[number] (1) praiseworthy rulings of Islamic law, their aversion to uttering it merely because it had been adopted as a name (2) by ten people whom they utterly detest was the height of ignorance and fanaticism.
Moreover, their expression, “nine and one,” means exactly ten, only in a more cumbersome form. If (3) the terms “ten,” “nine,” and “seven” apply to anything counted by those numbers—whether people, animals, garments, or dirhams—and some things counted are praiseworthy while others are blameworthy, then these ignorant people’s aversion to uttering such numbers is the height of ignorance (4). It is no different from their aversion to uttering the names of people they hate. Thus, they recoil from anyone named Abū Bakr, Umar, [or Uthmān] (5) because they hate a particular person who bore that name.
Among (6) the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—were some who bore names also borne (7) by certain unbelievers, such as al-Walīd ibn al-Walīd. It is established in the Sahih that “the Prophet—may Allah bless