Ha Mim: The Seven Hawamim Surahs

What Does Ha Mim Mean?

Ha Mim is one of the 14 disjointed-letter openings. It is made of two letters, ح and م, read one after the other by their names. The reading is ha, then mim, and never a single word.

The most widely held position is that the certain meaning of these letters is known only to God. Some commentators have offered other thoughts, and this page does not rank them. The wider range of views is set out on the huruf muqattaat overview.

The first letter here is the throaty ha, written ح. English spellings include Ha Mim, Haa Meem and Ha-Meem. All of them point to the same two Arabic letters.

Which Seven Surahs Open With Ha Mim?

The seven surahs sit side by side in the mushaf. They run from Surah 40 to Surah 46 without a break. The table gives each name, its Arabic form and its verse count.

All seven are Meccan surahs, which means they belong to the period before the move to Madinah. Six open with حم alone, and one, Ash-Shura, adds a second opening after it.

What Does the Word Hawamim Mean?

Hawamim is an Arabic plural of Ha Mim. It names the whole family of surahs that begin with these two letters. You may also see it spelled Hawameem or Hawamim in English.

Commentators also use the phrase Al Ha Mim for the same group. A few scholars say this phrase is the more careful way to refer to them. The two names point to the same seven surahs.

Which Old Names Are Reported for the Group?

Classical reports record several descriptive names for these surahs. One report from Ibn Masud calls them the embellishment of the Quran. Another, from a later narrator, calls them the brides.

These are names that people gave the group. They tell us the surahs were long treated as a unit. They are not explanations of what the two letters mean.

How Are the Hawamim Arranged in the Mushaf?

In the mushaf, the group comes right after Surah 39, az-Zumar. It ends just before Surah 47, Muhammad. Because the seven surahs are consecutive, a reader moves through all of them without meeting another opening.

Readers sometimes ask whether the order has a pattern. The plain answer is that the mushaf order is fixed and well known, and it is not sorted by length.

Ghafir has 85 verses and Fussilat 54, but Az-Zukhruf then rises to 89. After that, the counts fall to 59, 37 and 35.

The seven surahs hold 412 verses between them. Az-Zukhruf is the longest of the group, and Al-Ahqaf is the shortest.

Is the Mushaf Order the Same as the Order of Revelation?

No, the two orders are different things.

A common Egyptian list of the revelation order puts these surahs at 60 to 66. That list keeps the same sequence as the mushaf. The scheme of the scholar Nöldeke gives other positions, from 53 to 88.

So the mushaf order, 40 to 46, is the arrangement of the written text. Scholars have studied the revelation order separately, and the lists do not match.

How Do the Seven Surahs Rank by Length?

The table below sorts the group by verse count, from the longest to the shortest. The mushaf number is kept beside each name, so you can see how the two orders differ.

Az-Zukhruf ranks first, though it stands fourth in the mushaf. Ghafir, which opens the group, ranks second. The two shortest, Al-Jathiyah and Al-Ahqaf, close the group.

How Many Ruku Sections Does Each Surah Have?

Many printed copies divide each surah into ruku sections, which are short passages for study and recitation. The standard list gives these counts:

• Ghafir 9, Fussilat 6 and Ash-Shura 5.
• Az-Zukhruf 7 and Ad-Dukhan 3.
• Al-Jathiyah 4 and Al-Ahqaf 4 and a half.

These counts follow the verse counts only loosely. Ad-Dukhan has 59 verses in just three sections, so its sections are long. Al-Jathiyah has 37 verses in four sections, so its sections are short.

How Does Ha Mim Compare With the Other Two-Letter Openings?

Four different two-letter openings appear among the 29 surahs. Ha Mim is by far the most repeated of them. The other three each open a single surah.

This repetition is why Ha Mim earned a group name of its own. No other two-letter opening runs across consecutive surahs. The Alif Lam Mim opening also begins six surahs, but they are spread across the mushaf.

Are There Six Ha Mim Surahs or Seven?

You may find a source that says six, and another that says seven. The difference comes from Ash-Shura. In that surah the opening is حم followed by عسق, and some lists count it as a separate case.

• Seven counts every surah in which حم appears at the start, including Ash-Shura.
• Six counts only the surahs where حم stands alone, and puts Ash-Shura in its own group.

The letters and the surahs are the same in both lists. Only the grouping changes. The list of all 29 muqattaat surahs shows the combined opening of Ash-Shura in its own row.

What Is the Second Opening of Ash-Shura?

Surah ash-Shura is Surah 42 and has 53 verses. It begins with حم, and the letters عسق follow. Those three letters are read as ayn, sin and qaf.

This is the only surah of the 29 that carries two separate openings. The first is shared with six other surahs. The second, عسق, appears nowhere else.

What Are the Abjad Values of Ha Mim?

Each letter of Ha Mim is an ordinary Arabic letter with an Abjad value. In the Mashriqi system, ha is 8 and mim is 40. The sum is plain addition:

ح 8 + م 40 = 48

The total is 48. The Maghribi table gives the same two values, so the total is also 48 there. This is arithmetic only, and it is not a hidden message.

The second opening of Ash-Shura works the same way:

ع 70 + س 60 + ق 100 = 230

In the Mashriqi table, the total for عسق is 230. You can test any sum with the Abjad value calculator.

Is This the Same Ha as in Surah Maryam?

No, the two letters look alike but are different. The ha in Ha Mim is ح, with the value 8. The ha in Kaf Ha Ya Ain Sad is ه, with the value 5.

This is a common source of mix-ups in sums. The page on Kaf Ha Ya Ain Sad covers the other opening in full. For how sums are worked and checked, see muqattaat and Abjad values.

How Should the Letters Be Read Aloud?

The reader says the name of each letter in turn. The first name begins with the throaty ha, made deep in the throat. The second name is mim, which is easy to say.

Printed copies may add small marks above the letters, as in حٰمٓ. The engine ignores those marks and still gives 48. For help with the sounds, see the pronunciation guide.

What Follows the Letters in Surah Ghafir?

In Surah Ghafir, the line right after the letters speaks of the revelation of the Book from God. This is a plain description of the text and not an interpretation of the letters.

Observers have long noted that many muqattaat surahs have a similar line after their opening. The pillar page describes that pattern in general terms.

What Can You Check for Yourself?

1. Open a printed Quran at Surah 40, Ghafir, and read the opening line.
2. Turn to Surahs 41 to 46 and notice that each begins the same way.
3. In Surah 42, find the second part of the opening.
4. Add the values of ha and mim and compare the result with 48.

These steps use only the written text and simple arithmetic. They do not depend on any interpretation. If you want a method for doing the sum by hand, read how to calculate by hand.

The related pages on this site let you move on from here. Start from the words hub or the Alif Lam Mim page, which covers the other opening that begins six surahs.

Sources and Further Reading

• Muqattaʿat, Wikipedia. Ha Mim opens surahs 40 to 46, the Ash-Shura double opening and the majority view.
• List of chapters in the Quran, Wikipedia. Surah numbers, names, verse counts, place of revelation and the two chronological orders.
• Surah Ghafir, Tafsir Maariful Quran. The series of seven Ha Mim surahs, the names Al Ha Mim and hawamim, and the reported descriptive names.
• What Are the Suras of Al-Hawamim, SeekersGuidance. The seven surahs and the note on the name Al Ha Mim.
• Letter values come from this site’s tested engine. See the methodology.

Frequently Asked Questions