عَمَاءٌ

, (S, K, TA,) in some of the copies of the K عَمًى, and by some thus related in a tradition mentioned in what follows, (TA,) Clouds: or, according to AZ, [clouds] resembling smoke, surmounting the heads of mountains: (S, Msb:) or lofty clouds: or [in the CK “ and ”] dense: (K, TA:) or dense [clouds such as are termed] غَيْم: (TA:) or raining clouds: or thin clouds: or black: or white: or such as have poured forth their water; (K, TA;) but have not become dissundered like mountains: and عَمَاءَةٌ [is the n. un., and] signifies a dense, covering, cloud; as also عَمَايَةٌ: or a dense portion of cloud: but some disallow this, and make عَمَاءٌ to be [only] a coll. n. (TA.) It is related in a tradition that, in reply to the question “ Where was our Lord (meaning the عَرْش [q. v.] of our Lord) before He created his creatures? ” it was said, كَانَ فِى عَمَاءٍ تَحْتَهُ هَوَاءٌ وَفَوْقَهُ هَوَاءٌ [He (i. e. his عَرْش) was in clouds, or lofty clouds, &c., beneath which was a vacuity, and above which was a vacuity]: or, according to one relation, كَانَ فِى عَمًى [meaning He was in a vacuity] i. e. there was not with Him anything: or, as some say, it means anything that the intellectual faculties cannot perceive, and to the definition of which the describer cannot attain. (TA.)