Srinagar, April 26: The West has often been accused of distorting some of the most sacred Muslim names. The Jammu and Kashmir government has now decided to restore the purity of one such name.

All schools in the Valley have been told to register only the spelling Muhammad while admitting students.

“Generally in the admission (forms) and other school records, Muhammad is spelled only as Mohd. This practice needs to be done away with,’’ a circular issued by the state education department says.

Muhammad and its variant spellings — such as Mohammed or Mohammad — make up one of the most popular names world-wide.

It’s common in Kashmir, too, but is rarely used as the actual name out of reverence for the Prophet.

People usually put Ghulam (slave) before the name, or else give their children a different name and put Muhammad before it. For instance, if a person is called Arif, he may write his name as Muhammad Arif.

But the more common usage is to write “Mohd”.

“People have been using it inadvertently, so we decided to make the correction. Since it is admission time now, we have directed schools to enter the proper spelling (in their records),’’ said Muhammad Rafi, state education director.

Conspiracy theories, circulated mostly through text messages and emails, have long been accusing the West of deliberately distorting Prophet Muhammad’s name to Mohd, Makkah to Mecca and masjid to mosque.

The “distorted’’ names, they say, have “hidden, contemptuous’’ meanings. Mosque, for instance, is said to be borrowed from the Spanish word mosquito (meaning “little fly”) and Mecca apparently refers to a place where wine is sold.

Rafi, however, said: “We have perpetuated this usage, so why blame the West? My name in the official records is Mohd Rafi but after I became aware of it, I refused to sign papers that did not spell my name correctly.”

He added: “Mohd is not the correct transliteration of the Arabic word Muhammad, and there was a concern over allowing this practice to continue.’’

The Jamiat Ahli Hadees chief, Molvi Showkat Ahmad, did not rule out the conspiracy theories and claimed that certain words were distorted even during the Prophet’s time.

“Some people came to the Prophet and instead of the Islamic greeting ‘assalam alaikum (peace be upon you)’, they said ‘assam alaikum (grief be upon you)’,’’ he said.

“So far as these three names (Mohd, Mecca and mosque) are concerned, I do not know whether there is a western hand in distorting them. I suggest we should use the spellings or pronunciations that are closer to the Quran.’’

Many Islamic scholars, however, have rebutted the distortion theories. Saudi scholar Shiekh Salman al Oadah argues that the word “mosque” was introduced into English in the late 14th century from the French mosquete or mosquee, which was derived from the Italian moschea (both continental words mean “mosque”).

“The Italians got it either directly from the Arabic word masjid or from the old Spanish mezquita.’’

During Muslim rule in Spain, Oadah says, Spanish speakers used the word mosquito for the insect and mesquita for a masjid. Mesquita, he says, was “most certainly’’ derived from masjid.

“The two words (mosquito and mesquita) are not related in any way,’’ the scholar claims.

Similarly, Mecca was derived from Makkah in 1823. In the 1980s, the Saudi government and some other countries began promoting the name Makkah, which more closely resembles the actual Arabic pronunciation. The Saudi government’s website uses Makkah to refer to the city.

Although Mecca continues to be in use, many international organisations have begun using Makkah.