Muslim Name · Male · Arabic origin

صَالِح

Salih Name Meaning in Islam

Righteous, virtuous.

صَالِح·Salih
Meaning
Righteous, virtuous; the prophet Salih
Origin
Arabic
Gender
Boy
Arabic root
ص-ل-ح
Urdu
صَالِح
Pronunciation
SA-lih
Lucky number
3

Is Salih an Islamic name? Yes. Salih is an established name in Muslim use, Arabic in origin. Its settled meaning is: Righteous, virtuous; the prophet Salih. Its root appears in the Quran, and the name is in continuous use across the Muslim world. Islamic tradition asks that a name carry a good meaning and claim nothing that belongs to God alone, and this name meets both.

Read the letter-by-letter reading ↓

Section 1 · Arabic Root

Where the Name Comes From

ص-ل-ح

ص-ل-ح. From ṣ-l-ḥ, to be sound, righteous, to set right, same root as iṣlāḥ (reform).

Section 2 · Ilm ul Huroof

Read Letter by Letter

Sad sincerity, Alif origin, Lam authority, Ha life-breath.

Section 3 · Synthesis

What This Reading Says About You

Salih's letters draw from many elements at once, a full palette, not a single note. This is a name that asks its bearer to hold contradictions gracefully: warmth and steadiness, movement and depth. Running through the reading is Al-Samad, the Eternal Refuge, carried by a person as the eternal reliability others rest against. A person named Salih carries a full weather system inside a single quiet chest.

Section 4 · What Families Say

What People Usually Mean by This Name

Prophet Salih (AS), sent to the people of Thamud who carved their homes from mountains. He gave them the she-camel of Allah as a sign: 'This is the she-camel of Allah, a sign for you. Leave her to graze on Allah's earth and do not touch her with harm, lest a painful punishment seize you' (7:73). They hamstrung her. Three days later the divine punishment came.

Salih also means righteous, the quality of being whole and good. 'Do righteous deeds (salihan)' is one of the most repeated commands in the Quran. Top Pakistani, Arab, and global Muslim boys name.

Salih (AS), one of the pre-Ismaeli Arab prophets, is named directly in the Quran nine times. His story is preserved in Surah Al-Araf (7:73 to 79), Surah Hud (11:61 to 68), Surah Ash-Shuara (26:141 to 159), and Surah An-Naml (27:45 to 53).

Salih was sent to the people of Thamud, who carved their homes from the mountains. Allah gave them the she-camel of Allah (naqat Allah) as a sign; when they hamstrung her, Allah destroyed them with a mighty blast. Salih's plea to his people is one of the great Quranic sermons of tawhid.

Section 5 · Bearers

Who Has Carried This Name

  • Prophet Ṣāliḥ
    ancient·Hijr / Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ
    Prophet sent to the Thamūd
  • Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ayyūbī (Saladin)
    1137–1193·Egypt / Syria
    Founder of the Ayyubid dynasty; recaptured Jerusalem in 1187

How to Pronounce Salih

PronunciationSA-lih  ·  sa·lih  ·  2 syllables

Each form is Salih, claimed by a different community, each with its own moment of recognition.

Salih ✓SalehSalihSaleehSali

The letters are the same. But which community spelling carries the story you were born into? Browse all names →

For Salih, each Latin spelling has its own AsrNaam page, with its own usage and regional context.

Want a different reading? Read another →

Like Salih, these names carry Sad (ص) as their leading letter influence.

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About the name Salih

What does the name Salih mean?
Salih means: Righteous, virtuous; the prophet Salih.

Each letter under this meaning has its own quality. What does Ilm ul Huroof read in Salih? → What does Ilm ul Huroof reveal about names like Salih? →

Is Salih mentioned in the Quran?
The exact form Salih does not appear in the Quran. The root ص-ل-ح, from which Salih comes, appears in the Quran; the name carries the root, not the verse.

Quranic vocabulary lies behind a large share of Muslim names, Salih included where its root appears. Browse all Quranic names in our collection →

What does Salih mean in Urdu?
Salih in Urdu is صالح (Salih) in the South Asian Islamic tradition.

The Urdu tradition preserved the meaning of each Arabic letter, the same letters that build Salih. How do Arabic letters travel into Urdu names? →

Is Salih a good Islamic name?
Yes. Salih is a name valued in Muslim tradition, meaning Righteous, virtuous; the prophet Salih. The Prophet ﷺ said: "You will be called by your names on the Day of Resurrection, so give yourselves good names" (Abu Dawud). Every letter in Salih carries a specific spiritual quality, not metaphorically, but structurally.

The letters of Salih, each with its own reading, are laid out above ↑ jump to the letters reading ↑

Is Salih a boy or girl name?
Salih is traditionally a Muslim boy name meaning Righteous, virtuous; the prophet Salih. Used across Pakistan, the Arab world, Turkey, Malaysia, and Muslim diaspora communities worldwide, each community with their own spelling and their own story.

Browse all Muslim boy names in our collection →

What is the spiritual meaning of Salih in Ilm ul Huroof?
Sad purifies, Alif grounds, Lam gives authority, Ha breathes life. Righteous: pure, originary, authoritative, alive.

In Ilm ul Huroof, the science of letters that Ibn Arabi worked within, every letter of Salih is a principle, not a phoneme. Read the full introduction to Ilm ul Huroof →

What names go perfectly with Salih as a sibling name?
The best sibling names for Salih share a complementary spiritual quality, either the same root letter or a harmonious contrast. Parents instinctively seek names whose letter qualities form a coherent family field.

Above, the related-names section gives the names parents most often pair with Salih. Use letter family and root as your guide.

Explore all names to find the perfect sibling pair →

Is Salih a rare or common Muslim name?
Salih (Righteous, virtuous; the prophet Salih) is used across the Muslim world. Pakistan, the Arab world, Turkey, Iran, Malaysia, and wherever Muslims name their children with intention. The specific spelling you see here is one of the recognised forms. Different communities claim their own spelling, each one a signature of a tradition.

To compare spellings of Salih across communities, see the variants above ↑ or browse all names → See all spelling variants above ↑, or browse all names →

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