Haram and Halal

Since I first started speaking with people about Islam and being exposed to Muslims, I often heard the words Halal and Haram in regards to many different subjects. Haram and Halal are words very (perhaps overly) commonly used to describe what Allah has made permitted (Halal) or prohibited (Haram). Yesterday, I was chatting with a friend from Jordan who shared with me recitations by the Muslim brothers Sdaes and Shureem who are two of the leaders in the Haram Mosque in Mecca

(by the way, I looked into the root of mosque, and it is not from the same root as Mosquito, which comes from the LAtin root Musca (bug). And Mosque, which comes from the Etymology: earlier mosquee, from Middle French, from Old Italian moschea, from Old Spanish mezquita, from Arabic masjid temple, from sajada to prostrate oneself, worship - so it probably spelt mosque with a q because it is like the Egyptian pronounciation of MasGid).

At any rate, now that that's cleared up, back to my topic.
When he said the name of the mosque, I was immediately curious to know how the most recognized mosque in the world in Mecca, could be named "Haram" since it is a word used to refer to things that Allah has prohibited. It didn't seem like the the most appropriate word to me so I figured it must have other meanings, but I still was confused because Arabic is based on a root system similar to Hebrew so each word has three root letters and those three root letters together usually mean similar things, not polar opposites. How could Haram be used to describe the prohibited acts and mean sacred at the same time??

For example, take the word "to write" "taktab."
The words below all have the same root letters as the word "to write:"

katîb	writer
kitâba	the act of writing
kitâb	some writing, book
kutub	books
kutubî	bookdealer
kutayyib	booklet
maktûb	letter
maktab	school, office
maktaba	library, literature
maktabî	individual office
miktâb	typewriter
mukâtaba	correspondence
iktitâb	registration
istiktâb	dictation

.... and on and on. This is only a limited sample of the immense variety of words that can be formed by simple and PREDICTABLE usage of the basic root which was only the three consonants k-t-b.

So as you can see here, Arabic has a system to it. But how on earth could you derive "prohibited" or wrong or any other negative word from the same root that means "sacred??"

Immediately the next day I was chatting with another friend who brought up the term Haram. So Allah had given me the opportunity to get to the bottom of this. What does haram really mean? And what is really Haram and Halal according to the Holy Qur'an?

Why would I just accept what someone tells me is Haram or Halal if I have not read up on it myself to confirm that? This is a sensitive thing because there is a surah in the Qur'an that states;

Surah An-Nahl (The Bees) 16: 116

But say not - for any false thing that your tongues may put forth,- "This is lawful, and this is forbidden," so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper.

So as you can see clearly here in this aya, that we must be very careful about what we ascribe as forbidden or lawful. So, now I am more careful about what I call haram or halal. As one example, meat, I already did a post about that.
A good muslim friend of mine did an Arabic word search of the word "haram" in the Qur'an, and for the most part each case referred to the word "sacred;" masjid haram, shahr haram, etc....

In the Qur'an, it also addresses the lawful and prohibited in this verse:

Say: "See ye what things Allah hath sent down to you for sustenance? Yet ye hold forbidden some things thereof and (some things) lawful." Say: "Hath Allah indeed permitted you, or do ye invent (things) to attribute to Allah."

So I wonder where all this talk of Haram and Halal came from. I still have yet to find its correlation in the holy Qur'an.
Here is a list of all of the places the word "haram" is mentioned in the Qur'an.
Just click on this link: Haram in the Qur'an

This is just another example of how we must not stray from the Qur'an as our primary source of guidance for our life. If we revere it so much should we not take as much care to know its words and apply them to our life? What higher source of guidance for our life has Allah given to us on earth than his own words as given to the Prophet Mohammad pbuh through the Angel Gabriel?
2salam wa 3laikoum.