Baraa (Name)

Baraa (transliteration: Barāʾ, Arabic: براء) is an Arabic name for boys and girls that means “innocent”, “free (from a fault)”, “cured (from an illness)”, literally meaning “to be free, pure or dissociated (from a fault, sin or illness)”.¹² It also refers to the first night of the lunar month,³ although some say it refers to the first day of the month.⁴

The word Baraa is used twice in the Quran:

When Abraham said to his father and his people, “I am innocent of what you worship."⁵

You have had an excellent example in Abraham and those with him; when they said to their people, “We are innocent of/dissociated from you, and what you worship apart from God. We denounce you. Enmity and hatred has surfaced between us and you, forever, until you believe in God alone.” Except for the words of Abraham to his father, “I will ask forgiveness for you, though I have no power from God to do anything for you.” “Our Lord, in You we trust, and to You we repent, and to You is the ultimate resort.⁶

There are eight Companions of the Prophet Muhammad named Baraa (all of them men):

• al-Baraa’ bin Aws البراء بن أوس
• al-Baraa’ bin al-Ja`d bin Awf البراء بن الجعد بن عوف
• al-Baraa’ bin Hazm البراء بن حزم
• al-Baraa’ bin Aazib البراء بن عازب
• al-Baraa’ bin Amr البراء بن عمر
• al-Baraa’ in Qubaisah البراء بن قبيصة
• al-Baraa’ bin Maalik bin al-Nadheer bin Dhamdham البراء بن مالك بن النَّضير بن ضَمْضَم
• al-Baraa’ bin Ma`roor البراء بن مَعْرُور

Below is the Baraa written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Baraa written in Arabic kufi script:

1. Al-Ṣaghānī, al-ʿUbāb al-Dhākhir wa-l-Lubāb al-Fākhir (d. 1252 CE), بَرَأ.
2. Sultan Qaboos Encyclopedia of Arab Names (Sultan Qaboos University, 1985), بَرَاء.
3. Ibn Sīda al-Mursī, Al-Muḥkam wa-l-Muḥīṭ al-Aʿẓam (d. 1066 CE), برأ.
4. Al-Ṣaghānī, ibid.
5. The Quran, verse 43:26.
6. The Quran, verse 60:4.