Are women allowed to take on the name of their husband?
I dont see anything wrong with it but a friend found me a couple fatwas saying that its humiliating for the woman, a person is not allowed to belong to anyone but their father etc etc.
Does any one have more references from the Quran and Hadith on this??Also, any historical references, on how the people in subcontinent started doing this (i am guessign with the advent of the Brits?) would be nice. 
I am also wondering the same thing...
Sorry i dont have references, but what i know is it's upto you to change your surname. It's your choice to keep your fathers name or to change to your husband's name as your surname.
Its more a cultural thing than religious, IMO. And you can do it any different ways.
Arabs, for example, go by kuniat.. where a girl will be like Ayesha Bint Abdullah. Her Bint remains the same throughout her life, but after she has a son or a daughter, her kuniat changes to Umme-Kulsoom, for example. So, its more an Arabic custom.
Westerners on the other hand do it several different ways. One being to replace the maiden name with the husband's surname. Another being to hyphenate the names. So an unmarried Ayesha Smith marries Hayder Khan and can either take Ayesha Khan or Ayesha Smith-Khan.
In Pakistan, not everyone has a family name, so in many cases, the girls are given the first name of their father. So if the father's name is Asim Hameed, the daughter's name will be Ayesha Asim. She grows up and marries Muhammad Yaqoob and may either keep her maiden name or change it to Ayesha Yaqoob. The change is more for logistical purposes (all passports of the family have the same last name etc) and to show their affection to their husband, rather then being any religious edict. I know a few Pakistani women who kept their maiden name even after marriage.
Ah, whatever, I never plan to change my name and my dad told me not to. I love my name and would keep it the way it is.
Mystical and Faisal bhai.........does this mean that there is no religious ruling on this and its a personal prefernce or choice??Hmm interesting. Hopefully someone will post some religious references too...meanwhile i wll also look around more.
TNWB: good for you sis :)
Faisal Bhai,
You amaze me with your knowledge and Responsible posts.
:k:
I have no Ayaths or Surahs to quote but once I was Having a Discussion with an Islamic Scholar, and he said.
“on the day of Qayamat everyone will be addressed by their mothers name, and that is to avoid any embarassment to the mothers if they have been unfaithful”
Can anyone please clarify this issue for me???
I take issue with the comment reguarding "belonging to" women, may it be noted, much like men, are their own poeple, they do not "belong" to anyone. Not their fathers, not their husbands not their sons and not goodness knows who else may wish to "claim" them.
In fact as far as I am aware Islam freed women from this. It is in the chritian faith where first the women belongs to the father and then the husband, never being a person in her own right.
Sorry for derailing.
Ira i will look up some references for you.
I am sure about this that in your marriage contract, you can choose to keep your maiden name.
Actually 'the marriage contract' is very detailed, and this is one of the things in it..you can add other things in your contract too..
Mystical, I guess i want to know if and what Islam says any thing about this idea. But i would appreciate if you post any authentic references. Meanwhile, I am still looking :)