Ahab (Name)

Ahab (transliteration: Aḥabb, Arabic: أحبّ) is an Arabic name for boys that means “more beloved”, “more dear”, “most beloved”, “most dear”.¹ Ahab is the comparative and superlative form of ḥabīb (“beloved”, “dear”).²

Ahab may also be spelled Ahabb and Eheb. The word Ahab is used in three places in the Quran:

Say, “If your parents, and your children, and your siblings, and your spouses, and your relatives, and the wealth you have acquired, and a business you worry about, and homes you love, are more dear to you than God, and His Messenger, and the struggle in His cause, then wait until God executes His judgment.” God does not guide the sinful people.³

When they said, “Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we are, although we are a whole group. Our father is obviously in the wrong.⁴

He said, “My Lord, prison is more beloved to me than what they call me to. Unless You turn their scheming away from me, I may yield to them, and become one of the ignorant.”⁵

There is one Companion of the Prophet Muhammad named Ahab:

• Ahab bin Malik أحب بن مالك

Below is the name Ahab written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Ahab written in Arabic kufi script:

1. Asaas al-Balaaghah by al-Zamakhshari (d. 1143 CE), entry for حبب.
2. Taj al-Lughah wa Sihaah al-Arabiyyah by al-Jawhari (d. 1003 CE), entry for حبب.
3. The Quran, verse 9:24.
4. The Quran, verse 12:8.
5. The Quran, verse 12:33.