Arabic Letters and Their States
As we know, the book of Allaah has 114 surahs. Each surah is divided into smaller sections called ayaat. The ayaat are composed of words. And each word is composed of letters. So the letter is the smallest component of the Qur’aan. Therefore, one who intends to recite the Qur’aan should know how the Arabs of the time of the revelation of the Qur’aan uttered these 29 letters.
Definition of Tajweed Tajweed is a science through which every letter’s rights and dues, through makhraj (articulation point) and sifaat (characteristics), are known.
Then why did the ulamaa turn their attention to the letters? This is because it is the smallest unit in the structure of the Qur’aan ul Kareem.
And the Arabic language divides letters into 29. The one who knows the points of articulation of these 29 letters and their attributes during their articulation, is able to read the Qur’aan as it was revealed.
Arabic letters The letters of the Arabic letters were arranged by Nasr ibn ‘Aasim and these later came to be known as Ahruf ul Hijaa’iyyah.
Alif is in fact hamza, but it is called alif majaazan.
ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ة و لا ي
The last alif is called laam alif because it must be preceded by another letter. It is not possible to pronounce alif unless it is preceded by a letter. So the scholars chose laam and said laa. But this laa is not the laa of negation or prohibition that we study in nahw (Arabic grammar). This is the alif we see in the words Qaala, maaliki yawmiddeen, iyyaka na’budu.
The letters were arranged by Nasir ibn Aasim based on their similarity in appearance on writing (script). Ba, ta and tha look alike. Jeem ha and kha appear alike. So we see he grouped them based on their similarity in writing. As for those that don’t have any other resembling them in appearance, such as meem, noon, ha, waw, alif and yaa, he placed them individually.
InshaAllaah we will familiarize ourselves with the 29 letters. Where are they articulated from and what are their attributes when they are articulated.
States of the Arabic letters I intend to inform you about something. The letter in Arabic has 2 states. It is either saakin (non-vowelled) or it is mutahhrik (vowelled). And from this we exclude the letter alif. We have 29 letters in Arabic. We exclude alif from this discussion because it has a specific rule, so we have 28 letters remaining. These 28 letters, each has 2 states. The first state is saakin (non vowelled) and the second state is mutaharrik (vowelled).
And the mutaharrik state has 3 forms, it has either a fathah or a dhammah or a kasrah.
Therefore, a letter in Arabic can be in one of 4 states. This applies to any letter.
•Haalaat al Huroof Al Arabiyy
•Mutaharrik
•Maksur
•Madhmum
•Maftuh
•Saakin
Why have we excluded alif? Alif does not appear in the Arabic language except that it is saakin. And there cannot be a letter before it, except that it is muftuhah. Therefore, in Arabic there is no alif mutaharrik, nor is there an alif at the beginning of a word. What we see in the beginning of some words, such as udkhul, ista’mala, ukhruj, uskun. This is not an alif, rather it is a hamzat ul wasl placed on an alif. Alif is a chair for hamzat ul wasl and it is not an alif that is uttered.
Watch video here.
Definition of Tajweed Tajweed is a science through which every letter’s rights and dues, through makhraj (articulation point) and sifaat (characteristics), are known.
Then why did the ulamaa turn their attention to the letters? This is because it is the smallest unit in the structure of the Qur’aan ul Kareem.
And the Arabic language divides letters into 29. The one who knows the points of articulation of these 29 letters and their attributes during their articulation, is able to read the Qur’aan as it was revealed.
Arabic letters The letters of the Arabic letters were arranged by Nasr ibn ‘Aasim and these later came to be known as Ahruf ul Hijaa’iyyah.
Alif is in fact hamza, but it is called alif majaazan.
ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ة و لا ي
The last alif is called laam alif because it must be preceded by another letter. It is not possible to pronounce alif unless it is preceded by a letter. So the scholars chose laam and said laa. But this laa is not the laa of negation or prohibition that we study in nahw (Arabic grammar). This is the alif we see in the words Qaala, maaliki yawmiddeen, iyyaka na’budu.
The letters were arranged by Nasir ibn Aasim based on their similarity in appearance on writing (script). Ba, ta and tha look alike. Jeem ha and kha appear alike. So we see he grouped them based on their similarity in writing. As for those that don’t have any other resembling them in appearance, such as meem, noon, ha, waw, alif and yaa, he placed them individually.
InshaAllaah we will familiarize ourselves with the 29 letters. Where are they articulated from and what are their attributes when they are articulated.
States of the Arabic letters I intend to inform you about something. The letter in Arabic has 2 states. It is either saakin (non-vowelled) or it is mutahhrik (vowelled). And from this we exclude the letter alif. We have 29 letters in Arabic. We exclude alif from this discussion because it has a specific rule, so we have 28 letters remaining. These 28 letters, each has 2 states. The first state is saakin (non vowelled) and the second state is mutaharrik (vowelled).
And the mutaharrik state has 3 forms, it has either a fathah or a dhammah or a kasrah.
Therefore, a letter in Arabic can be in one of 4 states. This applies to any letter.
•Haalaat al Huroof Al Arabiyy
•Mutaharrik
•Maksur
•Madhmum
•Maftuh
•Saakin
Why have we excluded alif? Alif does not appear in the Arabic language except that it is saakin. And there cannot be a letter before it, except that it is muftuhah. Therefore, in Arabic there is no alif mutaharrik, nor is there an alif at the beginning of a word. What we see in the beginning of some words, such as udkhul, ista’mala, ukhruj, uskun. This is not an alif, rather it is a hamzat ul wasl placed on an alif. Alif is a chair for hamzat ul wasl and it is not an alif that is uttered.
Watch video here.