عبد ، عابد
ʿAbd, ʿĀbid
The person who serves God; the plural of ʿabd is ʿibād and that of ʿābid is ʿābidūn.
What it means
ʿAbd and ʿābid name the person who performs ʿabada, the service and worship of God. The Quran calls the Prophet God’s ʿabd in the verse of the Night Journey, “Glory to Him who took His servant by night” (17:1), and the witness of faith declares that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His servant and messenger. God addresses believers in the plural: “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of God” (39:53). The Quran also describes the servants of the Most Merciful as those who walk on the earth in humility (25:63). Many Muslim names, such as ʿAbd Allāh, combine ʿabd with one of the names of God.
Often misunderstood as
The usual English rendering is “slave”, which suggests forced bondage to a master; the ʿabd of the Quran is a free person who chooses to serve God.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 39, listed as ʿABD, ʿĀBID. The definition is restated here.