Salam Alaykum brothers and sisters, my name is Ali, and I've recently been reflecting a lot on my name. Why is it that in english the name علي is spelled with an A, when it should be spelled in an E, since the name علي can be traced back to the Eli that is in the book of Samuel. The name that is in that book has the same exact same meaning as the Arabic name علي. So I think Ali (in regards to the Arabic meaning) should instead be spelled as Eli in english. What do you think? Here's some links that helped me analyze this issue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_(Bible) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_(name)