matter—calling a woman “Mother of the Believers”—this is forbidden because it is a falsehood. She is not a mother of the believers; the Mothers of the Believers are exclusively the wives of the Messenger, Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him.

Furthermore, the one who says this word is uttering a falsehood, wanting to attach this woman to the wives of the most noble of creation, the Prophet Muhammad, while she is undoubtedly the wife of a person who does not equal the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, in status.

As for the second matter—naming a man “Noah”—there is no harm in a man being named Noah, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, Hood, or any other name of the prophets. There is no harm in assigning such a name to a person as a given name.

However, if it is used as a nickname/byname while his real name is something else, then this requires consideration: we might say it is prohibited because it is a falsehood, or we might say it is permissible out of a sense of honoring [him], given that this man has a large family, making him resemble Noah in the abundance of his children—because Noah, upon him be peace and blessings, is the second father of humanity, as Allah the Almighty said: “And, his progeny, them We made the survivors (i.e. Shem, Ham and Japheth).” [As-Saffat: 77]