Azhar (Name)

Azhar (transliteration: Azhar, Arabic: أزهر) (not to be confused with Azhaar) is an Arabic name for boys and girls that means “beautiful”, “bright”, “shining” (especially when describing a person’s face).¹² It also means “the moon”.³⁴ It also means “radiant” (anything that radiates light).⁵⁶ It also means “a pure and radiant white color”.⁷

Azhar appears to have been a boy name in ancient times. Today it is also used for girls, especially in Southeast Asia.

Al-Azhar is the name of a famous Islamic teaching institution in Cairo, Egypt. There are nine Companions of the Prophet Muhammad named Azhar:

• Azhar bin Humaidhah أزهر بن حميضة
• Azhar bin Subhan أزهر بن سبحان
• Azhar bin Abd Awf أزهر بن عبد عوف
• Azhar bin Qais أزهر بن قيس
• Azhar bin Marwan أزهر بن مروان
• Azhar bin Mukammal bin Awf bin Abd أزهر بن مكمل بن عوف بن عبد
• Azhar bin Minqar أزهر بن منقر
• Azhar (freed slave of Suhail bin Amr) أزهر مولى سهيل بن عمرو
• Azhar bin Yazeed al-Muradi al-Homsi أزهر بن يزيد المرادي الحمصي

Below is the name Azhar written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Azhar written in Arabic kufi script:

1. Arabic-English Lexicon by Edward William Lane (d. 1876), زهر.
2. Sultan Qaboos Encyclopedia of Arab Names (Sultan Qaboos University, 1985), أَزْهَر.
3. Arabic-English Lexicon by Edward William Lane (d. 1876), زهر.
4. Sultan Qaboos Encyclopedia of Arab Names (Sultan Qaboos University, 1985), أَزْهَر.
5. Arabic-English Lexicon by Edward William Lane (d. 1876), زهر.
6. Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo, al-Muʿjam al-Wasīṭ (1998), الْأَزْهَر.
7. Al-Munāwī, al-Tawqīf ʿalā Muhimmāt al-Taʿārīf (d. 1622 CE), الأزهر.