Qur’anic Root Z M H2 R — Zamharīr: Severe Cold, Brilliance, and Other Uses
Qur’anic and lexical forms
زَمْهَرِيرًا
(zamharīran)
Al-Insān 76:13; the sole Qur’anic form
زَمْهَرِير
(zamharīr)
Noun; severe cold, or the moon in Ṭayyiʾ speech
اِزْمَهَرَّ
(izmaharra)
Verb; sense determined by subject and context
اِزْمِهْرَار
(izmihrār)
Verbal noun; not used in the Qur’an
زَمْهَرَتْ عَيْنَاهُ
(zamharat ʿaynāhu)
Eyes becoming red with anger
مُزْمَهِرّ
(muzmahirr)
Active participle; anger or facial expression
زَمْهَرِيرَة
(zamharīrah)
Describing a severely cold night
اِزْمَهَرَّتِ الْكَوَاكِبُ
(izmaharrati al-kawākibu)
The stars shone; not used in the Qur’an
1. Root Meaning and Word Structure
In Arabic, zamharīr denotes extremely severe, biting cold: cold beyond the ordinary that can cause human discomfort. The word occurs only once in the Qur’an, in a description of the comfort of the inhabitants of the Garden.
Al-ʿAyn, one of the earliest comprehensive Arabic dictionaries, defines zamharīr as shiddat al-bard, “intensity of cold.” The same source records the verb izmaharra and its verbal noun izmihrār.
Al-Jawharī’s Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Ibn Manẓūr’s Lisān al-ʿArab likewise record severe cold. Their agreement establishes this as a recognized, documented use in Arabic.
Al-ʿAyn, Al-Ṣiḥāḥ, and Lisān al-ʿArab: severe cold
The Z M H2 R family is not confined to cold. Early sources record uses concerning shining stars, eyes reddening with anger, a grim face, and intense wrath. Zamharīr is also reported to mean the moon in one Arabic dialect.
The familiar meaning of zamharīr should therefore be distinguished from other uses within its word family. Several meanings placed under one lexical entry do not by themselves prove that all originated in a single image.
Qur’anic indexes list Z M H2 R as a quadriliteral root. Zamharīr is a nominal form of this family, while Arabic also has verbs such as zamhara and izmaharra.
The word’s historical origin is disputed. In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris considers whether zamharīr was independently coined or connected with izmaharrati al-kawākibu, “the stars shone.” In discussing that use, he relates it to Z H2 R and treats mīm as additional. Some later studies, including Muḥammad Ḥasan Ḥasan Jabal’s Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal, also report a hypothesis of borrowing from Persian. These are etymological analyses, rather than a single, certain conclusion.
Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal: reported borrowing hypothesis and Ibn Fāris’s analysis
Some Persian etymological dictionaries likewise connect zam with cold and winter and include zamharīr in these comparisons. Yet this resemblance cannot establish a Persian origin for the entire word or determine a certain route of transmission into Arabic. Such a judgment requires more precise historical and linguistic evidence.
ʿAlī Nūrāʾī’s Persian etymological dictionary: comparisons involving zam and winter
A Qur’anic study should therefore begin with the word’s documented Arabic meaning and the verse’s context, keeping hypotheses about historical origin distinct.
2. Lexical Forms and Semantic Branches
Severe Cold
Zamharīr is the best-known form in this family and denotes extremely severe cold.
Izmaharra al-yawmu describes a day whose cold has intensified.
Izmihrār is the verbal noun of the same verb and, in this use, denotes becoming severely cold.
Sources also record expressions such as yawmun zamharīrun and laylatun zamharīratun for a severely cold day or night.
These uses show that Arabic employs the word to describe a tangible climatic condition.
Within this branch, zamharīr does not name every kind of cold; it emphasizes intensity. Just as cool air differs from painful cold, zamharīr tends toward the latter end of that range.
Shining Stars
Lexical sources also record izmaharrati al-kawākibu: the stars shone, or their light became intense.
Al-Jawharī records shining, while Tāj al-ʿArūs also explains the intensity of the light.
This initially seems different from severe cold. Ibn Fāris nevertheless suggests a possible connection.
He explains that stars may appear brighter during severe cold, allowing a connection to be proposed between brilliance and zamharīr.
This is a lexical possibility, not proof of the word’s historical origin.
Maqāyīs al-Lughah: independent formation or a connection with brilliance
The appearance of stars can depend on atmospheric and viewing conditions. That observation does not establish that zamharīr originally meant light or brilliance and only later acquired the meaning of cold.
Nor may the meaning of brilliance be transferred without evidence into the Qur’anic zamharīran.
Anger and Reddening Eyes
Another use in this family concerns the condition of the face and eyes during anger.
Zamharat ʿaynāhu and izmaharrat ʿaynāhu describe a person’s eyes becoming red with anger.
Some sources also use muzmahirr for a person who is intensely angry.
This use can concern an intense inner state becoming visible in the face. Severe anger may accompany red eyes, a contracted expression, or changed conduct.
That association does not establish that zamharīr meaning severe cold must have developed from anger.
Muzmahirr is also recorded for a grim, stern face. Conversely, some lexicographers use the same form for someone whose teeth show when laughing and compare it with the brilliance of stars.
These different applications establish several semantic branches within the Z M H2 R family. A general concept such as intensity cannot adequately explain all of them, since intensity alone does not specify cold, brilliance, or facial expression.
Each use also requires attention to the verb’s subject and its combination with the rest of the sentence.
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ, Lisān al-ʿArab, and Tāj al-ʿArūs: brilliance, anger, and facial expression
3. Early Arabic Evidence and the Meaning “Moon”
An important witness to zamharīr is a verse lexicographers attribute to al-Aʿshā:
مِنَ الْقَاصِرَاتِ سُجُوفَ الْحِجَالِ
لَمْ تَرَ شَمْسًا وَلَا زَمْهَرِيرَا
mina al-qāṣirāti sujūfa al-ḥijāli / lam tara shamsan wa-lā zamharīrā
Explanatory rendering: “Among women confined behind the curtains of their chambers, who have seen neither sun nor biting cold.”
The verse describes women living in a protected, enclosed setting, away from exposure to sunlight and harsh cold.
Lam tara shamsan wa-lā zamharīrā is very close in vocabulary and sentence structure to the Qur’anic expression in Al-Insān 76:13.
In such a description, placing shams and zamharīr together can evoke two unpleasant environmental conditions: sunlight and its heat on one side, and biting cold on the other.
The transmitted wording describing the women varies, but the combination of shams and zamharīr is preserved in lexical and literary sources.
Al-Aʿshā lived close to the emergence of Islam, with much of his life preceding Qur’anic revelation. The quotation itself does not establish the precise date of this verse. Its value is therefore as a recorded, recognized early use, rather than certain proof that this particular expression preceded the Qur’anic verse.
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Lisān al-ʿArab: the witness attributed to al-Aʿshā
Zamharīr Meaning the Moon
Another meaning that should not be overlooked is zamharīr as the moon.
The early lexicographer Thaʿlab attributes this meaning to the dialect of Ṭayyiʾ.
The following verse is quoted in support:
وَلَيْلَةٍ ظَلَامُهَا قَدِ اعْتَكَرْ
قَطَعْتُهَا وَالزَّمْهَرِيرُ مَا زَهَرْ
wa-laylatin ẓalāmuhā qadi iʿtakar / qaṭaʿtuhā wa-l-zamharīru mā zahar
“And many a night whose darkness had grown thick I traversed, while the moon had not shone.”
Some transmissions have mā ẓahar instead of mā zahar: the moon had not appeared. Neither the poet’s name nor the date of composition is clear in the transmissions examined, so it should not be presented as a securely dated pre-Qur’anic witness.
Al-Qurṭubī: the Ṭayyiʾ moon meaning and two witness variants
Zamharīr here refers to the moon, since the speaker describes traversing a dark night without moonlight.
This use matters lexically. It cannot be dismissed merely because severe cold is the more familiar meaning.
There is nevertheless a distinction between a meaning being recorded in a particular dialect and preferring it in a verse.
Several early dictionaries record severe cold as the general meaning of zamharīr. The moon meaning, by contrast, is specifically attributed to the dialect of Ṭayyiʾ.
Both meanings thus have lexical precedent, but their attested distribution and support differ.
Mukhtār al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Al-Majmūʿ al-Mughīth: Thaʿlab’s moon interpretation
If zamharīr is read as the moon in Al-Insān 76:13, the phrase means “they see neither sun nor moon.” It would describe the absence of these two familiar heavenly bodies in the Garden’s environment.
On the severe-cold reading, the phrase describes the absence of sunlight and painful cold in that environment.
Choosing between these readings requires examining the verse’s context.
4. The Qur’anic Use in Al-Insān 76:13
Z M H2 R occurs only once in the Qur’an.
Quranic Arabic Corpus: one noun from the quadriliteral entry
Al-Insān 76:13
مُتَّكِئِينَ فِيهَا عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ لَا يَرَوْنَ فِيهَا شَمْسًا وَلَا زَمْهَرِيرًا
muttakiʾīna fīhā ʿalā al-arāʾiki lā yarawna fīhā shamsan wa-lā zamharīran
Proposed Persian translation, rendered here in English:
“Reclining there upon couches, they see in it neither sun nor biting cold.”
The Word’s Place in the Sentence
Zamharīran is a singular, indefinite, accusative noun following wa-lā and coordinated grammatically with shamsan.
Lā yarawna fīhā concerns something absent from the inhabitants’ experience and observation in the Garden.
Shamsan names the sun. Its direct meaning should not be changed to heat without justification.
Zamharīran in its familiar meaning, by contrast, names a climatic condition, severe cold, rather than a heavenly body.
The sentence thus places two things of different kinds together: the sun and severe cold.
Such a combination is natural in language. Someone describing a comfortable environment may mention the absence of sunlight and painful cold without both words belonging to the same lexical category.
Yarawna, “they see,” is also significant. The sun is visible, whereas cold is not seen in precisely the same way; it is felt and experienced.
In such expressions, seeing can be understood more broadly as encountering or experiencing something.
The fact that cold is not seen with the eyes therefore does not compel the reading “sun and moon.”
Does Zamharīr Here Mean Severe Cold or the Moon?
Two readings are available lexically.
The first is the familiar meaning of severe cold. It fits general usage, the evidence of early dictionaries, and the poetic witness attributed to al-Aʿshā.
On this reading, the verse describes an environment where the Garden’s inhabitants encounter neither sunlight nor biting cold.
The second takes the word as the moon in the dialect of Ṭayyiʾ. The verse would then express the absence of sun and moon, allowing the interpretation that the environment’s light does not depend on those two heavenly bodies.
This possibility is not lexically groundless, but preferring it in this verse requires further evidence.
The immediate context describes comfort, reclining on couches, and shade brought near and extending over the inhabitants.
This setting clearly suits the absence of painful sunlight and severe cold.
Al-Insān 76:14, in particular, speaks of nearby shade and fruit brought within reach, continuing the description of comfort and enjoyment.
The mention of shade does not establish that a sun like the present world’s sun must exist there. Qur’anic descriptions of shade can express an environment and its comfort without specifying every natural feature.
Conversely, the absence of the sun in Al-Insān 76:13 does not itself mean absolute darkness. The verse speaks of not seeing the sun, rather than the absence of all light.
On the combined evidence, severe cold is preferable for zamharīran in this verse, while the moon should be recognized as a more narrowly attested lexical possibility.
Al-Ṭabarī: freedom from painful sunlight and severe cold
The Relationship between the Sun and Zamharīr
On the severe-cold reading, shams and zamharīr together can be understood as two unpleasant extremes of environmental conditions.
Sunlight can, under some circumstances, bring painful heat; severe cold can disturb bodily comfort in another way.
The verse can therefore picture an environment free from the discomfort of heat and severe cold.
The wording itself must nevertheless be distinguished from the inference drawn from context.
Shams means the sun, rather than scorching heat. Painful heat is understood from its association with zamharīr and the verse’s setting of comfort.
Zamharīr likewise does not mean every degree of cold. Its established meaning is extremely severe cold.
The verse should therefore not be made to deny every form of warmth or coolness. A pleasant temperature or refreshing coolness is compatible with the absence of painful cold.
The Qur’anic description chiefly concerns the inhabitants’ comfort, rather than determining an exact temperature or explaining the natural mechanism of the environment’s light.
6. Conclusion and Translation Proposals
Arabic dictionaries record Z M H2 R as a quadriliteral family with several uses. Its most familiar word is zamharīr, extremely severe, biting cold.
Alongside this meaning are verbs concerning intensified cold, shining stars, eyes reddening with anger, and a grim expression.
Connections can be proposed between some of these uses. The available evidence does not permit all of them to be derived with certainty from a single original meaning.
Zamharīr meaning the moon is also reported in the dialect of Ṭayyiʾ and has a specific poetic witness. It should be recognized, but cannot become the verse’s certain meaning merely because zamharīr stands alongside shams.
The root occurs only once in the Qur’an, as zamharīran in Al-Insān 76:13.
The verse describes the comfort of the inhabitants of the Garden. There they see no sun and encounter no severe, painful cold.
Lexical evidence and contextual suitability favor “severe cold” or “biting cold” for this form.
Brief root meaning: Extremely severe, biting cold; other lexical uses in this family include brilliance, anger, and changes of facial expression.
Meaning of the Qur’anic zamharīran: Severe, painful cold from which the inhabitants of the Garden are protected.
Proposed translation: “Biting cold” or “extremely severe cold.”
Proposed Persian translation of Al-Insān 76:13, rendered here in English:
“Reclining there upon couches, they see in it neither sun nor biting cold.”
This translation preserves the direct meaning of shams as the sun and renders zamharīr according to its preferred lexical meaning.
The essential point is that zamharīr names severe cold, rather than every form of cold or inherently punishment itself. Harsh cold may cause suffering and harm in one situation, while its absence may contribute to comfort in another.
The moon meaning reported in one Arabic dialect also illustrates a principle: an established dictionary meaning alone is insufficient to select it in every verse. The preferable meaning must be determined from the range of evidence and the context of the particular verse.