Can one give the name of an angel to a child? Is Mikael a suitable name?

Question

My name is Mikael and I am getting paranoid if this is actually a permissible Islamic/Arabic name or not? I come from a Muslim family and my mother always told me it is taken from an angels name. But I always look at lists of Muslim names online and I can never see my name, or at least my spelling.

Answer 1

Mika'el is the name of an arch-angel.

من كان عدوا لله وملائكته ورسله وجبريل وميكال فإن الله عدو للكافرين

Whoever is an enemy to Allâh, His Angels, His Messengers, Jibrîl (Gabriel) and Mîkâ’îl (Michael), then verily, Allâh is an enemy to the disbelievers."

^{— Quran 2:98}

اللهم رب جبرائيل وميكائيل وإسرافيل

O Allah, Lord of Jibraīl, Mīkaīl and Israfīl

^{— Muslim}

Giving the name of an angel to a child is disputed among the scholars. A group considers it makruh however the majority consider it permissible.

Reference:

ذهب أكثر العلماء إلى أن التسمية بأسماء الملائكة كجبريل وميكائيل لا تكره . وذهب مالك إلى كراهة التسمية بذلك

^{— Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah}

مذهب الجمهور جواز التسمية بأسماء الأنبياء والملائكة صلوات الله وسلامه عليهم أجمعين

^{— Majmoo‘ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab}

Answer 2

Assalamu alaikum,

Micheal, if you are living in a society where all types of people stay together, there's no harm in keeping the name 'Micheal'. This is an English version of the Arabic name 'Mika'eel' which is the name of a Sacred Angel. So if you wish to keep 'Micheal' instead of 'Mika'eel or Mikaeel' is not a problem at all.

Apart from this, Allah SWT looks at the person's deeds and his/her intentions that he/she carry through out his/her life.

Hope this sounds good to you.

Thank you