وَائِل
Boy Arabic origin Wāʾil
Companion“One who finds refuge and escapes to safety”
Waʾil ibn Hujr al-Hadrami, one of the princes of Hadramawt, came to the Prophet ﷺ in Medina and embraced Islam. He described the Prophet’s prayer ﷺ: he saw him raise his hands level with his ears as he said the takbir, then place his right hand on his left (Muslim 401).
Waʾil is the active participle of waʾala, “to take refuge, to find shelter and escape”: Ibn Manzur explains that waʾil is said of one who shelters in a place and is saved. From the same root comes mawʾil, “refuge”, which the Quran uses: “they will find no refuge apart from it” (18:58). It is also the name of the ancestor of great Arab tribes, the Bakr ibn Waʾil and the Taghlib ibn Waʾil.
The name Wael does not appear as such in the Quran, but its root (و أ ل) occurs once. Examples:
وَرَبُّكَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ذُو ٱلرَّحْمَةِ لَوْ يُؤَاخِذُهُم بِمَا كَسَبُوا۟ لَعَجَّلَ لَهُمُ ٱلْعَذَابَ بَل لَّهُم مَّوْعِدٌ لَّن يَجِدُوا۟ مِن دُونِهِۦ مَوْئِلًا ٥٨
And your Lord is the Forgiving, the possessor of mercy. If He were to impose blame upon them for what they earned, He would have hastened for them the punishment. Rather, for them is an appointment from which they will never find an escape.
رَفَعَ يَدَيْهِ حِينَ دَخَلَ فِي الصَّلاَةِ كَبَّرَ - وَصَفَ هَمَّامٌ حِيَالَ أُذُنَيْهِ - ثُمَّ الْتَحَفَ بِثَوْبِهِ ثُمَّ وَضَعَ يَدَهُ الْيُمْنَى عَلَى الْيُسْرَى فَلَمَّا أَرَادَ أَنْ يَرْكَعَ أَخْرَجَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ…
No text or scholarly opinion concerns the name Wael in particular: the general rules of Islam apply.
Read the rules for choosing a name
This page is an aid to reflection, not a fatwa. For a personal case, ask a person of knowledge.
