الم

Core meaning

Pain, what makes one suffer. The text almost always uses it to qualify the punishment, and once for the shared suffering of battle.

Uses

1. عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ → "a painful punishment" : the formula that follows the statement of a fault and gives its outcome.

   • «وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَكْذِبُونَ» — "and they will have a painful punishment, for having lied" (2:10)
   • «وَلِلْكَٰفِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۭ» — "And for those who disown, a painful punishment" (2:104)

2. بَشِّرْ… بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ → "give news of… a painful punishment" : the announcement, verb of good tidings, turned toward pain.

   • «فَبَشِّرْهُ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ» — "so give him news of a painful punishment" (31:7)
   • «فَبَشِّرْهُم بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ» — "So announce to them a painful punishment" (84:24)

3. يَوْمٍ أَلِيمٍ, أَخْذَهُۥٓ أَلِيمٌ → "a painful day", "painful" : pain ascribed to the time of the punishment or to the divine seizure itself.

   • «عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ أَلِيمٍۢ» — "the punishment of a painful day" (11:26)
   • «إِنَّ أَخْذَهُۥٓ أَلِيمٌۭ شَدِيدٌ» — "His seizure is indeed painful, severe" (11:102)

4. تَأْلَمُونَ, يَأْلَمُونَ → "to suffer" : pain felt, equal on both sides of a battle.

   • «إِن تَكُونُوا۟ تَأْلَمُونَ فَإِنَّهُمْ يَأْلَمُونَ كَمَا تَأْلَمُونَ» — "If you suffer, they indeed suffer as you suffer" (4:104)

Evidence from the text

The painful punishment never comes without a stated cause: lying (2:10), disowning (2:104), aggression committed after the rule (2:178, 5:94), turning one's back (9:74, 48:16-17). The formula closes the sentence that names the fault, as its outcome.

The verb shows the other side of the word. In 4:104, the pain of battle is the same for both camps: "If you suffer, they indeed suffer as you suffer". What separates them is not pain, it is hope: "but you hope from God what they do not hope". Pain alone judges no one; it becomes punishment when it answers a fault.

Distinctions

• عذب — the punishment itself, whose pain أَلِيم expresses
• شدد — severity, the intensity of rigour, joined to pain in 11:102

See also

بشر (the announcement) · رجو (hope, which distinguishes the two camps in 4:104)