# صوم / صيام



## Ibn Nacer

Hello,

صوم شهر رمضان Vs صيام شهر رمضان

Is there a difference between these two expressions? If yes, which?

Is one of them better than the other?

Is it better than the other?

Merci.


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## iAnwar

it depends but both are correct! if you use them in sentences I can tell you
صوم
you can use it in a commanding situation. to tell someone do that. it is the imperative form of a verb
صيام
it could be used in the past
hope that help you


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## Ibn Nacer

Merci bien.


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## akhooha

Both صَوْم and صيام can be used to refer to fasting in general, but صَوْم is  more closely associated with fasting during Ramadan.

N.B. صوم is _not_ the imperative form. That would be صُم . And صيام has nothing to do with the past.  Neither one of them is a verb.


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## Ibn Nacer

Merci bien.


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## Haydari

What is the linguistic difference between Siyaam (الصيام) and Sawm (الصوم) as verbal nouns "abstaining". I'm already aware that Siyaam could also mean the plural adjective form of Saa'im (صائم).


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## Drink

I may be wrong, but I thought that صيام is the plural of صوم.


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## Jamal31

Drink said:


> I may be wrong, but I thought that صيام is the plural of صوم.


As do I.


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## analeeh

I think you are indeed wrong. _Siyaam _and _Sawm_ seem to be used largely synonymously as maSdars of _Saama_ - I don't know if there's a difference in usage, but they're certainly both singular nouns meaning 'fast'.


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## Haydari

analeeh said:


> I think you are indeed wrong. _Siyaam _and _Sawm_ seem to be used largely synonymously as maSdars of _Saama_ - I don't know if there's a difference in usage, but they're certainly both singular nouns meaning 'fast'.



1. I was of the understanding that no two verbal nouns (masaadir) can have the exact same meaning. Is this understanding incorrect?

2. I've heard of this explanation: In the Quran, Sawm is only used in the verse pertaining Mary's abstinence from speech, while Siyaam is used in all other verses pertaining to abstinence from food, beverage, and intercourse. 

So the difference between Sawm and Siyaam is the object from which one abstains from. I'm not sure if this difference is solely within islamic law, and not from a linguistic point of view. But, Ramadan is often referred to as Shahr al-Sawm (Month of Sawm) which would be contrary to the explanation above. 

3. My own observation: In the Quran, when Sawm is used pertaining to Mary, her abstinence was a single occurrence of the action of abstaining. Whenever Siyaam is used, its simply referring to the action of abstaining as a concept. Could Sawm then be the Ism al-Marrah of Siyaam (the masdar)? A noun of instance even though Ism al-Marrah is upon the wazn Fa3lah.


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## Ghabi

I agree with Analeeh. One can see Siyaam and Sawm used in the very same sentence for the sake of variation. The same goes for many other maSdars.


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## ayed

Agree with Haydari
Sawm is to abstain from speaking 
Seyaam is abstaining from eating and drinking


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## analeeh

I don't think that's true of current usage, or even of much classical usage. Lent for example is called الصوم الكبير and doesn't - at least in my experience - involve much silence. Masdars often are synonyms - it's true that there is a certain dogged insistence found in a lot of classical Arabic linguistic theory to deny the existence of synonyms and find distinctions between words (this is based on their philosophy of language), but without further evidence I'm inclined to think that _Sawm_ as used in the Qur'an was simply a less common maSdar than _Siyaam_ and was as such only used in one place.


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic "Lent" is الصيام.  I think I only ever hear الصوم in reference to أركان الإسلام.  I agree that the two are synonyms and that they only differ in usage.


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## Mazhara

*فَكُلِي وَاشْرَبِي* وَقَرِّي عَيْنًا

فَإِمَّا تَرَيِنَّ مِنَ الْبَشَرِ أَحَدًا فَقُولِي إِنِّي* نَذَرْتُ* لِلرَّحْمَٰنِ *صَوْمًا* فَلَنْ أُكَلِّمَ الْيَوْمَ إِنسِيًّا

Here *صَوْمًا* appears not used as term but only in the sense of restraining oneself from doing something at any time; and it is the object of vowing and what the vow was it is immediately explained, "thereby, today I will not debate-wrangle with any person." Here it is in the basic meanings of the Root: صوم(مقاييس اللغة)

 الصاد والواو والميم أصلٌ  يدلُّ على إِمساكٍ

When used as a term, صِيَامًا it is for terminating eating and drinking and sex related activities instantly from true dawn [geometric center of Sun at 12 degree below horizon] to Sunset.


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## Drink

I realized that it is the Wikipedia article for Sawm that says "Sawm (Arabic: صوم‎‎; plural: صيام _ṣiyām_)". I guess it must be a mistake?


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## akhooha

Yes, that is a mistake.
P.S. The mistake has been corrected.


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## Ghabi

Perhaps it can be added that صيام can be a broken plural of صائم, but not of صوم.


Haydari said:


> I was of the understanding that no two verbal nouns (masaadir) can have the exact same meaning


The verb forms fa33ala (-->taf3ila, taf3iil) and faa3ala (-->mufaa3ala, fi3aal) do have two variant maSdar forms respectively. Usually the two forms are used interchangeably, but they may also develop their own specific meanings (e.g. I don't think خِلاف and مخالفة are interchangeable).

Sometimes it's a matter of tomayto, tomahto. For example, la3ib and li3b (or kadhib and kidhb) are the same word, as a CvCC word often has a CvCvC variant (fakhid ~ fakhd ~ fikhd etc). The variation has to do with ancient dialects, if I'm not mistaken.

And of course if a verb has more than one meaning, then it follows that each meaning may have its own maSdar (often accompanied by a different vocalization in the muDaari3 verb), e.g. 7alla, ya7ull, 7all ~ 7alla, ya7ill, 7uluul.


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