Discover the meaning of the term Sam (صام) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readSama a thing (sawman and siyaman): he abstained from it. He kept silence. In the noble Quran: (So eat and drink and delight the eye; and if you see any of mankind, say: I have vowed a fast to the Merciful, so I shall not speak today to anyone) (Maryam: 26).
The horse: it settled and did not graze. The water, the wind and their like: it settled. The sun: it reached the liver of the sky (its midpoint) at noon.
As-sawm: abstention from any deed or word. In the Law: it is abstention from eating, drinking and intercourse, from dawn to sunset, with the intention (al-Jurjani). In the Law: abstention from the things that break the fast, literally or legally, in a specific time, by a specific person, with the intention (at-Tamartashi).
In the Law: the abstention of the legally bound, with intention, from the night onward, from taking food and drink, everything reaching the belly, the enema, masturbation, intercourse and major sins, from dawn to sunset, as devotion to Allah the Exalted (Awfayish).