Discover the meaning of the term Al-sam (سام) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readDeath and perdition; it has been said: its origin is as-sa'ama (weariness), the hamza softened and the ha dropped; the first is the authoritative sense. As-sam: gold. The veins of gold and silver in stone and ore. The ingot of gold and silver.
Sama a thing (sawman): he went wherever he wished. He went in pursuit of a thing. The cattle: it grazed where it wished. It remained on the pasture. The camels and their like: he left them grazing in the pasture. Sama fulanan of disgrace: he inflicted it upon him and humiliated him; in the generous Quran: (And when your Lord announced that He would surely send against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict upon them the worst of punishment; your Lord is swift in punishment; and He is Forgiving, Merciful) (Al-A'raf: 167), meaning: Allah announced that He would send, until the Day of Resurrection, against the Jews those who would inflict upon them the worst of punishment, because of their disobedience, their contravention of the commands of Allah and His Law, and their scheming with the forbidden things. Ibn 'Abbas, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Ibn Jurayj, as-Suddi and Qatada said: the one who will inflict upon them the worst of punishment is Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings upon him, and his community, until the Day of Resurrection. Sama the seller of the goods, or samaha (sawman and sawaman): he offered it for sale and mentioned its price. Sama the buyer of the goods, or samaha: he sought to purchase it; in the noble hadith: (let not a man bid against the bidding of his brother, nor outbid his outbidding), that is, let him not buy; it may also be carried to the seller. Its form: a man offers the buyer his goods at a price, and another says: I have its like at a lower price; the prohibition is then general to seller and buyer.