قوم

Core meaning

To stand: to rise, to keep a thing standing so that it lasts, to stand straight; and the people, those who stand together.

Uses

1. قَوْم, يَٰقَوْمِ → "people", "O my people!" : the group that stands together; a messenger's address to his own.

   • «يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ» — "O my people! Obey God" (7:59)
   • «ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌۭ لَّا يَعْلَمُونَ» — "That is because they are a people who do not know" (9:6)

2. قَامَ, يَقُومُ, قَآئِم, قِيَام → "to rise", "to stand", "standing" : the body upright, or the gesture of rising.

   • «إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ» — "When you rise for the Contact" (5:6)
   • «فَإِذَا هُمْ قِيَامٌۭ يَنظُرُونَ» — "and at once they will stand up, looking on" (39:68)

3. أَقَامَ, إِقَام → "to maintain" : to keep a thing standing, so that it does not fall.

   • «وَأَقِيمُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ» — "And maintain the Contact" (2:43)
   • «وَٱلَّذِينَ هُم بِشَهَٰدَٰتِهِمْ قَآئِمُونَ» — "and those who maintain their testimonies" (70:33)
   • «إِلَّا مَا دُمْتَ عَلَيْهِ قَآئِمًۭا» — "unless you keep pressing them for it" (3:75)
   • «قَآئِمًۢا بِٱلْقِسْطِ» — "maintaining equity" (3:18)

4. ٱسْتَقَامَ, مُسْتَقِيم → "to stand straight", "straight" : to keep the straight line, without leaning.

   • «ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ» — "Guide us on the straight path" (1:6)
   • «فَٱسْتَقِمْ كَمَآ أُمِرْتَ» — "So stand straight, as you have been commanded" (11:112)

5. قَيِّم, أَقْوَم → "upright", "most upright" : what stands without leaning, and its degree.

   • «ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ» — "That is the upright Law" (9:36)
   • «يَهْدِى لِلَّتِى هِىَ أَقْوَمُ» — "guides to what is most upright" (17:9)

6. ٱلْقِيَٰمَة → "the Appearance" : the Day when all stand before God.

   • «لَآ أُقْسِمُ بِيَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ» — "No! I swear by the Day of Appearance" (75:1)
   • «يَوْمَ يَقُومُ ٱلنَّاسُ لِرَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ» — "the Day when mankind will stand before the Guardian of all beings" (83:6)

7. ٱلْقَيُّوم → "the Self-Subsisting" : a name of God, always after "the Living".

   • «ٱلْحَىُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ» — "the Living, the Self-Subsisting" (2:255)

8. قَوَّام, قِيَام, قَوَام → "firm supporters", "support", "just measure" : what keeps another thing standing, or stands between two excesses.

   • «كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ» — "Be firm supporters in equity" (4:135)
   • «أَمْوَٰلَكُمُ ٱلَّتِى جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ قِيَٰمًۭا» — "your goods, which God has made a support for you" (4:5)
   • «جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْكَعْبَةَ ٱلْبَيْتَ ٱلْحَرَامَ قِيَٰمًۭا لِّلنَّاسِ» — "God has made the Ka'ba, the Inviolable House, a support for mankind" (5:97)
   • «وَكَانَ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ قَوَامًۭا» — "standing between the two with just measure" (25:67)

9. مَقَام → "station", "noble station", "standing before" : the place where one stands, or the fact of standing there.

   • «وَٱتَّخِذُوا۟ مِن مَّقَامِ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ مُصَلًّۭى» — "and they took, from the station of Ibrahim, a place of Contact" (2:125)
   • «وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِۦ جَنَّتَانِ» — "And for whoever feared standing before his Guardian, two gardens" (55:46)
   • «ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامِى» — "That is for whoever fears standing before Me" (14:14)
   • «وَزُرُوعٍۢ وَمَقَامٍۢ كَرِيمٍۢ» — "and crops, and noble stations" (44:26)

10. تَقْوِيم → "stature" : the way a being is set upright.

    • «لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ فِىٓ أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍۢ» — "We have certainly created the human being in the best of stature" (95:4)

Evidence from the text

All uses start from the upright stance. The body rises for the Contact (5:6); it stands before God (2:238), "prostrate and standing" at night (25:64). The Day of Appearance is the same gesture given back to all: "and at once they will stand up, looking on" (39:68), "the Day when mankind will stand before the Guardian of all beings" (83:6). It is a hearing: "on the day the witnesses rise" (40:51); hence "Appearance", standing before the One who judges.

In the causative form, one keeps standing what might fall: the Contact (2:43), testimony (65:2, 70:33), the Tawrah and the Injil (5:66), the limits of God (2:229), and even what "wanted to topple", which he set upright (18:77). With عَلَىٰ, قَآئِم says the same holding applied to someone: keeping at him to claim one's due, without which the deposit is not returned (3:75). Standing straight extends it: the straight path (1:6), the upright Law (9:36), the command "So stand straight" (11:112).

The noun مَقَام keeps both sides, the place and the act of standing there: the station of Ibrahim (2:125), the noble station that Fir'awn and his people left behind (26:58, 44:26), and the fear of standing before one's Guardian (55:46, 79:40), which God states Himself: "whoever fears standing before Me" (14:14). قِيَام is the support of what stands: the goods God has made "a support" (4:5), and the Ka'ba, "a support for mankind" (5:97).

The people is the group that stands together; it is to them that the messenger speaks, "O my people!" (7:59), and it is by this word that the text judges them: "a people who do not know" (9:6).

Distinctions

• امم — the community: a body defined by the way it follows, whereas قوم names those who stand together
• صرط — the path: the way itself, which مُسْتَقِيم qualifies as straight

See also

صلو (the Contact, which one maintains) · قسط (equity, of which one is the firm supporter)