Alima, name meaning in Islam.

Alima (عَالِمَة) is an Arabic name for girls. It means learned, a woman of knowledge. In South Asia an alimah is a woman who has finished the full course of Islamic studies.

Meaning and root

In Arabic, words are built from a root of usually three letters. Alima comes from the root ع ل م, and words from the same root share its core meaning. Similar names from the same family of words are listed below.

Is Alima in the Quran?

No. Alima is not a word in the Quran. A name does not need to be in the Quran to be a good Muslim name: what matters is that its meaning is good. The Prophet ﷺ changed names with bad meanings and kept names with good ones.¹

How to say and write Alima

Say it AA-li-mah. The capital letters show the stressed part. In English it is also spelled Aalima and Alimah. In Arabic it is written with 5 letters, from right to left: ع ʿayn + ا alif + ل lam + م mim + ة ta marbuta.

Choosing Alima

Alima is a name with a good meaning, which is what the Sunnah asks for. The Prophet ﷺ said: "The most beloved of your names to Allah are Abdullah and Abdur-Rahman",³ and after these, any name with a good meaning is a sound choice. With the father's name it becomes Alima bint (and the father's name): see what bin, bint and abu mean.

Names like Alima

• Hakima
• Arif
• Karima

1. Sahih Muslim 2139, the Prophet ﷺ changing a name with a bad meaning.
2. Sahih Muslim 2315.
3. Sahih Muslim 2132.
4. Meanings follow classical Arabic usage and the standard name dictionaries; our teachers will check each one.

Our teachers will check the Arabic spelling and meaning on this page before launch.