Quran glossary · draft

ذمم

protective obligation

A binding claim of protection owed toward another party.

Lexical scope

Scope: curated segment set · Occurrences: 2

Roots: ذمم

Lemmas: ذمة

Forms: ذِمَّةً

Occurrence examples (2 of 2)

Scoped occurrences shown in Quran order: 2.

9:8

كَيْفَ وَإِن يَظْهَرُوا۟ عَلَيْكُمْ لَا يَرْقُبُوا۟ فِيكُمْ إِلًّا وَلَا ذِمَّةً يُرْضُونَكُم بِأَفْوَٰهِهِمْ وَتَأْبَىٰ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ فَٰسِقُونَ

9:10

لَا يَرْقُبُونَ فِى مُؤْمِنٍ إِلًّا وَلَا ذِمَّةً وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُعْتَدُونَ

Why this meaning was chosen

The noun ذِمَّة is something an aggressor ought to regard concerning believers, so it functions as a binding claim of protection. The passive participle مَذْمُوم names the resulting state of being censured. Obligation and blame are thus the prospective and realized sides of moral accountability.