The word · Law & life
حَرام
Haram
Forbidden. Leaving it is rewarded, and doing it deliberately is a sin.
Also written · Haraam · Harram · Haramm · Harem · Haraam food · forbidden · prohibited · unlawful · sinful · not allowed · Muharram act
The meaning
What Haram means in Islam
The list is far shorter than people assume: shirk, killing, theft, interest, intoxicants, pork, gambling, zina, and injustice to others. Something is haram only on clear evidence, and calling a disputed matter haram is itself a serious step, since the Qur'an warns against declaring things lawful and unlawful without knowledge. The same root also means sacred and inviolable, which is why the mosque in Makkah is al-Masjid al-Haram.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Rooms that name it
Words that sit beside it
- HalalPermitted. Anything revelation has not forbidden, which is the great majority of things.حَلال
- MakruhDisliked but not forbidden: leaving it is rewarded, doing it brings no sin.مَكْروه
- HududThe small set of fixed penalties named in revelation, hedged about with very strict proof.حُدود
- FiqhThe human effort to work out Islamic law from its sources, and the rulings that result.الفِقْه
More from Law & life
- 'AqdA contract: a binding agreement formed by an offer and its acceptance.عَقْد
- DiyahBlood money: compensation paid to a victim's family for a killing or an injury.دِيَة
- Ijma'The agreement of the qualified scholars of one generation on a single ruling.إِجْماع
- MalikiThe school of Malik ibn Anas of Madinah, weighted towards the practice of that city.المَذْهَبُ المالِكِيّ
- NafaqahMaintenance: the husband's duty to provide housing, food and clothing for wife and children.نَفَقة
- Sadd al-Dhara'iBlocking the means: forbidding something lawful because it reliably leads to something forbidden.سَدُّ الذَّرائِع