It took a long time for me to realise that Idris isn’t an exclusive Malay or Muslim name. Idris is the Muslim prophet mentioned in the Quran, a name associated with being righteous, studious, smart and learned in Arabic. Following the contention over the name Timah for a Malaysian-made whiskey, some people have also been irked by a whiskey named Omar available for sale here. But the word “omar” also means “amber” in Gaelic, and the whiskey in question is owned by a Taiwanese distillery in the county of Nantou. He said that Timah was neither a Muslim name nor a person’s name but a type of metal, adding that there is no man named Timah.
