حمى

Core meaning

The heat that burns and keeps at bay: fire raised to its height, the passion that defends one's clan, the beast set in reserve out of reach.

Uses

1. حَامِيَة, يُحْمَىٰ → "scorching", "to heat" : heat raised to its height.

   • «تَصْلَىٰ نَارًا حَامِيَةًۭ» — "They will burn in a scorching fire" (88:4)
   • «يَوْمَ يُحْمَىٰ عَلَيْهَا فِى نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ» — "on the day when it will be heated in the fire of Jahannam" (9:35)

2. ٱلْحَمِيَّة → "zeal" : the heating-up that defends the clan's territory.

   • «حَمِيَّةَ ٱلْجَٰهِلِيَّةِ» — "the zeal of the age of ignorance" (48:26)

3. حَامٍ → "ham" : the stallion withdrawn from common use, kept out of reach.

   • «وَلَا حَامٍۢ» — "or ham" (5:103)

Evidence from the text

Heat and setting apart meet: what burns keeps at bay. The fire is scorching (88:4, 101:11), and it is in the fire of Jahannam that what was hoarded is heated (9:35). The zeal of 48:26 is a heating-up that defends: those who disowned placed it in their cores, and God answers by sending down tranquility upon His messenger and the believers (48:26). The ham, the stallion kept in reserve, is counted among the institutions God did not institute (5:103).