دمم

Core meaning

Blood: what flows in the living body. The text names it above all where a limit protects it: the blood one does not shed, the blood one does not consume.

Uses

1. ٱلدِّمَآء (with سَفَكَ) → "to shed blood" : to kill: the objection of the Agents, and the engagement taken from the sons of Israel.

   • «وَيَسْفِكُ ٱلدِّمَآءَ» — "and shed blood" (2:30)
   • «لَا تَسْفِكُونَ دِمَآءَكُمْ» — "You shall not shed your blood" (2:84)

2. ٱلدَّم, دَمًۭا مَّسْفُوحًا → "blood", "spilled blood" : in the list of what is prohibited for consumption.

   • «إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْمَيْتَةَ وَٱلدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ ٱلْخِنزِيرِ» — "He has prohibited to you only the dead animal, blood, the flesh of swine" (2:173)
   • «أَوْ دَمًۭا مَّسْفُوحًا» — "or spilled blood" (6:145)

3. دَم → "blood" : blood as matter, in an account or among the signs.

   • «وَجَآءُو عَلَىٰ قَمِيصِهِۦ بِدَمٍۢ كَذِبٍۢ» — "And they brought his shirt stained with lying blood" (12:18)
   • «مِنۢ بَيْنِ فَرْثٍۢ وَدَمٍۢ لَّبَنًا خَالِصًۭا» — "between chyme and blood, a refined milk" (16:67)

Evidence from the text

Shed blood opens the account of mankind: the Agents object that the successor will "shed blood" (2:30), and the engagement taken from the sons of Israel begins with "You shall not shed your blood" (2:84). Consumed blood is prohibited in a formula that returns almost word for word (2:173, 5:3, 6:145, 16:115), where 6:145 specifies: "or spilled blood" (6:145).

Elsewhere, blood is a matter the text shows: Youssof's shirt stained with lying blood (12:18), the refined milk drawn from between chyme and blood (16:67), the blood sent upon the people of Fir'awn among the detailed signs (7:133). In sacrifice, finally, it is not what counts: "Neither their flesh nor their blood accrues to God" (22:37).

See also

سفك (to shed, to spill)