Hamim: Difference between revisions

'''Ḥamīm''' (Arabic: {{ia|حَمیم}}) literally means intense heat. In the [[Quran]], it refers to boiling water people of the [[hell]] are forced to drink. The word “hamim” is also used to refer to intimate friends. The term is used twenty times in the Quran.<ref>Qurashī, ''Qāmūs-i Qurān,'' vol. 2, p. 184.</ref>

Quranic [[exegetes]] and researchers believe that the word “hamim” has two meanings in the Quran:

* '''Boiling water'''<ref>Rāghib, ''al-Mufradāt,'' p. 254; Ṭabrisī, ''Majmaʿ al-bayān,'' vol. 10, p. 643; vol. 4, p. 492; Ṭūsī, ''al-Tibyān,'' vol. 10, p. 244; Ṭabarī, ''Jāmiʾ al-bayān,'' vol. 30, p. 9; Marāghī, ''Tafsīr al-Marāghī,'' vol. 30, p. 13; Zamakhsharī, ''al-Kashshāf,'' vol. 3, p. 150.</ref> '''people of hell are forced to drink.'''<ref>Jurjāni, ''Jalāʾ al-adhhān,'' vol. 8, p. 154.</ref> In [[Quran 38]]:57 (They will be told, ‘This is scalding water and pus; let them taste it)<ref>Makārim Shīrāzī, ''Tafsīr-i nimūna,'' vol. 19, p. 320.</ref> and [[Quran 10]]:4 (As for the faithless, they shall have boiling water for drink, and a painful punishment because of what they used to defy)<ref>Makārim Shīrāzī, ''Tafsīr-i nimūna'', vol. 8, p. 221.</ref>, the word is used in this sense. Fakhr al-Razi cites a view in his ''Mafatih al-ghayb'' to the effect that “hamim” in these verses means melted copper.<ref>Fakhr al-Rāzī, ''Mafātīḥ al-ghayb,'' vol. 31, p. 17.</ref>

* '''An intimate or close friend.''' In [[Quran 26]]:101 (nor do we have any sympathetic friend)<ref>Ibn al-Jawzī, ''Zād al-masīr'', vol. 3, p. 343.</ref> and [[Quran 70]]:10 (and no friend will inquire about [the welfare of his] friend)<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Jāmiʾ al-bayān'', vol. 29, p. 46.</ref>, the word is used in this sense. Quranic exegetes interpret “hamim” in these verses as intimate<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Jāmiʾ al-bayān'', vol. 19, p. 56; Ibn Hāʾim, ''al-Tibyān,'' p. 322; Zamakhsharī, ''al-Kashshāf ,'' vol. 10, p. 37; Shubbar, ''Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm,'' p. 532.</ref>, a compassionate kind close one<ref>Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, ''al-Mufradāt'', p. 255; Ṭabrisī, ''Majmaʿ al-bayān,'' vol. 10, p. 531; Suyūṭī, ''al-Durr al-manthūr,'' vol. 5, p. 91; Ālūsī, ''Rūḥ al-maʿānī ,'' vol. 12, p. 313.</ref>, a close person who tries to solve one’s problems<ref>Ibn ʿAtiyya, ''al-Muḥarrar al-Wajīz,'' vol. 4, p. 236; Andulusī, ''al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ,'' vol. 8, p. 138; Ṭabrisī, ''Tafsīr-i jawāmiʾ al-jāmiʾ,'' vol. 3, p. 163.</ref>, and a supportive close friend.<ref>Ṭūsī, ''al-Tibyān'', vol. 8, p. 37 - vol. 10, p. 117; Ālūsī, ''Rūḥ al-maʿānī ,'' vol. 12, p. 313.</ref>

[[Hasan Mustafawi]] (d. 2005), the author of the book ''[[al-Tahqiq fi kalimat al-Qur'an al-karim]]'', believes that “hamim” has several meanings: intense heat, closeness and intimacy, a kind of voice or intention, all of which refer to intense heat. For instance, some springs are called “hamim” because they have intensely hot water, or a close intimate friend is called “hamim” because of his warmness and kindness. Moreover, when “hamim” is used to refer to charcoal, it is because wood turns into charcoal as a result of intense heat and fire.<ref>Muṣṭafawī, ''al-Taḥqīq'', vol. 2, p. 287.</ref> Accordingly, “hamim” means hot, either literally such as boiling water or metaphorically (as in friendship and intimacy).<ref>Muṣṭafawī, ''al-Taḥqīq'', vol. 2, p. 288.</ref>