هم

Core meaning

Independent pronoun of the third person plural: "they", "them".

Uses

1. هُمْ, وَهُم → "they", "they themselves" : subject brought forward in a nominal clause.

   • «وَهُم بِذِكْرِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ هُمْ كَٰفِرُونَ» — "while they themselves disown the remembrance of the All-Benevolent" (21:36)

2. أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ → "those are the ones who", "those are the …" : the pronoun binds the designated group to the quality that follows.

   • «وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ» — "and those are the ones who succeed" (2:5)
   • «أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ حَقًّۭا» — "those are the true believers" (8:74)

3. إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ → "it is they who …" : the repeated pronoun restricts the quality to the named group.

   • «أَلَآ إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْسِدُونَ» — "Is it not so: it is indeed they who are the corrupters" (2:12)

Evidence from the text

هُمْ designates a group absent from the exchange, mixed by default. Set between a subject and its predicate, it makes a definition: "those are the ones who succeed" (2:5), "those are the true believers" (8:74). Repeated after إِنَّهُمْ, it reserves the quality to those it names and to them alone (2:12); taken up in the same clause, it stresses the person: "they themselves disown" (21:36).

See also

هما (the dual) · هى (the feminine singular)