Tajweed

Manners when reading the Qur'an Manners of the Heart A. Understanding of the origin of the words This is an indication to the greatness of the words being read, and the bounty of Allah; Glorified is He, to His creation when He addressed His creation with these words. B. Putting into the heart the understanding that these are not the words of man. Through this the reader should think about the characteristics of Allah the Exalted. C. Presence of the heart while reading. Through this the reader should throw away other thoughts while reading the Qur’an. D. Pondering the meaning. There is less reward in reciting the Qur'an without understanding the meaning. The Qur'an was revealed for guidance and this can be achieved through recitation accompanied with pondering. E. Understanding the meaning. This means interacting and reacting to every verse according to what is proper for it. F. Individualization This means that the reader feels that every message in the Qur’an is meant especially for him personally.

External Manners for reading the Qur’an 1. Purity of body and clothes and place. Using sawak. 2. Facing the Qiblah. 3. Seeking refuge from rejected Satan and reading the basmalah. Not reading when yawning. 4. Avoiding cutting off reading to talk with people. 1

5. Stopping at a verse of warning and seeking protection with Allah, and stopping at a verse of mercy and asking The Merciful for His Bounty. 6. Humbleness and crying when reading. Imam An-Nawwawi may Allah be Merciful to him said: Crying when reading the Qur’an is a characteristic of those who know Allah (know Him through His names and Characteristics) and the feelings of the righteous.

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Prostrations of reading The prostration of tilawah is legislated for the reader and the listener in obedience to the Merciful, and in contradiction to Satan. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “If a son of Adam reads a verse of prostration and prostrates, Satan withdraws crying and saying, ‘Woe to me, the son of Adam was ordered to prostrate and he prostrated, and for him is Paradise, and I was ordered to prostrate and I disobeyed and the Fire is for me.” Related by Muslim. There are fourteen places in the Quran where we are asked to prostrate. 1. The end of surah Al-A’araaf 2. Verse 15 of surah Al-Ra’ad 3. Verse 50 of surah An-Nahl 4. Verse 109 of surah Al-Israa’ 5. Verse 58 of surah Maryam 6. Verse 18 of surah Al-Hajj 7. Verse 77 of surah Al-Hajj 8. Verse 60 of surah Al-Furqan 9. Verse 26 of surah Al-Naml 10. Verse 15 of surah As-Sajda 11. Verse 38 of surah Fussilat 12. Verse 62 of surah An-Najm 13. Verse 21 of surah Al-Inshiqaq 14. Verse 19 of surah Al-A’alaq

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Seeking refuge and Saying the “Basmalah” The meaning of: Al-isti’atha is “asking for refuge, or protection” When the reader says: " ,” he is seeking the protection and refuge with Allah from Satan before starting reading. Allah in the Qur’an said: (and when you read the Qur’an seek refuge with Allah from the rejected Satan) AnNahl 98. 1. If the reader is reading silently, he then seeks refuge silently, or if he is alone. 2. If one is about to pray the seeking refuge is also done silently. 3. If one is reading aloud, and others are present that will hear, the seeking refuge is done out loud. 4. If the reading is done by turns (as in a classroom situation), the first reader seeks refuge out loud and the rest do it silently. 5. If the reading is cut off by coughing, sneezing, or by talk referring to the reading or meaning of the verses, then there is no need for repeating the seeking refuge. 6.

If the reading is cut off by work or normal conversation, or by eating, then the seeking refuge should be repeated before beginning to read the Qur’an again.

Al-Basmalah He who says "bismillah" has said the basmalah.

It is necessary to read it before the beginning of every surah of the Qur'an with the exception of "At-Tawbah" which is also called “Baraa’ah.” Ways of Seeking refuge when starting recitation with the basmalah and with the beginning of a surah If the reader wishes to start his reading at the beginning of a surah, he needs to seek refuge, say the basmalah and then start reciting the surah. There are four ways of doing this. 1.

Fasl Kul - Cutting all three off from each other. Meaning seeking refuge, stopping, saying the basmalah, stopping, then starting the surah.

2.

Wasl Kul - Joining all three with each other. Seeking refuge, saying the 4

basmalah, and starting the surah all in one breath without stopping. 3.

Joining the basmalah and the beginning of the surah. This means seeking refuge, then stopping, then saying the basmalah and the beginning of the surah in one breath.

4.

Joining seeking refuge with the basmalah. This means the seeking refuge and the basmalah are joined with one breath, then the reader stops then starts the surah.

The Basmalah between two surahs Hafs (the way of recitation we are explaining) always reads the basmalah between two surahs. Meaning we read the basmalah before starting the next consecutive surah when reading the Qur’an, except between Al-Anfal and At-Tawbah. There are four ways of completing a surah and continuing on reading to the next surah with the basmalah in between them. Three of them are allowed, and one not allowed. 1. Separating all of them The reader finishes the surah, then stops and takes a breath, reads the basmalah, stops and takes a breath, then reads the beginning of the next surah. As in the following example:

2. Joining all of them The reader ends the surah, joining it with the appropriate vowels with the basmalah, continuing with the same breath the reader then joins the basmalah with the beginning of the next surah. As in:

3. Joining the basmalah with the beginning of the surah In this way the reader finishes the last verse of the surah, stops and takes a breath, then reads the basmalah joining it in the same breath and proper vowels with the beginning of the next surah. As in:

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4. Not Allowed: Joining the basmalah with the end of the surah, then stopping, then starting the next surah. This incorrect way leads the listener to imagine that the basmalah is the last aayah of the surah that was just finished. Here, the reader would join the end of the surah with the basmalah, then stops and takes a breath, then starts reading the next surah. This is not allowed.

There are three levels of reading the Quran 1. Al-Tahqeeq – It is reading the Quran slowly and with serenity while pondering the meaning and observing the tajweed rules, giving each letter its rights as to characteristics and articulation points, lengthening the letters of madd, which must be lengthened, and not lengthening that which is not supposed to be lengthened. It is to recite the heavy letters heavy and the light letters light as required by the tajweed rules. This it the best level of reading. 2. Al-Hader – it is a swift method of reading the Quran with observation of the rules of tajweed. The reader then must be careful not to cut off the lengthened letters, not to do away with the ghunnah, and not to shorten the vowels to the point that the reading is not correct. 3. Al-Tadweer – It is a reading at level between the two above levels, while preserving and observing the rules of tajweed.

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Principles of tajweed One who wishes to learn a science needs to know its principles so that he will gain insight into the sought science. There are several principles in the science of tajweed that should be understood: 1. Its definition: Betterment Applied definition: Articulating every letter from its articulation point and giving the letter its rights and dues of characteristics. Rights of the letters are its required characteristics that never leave it. The dues of the letters are its presented characteristics that are present in it some of the time, and not present at other times. i.e. The ghunnah, idgham. 2. Its formation: The words of the Glorious Quran and some Honorable Hadiths also. 3. Its fruits: It is preserving the tongue from mistakes in pronunciation of the Glorious Quran during reading. 4. Its precedence: It is one of the most honored of sciences and one of the best of them due to its relation to Allah’s words. 5. Its place within the sciences: It is one of the Islamic Law sciences that are related to the Glorious Quran. 6. Its founder: The rule setter from the practical point of view is the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) because the Quran was revealed to him from Allh, the most High, with tajweed, and he was instructed on it from the Trustworthy, Jibreel (pbuh). He taught it to his companions, who then taught it to their followers and so on until it came to us by these chains. The rule setters from the scientific point of view are the scholars of Quranic sciences, such as Abu ‘Ubaid Al-Qasim bin Sallaam. 7. Its precept: Knowledge of tajweed is (fardh kifayaah), meaning some of the Muslim community must know it, and its application is (fardh ‘ain), required by all Muslims (men and women) who have the complete Quran or part of it memorized, even if only one surah. 8. Reasons for its rules: Guarding the Glorious Quran and preserving if from distortion. The Arabs mixed with non-Arabs after the spread of Islam, and the Muslims feared that the Arab tongue would become corrupted with this intermixing. It then became mandatory for rules to be put down that would preserve the Quranic reading from istakes, and guarantee the reader of the Quran 7

integrity of pronunciation. 9. Its principles: The knowledge of tajweed is contingent on four matters: 1. Knowledge of the articulation point of the letters 2. Knowledge of the characteristics of the letters 3. Knowledge of what rules change in the letters due to the order of letters 4. Exercising the tongue a lot of repetition.

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Al-Lahn It is defined as a mistake and deviation from correctness when reading. 1. Its divisions: It is divided into two divisions which are: 1. Obvious and clear mistakes It is a mistake that occurs in the pronunciation that affects the accuracy of the reading, even if the mistake occurs in the meaning or not. This type of mistake occurs in the make up of the word or in the letters, i.e. the reader pronounces dal, Ta. The mistake can also occur in the vowels where one vowel is read as a completely different one, for example: to exchange the dhammah to a fathah, or a fathah into a kasrah etc. It can also be that the mistake occurs with the sukoon being read like the one of the three vowels. This category is named obvious and clear because it is easy for readers and scholars of the language to know the mistakes and point them out. 2. Obscured and hidden mistakes It is a mistake that takes place in the pronunciation that pierces the reading, heard by an accomplished reader, and is not a mistake in the meaning, or in the language or in the grammar. Only those who have knowledge of Quran reading, recognize these mistakes. This type of mistake has two divisions: The first: Mistakes only known by those knowledgeable in Quran reading, such as leaving out an idgham. The second: Mistakes only known by skilled readers of the Quran, such as unwanted repetition of the ra. Included in this category is the mistake of reading the dhammah as between a dhammah and a fathah, in that the two lips are not circled, nor are they protruded forward as is required in a correct dhammah. The kasrah also can be mistakenly read in between kasrah and a fathah. We must try as much as possible to avoid making the mistakes within both these categories, and must certainly never commit them purposely.

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Places of Articulation - Makharij Introduction to articulation points of the Arabic letters The singular of articulation points in Arabic is: Makhraj The articulation point: It is the place of emitting the letter when pronouncing it that differentiates that specific letter from other letters. The letter: is a sound that relies on a specific or approximate articulation point. Articulation points are of two kinds: 1. Specific articulation point: It is that which relies on a specific place of the areas of the throat, tongue or the two lips. 2. Approximate articulation point: it is that which does not rely on a specific place from the areas of the throat, or the tongue, or the two lips. This approximate articulation point is applied to the lengthened letters that come from the empty space in the mouth and throat. There are several ways to pinpoint the articulation point of a letter: 1. Say the letter without any vowel sound (with a sukoon) or say the letter with a shaddah, which is a better way than just a sukoon; the first saakin, the second with the vowel that occurs with the shaddah. The symbol of the shaddah is a number three twisted on its back. 2. Precede the non-voweled letter with a hamzah with any vowel sound you choose on the hamzah. 3. We then pronounce the letter and hear the sound, when the sound is cut off that is the articulation point. The scholars laid out five major areas that have within them the different articulation points, which are a total of 17. The five major areas are: 1. The empty space in the mouth and throat has in it one articulation point for the three lengthened letters, which are wow with no vowel with a dhammah before it, ya’ with no vowel with a kasrah before it, and an alif with a fath before it. 2. The Throat: It has three articulation points for six different letters which are 10

pronounced from the deepest, middle, and closest part of the throat 3. The Tongue: It has ten articulation points for eighteen letters 4. The Two Lips: The lips have two articulation points for four letters 5. The nasal passage: From the hole of nose towards the inside of the mouth, here there is one articulation point, that of the ghunnah The following pictures shows these areas:

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1. The empty space in the throat and mouth (

)

The empty space in the mouth and throat is a place and an articulation point at the same time. The three medd (lengthened) letters originate from this general area, these letters are: 1.The alif preceded by a letter with a fat-hah (and the true alif is only in this state); the Arabic alif never takes a vowel and is always preceded by a fathah

2. The wow with a sukoon preceded by a letter with a dhammah

3. The ya’ with a sukoon preceded by a letter with a kasrah

These three medd letters do not have a specific place that they are pronounced from, unlike all the other letters; instead these letters finish articulating with the stopping of the sound. The medd letters are lengthened two counts if they are not followed by a hamzah or a sukoon. The lengthening when there is a hamzah or sukoon after the medd letter will be covered, insha’ Allah, in future lessons.

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2. The articulation points of the throat (Al-Halq) There are three places of articulation in the throat, each place has two letters emitted from therein. 1. The deepest part of the throat 2. The middle part of the throat 3. The closest part of the throat (closest to the mouth)

1. The deepest part of the throat The deepest part of the throat is the furthest away from the mouth and the closest to the chest. Two letters are articulated from here. They are the hamzah and the ha’ .

2. The middle part of the throat The middle part of the throat lies half way in between the beginning and the end of the throat. The two letters that are emitted from here are: Ha’ and ayn

3. The closest part of the throat The closest part of the throat is the beginning of the throat, or the closest to the mouth. Two letters are articulated from this area, they are: Ghayn and Kha’

Common mistakes in these letters These letters are uncommon to many languages, especially English, outside of the hamzah, and many would say the ha’, but even the English “h” is often pronounced at a position higher in the throat than the Arabic ha’. The two letters from the middle of the throat need practice to succeed in their proper pronunciation. The first step is getting used to using the throat, especially the middle, then work should begin on the letter: . Think of the throat squeezing against itself from the middle, and try to pronounce it from that point. There is plenty of air that runs with this letter. 13

is the second letter from this area is pronounced from the same point, but has more of a rolling sound. The last two letters also need practice to achieve a correct pronunciation.

is often mispronounced as a “k” by non-Arabs. The “k” is not articulated from the throat, rather it is articulated from the posterior portion of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

many times is mispronounced as a “g” like the first “g” in the word “garage”. One way of finding the articulation area is by gargling. The sound emitted with a deep gargle is close to the Arabic letter.

3. Areas of the tongue used for articulation There are four areas of the tongue used for articulation. The deepest part, the middle, the sides, and the tip. The following picture helps pinpoint these areas.

1. Deepest part of the tongue There are two letters that use the deepest part of the tongue in articulation. They are and

.

Is articulated from the deepest part of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the roof of the mouth in the area of the soft palate.

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Is articulated from the deepest part of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the roof of the mouth in the area of the hard palate. This letter is closer to the mouth than the Common mistakes in these letters The non-Arab has more than a few common mistakes with these two letters. The first letter, is not a common letter in other languages, and even the Arabs have substituted this letter for others in different colloquial Arabic dialects. Egyptians and Shaamis substitute a hamzah for the in their dialect. The Gulf Arabs use a “g” sound in their dialect for this letter. There are two mistakes in articulating this when reciting the Qur’an. Usually it is a problem in the articulation point. Either the letter is articulated on the hard palate or close to it, so it ends up sounding like an English “k”, or the letter is pronounced not from the tongue, but from the throat, and the resultant incorrect sound is a cross between a and a . Native English speakers tend to make the first type of error, and Muslims of eastern origin tend to make the second type of error. is often mispronounced at an articulation point further back in the mouth than the correct articulation point. The resultant letter is often closer to a than the correct desired sound. Muslims from the East, such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines tend to have this error. Native English speakers sometimes pronounce this letter a little further back in the mouth than is totally correct so there is no air heard with the letter. In truth, there should be a running of air when this letter is pronounced correctly.

2. Middle of the Tongue Three letters use the middle of the tongue for their articulation. They are

,

, and the These three letters are articulated from the middle of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the roof of the mouth. This means the middle of the tongue collides with the roof of the mouth when these letters are articulated without a vowel, and the middle of the tongue separates with strength from the roof of the mouth when the letters are voweled. 15

The ya’ here is not the medd letter ya’, which was previously stated to be articulated from the non specific area of the empty space in the throat and mouth. The medd letter ya’ is a ya’ saakinah preceded by a kasrah, NOT a fath. When the ya’ saakinah is preceded by a fath, this currently discussed articulation point is used. Common mistakes in these letters The mistakes that may occur with these letters tend to more in the area of characteristics than in the specific articulation point, but not exclusively so. The is often mispronounced by Arabs and non Arabs alike, with a running of the sound, like the French “j”. This letter, in Arabic, is a strong letter, and there is imprisonment of the running of the sound, and imprisonment of the running of air. To pronounce it correctly, first make sure the middle of the tongue is being used, and not the anterior portion of the tongue, then concentrate on not letting any sound and air run out when saying the letter.

can be articulated incorrectly, especially by those with a significant overbite. Those that may have an overbite have to take the extra measure of protruding the lower jaw until the bottom and top teeth are aligned. It may take a little practice, but is indeed possible to pronounce it correctly, even with the overbite. There is a lot of air that fills the mouth and runs out with this letter. Westerners sometimes pronounce this like the English “sh”, which has a more forward position than the Arabic . The sometimes mistakenly is articulated with an accompanying running of air. This letter should not have air running with it, so care needs to be taken to control the air and suppress its excessive outward flow.

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3. The side of the tongue There are two letters that use the side of the tongue for articulation. They do not use the same part of the side of the tongue, rather the posterior two thirds of the side (or edge) of the tongue, and the one third (closest to the mouth) portion of the side of the tongue.

uses the uses the anterior

The letter This letter is articulated from the one or both sides of the tongue and from the molars and the gum area next to the molars. The posterior one third of the side of the tongue is used for this letter. This letter can be articulated from one side (right or left) of the tongue alone, or from both sides of the tongue simultaneously. Articulating this letter from the left side is easier and more common than using the right side. The Prophet pronounced this letter from both sides of the tongue.

has the characteristic of compression of the sound, as well as tafkheem (heaviness), so the deep part of the tongue raises up when pronouncing it and compresses the sound at the same time. Common mistakes in the letter The takes practice, patience, and dua’ to perfect its articulation. The most common mistake in its pronunciation is using the tip of the tongue instead of the side (posterior one third). The resultant sound then is that of a . Using the middle of the tongue and what opposes it of the middle of the roof of the mouth is another common error. The resultant sound is sort of like a heavy

.

Some Arabs even sometimes have difficulty pronouncing correctly. Some areas of the Arab world consistently pronounce this letter using the tip of the tongue and the teeth and the resultant sound is exactly that of a

. This is most noted in 18

Sudan. Another less common mistake is of going too far back to articulate it; back to the throat, in this case the sound is similar to a swallowing sound mixed with a letter. The letter This letter has the widest articulation points of all the Arabic letters. It is articulated from the anterior one third of the sides of the tongue until the sides end at the tip, and what lies opposite to them of the gums of the two top front incisors, the two top lateral incisors, the two top canines, and the two top premolars. The articulation of this letter is then in the shape of an arc, with both sides until the tongue ends at the tip meeting up with with gums of all the mentioned teeth. It is to be noted that it is a fine line of the sides of the tongue that meets up with the gums, and it does not include the top of the tongue.

The articulation of the is in English.

is an upward movement, not a forward movement like “L”

Common mistakes in the letter The most common mistake is that of using just the tip and not the sides of the tongue to pronounce this letter, and the resultant sound is that of a noon, since the noon is articulated very close to the . Another mistake for native English speakers is pronouncing using the underside of the tongue and the actual plates of the two front teeth. The resultant sound is a heavy sound, just as the English “L”.

4. The tip of the tongue (Part 1) Articulation points of the

and the

The letter This letter is articulated from the tip of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the gum of the two front top incisors.

is articulated a bit forward on the gums from

the place of the . This letter is not always pronounced clearly, and the articulation point is only applied when it is pronounced clearly, namely when it has a vowel on it, or 19

if it has a sukoon on it and is followed by one of the following six letters:

The rules for the when it has no vowel (saakinah), and is not followed by one of the above six letters, will be explained later, insha’ Allah. Common mistakes in this letter The mistakes with this letter tend to be few. The most common mistake is that of using too large an area of the tongue and including the top of the tongue, instead of just the tip. The letter This letter is emitted from the tip of the tongue with the top of the tip and what lies opposite to it of the gums of the two front top incisors. The tip with the top of the tip need to strike the gums to produce this sound correctly. There should be no trilling of the tongue when pronouncing this letter. Common mistakes in this letter The first and most common mistake in the is not striking the tip with the top of the tip to the gums. The English “r” is articulated without the tongue striking on any part of the mouth, so many native English speakers have to practice a bit to say the correctly. One should physically feel the tongue hit the gum of the two top front incisors. Another mistake that some have is using the soft tissue behind the gum for a striking place for the tongue. It is quite difficult to get the tip and the top involved when the soft tissue area is used, so the resultant sound is deep and rolling, but not correct. Still other make the aforementioned error of repeated trilling of the tongue when pronouncing the . The scholars have cautioned against this. This usually can be fixed by leaving a small space for the sound to run out at the very tip of the tongue. If the tip is up tight against the gum, there is no place for the sound to run, pressure builds up and can only released by the incorrect excessive trilling.

4. The tip of the tongue (Part 2)

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The articulation point of the These letters are pronounced from the top side of the tip of the tongue and the gum line of the two front upper incisors. The gum line is exactly where the gum meets the teeth. The part of the tongue used in these letters is a small part of the top of the tip, not any farther back than the very tip area. Common mistakes in these letters The mistake that occurs most often in these letters is using the soft elevated area behind the gum instead of the gum line. The English “t” and “d” are articulated at this position which is further back in the mouth than the Arabic and . When these letters are emitted back too far, their sound gets heavy. Another problem that may occur in all of the letters in this group is not using just the top of the tip, but instead using a large portion of the top of the tongue. This is common in Urdu speaking Muslims as well as native English speakers, and it contributes to a heavy sounding letter. is a letter that has both tafkheem (heaviness) and sticks to the roof of the mouth. It is the strongest of all the letters of the Arabic language. The most common mistake (outside of the above mistakes) in this letter is not getting it strong enough, as well as not sticking most of the tongue up to the roof of the mouth while pronouncing it. Since this letter is not common to many languages, it needs practice to be proficient in its proper articulation. Listening to a known accomplished reciter can assist in learning the proper sound for the

.

4. The tip of the tongue (Part 3) Articulation points of the These three letters are emitted from the tip of the tongue and the plates of the two front top incisors, at a point just above the two front lower incisors. There is a little space left in between the tip of the tongue and the plates of the teeth when pronouncing these letters. The term “plate” refers to the long axis of the tooth, and in this case, the long axis that is on the internal side, rather than the external side of the teeth.

These letters are also called letters, which means “whistle”. They are called that due to the accompany whistle type sound heard when they are emitted properly. Common mistakes in these letters 21

The most common mistake that occurs in the three letters as a group is in the lack of (whistle). Usually this problem is due to a strong overbite. Those that have a large overbite though, can still learn to pronounce these letters correctly by making a compensation in the lower jaw. The lower jaw should be protruded until it aligns with the upper jaw while saying these three letters, and insha’ Allah they will come out clearly with the proper “whistle” sound. A note to remember, the tongue should not press up against the plates of the teeth or the sound will be incorrectly imprisoned when trying to say these letters. Another mistake that occurs singularly in the is not making it heavy enough. It is one of the tafkheem (heavy) letters, and it also has the characteristic of sticking. If the

is not made heavy enough, it sounds just like, or very close to a

. The sticking of the tongue with the is not at the articulation area, but rather with the back of the tongue. It sticks to the very back of the soft palate while pronouncing this letter.

4. The tip of tongue (Part 4) Articulation point of the These letters are emitted from the tip of the tongue (from the top side of the tip) and the bottom edges of the two top front incisors. Care should be taken to make sure the top of the tip is really colliding or separating (depending whether there is no vowel or a vowel) with the edges of the teeth and not the plates of the teeth. Common mistakes in these letters These three letters are some of the most mispronounced letters in the Arabic language by both Arabs and non-Arabs. The main reason for this is the corruption of pure classical Arabic and the colloquialization of many letters to other forms. This colloquialization unfortunately, has carried over to the way some recite the Qur’an, and with this mistake the reciter could unintentionally change the intended meaning of the Qur’an. This error should be attended to and fixed as soon as possible by the student of the Qur’an. The is often mispronounced as a heavy form of “z”. The reason for this (mechanically speaking) is not using the top of the tip with the edges of the incisors, and instead using the back plates of the two front incisors, which as covered in the last tidbit, is the articulation point for the

. It is then 22

understandable the mechanical reason for this letter to erroneously sound like a “z” when the incorrect articulation point is used. The is a letter that has tafkheem, or heaviness, and that characteristic tends to be present even in the misarticulated form of the letter, and therefore the heavy “z” sound. Some transliterations of the Qur’an, which we caution against using, write this letter in English as “z”. This contributes to nonArabs also reciting this letter incorrectly. Some students of the Qur’an may have the articulation point of this letter correct, but do not make the necessary tafkheem, or heaviness that is needed when reciting this letter. The posterior portion of the tongue needs to rise up to the roof of the mouth for tafkheem to take place. The is many times mispronounced as a plain “z”. Again, Arabs as well as nonArabs have this error. The solution is again using the top of the tip of the tongue and the bottom edges of the two top front incisors. There should be enough protrusion of the tip tongue in all three of these letters so that it is visible to the observer.

The frequently is pronounced as a by mistake. This mistake can occur with both Arabs and non-Arabs. The same reason as discussed above is the cause for this: using the wrong articulation point. In summary the common mistake in these three letters is using the articulation point of the “whistle” group of letters instead of their own unique articulation point. The tip of the tongue needs to collide or separate with the bottom edges of the two top front incisors, and not the internal plates of the two top incisors.

4. The Two Lips Articulation point of the letter

The articulation point of the is between the inside of the lower lip and the tips (or edges) of the two top front incisors. This means that there is a meeting of these two parts of articulation to make the correct sound of this letter. Common mistakes in this letter The English letter “f” uses the middle of the lower lip and the edges or tips of the two front top incisors. As mentioned above in the articulation point definition of the Arabic , the inside of the lower lip is used. If the English speaking student of the 23

Qur’an does not make a conscience effort to use the inside of the lip, some of the characteristic of the

, namely the running of the sound as well as the breath,

will be imprisoned. The sound will not be a true Arabic “f”.

then, but an English

Some areas in the Far East do not have an “f” in their language. The natives of these countries tend to substitute a “p” for an “f” when they are speaking a language that has an “f”. This obviously will carry over to the recitation of the Qur’an when there is a word with a in it. Practice is needed to pronounce the Arabic use a “p”, which does not exist in the Arabic language.

, and not

Articulation point of the two lips There are three letters that are articulated from the two lips, but they do not all three share the same mechanism in articulation.

The unlengthened is articulated by forming a circle of the two lips without the two lips meeting completely.

The

is articulated by closing the two lips together

The letter than the meem.

is articulated by closing the two lips together, but a stronger closing

Common mistakes in these letters

The is often mispronounced as a “v” by some Urdu speaking Muslims as well as Turkish speaking Muslims from Turkey and former Russian republics. This is due to the absence of in the Turkish dialects, and the presence of both the wow and va’ in Urdu. There is no “v” in Arabic, and “v” has the same articulation point as the “f”. This problem can be overcome by practicing using both lips and pressing on them when pronouncing the unlengthened . At the beginning much practice will be needed to overcome this mispronunciation. The student of the Qur’an may want to make note of

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all the unlengthened in a passage he/she is reciting or memorizing, and practice those phrases or words to make sure they all come out correctly. Westerners have to take care that they really do put pressure on the two lips when pronouncing the

, otherwise the sound comes out weak like a “w”, which is not

the same sound as the Arabic

.

The is not a letter that commonly has mistakes. The only thing to take heed of is not to press the lips together too hard. The

sometimes gets air in it, which is not a characteristic of the Arabic

, and the resultant sound is that of a “p”, which as stated before, does not exist in the Arabic language. The pressure on this letter is more on the inside of the lower lip than the outside, whereas “p” uses more of the outside of the lips, and has running air with it. There is an imprisonment of both the running of the sound and the running of the breath in the letter

which makes it a strong letter.

5. The nasal passage It is the hole in the nose that continues back towards inside the mouth. His is the place where the ghunnah comes from. It is a nasal sound coming from the nasopharynx without any influence from the tongue. If you hold your nose closed you will not be able to produce this sound, therefore the sound of the ghunnah comes from the nasopharynx, but the letters themselves that have this associated sound with them are not articulated from the nose. These letters have their own articulation point, but the ghunnah accompanying the letters comes from the nose. The Ghunnah is a characteristic, not a letter. The ghunnah is a characteristic of Meem and Noon that is especially prevalent when they have a shaddah on them. It is also very noticeable on Noon and Tanween when there is an Ikhfa’ or Iqlab and on the meem when there is a Ikhfa’.

25

Noon Saakinah and Tanween Noon saakinah is a noon free from any vowel . It remains unchanged in its written form and as well as in pronunciation when continuing to read after it and when stopping on it. Noon saakinah occurs in nouns and verbs in the middle of the word and at the end of the word, and occurs in prepositions and particles only at the end of the word. The noon saakinah can have a sukoon on it, as in : as in :

, or can be written with no vowel on it,

. Either way, it is considered a noon saakinah

The tanween is a term for an extra noon saakinah not used for emphasis, found at the end of nouns when continuing the reading, but absent from the noun in the written form (the noon of the tanween is pronounced but not written), and abandoned in pronunciation when stopping. The tanween can be accompanying a fathah, a dhammah, or a kasrah, as

in:

.

When there is a noon saakinah or tanween, we need to look at the next letter following the noon saakinah or tanween. The letter that follows determines how the noon is pronounced, depending on the rule that is applied. There are four rules of tajweed applied to the noon saakinah and tanween. The rules are applied to the noon saakinah in the same way that they are applied to the tanween. The four rules are:

The Making Clear

: In this case the

The Merging : In this case the partially or completely. The Changing

: Here the

is read clearly is merged into the next letter either

is changed into another letter.

The Hiding : The is hidden so it is not a clear noon, but at the same time, not merged into the next letter.

26

The (Making clear) of the noon saakinah and tanween The last lesson defined the

saakinah and the tanween, and stated there are four

different possible rules to be applied to the

saakinah and tanween. The rule that

is applied depends on the letter that immediately follows the

saakinah or

tanween. This lesson describes the first of these rules, the

or making clear of the

saakinah and tanween.

The word

is defined linguistically as: clear or obvious.

The applied definition of the is: Pronouncing every letter from its articulation point without a ghunnah [in this case, without a prolonged ghunnah] on the clear letter. In other words, when this the

rule is applied to the

saakinah or tanween,

is pronounced clearly, and articulated from its articulation point.

There are six letters which when immediately follow the saakinah or tanween, they cause the to be pronounced clearly. These letters are the “throat” letters, or the six letters which are articulated from the throat: Th e

saakinah can be in the middle of a word or at the end of the word, the tanween

is only at the end of a word, namely a noun. When the followed by any of these six letters, the

saakinah or tanween is

is then pronounced clearly.

In surah ‘Abasa, aayah 18, there are examples of both a letter of

, and a tanween followed by a letter of

saakinah followed by a :

. The first word of the aayah ends with 27

a

saakinah, and is followed by a hamzah. The third word of the aayah ends

with a tanween kasrah, and is followed by the letter are of the six letters that cause the clearly, in other words, with an

. Both the hamzah and the saakinah and tanween to be said

.

The last aayah of surah Al-Ikhlaas has an example of an

An example of a the

of the tanween.

saakinah in the middle of a word, followed by one of

letters is found in the second aayah of Al-Kawthar.

In conclusion, when the

saakinah or tanween are followed by any of the six

letters the discussing the vowel.

, is then pronounced clearly. Please remember we are only saakinah, which means it has no vowel on it. If there is a vowel on , then it is pronounced from its articulation point with the accompanying

28

Merging We defined the rules for these letters:

of the

saakinah and tanween

saakinah and tanween and introduced the four different possible

1.

(making clear)

2.

(merging)

3.

(changing)

4.

(hiding).

We then described the first rule pertaining to the

saakinah and tanween, that of the

, or making it clear. We now move on to the second of the four possible rules, that of

The

, or merging of the

saakinah and tanween into the next following letter.

is defined linguistically as merging or inserting.

Its applied tajweed definition is: The meeting of a non-voweled letter with a voweled letter, so that the two letters become one emphasized letter of the second [letter] kind. In the idghaam of saakinah and tanween, the is a saakin (non-voweled) letter on the end of a word, and the first letter of the next word is one of the letters that cause the

to merge or insert into it. The letters that cause this

are all the letters in the group: are at the end of a word, and the letter or , this next letter.

. This means if a or

or merging

saakinah or tanween , or

or is the first letter of the next word, the

or then merges into

29

There are two subdivision of the

:

1. which is a complete merging, also known as merging without any ghunnah (nasalization).

which is

2. which is an incomplete merging, also known as idghaam with a ghunnah (nasalization).

, or

Idghaam with a ghunnah In all the rules concerning the follows the

saakinah and tanween, the letter that immediately

is what determines which rule is applied. Previously we stated that

when the saakinah or tanween (the tanween is only at the end of a word) is at the end of a word, and the first letter of the next word is one of the letters in the group: the the

then merges into the next letter. The idghaam, or merging of saakinah and tanween is further divided into two groups,

(idghaam with a ghunnah) and Ghunnah means nasalization.

(idghaam without a ghunnah).

This section will explain the other idghaam sub-group, that of , or idghaam (merging) with a ghunnah. If we look at the letters that cause idghaam, or merging of the saakinah and tanween, that being the letters in the group the letters of the idghaam without a ghunnah group, the left four letters, the

,

,

, and

and

, and remove , we have

, or if we put them in a

word, the letters of the word: . When there is a saakinah or tanween at the end of a word, and the first letter of the next word is one of the four letters in the

30

group

, the

merges into the next letter, with a prolonged nasalization, or

ghunnah accompanying this merging. In the case of the

saakinah or tanween

merging with the or the ghunnah is a left over from the since this characteristic is not present in these two letters, and the merging is

,

(an incomplete merging), since the characteristic of the ghunnah of the remained. In the case of the or

, the majority of scholars agree that this is a complete merging, and

the ghunnah that is heard is from the the

saakinah or tanween merging with the

or the

,now with a shaddah that

saakinah or tanween has merged into.

Examples of

:

In this above aayah, there are two occurrences of

, the first one with a

saakinah at the end of the first word of the aayah. This

is followed

by a , which is the first word of the next word. The as far as an articulating letter is not pronounced, instead we directly go from the letter before the , which is a , to the , and hold the sound with an accompanying ghunnah, or nasalization, which is a left over characteristic of the . The second occurrence of idghaam in this aayah is in the last two words. The

next to the last word

, ends with a tanween (which, as we know, is vowel, plus a

saakinah), and the first letter of the next following word is a

. The

31

of the tanween then merges into the ghunnah, or nasalization, which is left over from the .

Other examples of

with an accompanying

are:

Idghaam without a ghunnah The two remaining letters of the group

are the letters that comprise this rule.

They are the and . When one of these two letters begins the word that follows one that has a noon saakinah or tanween at the end of it, we then completely merge the noon into the next letter, which is either

or

, with no ghunnah.

Example:

Complete and incomplete merging

and

The

saakinah or tanween into the first

or complete merging of the

letter of the next word, is done when the

saakinah or tanween are at the end of a 32

word and are followed by a

or a

as the first letter of the next word. As

stated, this is also known as

, or idghaam without a ghunnah, since the

completely merges in to the from the

or

and there is no left over ghunnah

. When there is this type of

, the

is not pronounced

whatsoever, instead the reciter proceeds from the letter before the or the vowel that is with the tanween, directly to the first letter of the next word which will have a shaddah on it because of the

(merging).

Examples of this are:

In this aayah, there is a tanween dhammah on the letter

(this first

nothing to do with the rule for the tanween here), followed by a

has as the first letter

of the next word. The reciter should go directly from the dhammah on the is the last letter on the first word to the The idghaam or merging of the the

which

that is the first letter of the next word. saakinah of the tanween is complete into

which becomes emphasized (doubled) as a result of this merging. This

doubling of the

is represented by the shaddah mark.

The same process takes place whether the

saakinah is actually a written

such as the next following example, or an unwritten

in the case of the tanween.

33

There is agreement among the scholars also that when a noon saakinah or tanween merge with a or , that this is (incomplete merging). The merging is not complete because there is a ghunnah left over from the noon, and the and

do not have a ghunnah in their characteristics, whereas noon does.

This is the reason you do not see a shaddah over the of printings of the Quran when there is Idghaam.

Exceptions to the rule of

and

in the majority

(merging)

The idghaam of the saakinah and tanween can only occur between two words. If a noon saakinah is followed by one of the Idghaam letters within one word there is no Idghaam, instead we say the noon clearly, in this case it is called (absolute). It is called this because it is not from the Ithaar Halqi category previously described, nor of any of the other Ithaar categories that will be discussed later. The occurrence of noon saakinah followed by one of the letters of the group in the same word occurs in only four words in the Quran, always with the noon saakinah being followed by either a Waw or a Ya. The four words are as follows:

The reason for Ithaar in these cases is that if the Idghaam rule was applied, the true meaning of the word would be confusing to understand. Another exception be illustrated in this following verse:

Aayah 27 of surah Al-Qiyaamah: word of this aayah word is a

ends with a

. The second saakinah, and the first letter of the next

. Under normal circumstances, there would be

an idghaam without a ghunnah, since the

, or

is one of the letters that cause an

34

when it follows a

saakinah. In this aayah though, there is a

brief breathless pause, known in Arabic as a next word: word

between the word

. This short pause without a breath prevents the

from meeting with the

therefore, no

saakinah of the

of the following word,

, or merging, of the

. There is

saakinah with the

you look at the aayah, you will see a small letter indicates to the reciter that there is a

, and the

here. If

above the word

. This

.

The next two examples involve the individual separate letters that start some different surahs. These letters are read as if each letter is written out, for example in surah AlQalam,

, the first letter

recited just as you would read the word:

. This word

, is

ends with a

saakinah. If we were to join this individual letter, recited as the word

with the next

following word, we notice that the next word

. Usually if

there is a

starts with a

saakinah followed by a

, the

rule applies. In this

case, however, Hafs does not make an , but instead recites the saakinah clearly, then recites the next word. It is preferred and most common, to stop on the end of the individual letter

, but continuing is allowed. The same things said

about this example can be said about the separate letter

saakinah at the end of the individual

in the first two ayaat of surah Ya-Seen: . The second separate letter of the first

aayah is the letter

which ends with a

the second aayah

starts with the letter

saakinah. The first word of (actually the first word is the 35

letter

). If we were to join the first and second aayah together, there would be a saakinah (the last letter of the word

. As the previous lesson stated, there normally would be

) meeting with the letter , but as above Hafs

does not make an idghaam when joining these two aayaat together; instead the saakinah of the word is recited clearly, then the next word, the letter wow is read with the accompanying vowel. These are the exceptions to the idghaam rule for the

saakinah and tanween.

36

The

(Changing) of the

The

(changing) of the

saakinah and tanween saakinah and tanween is defined in applied

tajweed as: The changing of noon saakinah or the tanween into a followed by a letter

, when

with the observance of a lengthened ghunnah on the .

If the letter

occurs immediately after a

or between two words (meaning the end of word, and the

saakinah in the same word,

saakinah or the tanween would be at the

the first letter of the next word), it is then required that the

reader changes the

saakinah or tanween into a hidden

, with a ghunnah

present. The saakinah is changed into a meem in pronunciation, not in the written word. You may note that most copies of the Qur’an have a very small meem written over or under the noon in this case, or the second line of a fat-h or kasrah tanween or dhammah of the tanween is replaced by a small meem. The little has a tail on the end of it. The

in this case

hidden, not by leaving a small space between the lips, as some modern

scholars have said, but by closing the lips and holding the ghunnah, then opening them with the

for the length of the

. This is the correct way of “hiding” the

as written in the books of the old scholars, and as passed down in applied recitation by chains of transmission that go back to the Prophet Mohammed, Examples of the

.

:

37

In this first example above, the saakinah is the last letter of the next to the last word of the written part of the aayah. The next word, starts with the letter . The

is then changed in pronunciation to a

, and this

is held with a ghunnah, then the lips are separated pronouncing the letter .

In this example above, the by the letter previous example.

. The

saakinah is in the middle of the word and followed saakinah is changed into a

just as in the

These two different aayaat are examples of the tanween being followed by the letter

. The

, or changing of the

saakinah of the tanween into a

, is done in the same way as the other examples. The little written over all of these examples. The little dhammah, fat-h, or kasrah of the tanween.

can be seen

takes the place of the second

38

The

(Hiding) of the

This lesson defines the

saakinah and tanween

, the last of the four rules for the

saakinah

and tanween. The three other rules saakinah and tanween and their explanations are located in the tidbit archives link. The

is linguistically defined as: hiding or concealment

The applied definition of the

is: The pronunciation of a non-voweled letter

stripped of any shaddah, characterized somewhere between an a ghunnah remaining on the first letter, in this case the tanween.

The letters of the

for the

and an saakinah and the

saakinah and tanween are all the remaining

letters in the Arabic alphabet after we remove the letters that cause and of the

If a the

with

. There are 15 letters in the Arabic alphabet, all causing

,

, , or hiding

saakinah and tanween; they are:

saakinah or tanween is followed by any of these 15 letters, we hide . The

can take place between two words (as will always be the case

with the tanween) or in the middle of a word. To hide the our tongue does not touch the teeth or gum, instead our tongue moves close to, but not at, the articulation point of the next letter, which is the letter causing the (hiding). We then hold this sound with an accompanying ghunnah (nasalization) for the amount of timing appropriate for the known as

. The

(or hiding) of the

saakinah or tanween is also

. 39

The technique of the difference in the

of the

takes practice to perfect. There is no

or in the technique of the

whether it is a written

that is being hidden, or a tanween. Some students simply keep their tongue at the articulation point of the during the , and prolong the sound with a ghunnah (nasalization). This is not the correct technique. Others let the back portion of the tongue rise up to the roof of the mouth and rest it there, which is again, incorrect. The tongue shouldn’t be touching the roof, gums, or teeth, but should be close to the articulation point of the next letter, as stating previously. Examples of the

of the

In this example above, there is a followed by the letter

saakinah and tanween:

saakinah in the middle of the second word, , one of the letters of

touch the articulation point of the

. We don’t let our tongue

, but instead put our tongue in a position

close to, but not touching the articulation point of the letter , and hold this sound with a ghunnah for a period of time. The exact period of time cannot be explained in writing, but instead should be learned and copied from a qualified Qur’an teacher. It is not correct to state that the ghunnah is held for two counts.

In this example there is a tanween at the end of the second word, followed by a as the first letter of the next following word. The hiding of the

is one of the letters that causes

saakinah and tanween. The technique is similar to that described

above, except our tongue should get close to the articulation point of the of the

instead

.

40

This aayah has a

saakinah as the last letter of the first word, it is followed by

a , which is one of the letters that causes hiding of the saakinah. Again, as previously stated, we don’t let our tongue go to the articulation point of the , but instead bring our tongue close to, but not touching, the , and hold the sound with an accompanying ghunnah for the appropriate period of time. Changes in the writing of the tanween with different rules You may have noticed that the tanween changes slightly in the way it appears from one word to another. The tanween appears different with different rules. When the first letter of the word following the noun ending with a tanween is an Ithaar letter, the double fathah, kasrah, and dhammah are aligned evenly with each other, and directly over or under the last letter of the noun. The double fathah, kasrah, and dhammah are not aligned over each other and are not directly over the letter in the case of an Ikhfaa’ and Idghaam rule. The second fathah, kasrah, dhammah of the tanween is written as a small meem when the first letter of the next word is a Ba’, meaning there is an Iqlaab. These different should aid the student in determining which rule to apply when reciting.

41

The Meem Saakinah The

saakinah Rules (Part 1)

The definition of the saakinah: It is a free from any vowel, and which has a fixed sukoon when continuing reading and when stopping.

This excludes the that was originally without a vowel, but obtained one because the next letter also had a sukoon. In the Arabic language it is not allowed to have two non-voweled letters next to each other; one will automatically obtain a vowel to eliminate this problem. The saakinah can be in the middle of a word or at the end of a word. It can be in a noun, a verb, or a preposition or particle.

Included in the

saakinah rules is

(the meem of plurality). A

saakinah at the end of a word can sometimes, but not always indicate a plural, such as the possessive “their” or “your” or “them”, such as plural, or ,

The

which means: for you

which means, “they have”.

saakinah has three possible rules: 1. Hiding (Ikhfaa’ Shafawee) 2. Merging (Al-Idghaam Al-Sagheer) (Idghaam Sagheer)

4. Clear (Al-ithaar Al-Shafawee)

42

The Oral Hiding Its linguistic definition: hidden Its applied definition: The pronunciation of a non-voweled letter, stripped of any “shaddah”, characterized as between clear (

) and merged (

this case the

), with the ghunnah remaining on the first letter, which is in

.

Its letters: It has one letter which is the

If a

.

is followed immediately by a

words, we then close our lips for the

, and this only occurs between two with an accompanying ghunnah. This is

called

. It is called

characteristic of the

, meaning in between

close with the letter

, then separate with the letter

because the

because the

has the

and

since the lips are . It is called

is articulated from the two lips. A lip in Arabic is,

word is also used for “oral”. oral hiding”.

but the

could be translated as “the

Examples:

The last letter of the second word of this aayah immediately above is a the first letter of the next word is a rule is applied. The lips close on with the

therefore

saakinah; (oral hiding)

the sound is held with a ghunnah for

the appropriate period of time, then the lips separate with the letter

. 43

In this aayah, the last letter of the first word is a the next word is a explained above.

saakinah, and the first letter of

, so

Merging (

(oral hiding) rule is applied as

) of the

As a review, the linguistic definition of

saakinah

is: merging, insertion.

The applied tajweed definition is: The meeting of a saakinah letter with a voweled letter so that the two letters become one emphasized letter of the second type (of letter).

The of the saakinah occurs only with one letter: another . Whenever a saakinah letter comes before a voweled letter of the same articulation point and characteristics, in other words the same exact letter, there is merging of the saakinah letter into the second letter. This merging is called

, or the small

merging of two of the same. The “small” refers to the first letter of the being saakin and the second having a vowel. It is also called Idghaam Mithlayn due to the face that the letter merging and the letter being merged into are the same letter in articulation points and characteristics. If there is a

saakinah followed immediately by a

with a vowel in the in

the same word or between two words, we are then required to insert the into the

saakinah

with a vowel, which then acquires a shaddah. There is a ghunnah then on

the with a shaddah. The only time there is an of a into another in one word is in the case of the individual separate letters that start some surahs. The group of letters is considered one word. In other words,

is considered one 44

word, so the voweled

saakinah at the end of the written out letter which is the first letter of the written out letter

individual separate letters at the beginning of some surahs, the saakinah into a voweled

merges into the . Outside of the of the

takes place between two words.

Examples

In the above aayah, there are two examples of merging of the voweled

saakinah into a

. In the first example, the second word of the aayah ends with a

saakinah, and the word immediately following,

has a voweled

as its first

letter. The saakinah then merges into the voweled which then acquires a shaddah, and there is an accompanying ghunnah for a period of time that should be learned from a qualified Qur’an teacher. What was said about the first example, applies to the second, both of which are denoted by red letters. Another example is found in aayah 20 of surah Al-Burooj. Please note the idghaam of the

saakinah into the voweled

is shown in red letters:

The Oral Clarity The previous lessons mentioned that there are three rules for the 1. The Ikhfa’ Shafwee (oral hiding) 2. The Idghaam Mithlayn Sagheer (the merging of the two alike) 3. The Ith-haar shafawee.

saakinah:

The first two rules, ikhfa’ and idghaam were already discussed, and this lesson will explain the ith-haar rule. 45

The linguistic definition of ith-haar (as a review) is: clear, obvious Its applied tajweed definition: Pronouncing every letter from its articulation point without a ghunnah on the clear letter. Its letters: 26 letters, the rest of the Arabic letters after excluding the letters of ikhfa’ shafawee and idghaam of the meem saakinah. As stated in the lesson of ikhfa’ shafawee, the letter that causes the ikhfa’ of the mithlayn of the

saakinah is the

, and in the idghaam

saakinah, we learned that the letter causing this idghaam is

another . If any other letter follows a saakinah, the meem is then is pronounced clearly. This can be in one word, or between two words. Examples: Within one word:

Within two words:

NOTE: There needs to be special care taken that the when a

or a

of the

is complete

follows it. This care is needed in that the reader should

be careful to close his lips completely and say the

saakinah clearly with no

partial opening of the lips. The possibility of saying the saakinah with an partial opening of the lips before these two letters is due to the proximity of the articulation point of the

to the

and

, as they all use the lips for articulation.

46

TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THIS SECTION 1.

What are the three possible rules of the

2.

What letter(s) cause which rule?

3.

How is the ikhfa’ of the

4. Can there be an idghaam of a example, if no, state why.

saakinah?

saakinah done in tajweed?

saakinah within one word? If yes, give an

5. When is it necessary to make extra certain we are pronouncing the saakinah clearly?

47

The Ghunnah and its Ranks The Ghunnah The ghunnah is defined as: a nasal sound that is emitted from the nose. This is a required characteristic of the and . The ghunnah these two letters and is an inherent part of their makeup.

cannot be separated from

The ghunnah is not a letter but a characteristic of these two letters, but it has its own distinct place of articulation. The ghunnah is articulated from : the hole in the nose that continues back towards inside the mouth. It is a nasal sound coming from the nasopharynx without any influence from the tongue. If you hold your nose closed you will not be able to produce the ghunnah sound, but the letters themselves that have this associated sound with them are not articulated from the nose.

The

and

with a shaddah

Anytime the letters and have a shaddah on them, they are held for a length of time, and the ghunnah described above is present during the lengthening. A shaddah represents two of any letter. When the symbol for a shaddah is over any letter, there are two of that same letter recited, the first with a sukoon, the second with the vowel written above or under the shaddah mark. its linguistic definition: It is a sound that is emitted from the nasal passage, without any function of the tongue. Its applied definition: A unconditional nasalized sound fixed on the is a tanween- and the

.

This means that the ghunnah is an inherent sound in the the

and

-even if it

and

, whether

have a vowel or not.

48

The letters of the ghunnah: The tanween.

and the

. The noon includes the

Articulation point of the ghunnah: The opening of the nose that connects with the back of the mouth (the nasal passage). The fact that the ghunnah is emitted from the nose can be demonstrated by closing off the nostrils, and trying to emit the sound of the ghunnah. It is impossible.

Ranks of the ghunnah There are four levels of the ghunnah: 1. Most Complete 2. Complete 3. Incomplete 4. Most Incomplete

1. Most complete ghunnah ( a shaddah and

) : This is the longest ghunnah. The

with

with a shaddah fall into this category, as well as when there is an

(idghaam with a ghunnah)

. This means when there is a

tanween followed by one of the letters in the "

saakinah or

" group, or when there is

or a

the ghunnah is given its most complete timing. Examples of these are:

2.

Complete ghunnah (

): This is the second longest ghunnah. The hidden 49

and ikhfa’ shafawee (hidden

)fall into this category. When the

saakinah or saakinah are followed by one of the letters of ikhfa’ the ghunnah that results from this ikhfa’ is the complete in its timing, but not as long as the most complete ghunnah. Examples of this are:

3. Incomplete ghunnah ( complete ghunnah. The with are in this category

4. Most incomplete ghunnah ( and

): This ghunnah is shorter in timing than the saakinah and

saakinah that are recited

of length of ghunnah. Examples are:

): This is the shortest ghunnah of all. The

with vowels are in this category of length of ghunnah.

Note: The difference in timing between these different categories of ghunnah is very minute. Only an experienced reader and listener can tell the difference. To say the ghunnah with complete technique, it is necessary that the heaviness or lightness of the letter that follows the

of a

saakinah is observed during

the ghunnah. If the saakinah or tanween is followed by one of these letters: the ghunnah then will have tafkheem or in other words, be heavy. This tafkheem will be the same rank of tafkheem which the next letter will have depending on its vowel, and whether or not there is an alif after it. The concept of tafkheem and the ranks of tafkheem will be covered in later lessons, insha’ Allah.

50

Laam Saakinah The

Saakinah rules (Part1)

The definite article The definition of the definite article is: It is an extra laam saakinah added to the basic makeup of the word. This noun is preceded by a hamzah al-wasl (

) that is read with a fat-hah when starting the word, dropped when

continuing from a previous word. This definite article “the”. The noun that follows the definite article

maybe a regular noun that stands on its

own without the definite article (such as

or

irregular in that it cannot be broken down further from the The letters.

is like the English word

), or it maybe (such as

).

of the definite article can precede a noun beginning with any of the Arabic

When there is the definite article

preceding a noun (it only enters nouns) there

are only two possible rules for the

:

1.

2. We will now explain when each of these occurs.

51

The clear pronunciation of the definite article

(

of

)

If the definite article

precedes a noun beginning with any of the fourteen letters in

the group :

The

of the definite article is said clearly or with

definite article is then called

. The

of the

.

Examples of this are in the following two words: The saakinah of the definite article is pronounced clearly in these words. A reminder: the first letter of the word is a hamzah wasl, and it is only used if we are starting on the word. If we start a word that has the definite article letter, we start on the hamzah al-wasl with a fat-hah.

The merging of the definite article

If the

(

of

as the second

)

of the definite article “the” precedes any of the fourteen remaining letters

of the Arabic alphabet, there is then an

(merging) of the

article into the next letter. The fourteen letters that

of the definite merges into are:

. As we know, when there is an

, the two letters merge into one, and the letter that the two merge into acquires

52

a shaddah. In this case then, the letter immediately following the shaddah on it. This

is called

, will have a

.

Examples of laam shamsiyyah are in the following two words:

In the above cases, the

of the definite article “the” is not pronounced at all,

instead the reciter proceeds from the letter before the , which will be the fat-hah on the hamzah al-wasl if started the word, or the last letter and its accompanying vowel of the previous word if continuing, to the letter immediately following the . This letter will have a shaddah on it, so will have two mechanisms of formation: first, collision (

)of the two articulating parts for the saakin part of the shaddah, then separation

( ) of the two articulating parts with the appropriate jaw and mouth movement for the voweled part of the shaddah.

The Glorious Name of Allah has a shamsiyyah, but it is an example of a word that cannot be broken down into a noun that stands by itself without the added definite article

.

The The

Saakinah rules (Part 2)

saakinah in verbs, nouns, and prepositions/participles

The last lesson described the rules for the

saakinah of the definite article “the”

that precedes nouns, when needed. This lesson describes the rules for the saakinah that occurs in nouns, verbs, and prepositions/participles. This can be in the beginning, middle, or end of the word.

saakinah

53

The general rule for the clearly. If, however, the

saakinah in these cases is

saakinah is at the end of a word, no matter what part of

speech it is, and the first letter of the following word is a is merging (

)of the

, or pronounced

or a

, then there

saakinah at the end of the word into the

or

at the beginning of the next word.

The only prepositions or particles that have a

saakinah are

and

.

Examples of

of the

saakinah, other than the definite article “the”:

In these above examples, and all similar examples in the Quran where there is a saakinah followed by any letter other than a is pronounced clearly (with articulating parts of the

Examples of “the”:

or a

) and there should be

, the

saakinah

(collision) of the two

saakinah when articulating it.

(merging) of the

saakinah, other than the definite article

54

In these above examples, the

saakinah at the end of the word merges into the

next letter, either another or a , so is not pronounced at all. The next letter acquires a shaddah, which represents a saakin of the letter plus a voweled letter of the same kind, as previously stated, either a

or a

NOTE: There is no place in the Quran where

.

is followed by

Exception: There is an exception to the

rule in verse 14 of surah Al-Mutaffifeen

In this verse the participle is followed by a ; the first letter of the next word, but there is no merging, since the reciter Hafs has a breathless pause, or between these two words. A of time less than that of a normal stop.

is a stop without taking a breath, for a period

TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THIS SECTION:

1. What is

?

2. What parts of speech does this

exist in?

3. What are the possible rules for 4. What is the general rule for other 5. When is there another rule for other

? When is each rule used? saakinah? saakinah?

6. Are there any exceptions to these rules? 55

Mudood (Lengthenings) The Mudood (Lengthenings) Part 1 The Lengthening Its Linguistic definition: Extra Its Applied definition: Lengthening of the sound with a letter of the medd letters. The medd letters are in the following three cases: 1. The alif is always in this state, which is an alif saakinah, preceded by a fathah:

2. The

saakinah preceded by a kasrah

3. The

saakinah preceded by a dhammah:

All three of these medd letters appear in one word in the following examples:

The leen letters: 1. The

2. The

saakinah preceded by a fat-hah, such as:

saakinah preceded by a fat-hah such as:

The medd is divided into two groups:

1. (The original method)

2. (The secondary method) 56

The natural lengthening Its definition – It is the medd (lengthening) that without which the letter cannot exist (the timing), and it does not stop due to a hamzah or a sukoon. Its indications – There should not be a hamzah before it, and there should not be a hamzah or sukoon after it. It is named original because it is the origin of all mudood (lengthenings). It is called natural because the person with a natural measure will not increase its measure nor decrease it. Its timing – It is lengthened two vowel counts. The timing of each count depends on the speed of the reciter. Each vowel should be equl in count to the other, and the mudood of two, four, five and six counts should be equal to that many vowels. Examples of

(the natural lengthening):

All these three words, have natural medd with different medd letters and will have the timing of two vowel counts. A note, the word has a natural medd as long as we do not stop on the word. As stated before in the indications of the natural medd there cannot be a sukoon after the medd letter. If we were to stop on this word, the letter would acquire a presented sukoon, and the medd would no longer be considered a natural medd, but would be a different kind of medd, to be discussed in future lessons. Included in is the group of letters “ which are letters that start some surahs of the Quran. If any one of these letters is at the beginning of a surah, the letter is read with two vowel counts. An example of this would be:

. Another

example is in the letters opening verse of surah Maryam:

in the

and

pronounced as

57

That which follows the natural lengthening rules The following are two different medd (or lengthenings) that follow the count of the natural medd

, meaning they also have two vowel counts.

1. The lesser connective lengthening 2. The substitute lengthening This lesson will discuss the “lessor connective lengthening”, or

.

The lesser connecting medd It is a medd that comes from the vowel on a

(pronoun or possessive pronoun

) which meets the following conditions: A on the end of a word (last letter) that is not part of the original make up of the word, representing the singular third person male. It is voweled either with a dhammah or a kasrah, postioned between two voweled letters, the reader is not stopping on it, and it is not followed by a hamzah. When all these requirements are met the dhammah on the (if there is one) becomes lengthened into a lengthened the

becomes lengthened like a lengthened

or the kasrah on

. When stopping on this

we stop with a regular sukoon, and the two count medd is dropped. Examples:

In this above phrase from the Quran there are two examples of the lesser connecting medd. The first example is in the first word. The last letter of the first word is a pronoun not part of the original word, representing a male third person, located between two voweled letters (the

with a fat-hah before it and the

with a fat-hah

58

after), the has a dhammah on it, and not followed by a hamzah. Therefore, if we read this in continuation with the next word (meaning we do not stop on this word), we lengthen the dhammah on the

so that it becomes the length of a lengthened

, which would be two vowel counts. Please note the small . This tells us that there is an extra

after the

.

The second example of the lesser connecting medd is in the third word. Again, it fulfils all the required conditions of the lesser connecting medd, but this time the possessive has a kasrah on it. When we read this word in continuum with what follows it, we lengthen the kasrah so that it becomes a lengthened

, getting two vowel

counts. Here, you can also note the symbol denoting a small

after the

; it somewhat looks like a lesser sign in mathematics. If the

has a sukoon on it (when continuing and when stopping), there is no

lengthening of the vowel on the

. If the letter before, and or after the

has a sukoon, there is no lengthening of the vowel of the Exceptions to

.

:

There are only two exceptions to the

rule:

The First:

Here there is NO medd of the

even though all the conditions are met.

The Second:

59

Here there IS a medd, even though all of the conditions have not been met (there is a sukoon before the

.

This is the way Hafs reads these aayat.

The pronoun of the female noun which means “this” referring to a female object, follows lesser connecting medd rule if it is between two voweled letters. As in:

The substitute lengthening The last lesson mentined that there are two different medd that follow the count of the natural medd, meaning they have two vowel counts. The first lengthening of this sort, The lesser Connective Lengthening, or

, was described. This lesson

the second of these two lengthenings, The Substitute Lengthening, or explained.

will be

It is substituting a lengthened alif for the tanween with a fath, when stopping on it. The lengthening is two counts, which means, the length of two vowels, the same as the counts of , or natural lengthening. This medd takes places whether there is an alif written after the letter with the tanween or not. When continuing reading and not stopping on the word that has the tanween with a fath, this lengthening disappears, and the noon sakinah rules are applied to the tanween. If there is an alif written after the tanween, it is dropped when continuing. Examples:

The tanween is usually a sign of a noun, but there are two cases when verbs have a tanween on them representing the light emphasized two places are highlighted in red in the following aaayat.

, and not part of a noun. The

60

The rule is the same when stopping on these two words; a two vowel count alif is substituted for the tanween when stopping. When continuing on, these words are recited with the tanween and the appropriate examples of the nouns above.

saakinah rules applied, just as in the

Exception: Not included in this medd is

, or female

. This letter occurs on the

end of nouns, indicates female gender, and is represented in Arabic as: linked to the letter before it, it looks like:

, or when

. This letter is always read as a

saakinah when stopping on the word, and is always read as a case of continuing. The written vowel accompanying the

in the

is read with the

upon reading it in continuum with the word that follows it. When a noun with a female on with a in such words as:

has a tanween with a fath on the tanween, the word should be stopped saakinah and there is no alif substituted for the tanween. This is found and

.

The

Secondary Medd

Its definition: It is a lengthening that has a longer timing (or the possibility of longer timing) than that of the natural medd

(due to a hamzah or a sukoon ).

The medd letters, without this hamzah or sukoon stand on their normal timing of two vowel counts.

61

Its indications: The occurrence of a hamzah before or after a medd letter, or a sukoon after it, regardless if the sukoon is permanent (when continuing and when stopping), or if the sukoon is a presented one.

It is divided into two groups:

1. The medd due to hamzah

2. The medd due to sukoon The medd due to hamzah is subdivided into four groups: 1. The Exchange lengthening 2. The required joined lengthening

3. The allowed separated lengthening 4. The greater connective lengthening The lengthening due to sukoon subdivides into three types: 1. The presented sukoon lengthening 2. The soft lengthening 3. The compulsory lengthening

62

Medd due to Hamzah The exchanged medd Its definition: The letter hamzah precedes any of the three medd letters Note: The vowel of the medd letter is on the hamzah Examples:

It is called , which means exchange, because the exchange of a medd letter for a hamzah. In these three above examples, there is a hamzah followed by a medd letter, and as noted previously, the vowel that is part of the medd letter is on the hamzah. These above examples were originally as follows:

As seen these words originally has two hamzas, the first one had a vowel and the second a sukoon. The second hamzah was changed into a medd letter from the category of the vowel of the first hamzah. For examples, if the first hamzah has a kasrah the second hamzah changes into a Ya, and if the first hamzah has a dhammah the second becomes a Wow. Not all cases of hamzah preceding a medd letter have this origin (two hamzas the first with a vowel and the second with a sukoon), but we treat all cases of hamzah before a medd letter as medd al-badl. This medd is lengthened for two counts (or two vowel lengths) with all of the different types of readers. One of the other readers (not the way we read) lengthens the medd al-badl 2 or 4 or 6 counts. We therefore lengthen this medd two counts, as long as a hamzah does not follow it. If a hamzah follows it, we determine the lengthening according to the stronger of the two reasons rule, which will be explained later. Note: This same grammatical rule comes into effect when we start on a verb that has a hamzah wasl and the second letter of that word is a hamzah saakinah, such as when starting the word: al-wasl is discussed in depth.

. This will be covered later inshallah when the hamzah

Medd al-badl has four states: 1. That which is observed when continuing and when stopping. 63

2. That which is observed when continuing, but not when stopping 3. That which is observed when stopping, but not when continuing 4. That which is observed only when beginning with the word.

The Required attached method Its definition: It occurs when a hamzah follows a medd letter in the same word. It is called (joined) word.

(required) becaused all readers agree that this medd is required. It is called due to the attachement of the medd letter and the hamzah to the same

Its rule: It is lengthened four or five vowel counts. When the hamzah that follows the medd letter is the last letter of the word, and the reader is stopping on the word (meaning the hamzah now has a presented sukoon), the lengthening can be four or five counts, as mentioned, or six counts. The reader who lengthens this medd six counts when stopping on the hamzah is stopping on NOT . This medd will be explained in a few more lessons, and the concept of two different medd at the same time will be discussed. Examples of

:

In these words, again there is a medd letter, in the first example the medd letter is an alif, in the second a . Both these medd letters are followed by a hamzah, which happens to be the last letter of the word. If we stop on this word, we can lengthen the medd four or five counts for the required attached medd , OR we can lengthen the medd 6 counts as a different medd, the presented sukoon lengthening . Note: There are some copies of the Quran that do not write in hamzahs on alifs, instead the alif is written with a vowel over it. These are really hamzahs. Any time there is a vowel on an alif, it is a hamzah. An example of this kind of script is:

64

The separate allowed lengthening Its definition: It occurs when a medd letter is the last of a word, and a hamzah qata’ is the first letter of the next word. It is called (allowed) because of the permissibility of a short count of two, as well as its lengthening with some readers. It is called (separate) due to the separation of the medd letter and hamzah, meaning they are in separate words, but next to each other. Its rule: Its lengthening is of the measure of four or five vowel counts, the way we are teaching to read, which is Hafs. Two vowel counts for this lengthening are not allowed in this way of reading. Examples:

When stopping on the word that has the medd letter at the end of it, the reader stops with the natural two count lengthening since the hamzah in the next word is the reason for lengthening to four or five counts, and the reason is no longer present when stopping on the first word. NOTE: in some words such as used for calling, or for drawing attention, the medd letter is written joined together with the following word. When the next word begins with a hamzah, this may be confusing when trying to ascertain whether the medd is or . The reader needs to know that calling) and what follows it are two separate words; and the same can be said for

(for

65

(drawing attention) and what follows it. For example, the

for calling in:

is a separate word from the name “Ibraheeem”, and the attention in example,

for drawing

is a separate word from the second word. In this second , there are two lengthenings, the first is the allowed separate

lengthening with the for drawing attention ending in a medd letter, and the first letter of the next word (which happens to be joined) a hamzah. There is also the required attached lengthening word, because there is a medd letter,

at the end of the second

, followed by a hamzah in the same word.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The and must be both four counts or both five counts. It is not allowed to mix the medd counts! There is no valid way of reading that does differently than this.

The greater connecting lengthening Its definition: If the pronoun/possessive pronoun representing a third person male gender is at the end of a word (meaning not part of the original make up of the word) and it has a vowel of a dhammah or a kasrah, is between two voweled letters, and the first letter of the next word is a hamzah, the dhammah on pronoun/possessive pronoun is lengthened into a

the

, or the kasrah is

lengthened into a and it can be lengthened four or five counts. As stated above in the allowed separate lengthening, there is a known way of reading that also allows two counts for the lengthening, but this not the way that is being taught here. This lengthening has the same requirements as the lesser connecting lengthening , except in this case there is a hamzah as the first letter of the next word following the pronoun/possessive pronoun whereas,

in the lessor

66

connecting lengthening there cannot be a hamzah the next word after the

as the first letter of

pronoun/possessive pronoun.

This medd follows the allowed separated lengthening

, he/she must use

the same amount for this lengthening. The second in the word

follows the same

(or the pronoun ha)

rules as in this medd.

Examples:

Lengthening caused by sukoon The previous few lessons explained the different lengthenings caused by hamzah. This lessons starts a new subsection in the lengthenings, that of a lengthening caused by a sukoon. Two types of lengthenings caused by a presented (or temporary) sukoon will be explained in this lesson. The next type of lengthening caused by permanent or fixed sukoon will be explained in the future lessons.

The lengthening with a presented Sukoon Its definition: This medd occurs when there is only one letter after one of the three medd letters, it is the last letter of the word, this last letter has any vowel on it, and we are stopping on the last letter with a presented sukoon. Just a reminder: The three medd letters are alif with a fath before it, the saakinah with a kasrah before it, and the saakinah with a dhammah before it. It is called presented sukoon because the sukoon is presented on the letter when stopping on it, otherwise the letter is read with its vowel. Note: if the last letter is a hamzah there are then two medd in one

and

.

67

Its rule: It is permitted to lengthen this medd two, or four, or six counts when stopping on it. When not stopping on it, the last letter is read with a vowel and the medd letter is lengthened two vowel counts, the normal measure for

or natural lengthening.

Examples:

The soft lengthening Its definition: It occurs when a “leen” letter ( or with a sukoon, preceded by a letter with a fathah) is followed by one letter only in the same word and we stop on the last letter in the word with a presented sukoon. Its rule: It is allowed to lengthen this medd two, four or six vowel counts when stopping on the word. When continuing reading (not stopping on this word), there is a slight lengthening of the “leen” letter, referred by the scholars as “ two vowel counts, but longer than one vowel count.

” which is less than

Examples:

The difference between

Its letters

and

Two letters: only The three medd letters: alif and the

and

and

68

Types of letters

“Leen”

letters: Meddletters: Alif saakinah with a fatand

saakinah with a fat-h before them Its state when Shorter than the continuing natural medd, but longer than one vowel count

The presented sukoon lengthening

h before it

saakinah with a

kasrah before it dhammah before it

saakinah with a

The medd letters are lengthened two vowel counts, the natural measure of the letter

is stronger than the

.

If the weaker of the two precedes the stronger in a phrase, the stronger should then be the same length or longer in length than the weaker. An example of this is in the following aayah:

When we stop at the word , we stop with the soft lengthening ( ). This “leen” lengthening can be lengthened two, four, and six counts. Three words later, if we stop on the last word of the aayah , we stop with a presented sukoon lengthening that must be equal to the selected length of the “leen” medd or stronger. If for example we stop on the word

with two vowel counts, we can stop on the

word with our choice of 2, 4 or 6 counts, since all are equal to or greater than the two vowel counts we used for the “leen” lengthening. If however, we stop on the “leen” lengthening on the word word counts.

with four vowel counts, we can only stop on the

with the presented sukoon lengthening with either four or six vowel

69

When the stronger sukoon medd which is the presented sukoon lengthening precedes the weaker soft lengthening the weaker medd then must be equal or less in length than the stronger one. An example of this is in the aayah:

If we stop on the word there is a presented sukoon lengthening, since there is an alif before the last letter, and we put a presented sukoon on the last letter when stopping. We can stop on the presented sukoon lengthening

with two, four or

six vowel counts. A second place to stop in this aayah is on the word

. There

is a saakinah preceded by a fath making a “leen” letter and this is followed by only one letter. When stopping on this word, we put a presented sukoon on the last letter of the word in this case , and now have a soft lengthening . The “leen” lengthening must be equal to or less than the presented sukoon lengthening. If we stop on the word

with four vowel counts, we can only stop on the word

two or four vowel counts. If we stop on the word only stop on the word

with

with two vowel counts, we can

with two counts. Lastly, if we choose to stop on the

word with six vowel counts, we then can stop on the word with two, four of six vowel counts, since all are equal to or less to the six vowel counts we used for the presented sukoon lengthening on the word

The compulsory Medd Its definition: An original (or fixed) sukoon is positioned after a medd letter, in a word or a letter. By original it is meant that the sukoon is part of the original make up of the word, and is present when continuing the reading and when stopping.

70

Its division:

is divided into two groups:

1. The compulsory word lengthening 2. The compulsory letter lengthening Each of these two division is further divided into two more divisions. We therefore, have four divisions of the

1. The compulsory heavy lengthening in a word 2. The compulsory light lengthening in a word 3. The compulsory heavy lengthening in a letter 4. The compulsory light lengthening in a letter We will explain the first two (the compulsory heavy word lengthening and the compulsory light word lengthening) this lesson, and the next two in the next lesson.

The compulsory heavy lengthening in a word Its definition: It is when an original sukoon (the letter has a shaddah on it) comes after a medd letter in a word.

The word heavy refers to the shaddah. A shaddah indicates two letters of the same, the first one with a sukoon, and the second with the vowel that is accompanying the shaddah. The two letters have merged (

)into each other, and hence the shaddah.

It is called due to the permanent, or original sukoon found when the reader stops or continues, or because all readers agree that this lengthening must be six vowel counts. It is called

due to the fact that the medd letter is one word.

71

Examples:

The compulsory light lengthening in a word

Its definition: It occurs when an original sukoon that is not merged (no shaddah on it), follows a medd letter in a word. The word light comes from ( )the letter not being merged. This refers to the letter with the sukoon that follows the medd letter. Places of this lengthening: There are only two places of occurrence in one word of this kind of lengthening in the Quran.

Its measure: six vowel counts.

The compulsory lengthening in a letter The separate letters that begin some surahs The letters that begin some of the surahs of the Quran are fourteen in number. These fourteen letters are found in the phrase:

These letters are divided into four groups: 1. That which has no medd at all: This refers to the alif as it has no medd letter in it.

72

2. That which has a medd of two counts: The letters in this category can be found in the phrase: “

” meaning the letters are recited as

when found in the letters that sometimes begin a surah, and are lengthened two counts. When these letters are written out as above, they consist of only two letters, and are of the natural medd. 3. That which has a medd of six vowel counts: The rest of the letters from the fourteen that start some of the Quran fall into this category. These letters are seven in number, and can be found in the phrase: “ lengthened six counts. The letters of the group two groups: -

The light compulsory lengthening in a letter

-

The heavy compulsory lengthening in a letter

”. All are are categorized into

The category that the letter falls into depends on whether it is merged into the next letter, or not.

The Heavy Compulsory Lengthening in a letter

The Light Compulsory Lengthening in a letter

A. The letter when written out A. The letter when written out consists of consists of three letters three letters B. The middle of the three letters B. The middle of the three letters is a is a medd letter medd letter C. A merged letter follows the C. A saakin letter follows the medd medd letter, meaning that the third letter, but it is not merged with the letter that letter is merged with the letter that 73

follows it.

comes after it

4. The “

”: The

can be lengthened four or six vowel counts, according to

the rules of the way we read. This is due to the fact that the as s separate letter of an opening to a surah is found at the beginning of surah Maryam

and the beginning of surah Ash-

Shooraa

The compulsory light lengthening in a letter

Its definition: The letters of the group “ ”are each individually read as a three letter word, the middle letter being a medd letter, and the third letter having an original (or permanent) sukoon. The determiner of the letter being or is the last letter and whether it merges with the first letter of the next three letter word or not. In the case of the why it is called

letter, it is not merged with what comes next. This is . This medd is lengthened six vowel counts.

Examples:

In this example we can see that the when written out consists of three letters; the last letter, middle letter is a medd letter alif has a sukoon on it, and is followed by a ,

does not merge into

and therefore it is called

The compulsory heavy lengthening in a letter Its definition: This type of lengthening occurs when a letter of the “ ”group of letter that begin some of the surahs, has the last letter of the three letter word

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representing the individual letter, merging into the letter that comes after it. This is the reason for it being called heavy. This medd has a required lengthening of six counts. Examples:

In this example, we find two letter, the The

and the

that consist of three letters.

has a medd letter as the middle letter, then followed by a letter that is a sakinah, but merged with the first letter of the next spelled out letter. The is then. The

does not have its third letter merging with

what comes next (there is none after the meem), so it is Summary of different medd in the letters that begin some surahs

No medd

Follower of the leen medd

Two count natural medd Merged ( merged (

) Not

Four or six vowel counts

)

Six vowel counts

The different separate letters that are found at the beginning of some surahs appear in the following combinations:

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Stronger of the two cases This is the last section in the mudod (lengthenings) category. In it we discuss which medd (lengthening) we choose when two different types of lengthenings share the same medd letter.

We learned that the Secondary Lengthening ( 1. The hamzah 2. The sukoon

)is due to two causes:

The lengthening due to a hamzah are three kinds: 1. The exchange lengthening (

)

2. The Required Joined Lengthening (

)

3. The Allowed Separated Lengthening (

)

The medd due to a sukoon is of two kinds: 1. The Presented Sukoon Lengthening ( 2. The Compulsory Lengthening (

) )

The leen is considered a branch of the presented sukoon lengthening. These lengthenings have various degrees of strength and weakness. The strongest is the compulsory lengthening ( (

), the second strongest is the required joined lengthening ), the next the presented sukoon lengthening

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(

), then separated allowed lengthening (

the weakest the exchange lengthening (

), and

).

The rule of the stronger of the two causes for a lengthening If two reasons for lengthening are present in one medd letter, there must be one stronger than the other. In this case the weak medd is left, and we use the stronger of the two. Example 1:

In this word, there is a hamzah before the medd letter ( exchange lengthening (

) this is therefore an

). This same medd letter is followed by a shaddah,

meaning a sukoon, so we also have the compulsory lengthening ( ), we use that medd and do not use the exchange lengthening. This medd is lengthened six counts, that of the compulsory lengthening. Example 2:

In this example a hamzah precedes a medd letter ( lengthening (

), so there is an exchange

). The same medd letter is followed by a hamzah in the same

word, so there is also a required joined lengthening ( ). Both of these medd share the same medd letter, the alif, and since the stronger of the two lengthenings is the required joined lengthening, we apply that lengthening and not the exchange lengthening. This medd is therefore lengthened four or five vowel counts. When stopping on this same medd, or any word that has a hamzah at the end of it after a medd letter, we have three different possibilities: If the reader is reading the required joined lengthening, , four counts, he can stop on this medd four. Four counts would lead to a medd with two causes, which would be, the required joined lengthening ( lengthening ( allowed only if all of

) and the presented sukoon

).Stopping on this word with six vowel counts would be were being lengthened six vowel counts

and then only the presented sukoon lengthening reason for this lengthening.

would be the 77

If the reader is reading the required joined lengthening ( ) with five vowel counts, he can stop on this with five vowel counts. Stopping on five vowel counts would be employing only the required joined lengthening ( forbidden to stop on this word using the lengthening (

present

). It is sukoon

) with two vowel counts. This is due to the rule of

the stronger of the two lengthenings ( ), and since the required joined lengthening is stronger than the the presented sukoon lengthening, the lesser count on the presented sukoon lengthening cannot be used. Example 3: In the above example, the hamzah precedes a medd letter, indicating an exchange lengthening (

). This medd is at the end of the word, and the first letter of the

next word is a hamzah, so the allowed separated lengthening ( ) is also using this same medd letter, which is an alif. In this case, when continuing reading, and the allowed separated lengthening ( ) is employed, so we lengthen this medd 4, or 5 counts (by the way we read). If is lengthened two vowel counts, then the medd is shared, and both the allowed separated lengthening and the exchange lengthening are considered to be in use at the same time. When stopping on the first word only the exchange lengthening ( ) is used, since the hamzah that begins the second word is not being read, and there is therefore no allowed separate lengthening (

) is used.

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The Mechanism of the formation of letter (Part 1) The Qur’an consists of 114 surahs; each surah consists of a number of aayat; each aayah consists of a number of words, and each word consists of different letters. We can therefore state that the smallest unit in the make-up of the Qur’an is the letter. Scholars studied letters from the standpoint of articulation points and characteristics of the letters when pronouncing a letter. If the Qur’an reader pronounces each letter from its proper articulation point, with all of each letter’s characteristics, and can read each letter properly alone, and in conjunction with other words, he then has achieved high quality in reading the Qur’an. The definition of letter: It is a sound that depends on a defined part or an approximate part (of articulation). To understand the definition of a letter we need to understand what sound is. The Definition of sound: It is vibration and waves in the layers of air that reaches the human ears. If the air vibrates with a vibration that reaches human hearing levels, then this vibration is called sound. Human ears hear sound in the range of 20-20,000 hertz. A hertz is vibrations per second. If the frequency of sound vibrations is higher or lower than this we cannot hear it. An example of this is ultrasound. Air vibrates normally in nature in many ways, four different ways that can produce audible waves are: 7. Strong collision of two bodies. An example of this is clapping of the hands. 8. Parting of two bodies from each other, and between them there is a strong bond. An example of this is tearing paper. 9. Vibration of a body. For example, a tuning fork. 10. Strong friction of an object on another object. This could be exemplified by dragging a heavy box on asphalt. The Articulating Mechanism that Allah, the Exalted, Gave Humans Human articulation uses some of the previous mentioned methods of causing sound in voweled and non-voweled letters. The following explains how the sound of the letters is formed in human articulation. 1. Non-Voweled letters A. It occurs by the collision (

) of two components of the 79

articulation parts. There is no accompanying jaw or mouth movement that occurs with voweled letters. This is for all non-voweled letters except the medd and leen letters, and the qalqalah letters. An example is . The meem occurs by collision of the two lips. B. It occurs by vibration of the vocal cords in the throat and does not occur by a collision between two components the articulation parts. This is only for the medd and leen letters (when there is a medd leen). The medd and leen letters (when there is a medd leen) do have accompanying movement of the mouth and jaw. The lengthened alif is accompanied by the opening of the mouth. The lengthened

is

accompanied by a circling of the lips. The lengthened is accompanied by the lowering of the jaw. An example can be found in the two joined words or the word . The sound of the medd letters comes from vibration of the vocal cords, with the accompanying mouth and jaw movement.

The Mechanism of the formation of letters (Part 2) 2. Voweled letters Voweled letters occur by the parting ( ) of two components of the articulating parts. The sound of all letters occurs like this when voweled. Accompanying the parting of the articulation bodies is the appropriate mouth and jaw movements for the written vowel. a) Opening of the mouth. This occurs with a fat-h b) Circling of the lips. This happens with a dhammah. c) Lowering of the jaw. This happens with a kasrah. An example is in the following: occurs by the separation of the two lips and the opening of the mouth.

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occurs by the separation of the two lips and the circling of the lips. occurs by the separation of the two lips and the lowering of the bottom jaw. All vowels must sound like a shortened version of its origin. The alif is the origin of the fat-h, the long is the origin of the dhammah, and the long is the origin of the kasrah. The reader must be careful not to pronounce these vowels incorrectly, such as when the kasrah is pronounced in between a kasrah and a fathah. Some readers mistakenly open the sides of the mouth for a fat-hah instead of opening the mouth vertically; the result of this mistake is called imaalah, which means tilting. Other readers do not make a complete circle of their lips for a dhammah and the resulting sound is like that of the English “O”. Another mistake readers may make is not lowering the jaw completely for the kasrah, and the resulting sound is that of a short i. We should not let our mouths be lazy; the correct way of pronouncing vowels need more mouth and jaw action than the incorrect way. The vowel and letter formation is one of the most important items of research in the knowledge of tajweed because it is linked to all 29 letters of Arabic. We must be careful to pronounce these vowel sounds correctly and at the same time be careful not to put a vowel on a saakinah letter. For example the word: a dhammah, the

a sukoon, the second

The a dhammah, and the

a sukoon. We have to be sure to say the dhammah on the return our mouths to a neutral position for the

has

, then

, then make a dhammah for

the second , then back to a neutral position for the . This takes practice in the mirror to accomplish the mouth movement in the proper sequence. The most common mistake in a word like this is leaving the mouth in a dhammah for the letters that have a sukoon on them. The resultant sound is like half a dhammah instead of the pure sukoon sound required. This is even more pertinent when the letter is a qalqalah letter, such as is the case of the when it has a sukoon on it. The qalqalah should have no vowel sound accompanying it. The mechanism of the qalqalah will be covered in future lessons, insha’ Allah.

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The Qalqalah Mechanism To understand this lessons, please make sure you have read and understood the two lessons on the mechanism of articulation of letters. Letters other than the three medd letters which have no vowels are produced by collision ( ) of the two components of the articulating parts. Voweled letters on the other hand are produced by parting of the two components of the articulating parts. The medd and leen letters are produced by vibration of the vocal cords. Letters are divided into three groups when categorized according to the length of running of their sound. 1. Letters of strength (

)

The sound does not run at all when these letters are articulated without a vowel (saakinah), the articulation point is completely closed when a letter of this group is saakin. There are eight letters in this group. They are the letters in the phrase:

2. Letters in between (

)

These letters are pronounced with sound running in between the characteristic of imprisonment in the letters and the running of sound in the letters of this group are five in number:

3. Letters of softness (

letters. The

)

These letters have clear and obvious running of the sound when they are articulated without a vowel. Examples are in the following three saakin letters that are in the category of : . Each of these three letters in the example should have a running of the sound, longer than saakin letters of the other two groups. The letters of this group are all the letters remaining when taking out the letters of

and

.

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The Qalqalah The letters of qalqalah are in the group , group of letters. If these letters are all in the group we attempt to say one of these five qalqalah letters with a sukoon, we would find that the articulation point closes completely, and that it causes an annoyance in the articulation mechanism. This is due to imprisonment of the sound behind the articulation point. When these same five letters have vowels, we do not find this annoyance because voweled letters are pronounced parting of the two components of the articulating parts. The Arabs, due to the annoyance and difficulty in pronouncing these five letters when saakinah, have violated the rule that saakinah letters are articulated by collision between the two articulating bodies of articulation. Instead, these letters are articulated by separation of the two articulating parts of articulation the same as voweled letters, but without any corresponding movement of the mouth and jaw that is associated with voweled letters. Chart comparing the to voweled letters and non-voweled letters Voweled letters Qalqalah letters Saakinah letters when saakinah The

are

emitted

by The are emitted by The are emitted by

separation ( ) of the separation ( ) of collision ( ) of two parts of articulation the two parts of the two parts of articulation articulation Accompanying Nothing (no mouth or Nothing accompanies movement: jaw movement) it(no mouth or jaw 1. Opening of the accompanies it movement) mouth (for the fat-h) 2. Circling of the mouth for the dhammah 3. Lowering of the jaw for the kasrah

From this chart we can see that a qalqalah letter is similar to a saakin letter, in that there is no accompanying jaw and mouth movement with it. On the other hand, it is unlike the saakin letter in that the qalqalah is articulated by separation ( )of the two parts of articulation. The qalqalah letter is similar to the voweled letter since they both are 83

articulated separation ( ) of the two parts of articulation, but unlike it since the qalqalah has no accompanying jaw and mouth movement and the voweled letter does. The definition of qalqalah is as follows: Its linguistic definition: shaking, disturbance Its applied definition: Disturbance of the letter when it is in the state of being nonvoweled until a strong accent is heard when it is articulated by parting of the two components of the articulating parts, not by collision, without accompanying it any opening of the mouth, or circling of the lips, or lowering of the jaw. A very important note: The qalqalah does not resemble a fat-h or a dhammah or a kasrah. It does not follow the vowel of the preceding letter, nor the following letter. If the qalqalah letters have a shaddah indicating merging of two of the same letter (

), the first letter of the shaddah (which is saakin) is then articulated by collision, or . For example:

and

. If we are stopping on the first

word in the previous example, the first by collision, or

, and the second

This means that the qalqalah is pronounced with and jaw movement. the

The

in the word

of the word is pronounced is recited with a qalqalah. without any accompanying mouth

of the word

would be the same as

.

The Qalqalah is divided into two classes: The Lesser and Greater Qalqalah The Lesser Qalqalah : This occurs when the qalqalah in is the middle of a word, or at the end of a word, and we are not stopping on that word. In this case we say the qalqalah, and immediately proceed to the next letter, or word. i.e.

The Greater Qalqalah

and

: This happens when the qalqalah is the last letter of

a word, and we are stopping on that word. For example: The difference between the two divisions is that there is more of a ring to the greater qalqalah because we are stopping on it, than there is on the lesser qalqalah. 84

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