What Are Common Mistakes in Tajweed That Non-Arabs Make?

What are common mistakes in Tajweed that non-Arabs make?
The most common mistakes are in the letters themselves, meaning using the wrong articulation
point for a letter, as well as improper timing of vowels (i.e. lengthening a vowel longer than one
vowel count), and natural lengthenings (making them shorter than they should be). Each vowel
over a letter receives one count. So a dhammah receives the same timing as a kasrah, as does a
fath, as long as these letters are not followed by the medd letters (alif
; or a ya'
with no vowel preceded by a kasrah,
or wow with no vowel preceded by a dhammah).

Medd letters have two vowel counts if they are not followed by a hamzah or a sukoon.
In this word, each vowel is equal in timing to the next; in other words, this
word would have three vowel counts to it. We can notice that there are no medd letters in this
word, so there is no elongation of the vowels.
This word also has each vowel equal in timing to the next, or three vowel counts.
Again, there are no medd letters here, so there is no elongation of the vowels. In summary, the
timing for the first word above is equal to the second word, even though there are different
vowels used.
All vowels, as stated above, have equal timing in length. This is not true for letters without
vowels, or saakin letters. The timings of saakin letters vary depending on their characteristics.
The difference is in not a great length of time, though. For the time being we will not be
discussing medd letters, but will return to them later. Saakin letters are divided into three groups
when determining their timing. The three groups are:
1.
The group of strength
2.
The middle group
3.
The soft group
The group of strength letters is the group of letters that have imprisonment of the sound
when pronounced. When these letters have no vowel on them (a sukoon) their timing is short.
The letters of this group are:
, and are combined in the phrase:
The middle group of letters is those that do not have a complete running of the sound, yet they do
not have complete imprisonment of the sound like the group of strength letters. These letters
therefore have a middle length of time when there is no vowel (a sukoon) on them. The letters of
this group are:
, and are combined in the phrase:
The soft group of letters is the remaining Arabic letters. This group has a running of the sound
when they are without a vowel (saakin), and have the longest timing on them.
In summary, all vowels have equal length in time, unless a medd letter follows them. When
letters (outside of the medd letters) have a sukoon, meaning they have no vowel, their timings are
different in length, depending on which of the three groups they are in. The shortest timing is in
the group of strength
, the next longest is the middle group
, and the longest is the
group of softness
. All letters of the middle group are equal in timing to each other; all
letters of the soft group are equal to each other in timing. All of the strength group of letters are
equal in timing to each other, but the two letters
pronounced.
have air released after they are
Tafkheem and Tarqeeq, part 1

The definition of tafkheem: Fattening
Its applied definition: It is a heaviness that enters the body of the letter, so that the mouth is
filled with its reverberation (echo). The method of making a letter have the characteristic of
tafkheem is: elevating the posterior tongue to the roof of the mouth (soft palate), creating more
space between the roof of the mouth and the bottom of the mouth, and focusing the pressure of
the letter to the roof of the mouth.
The linguistic definition of tarqeeq : Thinness
Its applied definition: It is a thinness that enters the body of the letter, so the mouth is not
filled with its reverberation (echo).
The Arabic letters are divided into three groups as to tafkheem and tarqeeq:
1. Letters that always have tafkheem. These are the seven letters in the group
. They are also called the tafkheem letters.
2. Letters that have tafkheem sometimes and tarqeeq other times.
a) The lengthened alif.
b) The
in the Glorious name of
c) The
3. Letters that always have tarqeeq. This group consists of the rest of the Arabic alphabet.
The Letters That Always Have Tafkheem

The seven letters of
group make up this category. The letters of
are
. These letters do not all have the same degree if tafkheem, instead there are
differences according to the letters characteristics, and the strength or weakness of these
characteristics. Every time a letter has a strong characteristic, its tafkheem is stronger.
letters (
) are stronger in tafkheem than the rest of
letters due to the
adhesion of the tongue to the roof of the mouth in conjunction with the elevation of the tongue.
The ranking of
, then
letters from strongest is

, then
then
, then
, then
, then
Levels of Tafkheem
There are two different schools of thought when it comes to tafkheem. Both are correct, but the
reader should follow one or the other in their reading.
Three Levels of Tafkheem
This school of thought has three different levels in tafkheem. The strongest being the tafkheem
letter that has a fat-h, the second being the tafkheem letter with a dhammah, and the third level,
the tafkheem letter with a kasrah. The saakin tafkheem letter follows the level of tafkheem of the
vowel on the letter before it. This means if the tafkheem letter is saakin, and the letter before it
has a fat-ha, then the tafkheem letter will be at the highest level of tafkheem (as the
in:
) . The saakin letter of tafkheem preceded by a dhammah would have the second level of
tafkheem (as the
in :
. The saakin tafkheem letter preceded by a kasrah is at
the lowest level of tafkheem (such as the

in :
Mutawali described these levels in the following lines:
. Sheikh Mohammed Al-
(Then the heavy ones come

with three levels and they are
The one with a fath, then the dhammah, then the kasrah,
and the saakin follows what preceded it
So what came before it in a vowel,
then assume for it as a harakah that vowel.)
The Five Levels of Tafkheem
The second school of thought of tafkheem has five levels. The highest level being a tafkheem
letter being followed by a long alif (for example the
tafkheem letter with a fathah on it (such as the
level that of a tafkheem letter having a dhammah (as in
with a sukoon (for example
in:
and
). The second level is a

in:
). The next
). The next level is a tafkheem letter
). And the last level, that of a tafkheem letter with a kasrah
(such as the
in:
). This school of thought as to tafkheem varies from the
previous three level school in a few ways. First, the tafkheem letter with a fathah has two
categories, that of a fath followed by an alif, and then a fathah not followed by an alif. This
school also varies from the previous one in that the tafkheem letter with a sukoon has its own
level of tafkheem, whereas the other school of thought has the saakin letter following the
tafkheem level of the vowel on the letter preceding it. This means that there will be a difference
of tafkheem between the saakin letters in this group, which are not affected by the vowel of the
letter preceding it, and the other group which is totally affected by the vowel on the letter
preceding it. For example, a saakin tafkheem letter preceded by a fathah in the three level school
of thought, will have the highest ranking of tafkheem, whereas a saakin tafkheem letter of this
five level school of thought, will have the 4th degree of tafkheem. Ash-Sheikh Al-Mutawali
described the five levels of tafkheem in the following lines:
(and it is said, no the one with the fat-hah followed by an alif

and after it a fat-hah without an alif
the one with the dhammah, the saakin, the one with the kasrah;
so that is five, its mention came to you.
and if it is in the lowest level
It has tafkheem, cut off from the istifaal (lowering of the tongue)
So it cannot be said it has tarqeeq
Like its opposite, that is the truth.
Next tidbit lesson, insha' Allah will continue with tafkheem and tarqeeq, moving on to explain
the letters that sometimes have tafkheem and sometimes tarqeeq.

- The alif is not characterized as having tafkheem or tarqeeq, but instead it is known to
follow the letter preceding it as to tafkheem or tarqeeq. If a tafkheem letter precedes it then it
also has tafkheem. Examples of this are in:
and
and
Click here to listen to the tafkheem of the dhaad and the alif.
If the alif occurs after a letter with tarqeeq, the alif also then has tarqeeq, as in:
and
.
It is a common mistake not to give the alif the full level of tafkheem required after a letter of
tafkheem.
The lam of the name of The Majesty

The
of the Glorious name of Allah sometimes has tafkheem and sometimes tarqeeq,
depending on the pronounced vowel on the letter preceding the

will follow the
. The alif that follows the
in tafkheem or tarqeeq because as stated above, the alif follows
the letter preceding it. It is therefore necessary to make sure both the
of the Glorious
name of Allah and the accompany alif have both tafkheem and tarqeeq together, according to the
rules stated below.
The lam of the Glorious name of Allah has tafkheem in the following states:
If what precedes the name of Allah has a fat-ha, such as in:
and
and
Click here to listen to the tafkheem of the laam
If what precedes the name of Allah has a dhammah, such as in:
If what precedes the name of Allah is saakin and what is before that has a fat-h or
a dhammah. An example of this is in:
The Lam of the Name of Allah Has Tarqeeq in the Following States:
If it was preceded by an original kasrah or presented kasrah even if it
is connected to it (the name of Allah) or separated from it. For example:
Click to listen
(original permanent kasrah),
and
(presented kasrah).
If it was preceded by a saakin and the letter before that has a kasrah, such as in:
and

This lesson continues explaining which letters sometimes have tafkheem and sometimes tarqeeq,
and the circumstances for each case. This lesson will discuss the cases of tafkheem for the letter
.
Tafkheem of the letter
The
has 8 cases in which it has tafkheem, 4 cases in which it has tarqeeq, and 2 cases
that allow either tafkheem or tarqeeq.
The Eight cases in which the
1. If it has a fat-hah, such as in
has tafkheem:
2. If it is saakinah and before the
is a letter with a fat-ha, as in:
3. If it is saakinah and the letter before it has a sukoon, and the letter before that has a fat-h, as
when stopping on the word:
Click here to listen
4. If it has a dhammah, as in :
5. If it (
), has a sukoon, and the letter before it has a dhammah, such as in :

6. If the
is saakinah, preceded by a saakin, which is preceded by a dhammah. As when
stopping on the word:

7. If the
The
.Click here to listen
is saakinah and preceded by a presented kasrah ( this is in the hamzah wasl).

is pronounced with tafkheem when preceded by hamzah wasl, if we start on the
hamzah wasl with a kasrah, or if continuing from the previous word. Examples:
8. If the
is saakinah and before is a kasrah, and after the
a letter of
that
does NOT have a kasrah; meaning it has any vowel (including the sukoon) except a kasrah. As
in:

These then are the eight circumstances for tafkheem of the letter
insha Allah, we will discuss the circumstances for tarqeeq of the letter
. In the next lesson,

The Four Cases in Which the
1.
If the
Has Tarqeeq
has a kasrah, as in :
2.
If the
is saakinah, and a kasrah precedes it, such as:

3.
If the
is saakinah, and the letter before it is saakin, and the letter before that has
a kasrah. This would occur when stopping, as in the example:
4.
If it is saakinah, and a
saakinah precedes it. The
no matter what kind of vowel precedes the

following words:
in this case has tarqeeq
saakinah. This is exemplified in the
(when stopping on these words).

The Cases Where Both Tafkheem and Tarqeeq are Allowed of the
1.
If the
is saakinah, and it is preceded by a kasrah, and it is followed by a letter of
group, and this letter has a kasrah. There is only one example of this in the Holy
Quran, and that is the word
in verse 63 of surah Ash-Shuraraa. The two
different ways of reading the
apply when continuing the reading, not when stopping.
When stopping on the word
the
which the
has tafkheem.
has tafkheem, according to the eighth case in
2.
If the
is saakinah and it is preceded by a saakin letter, which is preceded by a
kasrah, and the saakin letter which precedes the

, is a letter of
group. There are
two words in the Quran that have these circumstances when stopping on them. They are the
words
which is in verse 12 of surah Saba and the word,
which is in verse 21, and 99, of surah Yusef, and verse 51 of Az-Zukhruf.
These two words can be read with tafkheem or tarqeeq of the
when stopping on them.
When reading these words in continuum with that which comes after, the rule of the letter
depends on the vowel on the
with tafkheem, if there is a kasrah, the
; if there is a fat-h or dhammah, the
is read
is read with tarqeeq.
The Letters that Always have Tarqeeq
The rest of the letters in
group that remain always have tarqeeq. These are all letters of
except the alif, the laam of the Glorious name of Allah, and the
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
Quran, 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.
Cutting off all from each other
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 together
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:
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.
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Seeking refuge and Saying the Basmalah

The meaning of:
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 Quran said:
(and when you read the Quran seek refuge with Allah from the rejected Satan) An-Nahl 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 Quran again.
He who says "bismillah" has said the basmalah. The proper way to say the basmalah is
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 Baraaah.
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.
Cutting all three off from each other.
Meaning seeking refuge, stopping, saying the basmalah, stopping, then starting the surah.
2.
Joining all three with each other.
Seeking refuge, saying the 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 Two the same, the two similar, the two close, and the two far, Part 1
The meeting of two letters is of three different ways:

1. Meeting of the two in pronunciation and writing, in that there is no separation between them, such as
the two
in
and the two
2. Meeting of the two in writing only, such as in :

each other, but
in
. Here the two
are next to
prevents them from being pronounced together, by the way we read (
3. Meeting of the two in pronunciation only, as in
. In this case the alif separates the
two
from each other, but since the alif is not pronounced, the two
pronunciation.
meet in
The first type is what will be discussed in this and subsequent lessons; the second and third
type do not enter this section or do not apply to the way we read. When discussing the
relationship of two letter that meet, it does not matter whether they meet in one word or are in
two different words, and the letters meet each other by one being at the end of a word and the
other at the beginning of the next word.
The study of the relationships between letters is important to learn which letters can merge with others
and under which circumstances.
The relationship between two meeting letters is divided into four divisions:
1.
The Two Like Each Other
2.
The Two of the Same Nature as Each Other
3.
The Two Approximates to Each Other
4.
The Two Far from Each Other
The Two Like Each Other

Its Definition: They are the two letters that are the same in characteristic and in articulation point.. This
means they are the exact same letters next to each other. Examples of this are: The two
, or the two
in :
in
, or the two
in
.
There is an exception to this rule when two
but one of the two
and two
and one of the two
are a medd letter such as in
and
the
of the word
are next to each other in writing,
. In the first example:

is a medd letter. The first
medd letter. In the second example:
of the word
, the
so we the have a natural lengthening, the next letter following this

on it,
of the word
is a
is not a
is a medd letter,
with a vowel
. We then apply this exception of medd letters not merging into non-medd letters of the
same type, and do not merge (make of

saakinah of
of ) the two letters. This is in contrast to the
which are followed by a
. In this case there is
or
with a vowel, such as in:
of the two letters that are the same (here, a
, or the two alike, has three divisions:
or
).
1.
The Small
2.
The Large
3.
The Absolute
We will continue, discussing these different divisions of

next lesson.
and their application, insha Allah,
The last tidbit lesson began describing the relationship of

, two letters that have the
same articulation point and the same characteristics, in other words, are the same two letters. It
was stated that there are three divisions of the two alike (
on each of the two letters. The three divisions are: :
lesson will continue with the two alike (
ruling for each of them in more detail.
), depending on the vowels

,
and
. This
), describing these three divisions and the
The Two Small Alike

It is defined as: When the first letter of
is saakin, and the second letter of
is voweled, whether they are in one word or in two words. Examples in one word are:
Examples between two words are:
It is called
because of its ease and the little effort required in applying it.
Its Rule: Required Merging.

There are two exceptions to this rule:
The First: If the first of
is a medd letter then the rule is
of leen do have
when there is
The Second Exception: When the first letter is
called a
and
as discussed in the last tidbit lesson.

, and this only occurs once between
verses 28, and 29 in surah Al-Haaqqah:

allowable options when joining these two aayaat together.
The first: Making the
. The
In this case there are two
clear with a light stop with no breath during the stop (this is
).
The second, merging the
with the
that follows it).
The Two Big Alike

In this case, the Big (
), the two same letters have vowels and are next to each other either
in one word, such as
or in two words, such as in
. It is called
because of the greater effort required.

Its rule is required
(except in the following cases):
The first exception is the word
in surah Yusuf aayah 11
noon mushaddadah in this word represents an

. This word originally was
word is read with either one of two possible correct ways:
. The
. This
1. Merging of the two letter
with a dhammah of the two lips during the ghunnah, but no
sound of a dhammah. In Arabic, this is called

2. Saying the two
clearly and stealing part of the vowel on the first noon, which is a
dhammah. This means the reader only gives the dhammah 2/3 of its full timing. This is called:
Other exceptions to the normally required
of
, (meaning there is an
) are in the following:

and the three words :
aayah 95 in surah Al-Kahf,
Aayah 271 of surah Al-Baqarah, and the same word without the conjunctive letter
in aayah 58 of surah An-Nisaa .
These words all have

. The above four words that have
are all
written with the idghaam incorporated into the written word, but are explained here for further
understanding.
The Unrestricted Likeness

Its Definition: The first letter of the two same letters has a vowel, and the second of the same
letter has a sukoon. Examples:
It is called
due to its lack of conformity to
Its rule: Required Ith-haar (
and
). There are no exceptions to this rule.
The Two of Similar Nature
Its Definition: They are the two letters that have the same articulation point, but differ in
characteristics. They can be in one word as in:
or within two words, as in:
The difference in characteristics can be between one to four.

three divisions, just as
is divided further into
was divided:
1.
2.
3.
The Two Small Similar in Nature

This occurs when the first of the two letters is saakin, and the second voweled. There are special
cases of merging (
) in
in this next section, then the rule is
, if the letters are not specifically mentioned

.
The Merging of the small two similar in nature
The merging (
) is this case is not absolute as is in the case of
, instead it
occurs in special letters. This means that not every time there are two letters of the same
articulation point but different characteristics, the first one saakin, and the second voweled, there
is an
. The following letters merge into the letters below them:
We will now go through these letters that have the same articulation point, but differ in
characteristics and give examples of the merging that occurs when their relationship is small,
meaning the first letter of the two similar in nature is saakin and the next of the two is voweled.
Part of the above table will be covered in this tidbit, and the remaining, insha Allah in the next
tidbit.
These first examples are all examples of complete merging, meaning the first letter of
is merged into the second letter and no trace of the first letters characteristics remain
in the recitation.
1.
into
2.
into
. This occurs in two places in the Quran:
. This occurs several times in the Quran, some examples
are:
Click here to listen to aayah 4 of Al-Kaafiroon

3.
into
. This also occurs repeatedly in the Quran, an example is:
The Two Alike, the Two Similar, the Two Close, and the Two Far
(Part 4)
The Two Similar in Nature

In the last tidbit, the definition of
(continued)
was given, and the sub-category of: The
Two Small Similar in Nature (
) was introduced. We stated that the
rule for the two small similar in nature (
) was generally ith-haar (
) but there are specific letters that in the category of

, meaning they
have the same articulation point, but different characteristics, that merge into to each
other when they have a small (
) relationship, meaning the first of the two
letters is saakin and the second is voweled.
The chart below shows which letters of

they have
category merge into the other when
relationship.
Examples of the
and
chart were given in the last tidbit.
merging (making
) into the letters in the
4. We now continue with the rest of the letters that merge into each other from the chart
starting with the
this is an
into the
. This occurs four times in the Quran, and
(incomplete merging) , it is incomplete in that the characteristic
of the
remains; the remaining characteristics of the letter
completely into the letter
. Please note that because it is an incomplete
merging, there is no shaddah mark on the

of
merge
. The four aayaat in which this type
takes place are:
Click here to listen to the incomplete merging
All other idghamaat (plural of idghaam) of
category are complete, or
5. The
into the
6. The
into the
This occurs twice in the Quran:
. This occurs once in the Quran
This
is required (waajib) for the way we read, Hafs an Aasim by the way of
Ash-Shaatabiyyah (
7. The
).
into the
required for
. This occurs once, and this
is also
The big two of similar nature
This is when both of the letters of
have vowels. Its rule is required
the way we read (Hafs an Aasim) . An example is:

The two absolute of similar nature
This is when the first of
has a vowel and the second has a sukoon. Its rule:
An example of this is :
he Two Alike, the Two Similar, the Two Close, and the Two Far
(Part 5)
Its Definition: It is two letters which are close in articulation point and/or in
characteristics , or close in There is a difference of opinion in the meaning of
in the two letters involved, the most important opinions are:
1. That there is no separation between the articulation parts of the two letters. Instead,
they should use the same articulating part (i.e. the tongue); or if they use two different
articulation parts, there is no separation between the two parts (as in the tip of the
tongue and the lips).
2. The approximation of the two letters is a relative approximation, whether they use
the same articulation part or not. This opinion is used most when the two letters have
closeness in characteristics, but not articulation points.
An example of the two letters being close in articulation point and in characteristics is
the
and
in the words
These two letters have their
articulation points are quite close to each other (they both use the tip of the tongue in
their articulation point). They are close in characteristics, as they share all of the same
characteristics, except the characteristic of
Another example is of the
which is exclusive to the
and
in the word
. The two letters have different but close articulation points (both use the top
of the tip of the tongue). The
that the
has
and
and the
are share all characteristics except

has
Two letters close in articulation points but different in characteristics are

, demonstrated in the words
. Their closeness in articulation
points is obvious, their differences in characteristics are that the

while
has
and
and
has
and
has three divisions, as the other groups of relationships do, they are:
1.
2.
3.
The Two Small Close to each other
This is when the first of

a vowel.
letters is saakin, and the second of the two letters has
There is not an absolute

when they are
rule, instead there are special letters that have
and have the small relationship, and the rest of
with a small relationship have
letters that follow in this lesson, and will continue in the next have
when the first on is saakin and the second voweled (
1. The
saakinah into
This occurs whether the

Examples:
:
is in a verb or participle.
).
An exception to the
occurs when there is a
rule the way we read )
(or breathless pause) between the
and the
in aayah 14 of surah Al-Mutaffifeen: :
2. The idghaam of the laam shamsiyyah letters.

This occurs when the definite article
merges into 13 of the 14 letters of the
laam shamsiyyah group. All of these letters have a close relationship with the letter
, and are the two letters are
Examples:
Exception: The letter
is the fourteenth letter of the laam shamsiyyah group, but is
not considered close with the
of the definite article, instead the two
are
, because they are the same exact letter: as in
Next lesson, insha Allah, we will continue with
and complete explaining which
letters merge into the other when they have

for the two close to each other that have
relationship and discuss the rule

and
relationship.
The Two Alike, the Two Similar, the Two Close, and the Two Far
(Part 6)
(continued)
We continue with the different relationships of letters to each other, and the rules for
when idghaam takes place between two letters of different relationships and when they
each are read clearly (with

). This lesson concludes the section of the two alike,
the two similar, the two close, and the two far from each other.
3.
saakinah into the
This occurs only once in the Quran in surah Al-Mursalaat in aayah 20:
Our way of reading,
, reads this as a
completely merges into the
, meaning the
4. The noon saakinah and tanween with the individual letters in the word
with the exception of the letter noon. These letters are classified as close to the
. The exception of the letter
are
Examples: :
is due to the fact that it and any other
The
which occurs in surah Al-Qiyaamah prevents the merging (
taking place:
) from
The Two Big Close

It occurs when the two letters that are
in :
both have vowels, such as the
and
.
for Hafs An Aasim.
Its rule is always:
The absolute two close

This is when the first of the two letters which are
has a sukoon. Its rule:
The Two Far From Each Other
has a vowel, and the second
These are the two letters which have articulation points far from each other, and have
different characteristics. Examples:
: The
and
The
and
The rule for all of the two far (

is ith-haar (
).
Brief Grammar Lesson 1

This is not meant to be a comprehensive grammar lesson, but before the lessons on hamzah alwasl
(
)a brief overview of the essential make up of Arabic parts of speech needs to be
understood. Complete understanding of the

reader at least comprehending some basic grammar.
lesson cannot be achieved without the
Words in Arabic are divided into one of three categories.

1.
2.
Verbs
Nouns
This is a much more general concept than in English and
encompasses more than just nouns. It includes objects of prepositions and
adjunctions among other English grammar terms. The single form of noun in Arabic
is
3.
, which in single form is a verb or
There is no catch all term in English for this category of grammar in

Arabic. It includes prepositions and particles. The singular form of this in Arabic is
. This happens to be the same word in Arabic as letter but they are not one
and the same. In grammar
refers to prepositions and particles, in word make
up,
refers to a letter.
Verbs
There are only three verb tenses in Arabic:
1.
The past tense
2.
The present tense
3.
The command tense
There are four essential make up of verbs

1.
Three letter essential make up
2.
Four letter essential make up
3.
Five letter essential make up
4.
Six letter essential make up
The Past Tense
Past tense verbs are built
on the fat-h or
, meaning the basic make up of the vowel (
) of a past tense verb is a

. The three letter past singular male form of a verb is the root
for all other forms of the same word.
Arabic grammar takes the verb to do or as it is in the past tense singular male form,
, he
did, to demonstrate the changes that take place from the root to other forms. Every example for
each essential make up with be a derivative of the root
past tense forms of the verb
. The following chart has the different
Next tidbit lesson, insha Allah will go on to the present tense verbs and their changes
< Prev

The Present Tense
We continue with a brief summary of grammar terms and explanations. The first lesson is now
located in the archived tidbit lessons.
Present tense verbs are not built
; instead they are conjugated. It is to be noted that
there is no separate future tense, instead the future is formed by adding a letter
on
the beginning of a present tense verb, or by inserting the word

before a present tense
verb. The endings of the present tense verbs can be affected by certain letters before the
verb. For example:
or
(called
letters) cause the present tense verb to have a fat-h
on the last letter, or if it is a form of verb that has an extra
added on the end of the
verb, the extra

on the end is dropped. Other letters such as or
, (called
letters) cause the last letter on the verb to have sukoon, or if it is a form of the verb that takes
an extra noon, the extra
on the end of the verb is dropped, or if is a verb with a
or
, as part of the essential make up of the verb, the alif, wow, or ya
would be dropped (for example:
changes to
and
present tense forms of the root
becomes
. The following is the different
The Command Tense

The command tense is always built or
. It
is built on the changes the present tense jazm (
)form takes. This is either a sukoon on the last
letter, a dropping of the extra noon that some verb
forms have, or the dropping of the
if they are part of the essential make up of

the verb.
The lesson of
will explain that in Arabic, a word must start with a vowel. If a
sukoon is present as the first letter, then

enters the beginning of the verb so that if
a reader wants to begin with that word, he/she will begin with a hamzah with the appropriate
accompanying vowel. This will be explained in the next chapter, but the idea is introduced
here, so there will be an understanding of the chart of the command form of the verb. The
following explains the forms the root
Essential make up of verbs
Three letter essential make up
takes in the command form.
These are verbs that have just three letters in the third person singular past tense form, as
in
Four letter essential make up

These are verbs that have four letters in the third person singular past tense form, as in
. Do not forget that the shaddah equals two letters, so the
counts twice.
in the word
Five letter essential make up

Verbs in this category have five essential letters in the third person singular past tense
form, as in
Six letter essential make up

Verbs in this category have six essential letters in the third person singular past tense
form, as in
We will continue, insha' Allah, next lesson with nouns.

Nouns
The term nouns is not an all encompassing term for the Arabic grammar term
brief explanation may help understand this part of speech. The definition of "
A word that indicates a name, leading to the symbol without deriving benefit.
, but a
" is:
The term covers all objects animate and inanimate. It can be the proper name of a person, such
as Muhammed, or a person in general, such as girl, boy, or can be a pronoun such as he or she. It
can also be the name of kind of an animal (such as camel
), or a proper name of an animal,
such as
, the name of the Messengers camel,
. It can be the name of a plant (date
palm) or just a general plant term (tree). The term

of
, also covers inanimate objects such as
which as stated previously is the plural
, or moon, and the name or characteristic of any
other thing. Included in this would be the terms this and that:
Signs of
There are indications that tell us that a word is an
. These indications are not always present,
but if they are present, there is no doubt that it is an
1. Objects of prepositions. If there is a word preceded by a preposition, such as:
, we know that the word following the preposition (object of a preposition) is an

2. A tanween at the end of a word indicates that the word is an
3. The
of calling is another sign of an
4. A word with the definite article the (

An example of this is in:
, like in
. An example is
.
)attached to the beginning of it is an
Participles and Prepositions

These small words (usually just two letters) do not have a place in Arabic grammar conjugation,
but may affect )but not necessarily) the noun or verb that follows them. These words are fixed in
form and always look the same. Examples of
that affect
are:
Examples of
that affect
Examples of
that may or may not affect the noun or verb that follows:
(verbs) are
This ends the brief introduction to grammar. Next tidbit, insha Allah will start the lessons on
the hamzah wasl.
Hamzah al-Wasl Lesson 1

It is established that the reader of the Quran must start reciting with a voweled letter, never a
sukoon. It is also an established fundamental of reading the Quran that stopping is always with
a sukoon on the last letter that is recited, never a vowel, except with a way of stopping called
which will be discussed, Allah willing, later. Some words are not written with a vowel on
the first letter, and, as stated starting a word with a sukoon is not allowed. In this case an extra
hamzah is put on the beginning of the word. This is called hamzah al-wasl,
, and is
used to connect it ( to the point of a sukoon that is present at the beginning of the word. The
hamzah al-wasl looks like an alif with a little letter
over it, as in:
The Definition of
: It is an extra hamzah at the beginning of the word, established
(pronounced) when starting, dropped when continuing.
This is exemplified in the following verse:
In this verse the hamzaat (plural of hamzah) in the words
are all
, meaning that they are dropped when continuing (when joining the word
with the word preceding it), and are established when starting (starting with the word). It is
called
Its Locations:
because it connects or joins (
) to a point with a sukoon.
is found in:
1. Verbs
2. Nouns
3. Participles
Note:
can be in regular forms of the above three parts of grammar, which is the
norm, or rarely in irregular forms.
Next lesson, insha Allah, we will specifically discuss the occurrence of hamzah al-wasl in
verbs, and how to determine the vowel used when starting on the verb that has a hamzah alwasl.

We stated last lesson, which is now in the tidbit archives, that the hamzah al-wasl is an extra
hamzah at the beginning of a word, used to connect us to the first letter of the word, which has a
sukoon. The Arabs, as stated in the introduction, only start a word or phrase with a voweled
letter. The symbol for a hamzah wasl is:
it.
, which is an alif with a small letter
over
The hamzah wasl is not to be confused with a regular letter hamzah, called hamzah qata,
, which can be at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. The regular letter hamzah
or
looks like the head of the letter

, or a
as in:
, or on a
tooth or stick in the middle of a word:
, and can be written on an alif as in :

:
. It can also be written on a
, or just in the air with no letter or stick to
lean on:
. These are all hamzah qata, and are pronounced as a hamzah with the
accompanying vowel written over or under the hamzah.
The hamzah wasl on the other hand has no vowel written over it, is only at the beginning of a
word, and is only written over an alif, with the small
over it (
).
For those using the copy of the mus-haf prevalent in Pakistan and India, there is a different way
to determine hamzah wasl, from hamzah qata, and from an alif. These copies of the mus-haf do
not write in the symbol for the hamzah on an alif, nor do they write in the symbol for the hamzah
wasl. The way to determine then whether the symbol at the beginning of a word is a regular
hamzah qata, or hamzah wasl is that if there is a vowel written over or under it, it is a hamzah
qata : as in
If there is no vowel on it, it is then a hamzah wasl, as in the first letter of:
. The real
true alif ( which is an alif preceded by a fat-h) can never start a word, since it is a saakin letter.
in verbs
The hamzah wasl can be found beginning some past tense and command verbs. When the past
tense or command form of a verb has a sukoon for the first letter, whether it is a simple sukoon
or a shaddah, a hamzah wasl is needed to start out the verb. The hamzah wasl is never found at
the beginning of a present tense verb.
There are four categories of verbs, each category depends on the number of letters that make up
the essence of the verb. There are three letter
, and six letter
archived tidbit lessons.
basic verbs, four letter
, five letter
verbs. A brief introduction to grammar terms can be found in the
can start past tense verbs with five and six letter verbs.
Some examples of five letter base past tense verbs that start with hamzah wasl are all three
underlined verbs in:
Another example is:
Examples of hamzah al-wasl in a past tense verb with a six letter base are the underlined
words in:
Hamzah al-wasl can enter the command form of verbs in the three letter, five letter, and six letter
base verbs.
The following aayaat have examples of hamzah al-wasl in the command form of the three
letter root verb:
Hamzah Wasl examples in the command form of the five letter verb:
Hamzah wasl examples in the command form of the six letter verbs
It is clear from the preceding that the hamzah al-wasl does NOT enter into the following
verbs:
1. The present tense verb at all.
2. The four letter root verb at all.

3. The past tense three letter root.
The following table explains which type of regular verbs the
can enter:
Next lesson, insha Allah, we will describe the most important part of the hamzah wasl lessons:
how to determine which vowel to start the hamzah al-wasl with in a verb.

In the last tidbit lesson, we described the different types of verbs that hamzah al-wasl enters as a
first letter.
Please refer to Hamzah Al-Wasl lesson 2 in the tidbit archives to review this lesson.
It was stated last lesson that hamzah al-wasl may enter, as a first letter, past tense five and six
letter basic make up verbs, and the command tense in basic make of three, five, and six letters
verbs.
The Vowel of the Hamzah Al-Wasl when beginning with it in verbs

The vowel of
when beginning with it, in verbs, depends on the vowel on the
third letter of the verb. NOTE: The

is considered a letter when counting the letters;
a letter with a shaddah is counted as two letters. There are two possible vowels when starting
with
in verbs.
1. A dhammah
2. A kasrah
Starting verbs with a dhammah on the hamzah al-wasl
1. The hamzah-t al-wasl has a dhammah on it when beginning the word starting with it
if the third letter of the verb has a required or original dhammah (meaning the dhammah is
part of the original verb not an acquired one).
Examples of this in past tense verbs are shown in the following aayaat:
If we look at the verb:

from aayah 26 of surah Ibraheem, we see that there is a hamzah
wasl
as the first letter. As stated previously, we need to count three letters to the left, counting the
hamzah
al-wasl
as the first letter. We can see then, that the
is the third letter, and it has a dhammah on
it.
This is an original dhammah and we therefore start this word with a dhammah on the hamzah alwasl.
Remember, we only use the hamzah al-wasl when starting the word. If we are reading in
continuum
with
the
words before this verb, we would drop the hamzah al-wasl and join directly the vowel on the last
letter of the word before
Examples of this in the command form of verbs are shown in the following aayaat:
Starting verbs with a kasrah on the hamzah al-wasl
We begin hamzah al-wasl in a verb with a kasrah when in the following cases:
A) If the third letter of the verb has an original kasrah. This is exemplified in the
following aayaat:
B) When the third letter of the verb has a fat-h . This is demonstrated in the following
aayaat:
C) When the third letter of the verb has a presented dhammah. It is to be noticed that in
these next six examples shown below the dhammah is a presented one due to the plurality of the
command form of the verb that has an harf ila
, (either an alif, ya or wow) as the last
letter in the essential make up of the verb. When these verbs are the plural command form, there
would have been a ya saakinah followed by a wow saakinah which is quite heavy for the
tongue, so the Arabs drop the ya saakinah in these forms of the verb, and the third letter acquires
a presented dhammah. These are the only five verbs in the Quran that have a presented
dhammah in the third letter, but it should be noted that some of these verbs occur in the Quran
in different forms of the same verb. . As stated previously, when starting with one of these six
verbs, we start with a kasrah not a dhammah.
When starting with the word

it is read as
employing the rule of medd al-bedl
which was previously discussed, which is: whenever there are two hamzahs next to each other in
one word, the first voweled and the second non-voweled, the second hamzah is changed to a
medd letter from the same type as the vowel on the first hamzah. Therefore, since the first
hamzah now has a kasrah, the second hamzah, which is saakinah, will change into a lengthened
ya.
Still another item to be noticed is that if the conjunctive
which means and precedes a
verb that begins with a hamzah al-wasl, or another conjunctive letter such a
and we
are beginning with this verb, we must begin with the

or
due to its strong link
to the verb. We therefore read the wow with a fath, then continue reading the verb. We do not
apply the
rules in this case. An example of this is in the following:

The last tidbit lesson discussed hamzah al-wasl in verbs and how to determine which vowel to
use when starting on a verb that begins with hamzah al-wasl. We now will start explaining
hamzah al-wasl in "nouns". Please refer to the brief grammar lessons in the tidbit archives for an
explanation on
The
which is loosely translated as "nouns" but involves more than nouns.

can be in regular or irregular in nouns.
The
in nouns is always started with a kasrah. This lesson will explain the
regular nouns, and next lesson, insha' Allah will explain the irregular nouns.
The Hamzah Al-Wasl in Regular Nouns

Original noun (
) derived from five and six letter verbs.
A
is defined as: A noun that points to the moment of occurrence.
These
(plural of
) that begin with
are derived from either a five-letter
verb that has the same letter and vowel weight as

or a six-letter verb with the same letter
and vowel weight as
.When these verbs are in the noun form, the third letter has a kasrah
and an alif is added before the last letter. The verb root word
noun form of it, and the verb root word
becomes
Examples of five letter original nouns (

following aayaat:
) starting with
The word
in:
The word
in:
The word
in:
then becomes
in the
in the noun form.

are found in the
Original noun of a six letter past tense verb:

The following aayaat exemplify
a six letter past tense verb:
The word
in:
beginning with hamzah wasl that have been derived from
The word
The word
in:
in:
Please note that the other word starting with a hamzah wasl in this phrase:
is a verb.
As said at the beginning of this lesson, all nouns, including regular nouns or
that begin
with hamzah al-wasl start with a kasrah on the hamzah wasl. As a reminder, the only time we
put a vowel on the hamzah al-wasl is when beginning the word.

Hamzah Al-Wasl in Irregular Nouns
Last tidbit, we discussed that nouns that have hamzah al-wasl as the first letter are all started with
a kasrah. The last lesson explained hamzah al-wasl in regular nouns; this lesson will describe the
different irregular nouns that start with hamzah al-wasl. Again, these nouns also will have a
kasrah on the hamzah al-wasl when beginning on these words. If however, we are reading these
words in continuum with that which precedes it, we drop the hamzah al-wasl in pronunciation.
The irregular hamzah al-wasl is found in ten specific nouns in the Arabic language, only seven of
these are found in the Holy Quran. Theses irregular nouns starting with hamzah al-wasl found
in the Holy Quran are:
Examples of
Examples of
.
This can be found in the Quran in its singular form and in the double form:
Examples of
in the three different grammatical forms (marfoo', mansoob, or majroor)
Examples of
It can be found written with a

as in:
as the last letter.

or in its double form (
Example of
as in:
as the last letter, or with the
can be found in its singular form :

), both beginning with
Examples of
,
(two). It can be found conjugated with an alif and with or without a noon (
), or with a ya with or without a noon (
Examples of
"
, which is the female form of
).
. This can be conjugated the same ways as
" described above.
The other three nouns that start with

,
,
Note: The word
ways:
that are NOT found in the Quran are:
found in aayah 11 of surah al-Hujuraat can be started two different
1. It can be started with a
with a fat-h on it, followed by a kasrah of the lam: "
"
2. It can be started with
without the hamzah-t al-wasl that precedes it: "
". Both ways
are accepted. The second way is permitted since the

has a presented vowel, and there is
no longer a saakin letter after the hamzah al-wasl, so it is not necessary to start with the hamzah
al-wasl.

This lesson discusses how to begin hamzah wasl in the third part of Arabic speech, participles,
more specifically, the definite article "the" which is a laam attached to a noun, preceded by a
hamzah al-wasl.
The hamzah-t al-wasl can precede the participle
of
. The hamzat al-wasl then
beginning any noun beginning with the laam of the definite article "the" is read with a fat-h .
Examples of this are found in the following:
The
preceded by
disappears in writing and in pronunciation in "
" of nouns when
with a kasrah. This is demonstrated in the following verses:
When the other prepositional

letters enter a noun beginning with
is not pronounced, but is still written in the word:
the
Chart summarizing vowels used when beginning a word with hamzah-t al-wasl
Next lesson, insha' Allah, we will begin discussing what happens when the questioning hamzah
qata' meets with the hamzah wasl in nouns and verbs
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The Meeting of a hamzah qata' and hamzah wasl in one word
There are two possible ways of this occurring. The first way is when the
the
saakinah. The second occurrence is when
precedes
lesson, insha' Allah.
precedes
of questioning (istifhaam)
. We will look as some of these cases this tidbit lesson, and continue next
Case 1: Hamzah al-wasl preceding hamzah al-qata' (

) saakinah.
This only occurs in a few verbs. Examples of this can be found in the following aayaat:
We know from previous subjects that when we join the word preceding the word starting with
hamzah-t al-wasl, we then drop ,
as it is not needed; while the
stays fixed, and is pronounced. In the first example above:

of
saakinah
we would read the
with a kasrah, then immediately pronounce the hamzah qata' saakinah (
When beginning any one of these verbs having a hamzah wasl as the first letter and a hamzah
qata' saakinah as the second letter, we begin with hamzah-t al-wasl with the appropriate vowel,
depending on the vowel of the third letter of the verb and taking into consideration whether it is
an original or presented dhammah. After this, the
that immediately follows is
changed in to a medd letter of the same category as the vowel we used on the hamzah al-wasl. If
we start on hamzah al-wasl with a dhammah the
becomes a lengthened
saakinah that immediately follows
. If, on the other hand, we start the hamzah al-wasl with a kasrah,
the hamzah al-qata' then would be changed to a lengthened

. This rule was previously
discussed under the medd badl lesson, and it is as such: whenever two hamzahs meet, the first
voweled, the second saakinah, the second hamzah changes into a medd letter of the same type as
the vowel on the first hamzah. This rule is employed anytime there are two hamzahs, the first
voweled, the second saakinah, but is used in the hamzah wasl only when starting on a verb that
has a hamzah wasl immediately followed by a hamzah qata' saakinah.
Case 2: The Questioning hamzah al-qata' preceding hamzah al-wasl

This occurs in nouns and verbs. In verbs, the
is eliminated and
of
questioning remains. In nouns both the hamzah qata' and the hamzah wasl remain in the word.
In Verbs
Hamzah al-wasl is dropped in writing and pronunciation and the hamzah al-qata of questioning
remains. This is in verbs. The following aayaat demonstrate this:
The above aayaat are all the cases of the hamzah qata' of questioning preceding hamzah al-wasl
in verbs. As stated previously, hamzah al-wasl is dropped in writing and in pronunciation, and
only
remains. There is no special application in pronunciation, rather the words are
pronounced exactly like they are written.
Next lesson, insha' Allah we will discuss the other occurrence of the questioning hamzah
preceding the hamzah al-wasl, which is in nouns. In the case of nouns, both hamzahs remain and
there are changes made in pronunciation to the hamzah al-wasl. The details will be given, insha'
Allah next lesson.
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The Meeting of a hamzah qata' and hamzah wasl in one word
Continuation of: Case 2 The Questioning hamzah al-qata' preceding hamzah al-wasl
In Nouns
When a hamzah qata (
) indicating a question )
) enters a noun that has the
definite article "alif laam at-ta'reef"

attached at the beginning of it, the hamzah wasl
is undergoes changes, so that the questioning hamzah can be distinguished from the hamzah wasl
of the alif laam at-ta'reef. Without a change in the hamzah al-wasl, it would be impossible to
determine whether there was a question before the
or not, since we begin nouns that
have
in front of them with a fat-h and the
of questioning also begins with
a fat-h. The hamzah wasl would normally not be pronounced at all during continuous reading.
When this questioning hamzah qata is present before a noun starting with
, the
hamzah al-wasl is changed either one of the two following states. Both of these ways of
recitation are allowed in the recitation
(Hafs 'an 'Aasim min tareeq Ash-Shaatibiyyah).
1.
A lengthened alif This is called
2.
An eased hamzah-This is called
of
(ibdaal)
(tas-heel)
The first way:

Its definition: When a hamzah indicating a question (
) enters a noun that has the
definite article "

" , the hamzah al-wasl of
is changed into an lengthened
alif which is lengthened six counts. This lengthening is six vowel counts due to the sukoon on
the lam after the long alif. The medd is
followed by a shaddah, or "light (
and is either "heavy" (
) when
) when there is a simple sukoon after the long alif.
The second way:

When a hamzah indicating a question (
) enters a noun that has the definite article
the hamzah al-wasl,

is pronounced but eased so that it is between a
hamzah and an alif, with absolutely no medd.
Occurrences: This lengthening occurs in three words in six places in the Quran.
The three words are:

The aayaat in which this occurs in are as follows:
To listen to the word,
with ibdaal, (
) click here.
To listen to the word,

with tas-heel (
) click here.
A reminder, all of these three words in the six different aayaat shown above can be read with
either
or
, the two different examples are just examples of two different words each
read a different way; these same words can be read the other way, in the way we read: Hafs 'an
'Aasim min tareeq Ash-Shaatibiyyah.
Repeating again, the reason for the need of the hamzah wasl to be used, but changed, is that
without the questioning hamzah, the word would be started with a fat-h on the hamzah al-wasl.
The questioning hamzah qata' has a fat-h on it, and without using and changing the hamzah wasl,
the listener would not be aware that there was a question. This is because the word would sound
the same with or without the question hamzah qata' if there was no change in the hamzah wasl.
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
two letters and is an inherent part of their makeup.
cannot be separated from these
The ghunnah is not a letter but a characteristic of these two letters, but it has its own distinct
place of articulation.
The ghunnah
mouth.
is articulated from : the hole in the nose that continues back towards inside the
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
(a small
) 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.
The length of time to hold the

and
that have a shaddah on them cannot be given
in counts, instead the timing must be picked up from a teacher who has a strong background and
has learned their recitation at the hands of masters in recitation. The concept of two counts for a
ghunnah is not a correct concept. The ghunnah has different timings depending on whether there
is a shaddah, or if there is hiding of the
or
, or if the two letters are recited
clearly with a sukoon on them, or a vowel. The longest timing for the ghunnah is when there is a
shaddah on one of the two letters.
If we take a look at a few aayaat, we can pick out where the
and
have a shaddah
on them, and therefore the sound of the ghunnah should be lengthened when reciting them.
The next two aayaat there are three different

that have a shaddah on them. They are in
red. Each of them are held for a length of time, equal to each other with a ghunnah (nasalization)
accompanying the lengthening.
In this aayah, there are two different

with a shaddah on them. One in the second word,
the other in the third word. Each of them should be held for a period of time, equal to the other,
elongating the sound with a ghunnah emitted from the nose.
Listen to aayah
Ranks of the ghunnah
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
tanween- and the
This means that the ghunnah is an inherent sound in the

and
-even if it is a
and
, whether the
have a vowel or not.
The letters of the ghunnah: The
and the
. The noon includes the tanween.
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.
4.
Incomplete
Most Incomplete
1. Most complete ghunnah (

shaddah and
) : This is the longest ghunnah. The
with a
with a shaddah fall into this category, as well as when there is an
(idghaam with a ghunnah). This means when there is a

by one of the letters in the "
" group, or when there is
most complete timing. Examples of these are:
saakinah or tanween followed

or a
the ghunnah is given its
2. Complete ghunnah (
): This is the second longest ghunnah. The hidden
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 (
): This ghunnah is shorter in timing than the complete ghunnah.
The
saakinah and
saakinah that are recited with
category of length of ghunnah. Examples are:
4. Most incomplete ghunnah (
, or clearly, are in this
): This is the shortest ghunnah of all. The
and
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 tidbit
lessons, insha Allah.
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
saakinah can have a sukoon on it, as in :
only at the end of the word. The noon

, or can be written with no vowel on it, as in :
. 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

The Merging
completely.
: In this case the

: In this case the
is read clearly
is merged into the next letter either partially or
The Changing
: Here the
The Hiding: The

merged into the next letter.
is changed into another letter.

is hidden so it is not a clear noon, but at the same time, not
Over the next few weeks, Insha Allah, each of these rules will be discussed with an explanation
of their application in recitation.
The (making clear) of the Noon Saakinah and Tanween

The last tidbit 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

lesson describes the first of these rules, the
tanween.
The word
saakinah or tanween. This
or making clear of the
saakinah and
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
rule is applied to the
saakinah or tanween, the
is pronounced clearly, and articulated from its articulation point.

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

The
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

by any of these six letters, the
saakinah or tanween is followed
is then pronounced clearly.
In surah Abasa, aayah 18, there are examples of both a

, and a tanween followed by a letter of
saakinah followed by a letter of

. The first
word of the aayah ends with 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
hamzah and the
are of the six letters that cause the
said clearly, in other words, with an
. Both the
saakinah and tanween to be
The last aayah of surah Al-Ikhlaas has an example of an
of the tanween.
. Listen to this aayah.

An example of a
saakinah in the middle of a word, followed by one of the
is found in the second aayah of Al-Kawthar.

aayah.
In conclusion, when the
. Listen to this
saakinah or tanween are followed by any of the the six letters

, the
Please remember we are only discussing

If there is a vowel on the
accompanying vowel.
letters
is then pronounced clearly.
saakinah, which means it has no vowel on it.
, then it is pronounced from its articulation point with the
Merging of the noon saakinah and tanween part 1

The first tidbit of this series defined the
different possible rules for these letters:
1.
(making clear)
2.
(merging)
3.
4.
(changing)
(hiding).
saakinah and tanween and introduced the four
The second tidbit described the first rule pertaining to the

the
saakinah and tanween, that of
, or making it clear. We now move on to the second of the four possible rules, that of
, or merging of the
saakinah and tanween into the next following letter.
The
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
in the group:
. This means if a
and the letter
or
saakinah or tanween are at the end of a word,
, or
the next word, the
or merging are all the letters
or
or
, or
is the first letter of
then merges into this next letter.
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

with a ghunnah (nasalization). .
, or idghaam
The
or complete merging of the
the next word, is done when the

followed by a
or a
known as
saakinah or tanween into the first letter of
saakinah or tanween are at the end of a word and are

as the first letter of the next word. As stated, this is also
, or idghaam without a ghunnah, since the
to the
or
type of
, the
letter before the
and there is no left over ghunnah from the
completely merges in
. When there is this
is not pronounced whatsoever, instead the reciter proceeds from the

or the vowel that is with the tanween, directly to the first letter of the
next word which will have a shaddah (the little

Examples of this are:
) on it because of the
(merging).
Click here to listen to this aayah

In this aayah, there is a tanween dhammah on the letter
(this first
do with the rule for the tanween here), followed by a
as the first letter of the next word.
The reciter should go directly from the dhammah on the

first word to the
which is the last letter on the
that is the first letter of the next word. The idghaam or merging of the
saakinah of the tanween is complete into the
which becomes emphasized
(doubled) as a result of this merging. This doubling of the

mark, or little
has nothing to
is represented by the shaddah
over the letter.
The same process takes place whether the

as the next following example, or an unwritten
saakinah is actually a written
such
in the case of the tanween.
The next tidbit lesson will, insha' Allah, continue with the idghaam lesson.
Merging of the noon saakinah and tanween part 2

Idghaam with a ghunnah
This is the fourth lesson concerning the
In all the rules concerning the
the
saakinah and tanween.

saakinah and tanween, the letter that immediately follows
is what determines which rule is applied. The last lesson 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:
merges into the next letter. The idghaam, or merging of the
the
then
saakinah and tanween is
further divided into two groups,

(idghaam with a ghunnah) and
(idghaam
without a ghunnah). Ghunnah means nasalization. The last lesson outlined the sub-group of
which occurs when the
or
saakinah or tanween is followed by either a
This lesson 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
and tanween, that being the letters in the group
without a ghunnah group, the
,
, and
saakinah
, and remove the letters of the idghaam
and
, we have left four letters, the
, or if we put them in a word, the letters of the word:
,
. When there is
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 group
, the
merges into the next letter, with a prolonged
nasalization, or ghunnah accompanying this merging. In the case of the

tanween merging with the
or
saakinah or
the ghunnah is a left over from the
this characteristic is not present in these two letters, and the merging is
incomplete merging), since the characteristic of the ghunnah of the
case of the
saakinah or tanween merging with the
, since
(an
remained. In the
or
, the majority of
scholars agree that this is a complete merging, and the ghunnah that is heard is from the
or the
Examples of
,now with a shaddah that the
saakinah or tanween has merged into.
In this above aayah, there are two occurrences of

saakinah at the end of the first word of the aayah. This
is the first word of the next word. The
instead we directly go from the letter before the
, the first one with a

is followed by a
, which
as far as an articulating letter is not pronounced,

, 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

tanween then merges into the
left over from the
. The
of the
with an accompanying ghunnah, or nasalization, which is
Other examples of
are:
The idghaam of the
saakinah and tanween can only occur between two words. If there
is a
saakinah in the middle of a word followed by one of the idghaam letters, there is no
merging, instead the

(with an
by a
is pronounced clearly
). In the Glorious Quran this only occurs with the

or a
This is called:
saakinah followed
, and in only four words.
(absolute clearness).
In the next lesson, insha Allah, we will cover exceptions to the idghaam rule.
Exceptions to the idghaam rule of the noon saakinah

Exceptions to the rule of
(merging)
The last two lessons described the merging of the

word, with any of the letters of the group
The
saakinah and tanween at the end of a

at the beginning of the next following word.
, or merging was further broken down into two sub-groups:
1.
(idghaam without a ghunnah).
2.
(Idghaam with a ghunnah).
The
(idghaam without a ghunnah) was described as occurring when the
saakinah or tanween was at the end of a word and the first letter of the next word was either a
or a
. The second sub-group,
to take place when the
(idghaam with a ghunnah) was determined
saakinah or tanween was at the end of a word and the first letter
of the next word was one of the letters of the group:
This lesson explains a few cases in the Glorious Quran when there is a
saakinah at the
end of a word, and the next word starts with one of the letters of the group
no
(merging), instead the
is recited clearly, or with an
, but there is
.
The first case is in aayah 27 of surah Al-Qiyaamah:

second word of this aayah
is a
ends with a
. The
saakinah, and the first letter of the next word
. Under normal circumstances, there would be
a ghunnah, since the
is one of the letters that cause an
, or an idghaam without
when it follows a
saakinah. In this aayah though, there is a brief breathless pause, known in Arabic as a
between the word
prevents the
word,
, and the next word:
saakinah of the word
. There is therefore, no
. This short pause without a breath
from meeting with the
, or merging, of the
of the following
saakinah with the
here. If you look at the aayah, you will see a small letter
indicates to the reciter that there is a
.
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 Al-Qalam,
, the first letter

recited just as you would read the word:
. This word
If we were to join this individual letter, recited as the word

we notice that the next word
saakinah followed by a
starts with a
, the
ends with a
, is
saakinah.
with the next following word,

. Usually if there is a
rule applies. In this case, however, Hafs an
Aasim by the way of Shatabiyyah, 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
can be said about the
, but continuing is allowed. The same things said about this example
saakinah at the end of the individual separate letter
first two ayaat of surah Ya-Seen:
. The
second separate letter of the first aayah is the letter

saakinah. The first word of the second aayah
the first word is the letter
would be a
in the
which ends with a

starts with the letter
(actually
). If we were to join the first and second aayah together, there
saakinah (the last letter of the word
) meeting with the letter
. As the previous tidbit lesson stated, there normally would be

, but as above
Hafs An Aasim by the way of Shatibiyyah, does not make an idghaam when joining these two
aayaat together; instead the
the next word, the letter
saakinah of the word
Allah, will explain the
), then
is read with the accompanying vowel.
These are the exceptions to the idghaam rule for the

the explanation of the
is recited clearly (
rule of the
(changing) rule.
saakinah and tanween. This ends
saakinah and tanween. The next tidbit, insha
Changing (iqlaab) rule of the noon saakinah and tanween

The
(changing) of the
saakinah and tanween is defined in applied tajweed as:
The changing of noon saakinah or the tanween into a

the observance of a lengthened ghunnah on the letter
If the letter
occurs immediately after a
two words (meaning the
, when followed by a
with
.
saakinah in the same word, or between
saakinah or the tanween would be at the end of word, and 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 Quran 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
in this case has a tail on the end of it.
The
hidden, not by leaving a small space between the lips, as some modern scholars have
said, but by closing the lips and holding the
for the length of the ghunnah, then opening
them with 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
In this first example above, the
saakinah is the last letter of
of the written part of the aayah. The next word, starts with the letter
then changed in pronunciation to a
are separated pronouncing the letter
, and this
.
the next to the last word

. The
is
is held with a ghunnah, then the lips

In this example above, the
letter
. The
saakinah is in the middle of the word and followed by the

saakinah is changed into a
just as in the previous example.
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
same way as the other examples. The little

examples. The little
tanween.
, is done in the
can be seen written over all of these
takes the place of the second dhammah, fat-h, or kasrah of the
Hiding (ikhfa') rule of the noon saakinah and tanween

This lesson defines the
The
, the last of the four rules for the
saakinah and tanween.
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

remaining on the first letter, in this case the
The letters of the
for the
and an
with a ghunnah
saakinah and the tanween.
saakinah and tanween are all the remaining letters in
the Arabic alphabet after we remove the letters that cause

are 15 letters in the Arabic alphabet, all causing
tanween; they are:
, or hiding of the
, and
. There
saakinah and
If a
saakinah or tanween is followed by any of these 15 letters, we hide the
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

the
saakinah or tanween is also known as
The technique of the
of the
. The
(or hiding) of
takes practice to perfect. There is no difference in
the
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 shouldnt 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
saakinah and tanween:
Click here to listen to aayah

In this example above, there is a
by the letter
saakinah in the middle of the second word, followed
, one of the letters of
articulation point of the
. We dont let our tongue touch the
, 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 Quran 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
first letter of the next following word. The
as the
is one of the letters that causes hiding of the
saakinah and tanween. The technique is similar to that described above, except our
tongue should get close to the articulation point of the
instead of the

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 dont 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.
Al-Waqf (The Stop) 1

Introduction
One of the most important areas in the science of tajweed is knowledge of
and
which means: the stop and the beginning. The understanding of Allahs words cannot be
realized, nor comprehension achieved, without this knowledge. One scholar described the stop (
) as: The stop is sweetness of tilawah, beautifies the reciter, an announcement of the
succeeding, understanding for the listener, pride of the scholar, and through it one knows the
difference between two may Allah bedifferent meanings. It has been reported that Ali,
when asked about Allahs statement,pleased with him,
said, Tarteel means tajweed of the letters, and knowledge of
stops. Imam Al-Jazaree's book: An-Nashr 1:209. [Note: This statement of Ali, may Allah be
pleased with him, is not traceable by a chain that we can find. ]
The linguistic definition of the stop: Halt and imprisonment.
Its applied tajweed definition is: Cutting of the sound at the end of a word, usually for the
period of time of breathing, with the intention of return to the recitation, not with the intention of
abandoning the recital.
The basmalah is required after the stop when beginning a surah.
The stop can be at the end of an aayah, or in the middle of an aayah.
It can never be in the middle of the word, nor in between two words that are joined in
writing, such as stopping on "
", when written as a joined phrase "
" in the aayah:
Divisions of the Stop

There are three divisions:
1. The Test Stop
:
This is what is required of the student when being examined or taught by a teacher. The teacher
may stop the student and correct them in a letter, in reading, in tajweed, or anything else that
they feel needs correcting. The student stops when instructed to, and attempts to correct the
mistake.
2. The Compelled Stop
: This is what happens when the reader has a
compelling reason for stopping such as shortness of breath, sneezing, coughing, disability,
forgetfulness, and whatever is similar to these causes. In these cases it is allowed to stop on the
end of the word the reciter was at, even if the meaning is not complete. After the compelling
state has passed, the reader then starts with the word stopped on, and then joins it with what
follows if it is a sound beginning; if not, the reader then should start back one or two or more
words, until they can start with what is sound for a beginning.
3. The Optional Stop
This is what was intended by the reciter by his own choice, without any outside reasons. This is
the category of stopping that will be discussed in the next several tidbit lessons, and the category
that needs to studied and applied in the correct way by the student of the Qur'an.
Some scholars add a fourth division of stopping called a "waiting stop", or
.
This stop occurs when the reader stops at a word that has more than one allowed way of
recitation and there is the intention of resuming the recitation with another allowed way. This
type of stop happens when reading by combining all of the different ways of recitation while
being taught by, or presenting the reading to a sheikh.
The Optional Stop
The optional stop is divided into four categories:

1. Complete (
2. Sufficient (
3. Good (
)
)
4. Repulsive (
)
We will cover these four different optional stops in the future, starting with the complete stop,
insha' Allah, next lesson.

In the last tidbit lesson, now located in the tidbit archives area, the subject of the stop was
introduced. We stated that there were three categories of stop, and only one of these categories is
under the reader's control, and this is the category that will be discussed over the next few tidbit
lessons, the optional stop, or
. We stated that the optional stop, has four
divisions, the first being the complete stop, or
, which will be discussed this lesson.
The Complete Stop

Its definition: It is the stop on a Qur'anic word complete in meaning and not attached to
what follows it in grammatical expression or in meaning. If something is attached in meaning,
it means that the preceding and following words are attached in meaning, but not necessarily
attached in grammatical structure. This category of stop is usually found at the end of an ayah,
and at the completion of stories in the Glorious Quran. This is exemplified in stopping on the
aayah:
"Sovereign of the Day of Recompense." and then starting with Allahs
words:
"It is You we worship and You we ask for help."
The first subject of praising Allah, the Exalted, is finished with the end of aayah four, and aayah
five starts a new subject and dua'.
Another example is when stopping on
, at the end of aayah five of surah al-Baqarah.
then starting with the next aayah:

"Those are upon [right] guidance from their
Lord, and it is those who are the successful. * Indeed, those who disbelieve."
This is because the word
" (successful) is attached to what preceded it as to the
characteristics of the believers, and what follows is separate from it, attached to the state of the
disbelievers.
Sometimes the scholars differ as to where in an aayah there is
, depending on their
varied opinions of the tafseer of the verse as well as grammar analysis. The study of the stop is
not a black and white area of study, unlike other areas of tajweed.
The rule for the complete stop (
stop, and then start on what follows it.
): It is best to stop on the word that is a complete
The Sufficient Stop

Its definition: It is the stop on a Qur'anic word that is complete in meaning, and is attached to
what follows it in meaning, but not in grammar. It can be at the end of a verse, or in a middle of
a verse. It is called
or sufficient, due to its lack of attachment grammatically to what
follows, even though it is attached in meaning.
Its rule: It is advisable to stop on it and start with that which follows, just as in the complete
stop.
Examples of
:: Stopping on the word

at the end of aayah 4.
at the end of aayah 3 is a
as well as the word
The translation of the explanation of the meaning is: Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer,
and spend out of what We have provided for them* And who believe in what has been revealed to
you [O Mohammed], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in
faith].
The subject matter in aayah 3 and 4, and continued in aayah 5 is describing the believers that are
rightly guided by Allah. Each aayah ends a complete grammatical phrase, since it is very
acceptable for sentences to start with the word "and" in Arabic, but is joined with that which
comes next in meaning, but not in grammar. Although linked in meaning, each phrase stands on
its own in conveyed meaning.
Stopping on the word:
The
translation of the explanation of the meaning is:
And [mention O Mohammed] when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the
earth a successive authority." They said, "Will you place upon it one who causes corruption
therein?"

The Good Stop
Its Definition: It is the stop on a Qur'anic word, complete in its meaning, but is attached to what
follows it grammatically and in meaning.
It could be attached grammatically such as stopping on something that has a subsequent
adjective, before the adjective. It could be stopping on a conjunctive sentence, without the
conjunction and its following phrase. Another possibility is stopping on an exceptional
statement, without the exception.
can be found at the end of verses, or in the middle
of verses, just as the other stops.
Reason for its name: It is called "hasan" or good due to the fact that stopping on it leads to
understanding of a meaning.
Its rule: it is allowed to stop on it, but not allowed to start on what follows it due to its
attachment to what follows grammatically and in meaning, except on the end of an aayah. .
Stopping on the end of an aayah is Sunnah.
Examples of
1.
We can stop on the word
in the phrase: In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, as
the meaning in itself is fully understood, but we can not start with what comes next: The
Especially Merciful, as it is related in grammar and in meaning to that which precedes it, and by
itself does not carry a complete meaning.
2.
Allah's words can be translated in meaning as: Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon
their hearing. If we stop on the word
(their hearts), the meaning is understood and it is
allowed to stop. The next phrase, (and upon their hearing) is not understood alone, and is
connected to that which came before it in grammar (most specifically in the verb
set a seal)and in meaning.
, (meaning
3.
In this part of aayah five of surah Al-Bayyinah, we can stop on the word
, with the
interpretation of the meaning in English: And they were not commanded except to worship
Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and there is an understood meaning,
but the next phrase: and to establish prayer and to give zakah, is connected grammatically and in
meaning to the phrase at the beginning of the aayah: And they were not commanded except; so
we cannot start on this phrase without joining it to the previous words.
As stated in the rule for this stop, it is allowed to stop on it, but not allowed to start with what
follows this stop; there are times when what starts after this stop changes the complete meaning
and is one of the worst degrees of repulsiveness. An example of this is found in verse 1 of surah
al-Mumtahinah
An interpretation of the meaning in English is: O you have believed, do not take My enemies and
your enemies as allies, extending to them affection while they have disbelieved in what came to
you of the truth, having driven out the Prophet and yourselves because you believe in Allah, your
Lord.
A reader stopping on
, would be stopping on a
; but starting with what follows
is a repulsive start . The meaning would then be that of a warning, stating be

careful not to believe in Allah, because
can mean a warning, instead of the intended
meaning of "they turn out the Messenger and yourselves". In the intended meaning
means "and yourselves". Obviously this is a very bad start indeed.
A note: Some scholars may consider a particular stop
, while others consider the same
stop
, and still others
. This difference of opinion stems from variances in conclusions
as to the make-up of the grammatical sentence.
The Repulsive Stop

Its Definition: It is the stop on what does not give a correct meaning, and that is due to its
strong attachment to what follows in grammar, and in meaning.
It would be
if one stopped on the adjective without the noun, such as stopping on the word
meaning 'mention' in:
[This is] a mention* of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah.
Stopping on
in:
It would also be
if one stopped on the verb without the subject, as in stopping on
in:
Allah said *, Indeed, I will send it down to you

There are many examples of these. The repulsive stop (
) is not limited to just these
categories. Any time the phrase is incomplete in grammar and meaning it is,
or repulsive.
Some other examples follow. Stopping on the red asterisks on the following examples of aayaat
would have an incomplete and incomprehensible meaning:
[All] praise* is to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
The Day when We will fold * the heaven like the folding of a [written] sheet for the records.
They said, "How* can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?"
The Arbitrary Stop

This stop follows
. Some reciters stop on their own whims without following the
meaning and grammatical make-up of the aayah and this is called the arbitrary stop:
There are degrees of repulsiveness in

, where one stop can be more
than
another :
1. Stopping on a phrase no meaning, as in stopping on the following words after only reading
the one word:
2. Stopping on a word signifying a meaning other than what Allah, the Perfect wants, such as
stopping on the word
"and the dead", and not stopping on the compulsory stop on the
word before,
"those who hear".
The aayah can be interpreted in English as:

"Only those who hear will respond. And the dead*-Allah will resurrect them; then to Him they
will be returned."
The incorrect stop would then have a different meaning than is actually wanted, indicating
incorrectly that the dead hear too.
3. Stopping on a word signifying the opposite of what Allah, subhaanah, wants:
The explanation of the meaning in English is:
"O you who have believed, do not approach prayer * while you are intoxicated until you know
what you are saying."
Stopping on the word "prayer" would indicate that Allah, far exalted be He from such a
statement, was saying 'do not approach prayer', when in fact He is stating not to approach prayer
when intoxicated.
The explanation of the meaning in English:
"But if they turn away-then We have not sent you *,
[O Muhammad] over them as a guardian."
Stopping on the phrase "We have not sent you" would indeed alter the intended meaning of
Allah, Glory be to Him, and not allowed.
These stops obvious corrupt the meaning. All effort must be made not to stop at such places,
unless compelled due to reasons beyond ones control; if that happens, then the reciter must go
back a few words when starting again to convey the correct meaning.
4. Stopping on a place that signifies that which is not a suitable description of The Exalted, or
that which contradicts our creed. The explanation of the translation of the meaning of the aayaat
follow each aayah:
"Indeed, Allah is not timid * to present an example-that of a mosquito or what is smaller than it"
Stopping then on the word "timid" would indicate a very unsuitable description of Allah, the
Exalted.
"So the disbeliever was overwhelmed, and Allah* does not guide the wrongdoing people."
One not stopping at the indicated stop at the word
and instead stopping on the Glorious
name of Allah would falsely claim that Allah, far is He above this, of being overwhelmed,
subhanahu wa ta'aalaa.
"For those who do not believe in the Hereafter is the description of evil; and for Allah* is the
highest attribute."
Joining the Glorious name of Allah with the description of evil would again put forth a meaning
not at all appropriate for Allah, ta'alaa.
5. Stopping on a negative and the exception to it follows, the English explanation of the
meaning will follow the aayah:
"except Allah *that there is no deity ,[O Muhammad]So know "

Stopping on the word "deity" then would be a contradiction to our faith and creed.
"Similarly, there came not to those before them any messenger* except that they said, "A
magician or a madman."
Also stopping on the word 'messenger' without the word 'except' would be also be in
contradiction to our faith and creed.
Anyone who stops on these last two categories without repeating the last one or two words has
sinned, transgressed, and is ignorant.. If someone stops on these types of stops purposely, he has
disbelieved!! May Allah protect from disbelieve after having faith. Ameen
The rule for the repulsive stop: These stops and those similar to them are not allowed
intentionally. They are only allowed when compelled in such as a situation as unexpected
shortness of breath, sneezing, or forgetting. After the state that compelled the stop has past, the
reader then must repeat one, two, or more words, as necessary to convey the correct and sound
meaning. Sheikh Ibn Al-Jazaree pointed this out in his work:
Meaning:
And other than that which is complete [in meaning] is repulsive and of it
The compelled stop, and start [after it] with that before it.
In the next tidbit lesson, insha' Allah, we will discuss the start, or
al-Ibtidaa' (The Beginning) 1

The beginning, in the knowledge of scholars of recitation, is referring to recitation after cutting
off recitation or stopping. The beginning is only by choice, in contrast to the stop, which may be
by choice or compulsion. For that reason it is demanded of the reader when beginning, that he
start his recitation with an independent phrase that conveys the intended meaning, not attached to
that which precedes it grammatically.
Its rule: It is allowed to begin with what comes after a complete or satisfactory stop under any
circumstances, and allowed to start with that which comes after a good stop, only if it is the end
of a verse. This is only after
and NOT after cutting off
of recitation.
The beginning can be divided into two types:

1.
2.
The allowed beginning

The beginning that is not allowed
The Allowed Beginning

Its Definition: It is starting with an independent phrase that has meaning that makes clear the
meaning that Allah desires, and does not contradict it.
All beginnings after
or
) should only be after a

beginning is the start of an aayah and
Many scholars divide
1.
2.
are allowed, but beginnings after cutting off (

. Beginning after a
is allowed only if the
can only be after a stop, never after
.
into the same categories as
3.
4.
The
is the start after a complete stop, or
. An example of this would be stopping
and taking a breath at the end of aayah 5 of surah al-baqarah,

((and it is those who are the successful)), then starting after the breath with aayah 6 a new
subject,
((Indeed ,those who disbelieve)).
The
is when we start after a sufficient stop,
. Again, we would stop and take
a breath, with the intention of continuing, then go on after the breath and stop. This can be
exemplified by stopping on the end of aayah 20 of surah at-tawbah a
,(sufficient stop) :
((and gardens for them wherein is enduring pleasure)),

then taking a breath and starting with the next aayah:
abiding therein forever.))
The
is only allowed when the
(([They will be]
is at the end of an aayah,
a breath taken then starting with the next following aayah. Other than this, it is not allowed to
make an
An example would be stopping on the end of the ayah:
((And
indeed, you pass by them in the morning)), then starting on the next aayah:
night).
((And at
Next lesson, insha' Allah, will discuss the beginning that is not allowed.
al-Ibtidaa' (The Beginning) 2

The Beginning that is not allowed
It is the beginning that cancels out the intended meaning, or corrupts it, or changes it.
can in this case can run from
(repulsive) to
(more repulsive). One type of
(repulsive start) is starting with that which is attached to what preceded it

grammatically and in meaning, such as in an
comes after a
, meaning starting up on that which
, when it is not at the end of an aayah; any other start on that which is
joined before it in grammar and meaning is also

. An more repulsive beginning would be
when starting with a word that leads to a meaning other than that Allah, The Exalted, wants, or a
meaning that is in disagreement with our creed. Examples of this with the explanation of the
meaning in English after are as follows:
They say,* "Allah has taken a son."

Starting with the first word of their false statement "Allah has taken." is contrary to our basic
beliefs and creed and is a very repulsive stop and not allowed at all.
Allah has certainly heard the statement of those [Jews] who said, *"Indeed, Allah is poor, while
we are rich."
Starting with the statement of the Jews "Indeed, Allah.." without the preceding "those who
said", is again very repulsive and negates our belief in the names and characteristics of Allah.
The Jews say,* "Ezra is the son of Allah;" and the Christians say,* "The Messiah is the son of
Allah."
There are two places in this phrase which we are not allowed to start on; the first, the statement
of the Jews without joining it with what precedes it, the second, the statement of the Christians
without joining it with the preceding statement "the Christians say".
And whoever of them who say,* "Indeed, I am a god besides Him" that one We would
recompense with Hell.
Starting with the statement meaning "Indeed, I am.." without joining it with the previous part
meaning "And whoever of them who say" is forbidden and is of course, a statement of disbelief
in the Oneness of Allah.
The meem saakinah rules, part 1 (ikhfa' shafawee)

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
which means, they have.
The
1.
which means: for you plural, or
saakinah has three possible rules:

Hiding
2.
Merging
3.
Clear
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
then close our lips for the
, and this only occurs between two words, we
with an accompanying ghunnah. This is called
. It is called
meaning in between
because the
and
separate with the letter
has the characteristic of the
since the lips are close with the letter
. It is called
the two lips. A lip in Arabic is
because the
, but the word
, then
and is articulated from
is also used for oral.
could be translated as the oral hiding.
Examples:
The last letter of the second word of this aayah immediately above is a
letter of the next word is a
lips close on with the
therefore
saakinah; the first
(oral hiding) rule is applied. The
the sound is held with a ghunnah for the appropriate period of time,
then the lips separate with the letter

In this aayah, the last letter of the first word is a
word is a
, so
saakinah, and the first letter of the next
(oral hiding) rule is applied as explained above.
The next tidbit lesson will, insha Allah continue with the other
saakinah rules.
The meem saakinah rules, part 2 (idghaam mithlayn sagheer)

Merging (
As a review, the linguistic definition of
) of the
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
If there is a
being saakin and the second having a vowel.
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
saakinah into the
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,
the written out letter
written out letter
surahs, the
is considered one word, so the

merges into the voweled
saakinah at the end of
which is the first letter of the
. Outside of the individual separate letters at the beginning of some

of the
saakinah into a voweled
takes place between two words.
Examples
Click here to listen to the aayah
In the above aayah, there are two examples of merging of the
saakinah into a voweled
. In the first example, the second word of the aayah ends with a
word immediately following,
has a voweled
as its first letter. The
saakinah, and 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 Quran
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 meem saakinah rules, part 3 (ithhaar shafawee)

The Oral Clarity
The previous two tidbit lessons on the
for the
saakinah rules mentioned that there are three rules
saakinah:
1. The Ikhfa Shafwee (oral hiding),

2. The Idghaam Mithlayn Sagheer (the merging of the two alike), and
3. The Ith-haar shafawee.
The first two rules, ikhfa and idghaam were already discussed, and this lesson will explain the
ith-haar rule.
The linguistic definition of
(as a review) is: clear, obvious
Its applied tajweed definition: Pronouncing every letter from its articulation point without a
ghunnah [in this case, without a prolonged ghunnah] on the clear letter.
Note: The letter
has an inherit ghunnah in it, so when there is
of the meem
, the ghunnah is not prolonged, but still present in the letter itself. This can be detected by
closing off your nostrils when pronouncing the letter, the sound will then be imprisoned.
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
saakinah is the
, and in the idghaam mithlayn of the
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

or a
of the
is complete when a
follows it. This care is needed in that the reader should be careful to close
his lips completely and say the

possibility of saying the
saakinah clearly with no partial opening of the lips. The

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

they all use the lips for articulation.
to the
and
, as
TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THIS SECTION

1.
What are the three possible rules of the
saakinah?
2.
What letter(s) cause which rule?
3.
How is the ikhfa of the
saakinah done in tajweed?

4.
Can there be an idghaam of a
saakinah within one word? If yes, give an example, if no, state why.
5.
When is it necessary to make extra certain we are pronouncing the
clearly?
saakinah
The Sakt
Its language definition: Forbiddance
Its applied definition: Cutting off the sound for a time less than the time of a stop, without
breathing, with intention of returning to the recitation immediately.
Places that
has a
It has been related that

would stop gently without breathing
while in the state of continuing his recitation in four places of the revelation. It is required
(waajib) for the reader reciting the Qur'an by the way of Hafs 'an 'Aasim min tareeq AshShatibiyyah to do all of these
as long as he/she is reading the two words that have a
in between them in continuum. If the reader stops between the two words (which is
allowed in al-Kahf and Ya seen), then the
would not be employed, since it is now a stop.
All of these saktaat of Hafs are transmitted by a sound chain of transmission from the Prophet,
. They are often referred to as the saktaat of Hafs because they are unique to the way of
recitation made famous by Imam Hafs.
1. The first
, which as defined is a short breathless stop, is made on the alif substituted in
place of the tanween in the word
, at the beginning of surah al-Kahf, when joining the first
aayah with the next one

, then would read
. This doesnt mean that it is not allowed to stop on the word
it is the end of an aayah. If one stops though, there would be no
2. There is also a
after the word
since
, in aayah 52 of surah YaSeen

when the reader joins it
with the next phrase
without stopping. It is allowed to stop on the word
, then there obviously would be no
3. There is also a
in the recitation of
on the word
, in aayah 27 of surah al-qiyaamah,

recitation continues with the word
; after the sakt, the

. There is
letters from meeting, and therefore there is no

saakinah in the word
4.
no
because again, the
prevents the
. Click here to listen to this saktof the noon
also has a
of the
, since the
on the
of the word
prevents the two letters from meeting so there is
in aayah 14 of surah al-Muttafifeen
the sakt, then recites the next word
with
. Click here to listen to this sakt.
. After
NOTE: These four

are required when reading these words in continuum with what
follows, when reciting by the Shatabiyyah way of Hafs.
There are two allowed (
) sakt in two different places in the Quran. These two sakt are not
specific to the recitation of Hafs, but are allowed in the other ways of recitation also. These
"allowed" saktaat means there is more than one allowed way of reading in these places.
1. The first allowed
is between the end of surah al-Anfaal, and the beginning of surah at-
Tawbah
when joining
the end of al-Anfaal with the beginning of surah at-Tawbah. The allowed
is on the
of the word
then the recitation continues with
allowed ways of joining these two surahs.
2. The second allowed
is on the word
. Again, there are other
, in verse 28 of surah al-Haaqqah when
continuing with the next aayah

.
We previously studied that there is another allowed way of reading when joining these two aayat,
that is idghaam of the first saakinah letter
of the word
of the word
into the voweled
. Both of theses two ways of joining these two aayat are allowable.
NOTE: There is a small

Quran.
above the words indicating the place of
in the Glorious
al-Ikhtilaas
We take a brief break from the lessons on stopping on the end of a word to put forth the lesson
on
, or stealing of a vowel, since it is often compared with
The applied tajweed definition of

is: It is snatching the vowel quickly so that a little
departs (of the vowel count) and more remains.
It is also called
(hiding) by scholars. The scholars have determined that what remains of
the vowel count is two-thirds, and one-third has been removed, or stolen. There is only one
place in the Qur'an where Hafs 'an 'Aasim has the possibility of reading a vowel with
: that is when reading the word
in aayah 11 of surah Yusef (surah 12) with one of the two
allowed ways, one being with
and an ith-haar of the two
, the first with a
dhammah (with ikhtilaas of the vowel) and the second with a fat-h; recited as:
written shaddah over the letter
represents two letters, and Hafs 'an 'Aasim reads this
word either with idghaam of the two

of both
. The
into each other with
with
of the dhammah on the first
of the two lips, or with

.
Both
and
share the characteristic of dividing the vowel, meaning removal of
part of it, and leaving the other part of it. The following table summarizes the differences
between
and
Stopping on the Ends of Words 1
Words are divided into two categories pertaining to the ending of the word, in other words, the
last letter. The end of a word can be classified as
alif or a
, or a
The second category for the end of a word is called:

alif or a
, or a
(strong), meaning the last letter is not an
(weak), meaning the last letter is an
This is exemplified in:.
We will be spending the next several lessons on the subject of stopping on words with strong
endings.
The Stop on a Word With a Strong Ending
In a word with a strong ending (
), the last letter of this word can have a sukoon when
continuing or stopping, such as in
, or it can be voweled and
the sukoon is presented when stopping, as in
. If the end of the word
has a fixed sukoon, the stop can only be with a sukoon, as the
in
.
If the end of the word was voweled and we are stopping on it with a presented sukoon, then there
are five possible ways of stopping on it.
1.
2.
(the pure, unmixed sukoon)

(giving only 1/3 of a vowel count)-to be discussed later
3.
(a dhammah of the two lips, with no sound)-to be discussed later
4.
(deletion)
5.
(substitution)
We we start by explaining
then in the next lesson
, insha' Allah, to avoid
confusion later when explaining some possibilities in the pure sukoon category.
Stopping with
and What is Allowed With it
The linguistic definition of
: The request
Its applied tajweed definition: Weakening of the sound with a vowel until most of its sound
disappears with that weakening. It is also defined as using part of a vowel.
When discussing
below, please note that we are addressing the vowel on the last letter of a
word.
The scholars have determined that the weakening of the sound with a vowel, or reciting with part
of a vowel is one third when stopping with
. More is removed from the vowel than
remains when reciting with

. The sound is weakened due to the shortening of its time; the
close listener can hear it, even if blind.
Stopping with
can be on dhammah of conjugated (
) and fixed dhammahs (
) and
can be on the kasrah of conjugated (

)and fixed kasrahs (
). It does not matter if
the letter stopped on is without a shaddah, or with a shaddah, whether the last letter is a hamzah
or not, or whether it as a tanween or not. If there is a tanween it must not be
1. "Maftoohah"; meaning it must not have a fat-h.
2.
(a word with a tanween ending with alif maqsoora) , as in
The tanween in both of these cases is changed into an alif when stopping. Again, it is not
possible to stop on words ending with a tanween fat-h with
cannot be on a fat-h whether it is conjugated or fixed and it also cannot be on a presented

kasrah or dhammah put on a letter to get rid of the occurrence of two saakin letters juxtaposed.
Sheikh Ash-Shatabee in his prose:

following way.
2
1
, described
in the
1. And your "rawm" 2. With a hidden

is listening to your sound every close
vowel when stopping one {can hear}
The word that we are stopping on using
, meaning giving the dhammah or kasrah on the
last letter 1/3 of its normal vowel timing is treated as we do when continuing as far as tafkheem
and tarqeeq of the letter
, the counting of
, and the observance of a
qalqalah on the letters of qalqalah. In other words, there would only be two counts on
, there would be no qalqalah on the letters of qalqalah, and the tafkheem or
tarqeeq of the
would depend on the vowel on the last letter.

Stopping with
and What is Allowed With It
The definition of
in applied tajweed is: An expression of circling the two lips, without a
sound after pronouncing the last letter saakin, indicating a dhamm.
It is necessary that there be a space left between the two lips when executing
. It is
important that
be after making a sukoon on the last letter, without relaxation.
is
seen visually and not heard audibly, which is why only one endowed with eyesight can perceive
it. This is the opposite of
which is heard, but has nothing to do with eyesight.
is
allowed after a dhammah of a conjugated word, and a fixed dhammah of a non-conjugated word,
excluding all other vowels. It only is suitable for words that end in a dhammah since it consists
of making a dhammah of the two lips. Sheikh Ash-Shaatibiyy, may Allah be Merciful to him,
described
in his prose,
, as:
The only place in the Qur'an where
is required by Hafs 'an 'Aasim by the way of
Shatibiyyah is when reading the word
with an idghaam of the two letter
Other than this specific word (when reading with an idghaam) both
and
are simply
allowed possible ways of stopping on words within the restrictions laid out for each of them. It
is infrequent that a reciter uses these ways of stopping in normal recitation of Hafs 'an 'Aasim.
Both of these ways of stopping need to be learned from and practiced in front of a qualified
teacher of the Qur'an. These two ways of stopping are used more frequently in the qira'aat to
make clear the vowel on the last letter recited if it is a conjugated or fixed dhammah for both
or
or a conjugated or fixed kasrah for
only. Students of ijaazah in the
recitation of Hafs 'an 'Aasim would be required on request by the certified sheikh giving the
ijaazah, to stop on appropriate words with these two allowable ways to make certain that the
student of ijaazah is accomplished in stopping with these two ways as well as knowledgeable of
the vowel on the last letter of the word stopped on. The normal and by far the most common
way of stopping on the end of a word is with the pure sukoon (
explained in the next few tidbit lessons, insha' Allah.
), which will be

The Pure Sukoon
In the first part of this section on stopping on the ends of words, we stated that there are five
possible ways of stopping on a word that has a "strong" (
) ending. We had stated that:
If the end of the word was voweled and we are stopping on it with a presented sukoon, then there
are five possible ways of stopping on it.
1.
2.
3.

(giving only 1/3 of a vowel count)
(a dhammah of the two lips, with no sound)
4.
(deletion)
5.
(substitution)
We have discussed stopping with

and
, and the lessons on these two ways of
stopping are located in the tidbit archives section of this site. We will now will discuss stopping
on
(the pure, unmixed sukoon) over the next few lessons.
Stopping with a pure sukoon
and what is allowed with it
The sukoon is tantamount to removing the vowel on the letter that is being stopped on; and
can be defined as: clearly void or free from
and
can be put on the dhammah, kasrah, and fat-h of conjugated words , and on the
same vowels on fixed (non-conjugated) words. It can be on a word that ends with a shaddah or
without, those that end with a tanween or not, but can not be on a word that ends with a tanween
that has a fat-h, as in
. As a reminder, these categories of stopping on the end of
words are for those words not ending with an alif, wow, or ya' as these are not "strong" (
in ending.
Stopping with a pure sukoon is the usual way we stop on words. As we already discussed in
previous lessons, in addition to stopping on the pure sukoon
be stopped on other ways, such as stopping with
That which can stop only on a pure sukoon, and
, some words can
or
can only be stopped with the pure sukoon (
. There are some words that

).
and
are not permitted
There are five different categories in which we can only stop with a pure sukoon and no other
way of stopping is allowed. We will discuss three of them this lesson and continue with the
other two next lesson, insha' Allah.
1. That which has a sukoon on the end when continuing and when stopping (fixed sukoon), as
in
or
2.
Presented vowelization. That which is voweled when continuing with a
presented vowel to eliminate the meeting of two non-voweled letters, as in the presented kasrah
on the
in the command form of the verb:
in the phrase:
Another example of a presented vowel on the end of a word to prevent the meeting of two saakin
letters from meeting is the vowel on the letter
in the word
in the phrase
vowel
is
Included in
. The plural
in
the
normally has a sukoon on it and the only time it acquires a

case
of
two
saakin
letters
meeting.
(presented vowels) are the words
kasrah on the
is presented. Both
vowel, because its origin was a sukoon.
and
and
, because the
are forbidden from the presented
3. That which has a fat-h on it, but not with a tanween. Examples:
.
We will continue explaining the other two circumstances for stopping only with a pure sukoon,
insha' Allah, next lesson.

and what is allowed with it part 2
That which can stop only on a pure sukoon, and

permitted.
and
are not
In the last tidbit lesson, now located in the tidbit archives, we state that there are five different
categories in which we can only stop with a pure sukoon and no other way of stopping is
allowed. We will discussed three of them last lesson and continue with the other two this
lesson.
4. The female
which has two divisions:
A. A division that was written with
or
,This is exemplified in the words:
All agree that these words have

allowed. This is due to that fact that
when stopping,
and
and
are not
both make clear the vowel (when the
word is read continuing) of the letter that is being stopped on, here the letter
has no vowel when continuing, because it is exchanged for the letter
is
non-existent
when
, which
, and this
stopping.
B. A division that was written with an open
. This division, according to the way of
reading of Hafs can be stopped on with three ways; with

depending
on
the
vowel
of
, or
the
when
or
continuing.
If it has a dhammah, it can be stopped on all three ways, as in:

If it has a kasrah it can be stopped on with
or
, as in:
If it has a fat-h, it can only be stopped on using a pure sukoon (
), as in:
.
It is to be noted that the female
conjugated).
5. The pronoun
is always conjugated, and never fixed (not
The pronoun
which is at the end of words such as in:
or
or
can be stopped with an absolute sukoon, and all are agreement with this. There is a difference of
opinion as to whether it can be stopped with
concerning this.
A. The first school of thought:
on the
, using the female
or
. There are three schools of thought
Complete forbiddance of stopping with
or
as a gauge because of the similarity between
it and the pronoun

when stopping. In this school of thought only
pure sukoon is allowed when stopping.
B. The second school of thought:
Allowance of
stopping depending on the vowel of the
when continuing. We can stop with
this school of thought when there is a kasrah or dhammah on the
and
or
when
, and stop with
when there is a dhammah on the

C. The third school of thought:
stopping on
. We will discuss this school of thought for
, insha' Allah in the next tidbit lesson
in

(continued)
, and what is allowed with it
Last lesson we discussed the ways we are allowed to stop on words that end with a
(pronoun). We explained that there are three different schools of thought on whether we can
stop with
or
, and discussed the first two schools of thought. This lesson we
discuss the third school of thought. As an overview, we will briefly review the other two schools
of thought.
5.
The pronoun
The pronoun
which is at the end of words such as in:
or
or
can be stopped with an absolute sukoon, and all are agreement with this. There is a difference of
opinion as to whether it can be stopped with
concerning this.
A. The first school of thought:
on the
or
. There are three schools of thought
Complete forbiddance of stopping with
or
B. The second school of thought:
Allowance of
and
stopping depending on the vowel of the
when continuing.
when
C. The third school of thought:

. It is divided into sections, and according to
Imam Al-Jazaree it is the most correct school of thought.
There is forbiddance of
states.
and
These four states that forbid
in four states, and allowance of them in all other

and
in this school of thought on the
are:
1) When a
saakinah occurs before a pronoun

or
2) When a
saakinah occurs before the
whether it is a lengthened
leen, as in:
of a leen
saakinah as in:
.
, no matter if it is a lengthened
.
, with no difference being made to
, or
saakinah of a
3) When a kasrah precedes it
4) When a dhammah precedes it
There then remains after the four previous forbidding states, three states that permit in them
stopping on the
They are:
with
and
1)
When a lengthened alif occurs before the
2)
When a fat-hah precedes it.
3)
When a true sukoon precedes it.
It is to be noted that the
, in addition to the complete sukoon.
is never conjugated, and is fixed in vowel either with a
dhammah or a kasrah. The

can be stopped on with
and
in the
three previously discussed allowable states, according to its vowel when continuing.
If it has a dhammah, then it can be stopped on with a complete sukoon, or with
, or with
.
If it has a kasrah it is only allowed to stop on it with
or with a complete sukoon (
).
The following chart summarizes the three schools of thought on stopping with words ending with
the pronoun
Stopping with Deletion
Stopping with deletion can be in three cases the way we read (Hafs 'an Aasim by the way of AshShatibiyyah).
1. The dhammah and kasrah tanween are dropped, or deleted in pronunciation when stopping.
The
saakinah of the tanween is what is deleted. This is exemplified in the words of
Allah the Exalted:
2. The lengthening of the vowel of
. The silah lengthening of
deleted (dropped) when stopping whether the lengthening was a
or a
is
as when
stopping at the end of the aayah:
3. The extra ya for those who establish them when continuing. This occurs only once the way
we read (
Naml:
), and that is in the word
. In the above aayah, the word

established
is read with an
with a fat-h on the end of it, when continuing. When stopping on this word,
there are two ways that are allowed by

is by deleting the
in surah An-
. One of these ways
, the other allowable way is by keeping the

As stated in the previous lessons on stopping on the ends of words, there are five different ways
of stopping on the ends of words. The first four have been discussed in the last several lessons
and this lesson explains the last way of stopping. Some words can be stopped on more than one
way, and some words can only be stopped on one way. The five possible ways of stopping are:
1.
2.

(giving only 1/3 of a vowel count)-to be discussed later
3.
(a dhammah of the two lips, with no sound)-to be discussed later
4.
(deletion)
5.
(substitution)
We will now discuss the last way of stopping on the end of a word.
Stopping with Substitution

There are two cases of stopping with
The first case consists of the following three types of tanween.

1. The tanween with a fat-h, no matter if the alif is written with it or not, as in:
2. The tanween in all alif maqsoora, no matter what their conjugation, since they are all written
with a fat-h. Examples can be found in the following aayaat:
3. Stopping on the utterance of
when it has a tanween, as in:
The tanween is changed into an alif in all three of these types. Similar to these is the light
emphasized noon in two places in the Quran, verse 32 in surah Yousef
and
verse
15
in
surah
Al-'Alaq:
The second case

This case consists of
that is at the end of a singular noun, as in:
In this case the is changed into a when stopping. If it has a tanween, an in

the tanween is deleted, and the
and the word is stopped with
is changed into a

Application of the lessons on stopping on the ends of words with a strong ending
This lesson is a brief explanation of the application of the previous lessons on stopping on the
end of words. This lesson ends the section on stopping on the ends of words with a strong
ending.
We now can apply the different ways of stopping on one word in recitation.
If we stop on the word
1.
it can be stopped on in the following ways:

with one of the three possibilies:
a.
and
(two reasons for the same lengthening);
as a shared medd when stopping on four counts
b. 5 counts as
five counts,
alone, if we are lengthening all of the
c. 6 counts as
only, and this case can only be if we are lengthening all of

six vowel counts. .
2.
with
only, the medd will be only four or five counts.
has the same rules and counts as when continuing.
3.
with counts and mudood as in number one (4, 5, and 6, with the same conditions
laid out and explained in number one).
, the following are the possible ways of stopping with
the three different schools of thoughts of stopping on the pronoun
1.
Stopping with only a pure sukoon and the three ways of
(2,4,6).
2.
Stopping with seven different possibilities:
The pure sukoon and the three different counts
three possibilities.
(2,4, or 6); these are the first
Stopping with
with the three different counts of
the second three possibilities.
, these would be
Two vowel counts only stopping with

. We treat the word stopped on with
treat it when continuing; this would be the seventh possibility.
as we
3.
Stopping with a pure sukoon and three different counts of
prohibition of
and
since a
preceded
. There is
.
Stopping on the ends of words with weak endings 1
Stopping on words with a weak ending
There are general standards for words ending with any one of the three medd letters that are
uniform:
1. If the medd letter is established in writing and a saakin letter does not follow it, the medd
letter is then affirmed and established in pronunciation when stopping just as it is when
continuing following the writing of the Qur'an.
2. If a saakin follows a word ending in a medd letter, the medd letter then is dropped in
pronunciation when continuing, because of the forbidding of two saakin letters from meeting
between two words, but is established in pronunciation when stopping.
3. If the medd letter is not present in the written copy of the Qur'an, the medd letter is dropped
in pronunciation when continuing and stopping.
We will be discuss words ending in medd letters that have special indications in the recitation of
Hafs 'an 'Aasim. Other than these words that have special indication, Hafs stops on words
according to the writing in Qur'an.
The special indications for some words ending in a written lengthened alif by the way of Hafs
'an 'Aasim
A. Case one
The written alif is dropped in pronunciation when stopping and continuing. This occurs in
certain words and the indication of this is what is called
, written over the alif.
which is the symbol
The words that end in a written by not pronounced alif in which this occurs are:
The word
in the following four aayaat:
The word
the first word in the aayah:
B. Case two
The written alif is dropped in pronunciation when continuing, but established in pronunciation
when stopping:
These are more notably called the "seven alifaat" or
. The indication for these alif
is what looks very much like the number zero over the alif, 0, which is called
. These seven alifaat occur in seven different words in different places in
the Qur'an. These words are:
Whenever it occurs in the Qur'an
One of two allowable ways of stopping on this word
A special note: There are three places in the Qur'an where the alif of
not written, and therefore Hafs 'an 'Aasim stops on these words with a
three aayat are:
and
is
saakinah. These
This is as a reminder, for as stated above, Hafs stops on words ending with a medd letter
according to the writing in the copy of the Qur'an. Stopping on these words in the above three
aayaat would only be done in a compelled stop,
teacher
, or when requested by a
as a test.

Words ending in a
Last lesson, now located in the tidbit archives, we

discussed some general rules for words ending with an alif, a
, or a
, all also called
or weak. We will repeat the general rules here for review. They are:
Words ending with a
medd letter
have a dropped
such as in:
follow these above rules. For an example, words ending with a
and followed by a sukoon in the first pronounced letter of the next word
when continuing, and established
when stopping on the word,
This is in accordance with rule number two above, so we would not pronounce the
at the
end of the two verbs when continuing, but would pronounce them when stopping on the verbs .
There are five words to take note of, and although they follow rule number three, a brief
explanation of these words will help in understanding.
There are four verbs that are written without the final
, with no grammatical reason and
therefore not pronounced when continuing and when stopping. Scholars of the Qur'an pointed to
the reason for their not being written is the quickness of their occurrence. These four verbs are:
There is one noun with the final
dropped in writing and in pronunciation, it is the word
in the aayah:
Again, as said, since there is no
written, we follow rule number three, meaning this
is dropped in writing and not pronounced whether stopping or continuing.

We will continue next lesson, insha' Allah, with words ending with a ya'.

Words ending in a
We will repeat once again the general rules for words ending with a weak letter, meaning ending
in an alif, a
, or a
They are:
Hafs 'an 'Aasim follows the writing in the mus-haf, so if a
is written at the end of a
word, and we are stopping on that word, we stop with a
; if a word ends without a
written, then Hafs 'as 'Aasim stops without the letter
. One may wonder why we
even mention this, since if it is not written we do not pronounce it; but there are some
not written at the end of words and some of the ways of recitation establish the
stopping on the word, and others establish the unwritten
stopping.
These
are
. Examples of these are in the following words:
in the phrase:
in the phrase:
's
when
when both continuing and

called
in the phrase:
in the phrase:
An important note is that these are just examples, and there are many occurrences (more than
100) in the Qur'an of the extra
not written. There are also times where these same words
occur with the

written, and when this happens, Hafs 'an 'Aasim, as well as all the
different qira'aat establish the ya' when stopping as well as continuing as long as a saakin letter
doesn't follow it when continuing. An example of this is the word:
; as
we can see there is a

written at the end of this word, so we pronounce it when stopping
and continuing, since it is not followed by a saakin.
If there is a
written at the end of a word, and the next following word has a saakin letter
as the first pronounced letter, the
is dropped in pronunciation when continuing,
following rule number two, as in:

There is one place in the Glorious Qur'an where Hafs' 'an 'Aasim stops on a word without a
regular written
the
phrase:
two possible ways, one with establishing the
. This is in aayah 36 in surah An-Naml (27:36), on the word
, the other without

in the
Hafs 'an 'Aasim reads this word with the
with a fat-h on it when continuing. To
summarize: Hafs 'an 'Aasim stops on the word

either with a
saakinah or without the
in surah An-Naml two possible ways,

and therefore stopping with a
saakinah. When continuing, Hafs reads this word with an established

accompanying fat-h. In all other words, if there is a written
stops on the word with the
the
, and if there is no written
and an
at the end of the word, Hafs

, Hafs does not pronounce
We will not be explaining

more, as this is in the realm of the study of the
qira'aat. The most important thing to remember is that Hafs follows the writing of the Qur'an for
words ending with a
, with the exception of aayah 36 of An-Naml.
This ends the subject of stopping on the ends of words.
The Qalqalah Mechanism

To understand this tidbit lesson, please make sure you have read and understood the two lessons
on the mechanism for articulation of letters (lessons 14 and 15 from the top of the archive page),
located in the tidbit archive section.
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:
or as stated in the Jazariyyah prose:
, meaning its [letters of] strength are 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. The letters of this group are five in number:

.
3. Letters of softness (
) These letters have clear and obvious running of the sound
when they are articulated without a vowel (saakinah). 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
The Qalqalah
The letters of qalqalah are in the group
, these letters are all in the
group of
letters. If 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
(
The are emitted by

separation
(
) of the two parts of
) letters when
saakinah
The are emitted by

separation
(
Saakinah letters
The are emitted by collision

(
articulation
Accompanying movement:
1.
Opening of
the mouth (for the fat-h)
2.
Circling of
the mouth for the
dhammah
3.
Lowering of
the jaw for the kasrah
articulation
Nothing
(no mouth or jaw
movement) accompanies it
articulation
Nothing accompanies it( no
mouth or jaw movement)
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 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 non-voweled
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 (
first letter of the shaddah (which is saakin) is then articulated by collision, or
example:
example, the first
and the second
pronounced with
of the word
and
), the
. For
. If we are stopping on the first word in the previous

of the word
is pronounced by collision, or
is recited with a qalqalah. This means that the qalqalah is

without any accompanying mouth and jaw movement. The
would be the same as the
in the word
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.
Laam saakinah rules, part 1 (Laam of the definite article "the")

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
is like the English word the.
The noun that follows the definite article

without the definite article (such as
maybe a regular noun that stands on its own

or
), or it maybe irregular in
that it cannot be broken down further from the

(such as
). The
definite article can precede a noun beginning with any of the Arabic letters.
When there is the definite article

two possible rules for the
of the
preceding a noun (it only enters nouns) there are only

:
1.
2.
We will now explain when each of these occurs.
The clear pronunciation of the definite article

If the definite article
group :
The
of
precedes a noun beginning with any of the fourteen letters in the
of the definite article is said clearly or with
is then is called
. The
of the definite article
Examples of this are in the following two words:
The
saakinah of the definite article is pronounce 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

wasl with a fat-hah.
The merging of the definite article

If the
as the second letter, we start on the hamzah al-
of
of the definite article the precedes any of the fourteen remaining letters of the
Arabic alphabet, there is then an

next letter. The fourteen letters that
(merging) of the
of the definite article into the
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 a shaddah In this case then, the
letter immediately following the
, will have a shaddah on it. This
is called
.
Examples of laam shamsiyyah are in the following two words:
In the above cases, the
of the definite article the is not pronounce at all, instead the
reciter proceeds from the letter before the

, which will be the fat-hah on the hamzah alwasl 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
Laam saakinah rules, part 2 (laam saakinah in verbs, nouns, and participles
The
saakinah in verbs, nouns, and prepositions/participles
The last tidbit lesson described the rules for the
saakinah of the definite article the that
precedes nouns, when needed. This lesson describes the rules for the
occurs in nouns, verbs, and prepositions/participles. This
beginning, middle, or end of the word.
The general rule for the
however, the
saakinah that
saakinah can be in the
saakinah in these cases is
, or pronounced clearly. If,
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
or a
saakinah at the end of the word into the
, then there is merging (

or
)of the
at the beginning of the next
word.
The only prepositions or particles that have a

Examples of
of the
saakinah are
and
saakinah, other than the definite article the:
In these above examples, and all similar examples in the Glorious Quran where there is a
saakinah followed by any letter other than a
pronounced clearly
(with
) and there should be
saakinah when articulating it.
Examples of
(merging) of the
or a
, the
saakinah is
(collision) of the two articulating parts of the
saakinah, other than the definite article "the":
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 Holy Quran where

EXCEPTION: There is an exception to the
is followed by
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 an Aasim by the way of Shatabiyyay has a breathless
pause, or
between these two words. A
period of time less than that of a normal stop.
is a stop without taking a breath, for a
TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THIS SECTION
1.
What is
2.
What parts of speech does this
3.
What are the possible rules for
4.
What is the general rule for other
5.
6.
When is there another rule for other

Are there any exceptions to these rules?
exist in?
? When is each rule used?
saakinah?
saakinah?
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

The
2.
saakinah preceded by a fat-hah, such as:

The
sakinah preceded by a fat-hah), such as:
The medd is divided into two groups:
1.
(The Original Medd)
2.
(The Secondary Medd)
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 equal 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 ):
In all these three words, have a 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 tidbit 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:
letters
and
pronounced as
. Another example is in the
in the opening verse of surah Maryam:

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 lesser connective lengthening, or
. Insha
Allah the upcoming lesson will cover the substitute 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,
positioned 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
becomes lengthened into a lengthened
(if there is one)
or the kasrah on the
like a lengthened
. When stopping on this
the two count medd is dropped.
becomes lengthened
we stop with a regular sukoon, and
Examples:
In this above phrase from the Glorious 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-h before it and the
with a fat-h 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
two vowel counts. Please note the small

extra
after the
, which would be
. This tells us that there is an
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

mathematics.
If the
after the
; it somewhat looks like a lesser sign in
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
no lengthening of the vowel of the

Exceptions to
has a sukoon, there is
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:
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 an Aasim reads these aayaat.

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:
What Follows the Natural Lengthening Rules

The Substitute Lengthening
The last tidbit, now located in the tidbit archives mentioned 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 last lesson. This lesson the second of these two lengthenings, The Substitute
Lengthening, or
will be explained.
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 place 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 fat-h, 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 a two cases when verbs have a tanween on
them representing the light emphasized
, and not part of a noun. The two places are
highlighted in red in the following aayaat:
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
saakinah rules applied, just as in the examples of the nouns above.
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:
. This letter is always read as a
when stopping on the word, and is always read as a
, or when
saakinah
in the case of continuing . The
written vowel accompanying the
is read with the
with the word that follows it. When a noun with a female
the tanween, the word should be stopped on with a
substituted for the tanween. This is found in such words as:
upon reading it in continuum

has a tanween with a fath on
saakinah and there is no alif
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.
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.
The
is divided into two groups:
1.
The medd due to hamzah
2.
The medd due to sukoon
The medd due to hamzah is sub-divided 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 sub-divides into three types:

1. The Presented Sukoon Lengthening
2. The Soft Lengthening
3. The Compulsory Lengthening

Each of these categories will be described in detail of the next several tidbit lessons. This lesson
will focus on the first type of lengthening in the category of "lengthening caused by a hamzah."
The Medd Caused by a Hamzah

The Exchange Lengthening
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 of 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.
There is a grammatical rule in Arabic that if there are two juxtaposed hamzahs in one word, the
first voweled, the second not voweled, the second hamzah is exchanged for a medd letter of the
same type as the vowel on the first hamzah. This means that if the first hamzah has a fat-h on it,
the second hamzah which has no vowel, will change into an alif; if the first hamzah has a kasrah
on it, the second hamzah which is saakinah, changes into a
saakinah; if the first hamzah
has a dhammah on it, the second hamzah which is saakinah, changes into
saakinah. A
reminder, the second hamzah must be saakinah and the first hamzah voweled before this rule is
applied.
These above examples were originally as follows:
. As seen these
words originally had two hamzahs, 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. Not all cases of medd badl (a hamzah preceding a medd letter) have this origin (two
hamzahs, the first with a vowel and the second with a sukoon), but we treat all cases of hamzah
before a medd letter as
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:
. This will be covered later insha Allah in the tidbit lessons when the hamzah al-wasl
is discussed in depth, but a reminder for now.
This medd
is lengthened for two vowel counts by the way of recitation of Hafs an
Aasim. One of the other readers (not the way we read) lengthens
2, 4, or 6 vowel counts, which explains the reason this lengthening is in the secondary
lengthening category.
We 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
later.
rule, which will be explained

The Required Attached Medd
Its definition: It occurs when a hamzah follows a medd letter in the same word. It is called
(required) (required) because all readers agree that this medd is required. It is called
(joined) due to the attachment of the medd letter and the hamzah to the same word.
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, insha Allah, in the (stronger of two causes)
section.
Examples of :
In this above example, there is an alif, preceded by a fat-h, which all true alifs are, then followed
immediately by a hamzah in the same word.
In this example, there are two required attached lengthenings in both the last two words. First,
there is a
saakinah preceded by a kasrah (meaning a medd letter), then there is a hamzah
following it in the same word, so we have a medd waajib mutasil (
). There is
a tanween fat-h on the hamzah, and we know from a previous lesson on

, or
substitution lengthening, that when there is a tanween fat-h and we are stopping on the word, we
substitute an alif for the tanween. So when stopping on any of these two words, there would be
first a four or five count medd waajib mutasil, then there would be a two count alif for the
.
Examples with the hamzah as the last letter of the word
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:
The Separate Allowed Lengthening

Its definition: It occurs when a medd letter is the last letter 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 an Aasim by the way of Shaatabiyyah
(
) . Two vowel counts for this lengthening are not
allowed in this way of reading. There is a known way of reading also transmitted by Hafs an
Aasim that has two vowel counts for this lengthening, but that way is not the way of AshShaatabiyyah, and the way of Ash-Shaatabiyyah is the way being taught here.
For those interested in learning about the rules for the way of Hafs 'an 'Aasim reading
four vowel counts and
click here for a PDF download outlining the rules.
two vowel counts please
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 "

two separate words; and the same can be said for "
For example, the
for calling in:
Ibraaheem, and the
" (for calling) and what follows it are

" (drawing attention) and what follows it.
is a separate word from the name
for drawing attention in,
attached second word. In this second example,

is the Allowed Separate Lengthening
is a separate word from the

, there are two lengthenings, the first
(
) 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
(
) at the end of the second word, because there is a medd letter,
by a hamzah in the same word.
, followed
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 the pronoun/possessive pronoun
is lengthened into
a
, 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 is not the way that is being taught here.
This lengthening has the same requirements as the Lesser Connecting Lengthening
(
), except in this case (meaning The Greater Connecting Lengthening/

), there is a hamzah as the first letter of the next word following the
pronoun/possessive pronoun
, whereas in the Lesser Connecting Lengthening
), there cannot be a hamzah as the first letter of the next word after the
pronoun/possessive pronoun
This medd follows the allowed separated lengthening (

) in vowel counts, in
other words, what ever the number of vowel counts the reader is using for the allowed separated
lengthening
(
), he/she must use the same amount for this lengthening. The second
in the word
follows the same rules as
(or the pronoun ha') in this
medd.
Examples:

The previous few lessons explained the different lengthenings caused by hamzah. These lessons
are now located in the tidbit archives.
This lesson 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 insha Allah over several 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, the alif with a fat-h before it, the
with a kasrah before it, and the
saakinah with a dhammah before it. It is called
saakinah
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
. This will be explained, insha Allah in the
or stronger of two causes section, soon.

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
Examples:
,or natural lengthening.
Click here to listen to this medd with 2 counts
Click here to listen to this medd with 6 counts
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 2-4-or 6 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 "
one vowel count.
Examples:
" which is less than two vowel counts, but longer than
The difference between
and
Its letters
Types of letters
Two letters: only the
The three medd letters: alif
and
and
and
Medd letters:
Alif saakinah with a fat-h
before it
Leen letters:
and
saakinah with a
fat-h before them
Its state when continuing
Shorter than the

natural medd, but longer
than one vowel count
saakinah with a
kasrah before it
saakinah with a
dhammah before it
The medd letters are
lengthened two vowel
counts, the natural
measure of the letter
The presented sukoon lengthening

(
) 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 than the weaker. An example of this in the following aayah:
Al-Baqarah 2
When we stop at the word
, we stop with the soft lengthening (
). This leen
lengthening can be lengthened 2, 4, or 6 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
only stop on the word
vowel counts.
with four vowel counts, we can
with the presented sukoon lengthening with either four or six
When the stronger 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:
AlAnfaal 65
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 2, 4, or 6 vowel counts.
A second place to stop in this aayah is on the word

. There is a
saakinah
preceded by a fat-h 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
now have a soft lengthening (
). The leen lengthening must be equal or less than the
presented sukoon lengthening. If we stop on the word

only stop on the word
, and
with four vowel counts, we can
with two or four vowel counts. If we stop on the word
with two vowel counts, we can only stop on the word
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, or six vowel counts, since all are equal or less to the six vowel counts we used for
the presented sukoon lengthening on the word
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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.
Its Divisions:
is divided into two groups:
1. The Compulsory Word Lengthening

2. The Compulsory Letter Lengthening
Each of these two divisions 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 tidbit lesson, and the next two, insha Allah 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 thence the shaddah. It is called
due the permanent, or original
sukoon found when the reader stops or continues, or because all readers agree that this
lengthening must be 6 vowel counts. It is called

one word.
Examples:
due to the fact that the medd letter is in
Click here to hear this lengthening
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: 6 vowel counts

The Separate Letters that begin some surahs
Preface: 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 (

in it.
) as it has no medd letter
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 surahs of the Quran fall into this category. These letters are seven in number,
and can be found in the phrase: "
group
". All are lengthened six counts. The letters of the
are categorized into to two groups:
The Light Compulsory Lengthening in a letter
and The Heavy
Compulsory Lengthening in a letter

.
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
A.
The letter when written out consists
of three letters
B.
The middle of the three letters is a

medd letter
C.
A merged letter follows the medd
letter, meaning that the third letter is merged
with the letter that follows it.
The Light Compulsory Lengthening in a letter

A.
B.
The letter when written out consists of

three letters
The middle of the three letters is a
medd letter
C.
A saakin letter follows the medd letter,
but it is not merged with the letter that comes
after it
4. The "
": The
can be lengthened four or six vowel counts, according to the
rules of the way we read, which is the way of: Hafs an Aasim from the way of Shatibiyyah
(
). This is due to the fact that the
as a separate letter of
an opening to a surah is found at the beginning of surah Maryam

here to listen to this aayah,
click
and the beginning (second aayah) of surah Ash-Shooraa
The Compulsory Light Lengthening in Letters

Its definition: The letters of the group "
" are each individually read as a three letter
word, the middle letter being a medd letter, andthe 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
it is not merged with what comes next. This is why it is called
lengthened six vowel counts.
letter,
. This medd is
Examples:

In this example we can see that the
when written out consists of three letters; the middle
letter is a medd letter (alif) , the last letter
("
") has a sukoon it, and is followed by a
and therefore it is called
, which the
does not merge into,
The Compulsory Heavy Lengthening in Letters

Its definition: This type of lengthening occurs when a letter of the "
" group of letters
that begin some of the surahs, (as described above), has the last letter of the three letter word
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.
Example:
In this example, we find two letters, the
and the
that consist of three letters. The
has a medd letter as the middle letter, then followed by a letter that is a
but merged with the first letter of the next spelled out letter
. The
. The
sakinah,
is then
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
Two count
natural
medd
Follower of the
leen medd
Four or six
vowel counts
Merged
(
)
Not merged
(
Six vowel counts
The different separate letters that are found at the beginning of some surahs appear in the
following combinations:

This is the last section in the mudood (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
(
) is due to two causes:
1. The hamzah
2. The Sukoon.
The lengthening due a hamzah are three kinds: The Exchange Lengthening (
Required Joined Lengthening (
), The
), and The Allowed Separated Lengthening (
).
The medd due to a sukoon is of two kinds: The Presented Sukoon Lengthening
(
) and 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 (
then separated allowed lengthening
),
(
), and the weakest the exchange lengthening (
).
The following lines of poetry written by Ash-Sheikh Ibrahim Ali Shahaatah reinforce the
ranking of the various secondary lengthenings:
Translated:
The stronger of the lengthenings is compulsory then that which is joined,
Then presented and that which is separated, then exchange.
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. The following lines
of poetry also written by Sheikh Ibrahim Ali Shahaatah exemplify this:
Translated:
Two causes for lengthening if they are found
Then verily the stronger of the two causes performs.
Examples:
Example 1:
In this word, there is a hamzah before the medd letter (
lengthening (
). This same medd letter is followed by a shaddah, meaning a sukoon, so
we also have the compulsory lengthening (

these two medd is the
), this is therefore an exchange
). With the knowledge that the stronger of
, 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 (
), so there is an exchange lengthening (
). 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
(
)and the presented sukoon lengthening (
Stopping on this word with six vowel counts would be allowed only if all of
).
were being lengthened six vowel counts and then only the presented
sukoon lengthening
would be the reason for this lengthening
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 (
on this word using the present sukoon lengthening
(
two lengthenings
). It is forbidden to stop
) with two vowel counts. This is due to the rule of the stronger of the
(
), 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). There is a way of reading by Hafs an Aasim, not the way of Ash-Shatibiyyah that
lengthens the allowed separated lengthening two vowel counts. 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.
Test your ability to find two lengthenings sharing a medd letter:

Find in the following aayaat words that have two different lengthenings sharing a medd letter,
find the circumstances for the two lengthenings sharing the medd letter (i.e. only when stopping,
only when continuing) and find the stronger of the two, and the length of the medd that is
employed.
1.
2.
3. Are there two lengthenings sharing a medd letter when stopping on the word
Why or why not?
emale Ha' Written with Ta', Part 1

There are two types of
Quran:
(the letter
indicating a female gender) in the
1.
That which is written with what is called
, in other words written as:
2.
That which is written with what is called
, or written as the letter
These two different ways of writing this letter are of the specifics of the Uthmani writing. It is
important that the reciter knows these well, so that he stops according to the way it is written;
this means the reader must stop with a
when the word is written with
and stop with a

when the word is written with
. There are two
subdivisions of this section, one being those words that are agreed to be singular and written with
, the second being those words that are written with
difference of opinion on whether it is singular or plural.
, but there is a
The female
which is agreed to be singular and is written with a
This occurs in the revelation in 13 words in 41 places. They are all words in singular form and
are adjuncted by a clear noun after it
recites these with a
stopping. The 13 words that are sometimes written with
when
are:
.
These will now be covered individually. We will start with two of these words and cover their
occurrences this lesson, and continue next lesson with the other words.
There are seven places where this word was written in the Quran with
places in the Quran are written with
, all other
Imam Al-Jazaree documented these places in his poem famously known as al-jazariyyah, when
he wrote:
The word "Kaf" refers to surah Maryam.
This word was written in the Holy Quran with

with a
in 11 places, the rest are written
Imam Al-Jazaree continued in the same part of the tajweed poem and documented the occurrence
of the word
written as
in the following lines:
The word "3uqood" refers to surah al-Maa'idah, and Imam Al-Jazaree tied this occurrence of
written with a
to two items, first it is the second occurrence of the word
in this surah, but as we know this second one is written with a

linked to this word being written with a
follows the word
, and the word
, as we can see from the aayah above, the word
by four words; this is the meaning of his words:
Female Ha' Written with Ta', Part 2
is
We continue outlining the words and their places of occurrence that end in a female
but are written in some places in the Qur'an with an open

. As we stated in the last
tidbit lesson, it is vital that we know these places in the surahs we have memorized in order to
know how to stop properly on these words if the need be. Hafs 'an 'Aasim stops on these words
as they are written in the copies of the Qur'an. If the word
vowelization on the end of it) is written with a
with a
we stop with a
saakinah; but if it is written as
(with any type of
(which looks like
), we stop
(with any type of vowelization on the end),
There are two places in the Glorious Qur'an where this word is written with a
Imam Al-Jazaree documented these two occurrences in his poem famously known as alJazariyyah when he said:
It is conditional that this word be written with

when the woman is mentioned
with her husband. It occurs in the revelation seven places (two occur in the same aayah, or aayah
10 of At-Tahreem).
Imam Al-Jazaree pointed these out in the lines from Al-Jazariyyah:
This word was written with a

Mujaadilah:
Imam Al-Jazaree said:
two places in the Quran, both in surah Al-
This word was written with

written with
one place in the revelation in surah Ad-Dukhaan, it is

in all other places.
Imam Al-Jazaree pointed this out when he said:
We will continue outlining the words that are normally written with
some incidences in the Glorious Qur'an where they are written with
insha' Allah.
, but have
next lesson,

We continue outlining the words and their places of occurrence that end in a female

. As we stated in the first and
second tidbit lesson on this subject, it is vital that we know these places in the surahs we have
memorized in order to know how to stop properly on these words if the need be. Hafs 'an
'Aasim stops on these words as they are written in the copies of the Qur'an.
This word was written in the Glorious Quran with
in five places, three of them
are in the same aayah of surah FaaTir. We stop and continue on all of these five with a
.
All other occurrences are written with

when continuing, and are recited with a
and are therefore recited with a

when stopping.
Imam Al-Jazaree said in his poem, famously known as Al-Jazariyyah:
in one place in the Quran, all others were written
with a
Imam Al-Jazaree linked it to the the next word, so that we would know that it only was written
with
in this combination:
This word was written in the Glorious Quran in only one place with
places are written with
singular form
. We need to remember that this is referring to the
and not the plural of the word

.
, in all other
which always is written with
Imam Al-Jazaree lined this word written with

said:
with the surah it occurs when he
This word occurs only once in the Holy Quran, and it is written with
Since it only occurs once in the Qur'an, Imam Al-Jazaree simply said:
We will conclude the this section next lesson, insha' Allah.

We conclude explaining the words and their places of occurrence that end in a female

. As we stated in the last three
lessons on this subject, it is vital that we know these places in the surahs we have memorized in
order to know how to stop properly on these words if the need be. Hafs 'an 'Aasim stops on
these words as they are written in the copies of the Qur'an.
one place in the Quran:
This is the only place in the Quran where this word is

clear noun after it). The word
, not in the adjucted state (
, and the scholars agree that nouns ending with
(adjuncted by a
) occurs written with
and not
(not adjuncted) never are written with

.
Imam Al-Jazaree then simply named the word, without a need for further explanation when he
said:
in the following aayah:
Since it only occurs once in the Glorious Qur'an, Imam Al-Jazaree again, just named the word,
and said:
This word was written once with a
, all other places where this word occurs and
is agreed to be singular amongst the different reciters is written with
Imam Al-Jazaree said:
Imam Al-Jazaree did not specifically name the words that are read by some of the qira'aat in the
plural form and others in the singular form but indicated that we are required to learn them when
he said:
These words that are read by some in the plural form and others in the singular form are all
written with
, and we will begin discussing them next tidbit lesson, insha' Allah.
We have put the specific line from the Jazariyyah for each individual word, but not the full
section on the female ha' written with a
in these last lessons. The complete section of
Al-Jazariyyah on the female ha' or as it is also called, female ta', is as follows:
Some surah names are positioned so that they are used for two evidences, the one before and the
one after, such as the last word of the first line, Al-Baqarah; there is
written with a
and also the word

occurs in surah Al-Baqarah written with a
, so Imam
Al-Jazaree, may Allah be merciful to him, creatively placed the name of the surah in between the
two evidences so it can be used twice.
This concludes the lessons on words ending with
that are read in the singular form
by all of the different ways of recitation, but written with a
The accent in recitation of the Glorious Qur'an part 1

The
is defined in the modern study of sounds as: Pressure on a part or a specific letter of
the word, so that its sound is a little louder than that of the juxtaposed letters.
This accent (
) varies from language to language, and from dialect to dialect. An important
thing to note here is that in as far as the Quranic recitation goes the term
is a modern term
describing what occurs in recitation passed down through generations from the mouth of the
Prophet,
. Making an accent at the places that will be described necessary by all
certified scholars of the Quran, but the actual term may be different. In the Glorious Quran the
is noted, and Allah knows best, in the complete rules of recitation in five different
circumstances. We will discuss the first two circumstances in this lesson and the other three,
insha Allah, in the next lesson.
The first circumstance of the
in recitation
Stopping on a word that that has a shaddah on the last letter.

Examples:
Click here to hear this word
Click here to hear this word
All of these are examples where the last letter of the word has a shaddah. We know that a
shaddah on a letter indicates that the letter is divided in to two letters as far as formation of the
letters goes. The first is formed by collision (
the second is formed by separation
) of the two articulation bodies , where as
(
) of the two articulating bodies; this is when the reader is continuing reading and not
stopping on the word. When stopping on a word like this, we stop with one saakin letter,
meaning this letter is formed by collision (
) of the two articulating bodies. It is then as
if one letter has been dropped from the reading. It is for this reason that the learned reciters of
the Quran warn of the necessity of an accent on this last letter, actually beginning on the letter
preceding it, to point out to the listener that this one letter, is actually two. We drop the vowel of
the last letter of a word when stopping, but do not eliminate the letter. An exception to the
in this case are the noon and meem with shaddah on them. These two letters with a shaddah
have the most complete ghunnah. This long ghunnah lets the listener know that there are two
letters. Stopping on the word
is therefore different than stopping on the word
and stopping on
there is no need for an accent (
noon or
is different than stopping on
, so as stated,
) in the case of stopping on a word that ends with a
meem with a shaddah
Another exception, Allah knows best, is stopping on a qalqalah letter that has a shaddah. When
stopping on a word ending with a qalqalah letter with a shaddah, both letters of the shaddah are
pronounced. Examples are in the following words:
When stopping on either of these words both
first
in the word
and
and both
are pronounced. The
is pronounced with a sukoon, and the second is pronounce
with a qalqalah. The same can be said about the two
in the word
. The
is then left out in this case, unless the qalqalah letter with a shaddah is preceded by a medd
letter, such as in:
and
for it then falls in to the third circumstance of
which will be discussed subsequently, insha Allah.
The second circumstance of the
in recitation.
There are two cases:

1. This case occurs when pronouncing a
has a dhammah or a fath.
Examples:
and
2. This case occurs when pronouncing a

has a kasrah or a fath. Examples:
to hear this word
There is a
that has a shaddah and the letter before it
that has a shaddah, and the letter before it
click here to hear this word and
in these cases due to the possibility of incorrectly reciting a medd (lengthening)
or lengthening the leen. In the example of
and
are preceded by a vowel of its own category, meaning the

and the
click here
the
and
is preceded by a dhammah,
is preceded by a kasrah. There is no lengthening here, and to avoid it, the
and
are read with an accent (
), making clear to the listener that there is no
lengthening. Pressure on the letter cuts short its time, and therefore excludes the possibility of
lengthening it. The same can be said of the

preceded by a fath, as in
and
, and
inappropriate lengthened leen letter necessitates a

These are the first two of the five circumstances of the
the other circumstances in the next lesson.
that have a shaddah and are

. Fear of the reader creating an
.
, insha Allah, we will continue with
Next >
The accent in recitation of the Glorious Qur'an part 2

This occurs when changing over from a medd letter to the first letter of a shaddah. The saakin
letter occurs with
and the mouth was busy emitting the lengthened letter, so then it is
necessary at the change over from the medd to the saakin letter that occurs after it, we put an
accent (
) in our recital to facilitate this change over. This
reciting the saakin letter with
allows us to comply with
(with collision) that leaves an acoustical mark. The saakin
letter then makes its presence known quite clearly. If the

(collision) is weak the letter is
then pronounced with a weak sound to such a degree that it may not even be heard. This is often
heard from some people when they recite
, with one
with a kasrah on it instead of the two written
first saakinah, the second with a vowel; this mistake of pronouncing only one
not making the
. Other examples of this the third circumstance of the
Click here to listen to this word with the
, the
is due to
are in:
Click here to listen to this word with the

In all these cases there is a medd letter followed by a shaddah, and we need to make an accent, or
raise our voices slightly at the end of the medd, to make sure we pronounce both parts of the
shaddah, the saakin letter and voweled letter.
The Fourth circumstance of
in recitation of the Glorious Quran
This occurs when stopping on a word that has a hamzah as the last letter preceded by a medd
letter or leen letter. The reason for
here is so that the hamzah is not lost after the mouth was
busy emitting the medd or leen letter. Remember, we do not stop on the hamzah with a sukoon
when there is a tanween with a fathah on the hamzah when it is the last letter of the word; instead
we stop with a
Examples:
, so there would be no
then.
The Fifth circumstance of
in recitation of the Glorious Quran
This circumstance encompasses three different words in three specific locations in the Quran,
when these words are read in continuation with the following word. These three words are all
past tense verbs in the double form of the verb (which is an alif) followed by a sukoon. The
is needed in these three places so the meaning of the verse is not confused. The
is an
indication that there is an alif indicating a double present, but it was dropped in pronunciation
due to the Arabic rule forbidding two saakin juxtaposed letters to be recited together. Without
the
, the listener may think the verb is male singular instead of male double. The
is
used only when reciting these words in continuum with the next word, when stopping on the
verbs the alif indicating a double is then pronounced because there is no longer the meeting of
two saakin letters and there is no need for the
since the reason for it has disappeared.

What Are Common Mistakes in Tajweed That Non-Arabs Make?

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What Are Common Mistakes in Tajweed That Non-Arabs Make?

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What are common mistakes in Tajweed that non-Arabs make?

with no vowel preceded by a kasrah,

or wow with no vowel preceded by a dhammah).

The group of strength

The middle group

The soft group

The letters of this group are:

, and are combined in the phrase:

, and are combined in the phrase:

, the next longest is the middle group

, and the longest is the

have air released after they are

Tafkheem and Tarqeeq, part 1

in the Glorious name of

The Letters That Always Have Tafkheem

group make up this category. The letters of

letters from strongest is

. The saakin tafkheem letter preceded by a kasrah is at

the lowest level of tafkheem (such as the

. Sheikh Mohammed Al-

(Then the heavy ones come

). The second level is a

). The next level is a tafkheem letter

). And the last level, that of a tafkheem letter with a kasrah

(and it is said, no the one with the fat-hah followed by an alif

Tafkheem and Tarqeeq, part 2

The lam of the name of The Majesty

depending on the pronounced vowel on the letter preceding the

. The alif that follows the

in tafkheem or tarqeeq because as stated above, the alif follows

If what precedes the name of Allah has a fat-ha, such as in:

Click here to listen to the tafkheem of the laam

If what precedes the name of Allah has a dhammah, such as in:

(original permanent kasrah),

Tafkheem and Tarqeeq, part 3

2. If it is saakinah and before the

is a letter with a fat-ha, as in:

Click here to listen

Click here to listen

), has a sukoon, and the letter before it has a dhammah, such as in :

is saakinah, preceded by a saakin, which is preceded by a dhammah. As when

stopping on the word:

.Click here to listen

is saakinah and preceded by a presented kasrah ( this is in the hamzah wasl).

Click here to listen

. In the next lesson,

Tafkheem and Tarqeeq, part 4

is saakinah, and a kasrah precedes it, such as:

saakinah precedes it. The

no matter what kind of vowel precedes the

in this case has tarqeeq

saakinah. This is exemplified in the

Click here to listen

(when stopping on these words).

is saakinah, and it is preceded by a kasrah, and it is followed by a letter of

in verse 63 of surah Ash-Shuraraa. The two

different ways of reading the

apply when continuing the reading, not when stopping.

When stopping on the word

has tafkheem, according to the eighth case in

is saakinah and it is preceded by a saakin letter, which is preceded by a

kasrah, and the saakin letter which precedes the