Nur al-Din

Nuruddin (Arabic: nūr ad-dīn نور الدين‎) is a male Muslim given name, translating to "light of religion", nūr meaning "light" and dīn meaning "faith, religion". More recently, the name has also been used as a surname.

There are many Romanized spelling variants of the name. The element نور can be spelled Nur, Noor, Nor or Nour. The element دين can be spelled either Din, Deen or Dine. The definite article in front of the "sun letter" d is realized only as a gemination /dː/, the Arabic pronunciation being /nuːrudːiːn/. Syntactically, the name is an iḍāfah (genitive construction), in full vocalization nūru d-dīni. Consequently, depending on the system of Romanization, the definite article can be rendered as al, ad, ud, ed or d.

Among the variant romanized spellings in common use are Nuraddin, Nureddin, Noureddin, Noureddine, Nooradeen, Noordeen, Nourdin, Noordine, Nordine, Nuradin, Nurdin; historically also Nur ad-Din, Nur-ud-Din, Nur al-Din, etc.

Given name

Medieval and up to 1800

Noordin Mohammad Top

Noordin Mohammad Top (11 August 1968 – 17 September 2009) was a Malaysian Muslim extremist, also referred to as Noordin, Din Moch Top, Muh Top, or Mat Top. Until his death, he was Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant.

Born in Kluang, Johor, Malaysia, he is thought to have been a key bomb maker and/or financier for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and to have left JI and set up a more violent splinter group Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad. Noordin was reported by the FBI to be "an explosives expert". The FBI reported him as "an officer, recruiter, bomb maker and trainer for the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group."

Once in Indonesia, he married using an assumed name, Abdurrachman Aufi. His wife, Munfiatun, was jailed in June 2005 for concealing information about his whereabouts.

Noordin and Azahari Husin were thought to have masterminded the 2003 JW Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta, the 2004 Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta, the 2005 Bali bombings and the 2009 JW Marriott - Ritz-Carlton bombings, and Noordin may have assisted in the 2002 Bali Bombings.