As with all personalities, letters can sometimes be strong and buff, and sometimes silken soft. Let’s find out what agitates these letters, and what keeps them as sweet as buttercups…
In the previous post, we studied letters that are always mufakham (always said with tafkheem). This post hones in on the letters which are sometimes mufakham, and sometimes muraqqaq (not said with tafkheem).
These letters are four in total, the are
ا ل ر غنة
ghunnah raa’ laam alif
As the rules may get lengthy, I will only look at the letters laam, alif and ghunnah in this post.
The Tafkheem and Tarqeeq of Laam
The only time the letter ‘laam’ is mufakham is in lafthul jalaalah, i.e. the name of Allah – referring to the word itself: “Allah”. This occurs when the lafthul jalaalah is preceded by a fat-ha or dammah, or when you are starting recitation with it; such as in the examples:
Allahu-samad
Radiya-llahu
Wa litukaburu-llaha
Notice: the fat-ha from the “a” sound starting the word Allah in the first example, is what makes the laam mufakhamah. This also happens but from the fat-ha from the word radiya in the second example. As for the third example, the dammah comes from the word litukabbiroo… the waaw madeeyah is dropped (see why here), so the dammah before it becomes the acting diacritic, hence making the laam in lafthul jalaalah mufakhamah.
However, when lafthul jalaalah is preceded by a kasrah, it is said with tarqeeq, examples of this are:
Lillahil-mashriqu
Wa man yu’min billahi
Man yattaqillaha
Qulilaahumma
In all other cases, the laam is said with tarqeeq, whether it has sukoon, fat-ha, dammah, or kasrah. Note from the third example above, “Allahumma” is just another form for the lafthul jalaalah, and so this rule still applies.
The Tafkheem and Tarqeeq of Alif
The letter Alif that is being spoken about here, is specifically the Alif madeeyah. It’s rule is simple. Alif is mufakham when it follows a mufakham letter; and it is muraqaq when it follows a muraqaq letter. This means, when it follows any one of the 7 isti‘laa’ letters, alif is mufakham, when it follows the laam mufakhamah in lafhul jalaalah, the alif is said with tafkheem. Similarly, when it follows a laam or raa’ mufhakhamah (keep in mind that raa’ may be said with tafkheem sometimes – next post insha Allah), the alif is also said with tafkeem. Examples of this are,
Al-Daaleen
Al-Thaaneena
Qaala
Radiya-llahu
Khaa’ifeena
Raaji‘oona
In all other cases, the alif madeeyah is said with tarqeeq.
The Tafkheem and Tarqeeq of the Ghunnah
The ghunnah, although not a letter itself, is a very important characteristic that completes the noon and meem sound – especially evident when they are saakin. As part of the rules of noon saakinah, when the letters not listed in ith-haar, idghaam or iqlaab follow a noon saakinah, ikhfaa’ is made (ikhfaa’ post here). As the reciter makes ikhfaa’ a ghunnah is sounded. This ghunnah can be mufakham or muraqaq.
It is mufakham when these five letters follow a noon saakinah:
ص ض ط ظ ق
qaaf thaa’ taa’ daad saad
What this means, is that the deep tongue is raised slightly higher (towards the roof of the mouth) while the ghunnah passes through the nasal passage, producing a heavier sounding ghunnah.
Baghtatan Qaaloo
Mandood
Min teen
Yunsaroon
At all other times, the ghunnah is said with tarqeeq. This beautiful sound should be soft, adding a light tone to the recitation.
Insha Allah next post I’ll focus on the rules of tafkheem and tarqeeq for the letter Raa’. I promise once you get that one down pat, it should be easy cruising for tafkheem and tarqeeq.
Resources Link:
– Sifaatul Huroof – Jadwal (Table of the Characteristics of the Letters)
– Sifaatul Huroof – Jadwal – by Sifah
– Sifaatul Aaridah – Tafkheem
Note, these documents are found on the resources page.
Tajweed Me 
Nice post post, never heard of tafkheem of ghunnah.
🙂 I used to get in trouble for doing it (subconsciously) when I first started out learning tajweed… When’s your tarqeeq post going up? It’s been ages since you put up the tafkheem one….
…Alhamdulilah for learning something new 🙂
Yeah, it’s been a lazy several weeks. Back on track soon in sha Allah.
Oh, alhamdulilah, I was worried for a minute there that my comment on your last post made you hesitant… Sorry if that’s the case!
Assalamu Alaikum.
No post since quite some time.
Hope everything is fine with you there.
Vassalam.
Wa alaykum asalam,
Jazaka Allahu khair… it’s nice to know there are people who still enact Allah’s verse, “We will strengthen your arm through your brother..”
I know the site looks a bit inactive, I’ve been wanting to put up a post since a couple of weeks ago, but since university started this year I’ve been running to get my assignments and study all done on time 🙂 Insha Allah I’ve got a mid-semester break next week, so I’m praying to have a couple of posts up by the end of the break.
Thank you for asking.
Alhamdulillah and Barakallahu Feek, dear sister.
Study must be on the top priority, always!
Finish all your assignments etc. and come back with a great post 🙂 Inshaa’Allah.
All the best.
I like your Tajweed blog allot and how you explain/break down concepts, one of the reasons for that is because you give good examples after explaining a tajweed rule. This helps me allot as I am a person who finds it much easier to understand and grasp with examples.
I hope for the next part soon, insha’allah.
I ask Allah to give you peace and help you to get through any problems you may have in this life.
I like your Tajweed blog allot and how you explain/break down concepts, one of the reasons for that is because you give good examples after explaining a tajweed rule. This helps me allot as I am a person who finds it much easier to understand and grasp with examples..
I hope for the next part soon, insha’allah.
I ask Allah to give you peace and help you to get through any problems you may have in this life.
Salam sister. I have a question regarding 2:2. After stopping at feehi before starting with hodan. Should i pronounce the “h” in feeh? Or should it be fee?
Ps feel free to delete my question from here, i know it is not about the above post but i didnt know where else to post it.
Wa alaykum asalam sis…
Yes, it’s very important that you let the “hh” sound come through, but make sure there is no diacritic coming through with it (I guess in this case, make sure there’s no kasrah coming out with it).
Insha Allah your question can be of benefit to others, even if it’s not about tafkheem 😉
Jazaki Allah khair. Now i know 🙂
Salam sister. There is another thing i need to know.
In 2:2 after rayba and after feeh, there are three dots (a symbol). Does this symbol mean that one has to stop after reading one of these words?
Also, do you know where i can find a list of all the symbols that is in the uthmani quran where it says what each of them mean? I dont mean that you should look for it, just asking if you have seen any such list in some website you came across or a book.
I googled it and found only one such list but it only had 5 of these symbols, not all.
Salam
Wa Alaykum Asalam Sis,
These three dots mean you stop at one, but not the other. So if you decided to stop at the first, you cannot stop also at the second. If you stop at the second, it means you must have read through the first. I hope this is clear.
I have a list of the symbols found the in the Quran, I can email this to you insha Allah, as it is not my own work I don’t want to be putting it up on the site. Otherwise you can ask someone who understands Arabic to translate what the symbols are from the end of the Quran (generally the Quran has a page with all the symbols and their meanings at the back).
Hope this helps 🙂
Jazaki Allah khair one billion times for all this help you give me.
If the list you have is in english then it would be great if you could sent it to my email (i have filled in the adress). Otherwise, no problem, i will find someone to help me with the arabic. Honestly, i didnt know this list existed in the quran. Barak Allah feeki.