رحم
Raḥima
With its derivatives, to consider or act with sympathy and mercy.
What it means
Raḥima is an Arabic verb meaning to show sympathy and mercy, in thought and in action. Its derivatives include raḥmah, mercy, the divine names al-Raḥmān and al-Raḥīm, and raḥim, which also names the womb and the bond of kinship. The Quran says that God’s mercy encompasses all things (7:156), and describes the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as sent as a mercy to the worlds (21:107). The verb is also used in a prayer for the dead, “may God have mercy on him”, and believers are told to show mercy to one another.
Often misunderstood as
That mercy is only a feeling, when the root joins feeling with action.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 33, listed as RAḤIMA. The definition is restated here.