US President Donald Trump has once again made the name Muhammad the subject of a political joke, ridiculing one of the most cherished names in Islam during an election rally in Georgia. But his remarks have revived an uncomfortable contradiction: while Trump uses Muslim names to entertain political audiences, he maintains lucrative relationships with Middle Eastern leaders who bear the very name he mocks.
There is another irony. The president’s own surname, Trump, has a history rooted in European occupational names, while in colloquial British English, the word carries a rather less dignified meaning.
Beyond the linguistic humour, however, lies a more serious question. Why has Trump’s repeated use of Muslim identity as a political target generated so little visible diplomatic resistance from the governments of Muslim-majority countries, particularly those whose leaders enjoy close relationships with Washington?
‘Just Say Muhammad’: Trump’s Latest Joke About Muslims
Speaking to supporters during a Republican campaign rally at Dalton Municipal Airport in Georgia, Trump mocked the popularity of the name Muhammad across the Middle East and the wider Muslim world.
“You know, if you’re in doubt about somebody’s name from the Middle East, just say ‘Mohammad,'” Trump told the crowd.
“You have about a 65% chance. ‘Hello, Mohammad.’ I’ve done it for years now. I’ve never been wrong.”
The president made the remarks inside an airport hangar while campaigning for Republican candidates ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.
He proceeded to imitate conversations with several imaginary people named Muhammad, turning the name into a recurring punchline.
According to accounts of the gathering, the joke received a relatively muted response from the audience.
For Muslims, however, Muhammad is not simply a statistically common name. It carries profound religious and historical significance as the name of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), whom Muslims honour as the final Messenger of Allah.
Parents across the Muslim world name their sons Muhammad out of love, reverence and admiration for the Prophet, and in the hope that their children will embody his noble qualities.
Trump’s remarks therefore touch on something considerably more meaningful to Muslim communities than an ordinary cultural reference.
The controversy also reflects a wider pattern of rhetoric for which the American president has faced repeated criticism from civil rights organisations and Muslim advocacy groups.
The Two Muhammads Trump Has No Problem Doing Business With
One of the most pointed criticisms of Trump’s remarks concerns his relationships with powerful Arab leaders.
The president has frequently celebrated major commercial agreements, investments and financial commitments involving Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Among the prominent figures involved are Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed.
Both carry the name Muhammad.
The contrast is difficult to overlook: a president who publicly makes jokes about the name Muhammad simultaneously maintains close political and economic relationships with leaders bearing that name, praising the financial benefits of their countries’ partnerships with the United States.
The original Arabic commentary characterises this behaviour as hypocritical, questioning why the name is apparently acceptable when associated with wealthy Gulf leaders but becomes material for mockery before an American political audience.
It also raises a direct challenge to those leaders.
Could Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed not have registered even a diplomatic objection to the president’s remarks?
The criticism goes further, arguing that Gulf governments possess considerable financial and diplomatic leverage in their dealings with Washington and could use that influence to demand greater respect for Muslim religious sensitivities.
The apparent absence of a forceful response has also brought the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation into the discussion.
As an institution representing Muslim-majority countries, the organisation would ordinarily be expected by its critics to defend the dignity of Islamic religious symbols and respond when they believe those symbols have been disparaged.
The commentary questions why the organisation has not issued even a formal statement rebuking Trump and urging him to stop using the name Muhammad as political entertainment.
Its central argument is that diplomatic silence risks normalising the treatment of Muslim religious identity as an acceptable subject of political ridicule.
When ‘Muhammad’ Becomes a Political Attack Against an American Muslim
Trump’s references to the name have not been confined to general jokes about the Middle East.
During the midterm election campaign, he has also directed attacks at Muslim political figures in the United States, including Abdul El-Sayed, the American-born politician of Egyptian heritage running as a Democratic candidate for the US Senate, and Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Omar, who arrived in the United States as a refugee from Somalia, has repeatedly been a target of Trump’s political rhetoric.
The president’s campaign messaging has increasingly focused on Somali Americans, Muslims and immigrants, according to the Arabic commentary, which describes his language as an attempt to associate Muslim identity with suspicion and political disloyalty.
The source also alleges that federal authorities searched Omar’s home and sought grounds to revoke her American citizenship and deport her to Somalia. These serious allegations are not accompanied by supporting documentation in the supplied account and should not be treated as independently established.
Trump’s attacks on Abdul El-Sayed provide a more direct illustration of how a Muslim name has been used as a political weapon.
The president allegedly characterised El-Sayed as a “radical and violent jihadist” and repeatedly emphasised Muhammad as part of his name.
Addressing voters in Michigan, Trump said:
“Actually, his middle name is Muhammad. Did you know that? His name is Abd Muhammad. He’s a fraud, a total fraud, and we cannot, you cannot, make room for frauds.”
He also suggested that El-Sayed had no place in Congress or American public life.
“Can you imagine this guy? He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and perhaps he still is,” Trump claimed.
The accusation concerning Muslim Brotherhood membership was presented as Trump’s allegation, not an established fact.
The political significance of these remarks lies in the deliberate emphasis on Muslim identity.
Rather than relying exclusively on disagreements over public policy, Trump’s language repeatedly draws attention to the candidate’s Muslim name and religious background, associating them with accusations of extremism and dishonesty.
For Muslim advocacy organisations, this type of rhetoric is part of a broader pattern that contributes to the stigmatisation of Muslim Americans.
A report published earlier in the year by the Council on American-Islamic Relations attributed rising Islamophobia in the United States partly to the Trump administration’s immigration policies and its response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations during his second term.
The organisation identified these developments as contributing factors to a political environment in which anti-Muslim hostility has become increasingly visible.
What Does the Name Muhammad Actually Mean?
The name Muhammad comes from the Arabic root associated with praise and commendation.
It conveys the meaning of someone who is repeatedly praised, whose qualities are commendable and whose actions are worthy of appreciation.
Among the meanings associated with the name are the praised one, the one deserving gratitude and the person distinguished by admirable characteristics.
For Muslims, its greatest significance is that it is the name of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The Prophet’s name appears explicitly four times in the Qur’an, in Surah Aal Imran (3:144), Surah Al-Ahzab (33:40), Surah Muhammad (47:2) and Surah Al-Fath (48:29).
Its popularity throughout Muslim societies reflects generations of religious devotion and cultural continuity.
The name is also found among Muslim communities in Western countries, including the United States, where families preserve their religious and cultural heritage through naming traditions.
Yet the name is not exclusively used by Muslims.
In parts of the Arab world, including Lebanon, some Christians have also been given the name Muhammad because of its Arabic meaning and cultural familiarity.
One particularly unusual example emerged from Jordan.
The Christian Priest in Jordan Who Was Named Muhammad
Jordanian media previously reported the story of a Catholic priest who had carried the name Muhammad since birth.
Known among churchgoers as Father Muhammad, the priest’s name was linked to a family promise made long before he entered religious life.
According to the account, his father, George al-Halsa, had lost a son named Firas.
Following that loss, the father made a vow that if he were blessed with another son, he would name the child Muhammad.
The child was subsequently given that name.
The priest reportedly insisted that he would never change it, expressing pride in the name and emphasising tolerance between Muslims and Christians.
His story offers a striking contrast to the use of Muhammad as a target of ridicule.
A name that Trump has treated as material for political humour was, in this Jordanian Christian family, associated with gratitude, personal devotion and coexistence between religious communities.
The Arabic commentary also recalls a deadly attack in Jordan in which seven people, including a young doctor identified as Fadi Asim al-Halsa, were killed when gunmen attacked people attending a funeral. It condemned the attack as an act of extremist violence and offered condolences to the victims and prayers for the wounded.
The episode adds a sombre dimension to the discussion of religious identity, reminding readers that sectarian hatred and religious extremism can threaten Muslims and Christians alike.
What Does the Surname Trump Mean?
The original commentary turns Trump’s mockery of Muhammad back towards the president’s own surname, examining its linguistic origins and meanings.
Unlike Muhammad, a given name with an established religious significance and a clear Arabic meaning, Trump is a European family name associated historically with occupations.
One proposed English etymology traces it to Old French words such as trompe and trompeor, associated with horns, trumpets and the people who played or made them.
Such occupational surnames emerged across Europe when individuals were identified by their profession or by the tools used in their work.
Under this interpretation, the surname could refer to a trumpeter or a horn player.
A Germanic derivation has also been associated with the Middle High German word trumpe, connected with drumming.
The commentary therefore draws attention to the surname’s possible associations with trumpet players and drummers.
The history of Trump’s family name adds another dimension.
An ancestral form of the surname was recorded as Drumpf, including among earlier family members such as Hans Drumpf, associated with the German town of Kallstadt.
Over time, the family name came to be written as Trump.
The significance of these linguistic details is not that the president should be judged by the origins of his name. Rather, the comparison exposes the weakness of using another person’s name as a basis for ridicule.
Names evolve across languages, cultures and generations, and their historical meanings are often far removed from their modern associations.
Trump’s own surname is no exception.
The British Slang Meaning That Makes the Joke More Awkward
There is, however, another meaning of the word trump that has little to do with musical instruments or family history.
In informal British English, “trump” can be used as a verb or noun referring to passing wind.
It is a colloquial term for flatulence, including the audible release of intestinal gas.
The Arabic commentary uses this linguistic coincidence to reverse the president’s joke, pointing out that if public figures are to be mocked according to the meanings or associations of their names, Trump’s surname provides material of its own.
The writer sarcastically contrasts Muhammad, a name rooted in praise and revered by Muslims, with the British slang meaning of Trump.
The comparison is deliberately provocative, reflecting the author’s frustration at what he regards as repeated disrespect towards Muslim names and identities.
Yet the wider issue is not whether the president’s surname sounds amusing in another language.
It is why an American political leader repeatedly draws attention to the Muslim identities of political opponents and foreign populations as a means of generating laughter or suspicion.
Trump’s Own Family History Complicates His Attacks on Immigrants
The commentary also challenges Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric by examining his family background.
Trump’s wife, Melania, was born outside the United States and later became an American citizen.
The source raises questions about the circumstances of her naturalisation, although it provides no evidence establishing wrongdoing.
By contrast, Abdul El-Sayed, whom Trump has attacked in connection with his Muslim identity, was born in the United States.
Trump’s mother was also an immigrant, having been born in Scotland before moving to America and later obtaining US citizenship.
His paternal grandfather likewise emigrated from Germany to the United States.
The commentary describes him as having left Germany amid circumstances involving military service and economic hardship.
It also recalls claims that the Trump family once presented its ancestry as Swedish rather than German, a distinction the article associates with the historical stigma surrounding Germany’s Nazi past.
Such accounts of family identity, however, should not be confused with the unsupported suggestion that any ethnic or religious community collectively controls New York’s economy.
The central contradiction raised by the author is that Trump has repeatedly deployed hostile rhetoric about immigrants while belonging to a family whose own American history was shaped by immigration.
The article contrasts that background with his treatment of Muslim Americans, particularly those whose names or family origins he uses to question their place in American political life.
The Question That Remains for Muslim Leaders
The name Muhammad has survived across centuries, languages and cultures because of its religious significance and the affection Muslims hold for the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Trump’s jokes do not alter that meaning.
What they have done, according to the commentary, is expose a contradiction between the respect demanded by powerful political figures for their own identities and the willingness of some of those figures to ridicule the identities of others.
The author argues that Muslim governments, particularly those maintaining close financial and diplomatic partnerships with Washington, have the means to express their objections without abandoning those relationships.
The unanswered question is whether they are willing to do so.
For the commentary’s author, the irony of Trump’s surname is ultimately secondary. The more consequential issue is a political culture in which a Muslim name can become an instrument of ridicule, while the governments and institutions claiming to represent the Muslim world face questions about their response.
Keep Quran Within Everyday Reach
Audio Quran Magnets made for everyday listening at home. Choose from selected Surahs, Adhkar and Ruqyah. A meaningful gift, with worldwide shipping.
