Makhaarij Al-Huroof: Al-Halq

January 12, 2012February 14, 2012 tajweed meLeave a comment

Let’s look deep into ourselves and evaluate our current state. Along the way, do stop and take a look at your throat. Three makhaarij, six letters: your throat’s doing a lot more than you probably thought…

Al-Halq: emerging from the throat are six letters. Within the throat, there are three points of articulation. Two letters emerge from each makhraj. Let’s take a look at these with detail.

The Upper Throat – Adnal-halq ^[1]

From the upper throat emerge two letters. These are

Khaa’ ( خ ), pronounced “kh”

Gyan ( غ ), pronounced “gh”

It is erroneous to pronounce these two letters from the mouth, and every effort should be made to distinguish the upper throat from the inner mouth area. Note that ghayn is articulated from the same makhraj, but just below the khaa.

The Mid-Throat – Wasat Al-halq ^[2]

The mid-throat is the point of articulation for the following two:

Haa’ ( ح ), pronounced “hh“

‘Ayn ( ع ), pronounced ” ‘a “

It is important to understand that haa ( ح ) and haa ( هـ ) are not the same, and that haa exhibits a much sharper sound and is articulated slightly above the ‘ayn.

The Deep Throat – Aqsal-halq ^[3]

The deepest part of the throat produces two letters,

Haa’ ( هـ ), pronounced “hh”

Hamzah ( ء ), pronounced as a glottal stop

A glottal stop is defined as “a speech sound produced by a momentary complete closure of the glottis, followed by an explosive release”. The haa emerges from the same area but just above the hamzah‘s point of articulation.

To sum up, the six letters that emerge from the throat are: khaa’ ( خ ), ghayn ( غ ), haa’ ( ح ), ayn ( ع ), haa ( هـ ), and hamzah ( ء ). These six letters are called Al-Ahruf Al-Halqiyyah ^[4] (the throat letters).

So far, this covers a total of 4 of 17 makhaarij. Hope you’re ready to explore some more 🙂 in the meantime, have fun by practicing these articulation points and enjoying the wondrous sounds they produce!

Resources Link:

– Makhaarij Al-Huroof document

Note, this document is found on the resources page.

^[1] أدنى الحلق
^[2] وسط الحلق
^[3] أقصى الحلق
^[4] الأحرف الحلقية

Makhaarij Al-Huroof

December 27, 2011February 14, 2012 tajweed me6 Comments

Just as X marks the spot for any treasure, X also marks the makhraj (point of articulation) for the Arabic letters!

Makhaarij Al-Huroof ^[1] translates to “the points of articulation for [the Arabic] letters”. It is imperative that one learns and correctly pronounces the Arabic letters in order to read tajweed with precision. Colloquial dialects differ greatly, so as an Arabic speaking person, I can only stress the importance of learning the makhaarij. They are the very nectar of tajweed, and I can only hope that in my humble attempt to put forward the rules, you can achieve a great understanding.

The area of speech has been divided into five parts, and subdivided into 17. The first five divisions are as follows:

Al-Jawf	The Interior/Chest Area
Al-Halq	The Throat
Al-Lisaan	The Tongue
Al-Shafataan	The Lips
Al-Khayshoom	The Nasal Passage

This post will look into the first of these categories: Al-Jawf.

Al-Jawf ^[2] (The Interior/Chest Area)

The interior comprises of the inner, open area of the mouth, behind the meeting point of the lower jaw and top teeth. This area is an “estimated” makhraj (point of articulation), all other makhaarij are “actual” as they apply to constant sounds and have been pinpointed with accuracy. From the jawf three letters emerge. These are the:

alif ( ا ) preceded by a fat-ha, pronounced “aaa”

yaa ( ي ) preceded by a kasra, pronounced “eee”

waaw ( و ) preceded by a dammah, pronounced “ooo”

These three letters are usually called Huroof Al-Maddeeyah^[3] (or as I call them, madd letters). They may also be called Huroof Al-Jawfeeyah^[4], as they emerge from the jawf.

To better understand the makhraj of these letters, it is essential that we see the shape of the tongue and lips. This is illustrated in the following diagram:

Here we can compare the difference of the three positions of the tongue. The alif corresponds to the pale pink tongue, waaw to the hot pink tongue, and yaa to the red tongue:

As with any language, it’s is best to listen and repeat after a teacher or sheikh to ensure you are sounding the letters in the correct manner; after all, no written or drawn aid can give the required accuracy for tajweed.

As a final note, there are two important things to mention in regards to makhaarij al-huroof.

First, to figure out the makhraj of a letter, pronounce it with a sukoon, preceded by a fat-ha. Examples,

أدْ أعْ أتْ أشْ أضْ

Second, note there are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, however, there are 31 huroof al-tajweed (tajweed letters). The extra letters are hamzah, consonant yaa’, and consonant waaw. These will be looked at in greater detail throughout the upcoming posts.

Resources Link:

– Makhaarij Al-Huroof document

Note, this document is found on the resources page.

^[1]مخارج الحروف
^[2]الجوف
^[3]حروف المدية
^[4]حروف الجوفية

The Silent & Pronounced Alif

November 30, 2011January 29, 2012 tajweed me6 Comments

Have you ever noticed some people who seem to be present, can also seem to be invisible? Or sometimes they’re loud, and at other times they’re so quiet, they’re not even noticed…? Alif can do the same. Did you ever know? Find out below..

There are seven “alifs” in the Quran that that are sounded when stopping and silenced when continuing through in recitation. These alifs are signalled by the round sukoon-like shape above them: ( o )

These seven alifs are as follows:

– All occurrences of the word anaa ( أنا ) which have this symbol. When stopping, the alif is sounded for two counts (madd tabee’ee), but when continuing recitation, the alif is just sounded as a fat-ha. Example,

Read as:

when continuing: ana lakum ( أنَ لكم )

when stopping: anaa .. lakum ( أنا .. لكم )

– This rule applies for the following words, in its own respective manner:

[Kahf 38] Read as:

when continuing: laakinna huwa ( لاكنَّ هو )

when stopping: laakinnaa .. huwa ( لاكنّا .. هو )

[Al-Ahzaab 10] Read as:

when continuing: al-thunoona hunaalika ( الظنونَ هنالك )

when stopping: al-thunoonaa .. hunaalika ( الظنونا .. هنالك )

[Al-Ahzaab 66] Read as:

when continuing: al-rasoola wa qaaloo ( الرسولَ و قالواْ )

when stopping: al-rasoolaa .. wa qaaloo ( الرسولا .. و قالواْ )

[Al-Ahzaab 67] Read as:

when continuing: al-sabeela rabbanaa ( السبيلَ ربّنا )

when stopping: al-sabeelaa .. rabbanaa ( السبيلا .. ربّنا )

Let’s note this case. Scholars of the Quran have noted that it is permissible to stop on the word salaasilaa with a sukoon, or to stop on it with two counts on the alif:

[Al-Insaan 4] Read as:

when continuing: salaasila wa aghlaalan ( سلاسلَ و أغلالاً )

when stopping: salaasilaa .. wa aghlaalan ( سلاسلا .. و أغلالاً )

when stopping: salaasil .. wa aghlaalan ( سلاسلْ .. و أغلالاً )

Now let’s note two special cases.

The word qawaareeraa in surat Al-Insaan, verse 16 is never pronounced as a long vowel when stopping. And it is always pronounced with a fat-ha when continuing. This also applies for all the occurrences of the word “thamood” (that contain this silent alif).

[Al-Insaan 15] Read as:

when continuing (after both words): qawaareera qawaareera ( قواريرَ قواريرَ )

when stopping (after the first word): qawaareeraa .. qawaareera ( قواريرا .. قواريرَ )

when stopping (after both words): qawaareeraa .. qawareer ( قواريرا .. قواريرْ )

Read as:

when continuing: wa thamooda ( و ثمودَ )

when stopping: wa thamood ( و ثمودْ )

Be careful to never mistake these alifs for the other “normal” ones…

That’s all for this tajweed rule. Too easy. 🙂

Resources Link:

– Sukoon [Gateway To Arabic: page 48]

– Short vowels [Gateway To Arabic: page 23, 24]

– Long vowels [Gateway To Arabic: page 45, 46]

– Read more about rules of stopping [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 15]

Note, these documents are found on the resources page.

Al-Laam Al-Qamareeyah

August 22, 2011August 22, 2011 tajweed meLeave a comment

A bright full moon always adds a beautiful hint of shine to the sky. It casts down a gorgeous reflection of white, streaking shadows across the ground. It’s a true blessing when everything else is dark, and it makes your path that much more clearer — just as it makes this laam qamareeyah pronounced clearly…

Al-Laam Al-Qamareeyah: or “the Moon Laam” is the laam saakinah (sukoon on the laam) which must be pronounced clearly. This laam occurs at the beginning of the word (Al- ..) and occurs in nouns.

Pronouncing it clearly happens with the remaining 14 letters that aren’t covered in the laam shamseeyah.

These letters for laam qamareeyah can be remembered by noting the phrase:

إبغ حجك و خف عقيمه

To reiterate, these letters are:

ا ب ج ح خ ع غ ف ق ك م و ه ي

yaa – haa – waaw – meem – kaaf – qaaf – faa – ghayn – ‘ayn – khaa – haa – jeem – baa – alif

You will notice in Quranic scripture a little haa looking shape (حـ) above the laam. This is just to act as a reminder for reciters: to make sure that you remember to say Al-… and not merge the laam into the next letter.

Examples of al-laam al-qamareeyah:

Al-Baladi

Al-hooni

Al–‘aalameena

Kal-jibaali

Note: just because there is a letter before, this does not change the ruling for the laam.

Here’s a challenge: can you guess why none of the “Al-” nouns have tanween on the end?

Don’t cheat. But if you can’t figure it out, read the answer on page 61 of Gateway To Arabic.

Resources Link:

– Tajweed Rule “the moon letters” [Gateway To Arabic: page 61]

– Sukoon [Gateway To Arabic: page 48]

– Tanween [Gatway To Arabic: pages 40-43]

Note, these documents are found on the resources page.

Al-Laam Al-Shamseeyah

August 4, 2011September 25, 2011 tajweed me4 Comments

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Do you favour sunny days over cool nights? Or a bright glowing moon instead? This post is filled with sunshine, so pop on your sunnies and get ready… you’ll now be officially introduced to our star (pun intended)…..Sunny Laam! …no: not Lamb!

There is a big contradiction between the way I type transliteration, and this post. You will come to realise this as I begin to explain this rule.

Al-Laam Al-Shamseeyah: is the laam which occurs at the beginning of a word, whereby it is merged with the letter that follows it.

Let’s note:

a) In the case where the laam is merged, the “ll” sound it makes is completely eliminated.

b) For the laam to be merged, it must be a silent laam.

c) Considering no word in the Arabic language can start with a sukoon, the merging of the laam cannot happen unless the word begins with “Al-“. This is because – had there been no alif before the laam – there would be nothing to “make possible” the merging of the “ll” sound.

d) The letter following the laam that must be merged HAS TO BE one of the following 14 letters:

ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن

Note the first letter of each word in the following phrase, these are the 14 letters stated above, sometimes phrases are easier to remember for those more fluent in Arabic:

طِبْ ثُمَّ صِلْ رَحِماً تَفُزْ ضِفْ ذَا نِعَمْ دَعْ سُوءَ ظَنٍّ زُرْشَرِيفَاً لِلْكَرَمْ

e) You will notice, part of the Quranic scripture, that there is a shaddah on the letter that invokes this merging.

f) For the laam to be merged, it cannot be part of the original make up of the word.

Now let’s see examples:

On the right is the letter example and the Quranic script, on the left is how it is read.

In order, from top to bottom:

taa: Al-taa’iboona = At-taa’iboona

thaa: Al-thamaraati = Ath-thamaraati

daal: Al-daa‘eeya = Ad-daa‘eeya

thaal = Wal-thaariyaati = Wath-thaariyaati

In order, from top to bottom:

raa: Al-Rahmaani = Ar-Rahmaani

zaal: Al-zaqoomi = Az-zaqoomi

seen: Al-saa’ihoona = As-saa’ihoona

sheen: Al-shamsu = Ash-shamsu

saad: Al-saalihaati = As–saalihaati

daad: Al-daalleena = Ad–daalleena

In order from top to bottom:

tah: Al-taammatu = At–taammatu

thah: Al-thaanneena = Ath–thaanneena

laam: Al-layl = A-llayla

noon: Al-naas = An-naasi

Note that merging the laam into the next letter cannot happen unless you sound a shaddah on that letter, i.e. for the last word in the examples, you must say, “annaasi” not “anasi”. If a shaddah is not sounded, the meaning can change entirely.

That’s all for this sunny post! Just remember, sunny laam = merging = no laam at all = shaddah. Beautiful examples and practice on page 62 of the Gateway To Arabic resource file. Link to resource page is found below.

Resources Link:

-Tajweed Rule “the sun letters” [Gateway To Arabic: page 62]

– Sukoon [Gateway To Arabic: page 48]

– Shaddah [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 2]

[Gateway To Arabic: page 49]

Note, these documents are found on the resources page.

Al-Isti’aathah & Al-Basmalah

June 30, 2011July 3, 2011 tajweed me4 Comments

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heesbees hasn’t been very active for the past month. In fact, the inactivity has caused me to draw back to the ayaat,

“All that is on earth will perish.”

“But will abide forever the Face of thy Lord, full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour”

[Al-Rahman 55; Ayahs 26-27]

Insha Allah, however, July will be filled with a heap of awesome new posts! Allahumma ameen!

To begin… A‘oothu billaahi min al-shaytaani al-rajeem. Bismillahi al-rahmani al-raheem.

If you haven’t guessed already, today’s post is about the isti‘aathah and the basmalah.

The isti‘aathah and basmalah have six rulings all together. Within these rulings branch sub-rulings. Insha Allah I will try my best to set these out in the clearest manner possible.

In case you’re not top notch in Arabic, al-isti‘aathah is:

A‘oothu billahi min al-shaytaani al-rajeem

And the basmalah is:

Bismillahi Al-rahmani Al-raheem

Rule 1: it is mustahab (recommended) to say the isti‘aathah at the beginning of each surah, or when beginning from within it. Note, however, that one isti‘aathah is enough for reciting the entire Quran, so long that the recitation is not cut off.

Examples:

a) Beginning the Quran with surat Al-Faatiha. The isti‘aathah is said, and the recitation has begun. This one isti‘aathah is enough for all the recitation you do, even if it were surat Baqarah, Aali ‘Imraan, Al-Nisaa’, etc. so long the recitation is continual and not cut off by talk, or physical distraction that causes the recitation to stop momentarily.

b) You are reading surat Al-Baqarah. You begin with an isti‘aathah, then you read four pages. You stop reciting for duhur salah, when you begin reciting again from page 5, it is up to you to say the isti‘aathah again or not, however it is recommended.

Rule 2: it is sunnah mu’akkadah (emphasised sunnah) to say the basmalah at the beginning of every surah, except surat Al-Tawba.

Rule 3: in the middle of a surah, it is up to the reader entirely whether they wish to say the basmalah (which indeed is better) or not to say it at all.

Rule 4: the reciter has the option to join the isti‘aathah with the basmalah with the beginning of a surah. Doing this can be done in four manners:

a) wasl al-jamee‘ (connecting all three): isti‘aathah, basmalah and first ayah in one breath, example:

b) joining theisti‘aathah and basmalah in one breath and cutting them off from the beginning of the surah by a breath. Example:

c) cutting theisti‘aathah from the basmalah by a breath, and joining the basmalah with the first ayah in one breath, example:

d) qate’ al-jamee‘ (breaking all three): cutting the isti‘aathah from the basmalah by a breath. Then breaking the basmalah from the first ayah by a breath. Example:

Rule 5: the basmalah between two surahs. Three rules of joining/cutting are permissible, where one is not.

The premissible:

a) wasl al-jamee‘ (connecting all three): the last ayah of the former surah, with the basmalah, with the first ayah of the latter surah all in one breath, example:

b) qate’ al-jamee‘ (breaking all three): the last ayah from the basmalah by a breath. And the basmalah from the first ayah by a breath. Example:

c) breaking the last ayah of the former surah from the basmalah by a breath. And joining the basmalah with the first ayah of the latter surah in one breath, example:

The impermissible:

d) joining the last ayah of the former surah with the basmalah in one breath, then breaking the basmalah from the first ayah of the latter surah by a breath, example:

Rule 6: there is no basmalah at the beginning of surat Al-Tawbah (also called Baraa’ah). If reading from the beginning of the surah, then an isti‘aathah is enough. If wishing to join it on from Surat Al-Anfaal the reciter has three options:

a) joining the last ayah of surat Al-Anfaal with surat Al-Tawba without doing a sakt (breathless pause), or taking a breath. Example:

b) to join the last ayah of surat Al-Anfaal with a sakt only – a short pause without taking a breath – for a length of two counts, example:

c) to stop after the last ayah and take a breath, then immediately start surat Al-Tawba, example:

There you have it. Six rulings. Lots of sub-rulings. It took me a while, but insha Allah they are all down pat now. 🙂

It’s best to actually write these down… it was the only way it ever got into my noggin…

If you have any questions, buzz in, would love to help out any confused minds… 🙂

Al-Madd Al-Tabee’ee

January 25, 2011January 31, 2012 tajweed me6 Comments

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In the same way we sometimes wished that our holiday period can be a little longer, your tongue, ears and some letters themselves wish that they’re said for a little longer. ‘Why?’, you may think… Well, how obscure to the ear is it to hear someone say a dammah instead of a waaw? And how hard is it for them to continue the ayah without stumbling (after not prolonging)? … Let’s start by looking at this first prolongation…

Al-Madd Al-tabee‘ee: normal/natural prolongation is the act of prolonging or “stretching” the sound of the three madd letters:

ي و أ

alif waaw yaa

for two counts, i.e. the time it takes to say (one-two).

The rule has the following conditions:

The huroof al-madd must all be silent, i.e. have no diacritic on them.

A fat-ha must be present on the letter before a silent alif

A dammah must be present on the letter before a silent waaw

A kasrah must be present on the letter before a silent yaa.

Examples of this are as follow:

________

___qaala qeela yaqoolu

These examples can be combined into one word to help you remember the rule. The word is

نُوحِيهَا

nooheehaa

I really want to stress the fact that in the Quran you will not see a diacritic on these three letters if they are in the state of madd.

It will be an alif, waaw, or yaa with no fat-ha, dammah, kasra, or sukoon ontop/underneath. When I say that these letters must be silent, I am not saying they have sukoon. In fact, if you see a sukoon on an alif or waaw or yaa it means that you are not to stretch this letter whatsoever.

An example of sukoon present on these letters is as follows:

Mala-ihi

NOT: Mala-eehi

Aaminoo

NOT: Aaminooaa

Ulaa-ika

NOT: Uoolaa-ika

A final thing to be wary of is something called “‘ella” letters. This is when the three madd letters have no diacrtic on them, but are not prolonged because the letter preceeding them does not have the corresponding diacritic mentioned in the above conditions. This will be further discussed in a later post, insha Allah.

Resources Link:

-Sukoon [Gatway To Arabic: page 48]

-Makhaarij Al-Huroof [dot points 5, 7, 12, 15]

-Short and long vowels [Gatway To Arabic: pages 21-23; and 44-47]

-Tajweed Rule [Gatway To Arabic: page 4-6 and first half of page 7]

Note, these documents are found on the resources page.

Ahkaam Al-Madd

January 12, 2011June 2, 2011 tajweed me1 Comment

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One of the largest sections of Tajweed is Ahkaam Al-Madd. There are 9 different types of madd, with two further splitting into five segments, therefore making the total of 13.

To help me remember these mudood (plural of madd), I drew up a table with the name of each madd, the length of it in the two states [where applicable], and placed an example in the last column. This file can be found in the resources page, under the heading, Jadwal Al-Mudood.

It will slowly start making sense as I post the specifics of each madd.

To conclude, and perhaps this should have been introduced instead, a madd is “prolongation”. And so “Ahkaam Al-Mudood” means “Rules of Prolongation”.

As I have now completed posting the nine mudood, select one from the list below to begin!

Al-Qalqalah

January 4, 2011June 1, 2011 tajweed me14 Comments

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This-is-is post-ost-ost will-ill-ill be-be-be about-out-out Qalqalah-ah-ah…

But what is Qalqalah? First, be rest assured I won’t type echos for the rest of the post. Because it’d get a tad annoying for both author and reader. The word itself sounds repetitive and as interesting as it’s Tajweed rule.

Qalqalah: sound articulation and echo. In essence the word means shaking/disturbance. In Tajweed, it means to disturb the letter that has sukoon, i.e. that is saakin, but without any corresponding movement of the mouth and jaw that is associated with voweled letters (i.e. letters that have fat-ha, dammah, or kasra). Qalqalah “shakes” to “echo” the letter without taking up the preceding or succeeding letter’s diacritic.

To explain:

There are five letters in the Arabic alphabet that apply to Qalqalah. These five letters are:

ق ط ب ج د

daal jeem baa tah qaaf

To easily remember these letters, remember the phrase they make up, (قطب جد).

Simply, Qalqalah is echoing the above five letters when they are in state of sukoon, i.e.

قْ طْ بْ جْ دْ

To feel the importance of Qalqalah, try saying (أط), how about (أق) you’ll find one of two things happen. Either the back end of your tongue gets stuck and it’s difficult to loosen it and breathe, or your tongue will naturally slip and the back of your mouth is open again. It is this “slipping” that Qalqalah is based on. Disturbing the letter without moving your jaw or mouth. Try it for the rest of the letters, (أد) and (أج) and (أب). Imagine trying to say the word,

أبْناء

If there was no “slipping”/”shaking”/”echoing” of the letter baa (بْ) then how hard would it be to say the noon (ن) straight away with your lips still pressed together? Doing Qalqalah will cause your lips to “slip” a bit i.e. open up a tiny bit without adding a diacritic to the baa, to make it easy to pronounce the noon. On a final note, as one Imam puts it,

The qalqalah is necessary for these letters because they have the attributes of jahr (stoppage of the flow of breath) and shiddah (stoppage of the flow of sound), so without qalqalah, there would be no sound!

But as the blog has not covered attributes of letters yet, this might just sound all too surreal for some.

There are three types of Qalqalah:

Qalqalah Kubra (Strong Echo): occurs at the end of an ayah.

Qalqalah Wusta (Medium Echo): occurs at the end of a word in the middle of an ayah.

Qalqalah Sughra (Subtle Echo): occurs in the middle of a word whether at the beginning, middle or end of an ayah.

Examples of Qalqalah:

Kubra (strong):

_______Kasab __________________ Al-falaq

________Muheet _________________Masad _________________ Al-ma’aarij

You may notice the the last letters that require Qalqalah don’t actually have sukoon drawn above them! Diacritics have been put in place for readers who want to continue reading without a pause through to the next ayah. However, stopping at the end of every ayah is preferred and so in these such circumstances you must do a strong Qalqalah.

Wusta (middle):

qad aflaha ___________najid lahu

Here the sukoon is clearly marked on the Qalqalah letters.

V.I.Note: if you run out of breath and wish to stop in the middle of an ayah, and you stop at a word that has a qalqalah letter on the end, you must, must, must read it as a qalqalah kubra! For example, if I wanted to stop at the word qad in the above example, the daal must be echoed strongly. Then if I were to continue reading by repeating the word and continuing, I do a qalqalah wusta.

Here’s the example again:

[reciting] … [out of breath] … [stopping at word qad] … [doing a strong echo on the daal] … [takes breath] … [wants to continue] …

[start at the word qad and reads: qad aflaha, doing a qalqalah wusta on the daal].

Simple!

Sughra (subtle):

khalaqna _ _______________tat-heeran _____________________ abnaa’akum__

Similarly the sukoon is clearly marked on the Qalqalah letters.

Resources Link:

-Tajweed Rule [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 9]

–Sukoon [Gatway To Arabic: page 48]

-Makhaarij Al-Huroof [dot points 5, 7, 12, 15]

I suggest visiting Quranic Audio to listen to Qalqalah.

Select your favourite reciter and listen to Surat Al-Falaq [113]/Al-Masad [111]/Al-Qiyaamah [75] for Qalqalah kubra.

Qalqalah wusta and sughra occur throughout the entire Quran. I don’t think there is any particular one you really should listen to. Surat Al-Qalam [68] has a fair few Qalqalah sughra. I also suggest Surat Al-Muzzamil [73] for a combination of wusta and sughra.

Al-Meem Al-Saakinah: rule three

December 24, 2010June 1, 2011 tajweed meLeave a comment

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Clarity is sometimes what we’re all after. Likewise, some things just need to be said as clear as mmmmud. Right?

Rule three: Ith-haar Shafawee (pronouncing the meem clearly)

Ith-haar Shafawee is pronouncing the meem saakinah (مْ) clearly and occurs when any of the remaining [excluding the letters meem and baa (ب)] follow a meem saakinah. The condition here is that these letters have a diacritic on them, (fat-ha, dammah, kasra).

Examples of Ith-haar Shafawee:

mathaluhum kamathali

am lahum

hum feehaa

Resources Link:

–Sukoon [Gatway To Arabic: page 48]

-Tajweed Rule [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: second half page 10]

Al-Meem Al-Saakinah: rule two

December 16, 2010June 1, 2011 tajweed me3 Comments

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The first rule for Al-Meem Al-Saakinah looked at the succession of a meem after a meem saakinah (مْ).

The second rule looks at meem saakinah followed by a baa (ب).

Rule two: Ikhfaa Shafawee (Hiding the sound by the use of the lips)

The second rule is enacted only when the latter baa follows a silent meem (meem saakinah). The condition here is that the baa must be mutaharik, i.e. have a diacritic (fat-ha, dammah, kasra).

The sound of the meem is hidden and the lips are shaped, ready to pronounce the baa. You may ask how can the meem be hidden? The answer is simple: do not press your two lips together completely [as you would if you were to pronounce a full meem]. Leave a very little gap and let the sound of the meem come from the deeper part of your mouth while you prepare to say the baa. By letting the meem come from the inner mouth, it’s sound stays encapsulated behind the teeth, and so the meem is hidden. Remember that this rule is carried out for two counts, i.e. the time it takes to say the words, “one – two”.

On a different, yet very important, note…

The rules for Al-Noon Al-Saakinah used a shaddah for notice purposes, i.e. to remind the reader to carry out the Al-Noon Al-Saakinah rule. Here, instead, the meem remains completely free of any diacritic. This is a notice for the reader to do ikhfaa shafawee.

And one last thing to recall…

At the end of the meem rules, I keep using the word “shafawee“. This is very important to distinguish the normal noon saakinah/tanween idghaam/ith-haar/ikhfaa from the ones done by the lips for the meem saakinah.

Examples of Ikhfaa Shafawee:

hum bil-aakhirati

tarmeehem bi-hijaaraten

ayyuhum bithaalika

Resources Link:

–Sukoon [Gatway To Arabic: page 48]

-Tajweed Rule [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: second half page 10]

-Makhaarij Al-Huroof [dot point 15]

Noon and Meem Mushaddadah

December 10, 2010November 11, 2011 tajweed me4 Comments

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shaddah

Qaala sanashuddu ‘adudaka bi akheeka

Allah said: “We will strengthen your arm through your brother..”

In the Arabic language, there are diacritics [including the fat-ha, dhammah and kasrah] that can be the reason a word’s meaning changes completely. One of these diacritics is the shaddah. Insha Allah I will briefly explain what this is and move on to the Tajweed rule regarding the Noon and Meem letters that have a shaddah.

Directly translating the word shaddah, results in the meaning “[sign of] emphasis”. In general language, it means to pull or make something tight. But how does the shaddah actually function? It stresses a letter by doubling it’s sound. As given in a previous post [see “Al-Noon Al-Saakinah: rule four”], a shaddah consists of two letters [hence the doubling]:

The first letter is a saakin, i.e. it has sukoon on it

The second letter has a respective diacritic, fat-ha, dammah, or kasrah.

The example given in the previous post was:

fawaylun lillatheena

Here we noted that the first shaddah on the laam was there for notice purposes, and the second was there to be a shaddah and double that second laam. And so the word is read as:

lil-latheena as written above, lillatheena

See, two laam‘s.

Just to be sure it all makes sense, a few more examples of shaddah are as follow:

________________

kar-ratan fanatabar-ra‘a _______________ it-tabi‘u

karratan fanatabarra’a _______________ ittabi‘u

wal mutal-laqaatu yatarab-basna

wal mutallaqaatu yatarabbasna

bu‘ulatuhun-na ahaq-qu birad-dihin-na

bu‘ulatuhunna ahaqqu biraddihinna

To briefly explain the colour code. The light green is where the doubling of the letter occurs. The darker green is the respective diacritic that follows the doubling.

Now that the shaddah is down-pat understood, the Tajweed rule regarding the shaddah is as follows.

For every noon and meem mushaddad, i.e. for every noon and meem that have a shaddah, one must sound a ghunnah.

Recall a ghunnah is the sound made entirely by the nose [nasal passage]. It is almost like a hum and completes the sound of the noon or meem. Ghunnah is directly translated to “nasalisation” and this should not be longer than two counts. i.e. similar to the time it takes to say the words: “one – two”

This rule in Arabic is called, ghunnat noon/meem mushaddadah.

It is the simplest rule, because you just need to check, does the noon/meem have a shaddah on top? If so, sound a ghunnah.

Examples for ghunnat noon mushadadah are:

____________________

Examples of ghunnat meem mushaddadah are:

____________________

And it’s as simple as that! This Tajweed rule is complete! Where you see a shaddah on a meem or noon, just do a ghunnah.

But wait.

As I mentioned, diacritics have the ability to change the entire meaning of a word/sentence. I don’t like to just say things, so let’s prove it.

Let’s look at the word:

دَرَسَ

darasa

Darasa means “he studied”. Now let’s add a shaddah to this word:

دَرَّسَ

dar-rasa

Darrasa means “he taught”. Very simple, very big difference. One more example.

The sentence:

بَكى صَبِيٌّ

bakaa sabiy-yun

This sentence means “a boy cried”.

Adding another two shaddah causes two things, letters alif and laam to be added making the boy an object being pointed to, and the meaning to change.

Note:

بَكَّى الصَّبِيُّ

bak-kaa al-sabiy-yu

Which means “[he] made the boy cry”.

Later you will come to realise that not only do diacritics change the meaning of things, but so does the pronunciation of a letter.

As for Tajweed, just remember shaddah + meem or noon = ghunnah.

Resources Link:

–Shaddah [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 2]

[Gatway To Arabic: page 49]

–Ghunnah [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 2]

-Diacritics [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 4]

Practicing diacritics exercises up to page 6

[Gateway To Arabic: pages 21 – 24]

-Tajweed Rule [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: first half page 10]

Note, these documents are found on the resources page.

… ارخيلا بتنرخا

Al-Noon Al-Saakinah: rule four

December 7, 2010June 1, 2011 tajweed me2 Comments

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merging colours

Merging things together can be heaps of fun. I tend to enjoy combining colours together to create new, fascinating ones. The fourth rule for Al-Noon Al-Saakinah is all about merging/combining. This rule is said to be one of the most complicated rules. But there is nothing to fret about because practice makes perfect, insha Allah.

Rule four: Al-Idghaam — Al-Idkhaal (To merge with)

There are two types of Idghaam. and from these two, a couple more branch out. Take a look at the diagram below:

So what does all this mean?

Let’s start with what ghunnah means.

Ghunnah: A ghunnah is the sound made entirely by the nose [this is in regards to the sounds coming from the mouth].

An Idghaam bi ghunnah occurs with any Tanween or Noon Saakinah if it is followed by any of these letters:

ي ن م و

waw meem noon yaa

This completes the first level of the diagram when following the rightmost arrow.

Merging without ghunnah, i.e. Idghaam bila ghunnah occurs when the letters

ل ر

raa laam

follow a Noon Saakinah or Tanween. Now the leftmost arrow of the first level of the diagram is complete. [i.e. the entire first level is now complete].

With these two letters, raa and laam, their idghaam is called: idghaam bila ghunnah kaamel, or in English, merging without ghunnah fully.

Here the “nn” sound from the Tanween or Noon Saakinah is completely eliminated and the laam or raa are said straight away without any emphasis on their sounds. Hence why the “fully” is added onto the end – i.e. noting that the “nn” sound is “fully” wiped out.

Examples of idghaam bila ghunnah kaamel / merging without ghunnah fully:

waylun likulli humazatin lumazah

The two “n” I have in red are completely eliminated and so the verse is read as,

waylulikulli humazatilumaza

Notice the two green letters are now the place where the two words are connected without the Tanween. Some students [and I know quite a few] have trouble in the beginning trying to connect two words without the “nn” sound in between. They end up “leaning on” the laam or raa and saying them as though there is a shaddah^[1] on these two letters. However there isn’t.

But here you may protest that in fact there is. Look at the example above. There is a shaddah on the laam in both cases for the words likulli and lumazah. This shaddah is not there for shaddah purposes. It has been put there as a notice to the reader that the Tanween (or Noon Saakinah) is not to be pronounced at all, not even through the nasal passage.

Below is a second example using a Noon Saakinah.

min rabbi read as, mir-rabbi

While I still have your attention [I hope], and avoiding any confusion possible, insha Allah, I’ll continue on with the rightmost arrow, merging with ghunnah.

Recall that a ghunnah is a sound made entirely by the nose [nasalisation], somewhere between a hum and a moan. Like an aeroplane engine, probably. The merging with ghunnah letters as above have two categories. “Full” and “lesser”. Full idghaam means that this aeroplane humming comes through sounding a lot stronger than it would when the lesser one is made. The letters,

ن م

meem noon

coincide with a full idgham bi ghunnah, where as the remaining letters,

ي و

waw yaa

are to be said with a “lesser idgham bi ghunnah“. Idgham bi ghunnah, whether fuller or lesser is sounded for two counts, similar to the time it takes to say the words, “one – two”.

Examples of a full idghaam bi ghunnah:

____________

rasoolun min min marqadinaa

min maarijen min naaren

(3 occurrences of a fuller idghaam bi ghunnah)

note: min maarij – maarijen min – min naar

Examples of lesser idghaam bi ghunnah:

dalaalatun walaakinni

min yawmihem

Examples of idghaam bila ghunnah kaamel:

bideenaaren la

fawaylun lillatheena

Notice here the shaddah on the first laam is to note the ruling of idghaam bila ghunnah kaamel. The second shaddah however is there for shaddah purposes. You are to “double” the sound of the second laam so it is said as I’ve written above, lil-latheena.

Idghaam is something I find very beautiful. It’s adds a tremendous tone to recitation and I think it, alongside the rule regarding noon and meem mushadadah, adds a very serene and tranquil sensation for the both listener and reader.

What’s that rule I just mentioned? Keep an eye out for new posts.

Resources Link:

–Shaddah [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 2]

[Gatway To Arabic: page 49]

–Idghaam [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 12]

–Tanween [Gatway To Arabic: pages 40-43]

–Sukoon [Gatway To Arabic: page 48]

^[1] – Shaddah: is to double the sound of a letter so that it is stressed. Such a letter is said to be mushaddad.

Al-Noon Al-Saakinah: rule three

December 5, 2010October 24, 2011 tajweed me2 Comments

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Allahuma ya muqaliba al-quloob thabit qalbi ‘ala deenika

اللهم يا مُقلِّبَ القُلوب … ثبتْ قَلبي على دينكَ

Rule Three: Iqlaab — Tahweel Al-shay’ ‘an wajh (Flipping).

After every Noon Saakinah or Tanween, if the letter baa (ب) follows, the sound must be flipped [i.e. changed] to the sound of the letter meem (م). This is represented by a little meem on top of the letter itself as pictured below:

The lips should not be entirely pressed together, to allow for the meem to come through the nasal passage as well. The mouth should be prepared to say the baa after sounding through the meem. So the above, min b‘ad is sounds like mimm b‘ad when read. What ever you do, take this piece of advice and do not get mixed up between the full shaped meem (م) drawn above letters to indicate iqlaab, and the cut meem (مـ) to indicated a compulsory stop. Refer to the resources link below. Iqlaab must be sounded for two counts, i.e. the time it takes to say the words, “one – two”.

Examples of the third rule are as follow:

example one: min b‘ad – منْ بَعْدِ

example two: layunbathanna – لَيُنْبِذَنَّ

example three: samee‘an baseeran – سَمِيعَاً بَصِيراً

Resources Link:

– Sukoon [Gateway to Arabic, page 48]

– Rules of stopping [Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: page 15]

– Tanween [Gateway to Arabic: page 40]

[Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: pages 11 – 14]

More about the Arabic letters can be found here: http://www.meem.freeuk.com/ scroll down to the “ABJAD TABLE” and select a letter.

اللهم يا مُقلِّبَ القلوب ثبتْ قلبي على دينك

Tajweed: The Foundations

December 2, 2010June 1, 2011 tajweed me5 Comments

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Tajweed is to give every letter it’s right and pronounce it from the correct place in the mouth/nose/throat. The word itself means “to make better”

In Tajweed there is “fard kifaayah“^[1], where not all people must know a certain rule. Example of this in Islam is the prayer of the dead. “Fard ayn“^[2] is compulsory for all Muslims to do/learn, i.e. reading with Tajweed .

There are three types of reading:

1- Al-tahqeeq: where Quran is read very slowly with Tajweed
2 – Al-tadweer: where Quran is read at a medium pace with Tajweed
3 – Al-hadr: where Quran is read quickly with Tajweed

Resources Link:

– Tajweed Basics: Foundations and More: pages 1 – 3 and midway of page 4

^[1] – Sufficiency duty or fard al-kifaya (الواجب الكفائي‎) is a duty which is imposed on the whole community of believers (ummah). The classic example for it is jihad: the individual is not required to perform it as long as a sufficient number of community members fulfil it.
^[2] – Individual duty or fard al-ayn (الواجب العين) relates to tasks every Muslim is required to perform, such as daily prayer (salah), hijab, or the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime (hajj).

Tajweed Me

All for Quran & Tajweed

Tag: tilawah

Makhaarij Al-Huroof: Al-Halq

Makhaarij Al-Huroof

Al-Jawf ^[2] (The Interior/Chest Area)

The Silent & Pronounced Alif

Al-Laam Al-Qamareeyah

Al-Laam Al-Shamseeyah

Al-Isti’aathah & Al-Basmalah

Al-Madd Al-Tabee’ee

Ahkaam Al-Madd

Al-Qalqalah

Al-Meem Al-Saakinah: rule three

Al-Meem Al-Saakinah: rule two

Noon and Meem Mushaddadah

Al-Noon Al-Saakinah: rule four

Al-Noon Al-Saakinah: rule three

Tajweed: The Foundations

Al-Jawf [2] (The Interior/Chest Area)

Al-Jawf ^[2] (The Interior/Chest Area)