SCIENCE OF TAJWĪD (3)
Further Assimilation
We have learned
about the assimilation of the sound “n” if it is followed by one of the six
letters: Y ي, R
ر, L ل,N ن,Wو and M
م )remember: “You aRe aLoNe With Me,” !!!ِAnn), such as man yashā’ مَنْ يَشَاء read maYYashā’. These letters are called “letters of assimilation”, (ḥurūf
al-idghām, حروف الإدغام). The sound “n” assimilates with the letters that follow it.
There is a further
assimilation, but not of the sound “n”, but of two letters where the first
assimilated to the other, the one that follows it. The purpose of it is for
easy reading without obscuring the meaning. For example:
-
“d”د followed by “t” ت , such
as: qad tabayyana قَدْ تَبَيَّنَ . Qad alone should be
read qadə (being one of the five letter of intensification; remember: “cat,
beta gamma delta” د ج ب ط ق), but because it is followed by letter “t” ت the letter “d” د becomes assimilated
with letter “t” ت and it
becomes double “t”, and should be read qat tabayyana. In English
for “good time,” we say “goot time”; for “bad temper” we say “bat temper.”
If I say “a heart time” you will understand that what I mean is “a
hard time.”
-
“t” ت followed by “d” د ;
this is the opposite of the first. For example, athqalat da‘awā أَثْقَلَتْ دَعَوَا
should be read athqalad da‘awā . In
English, for “hot day”
we say “hod day”. If I say “hod dog” you will know that what I mean is “hot dog.”
-
“t” ت followed by “ṭ” ط
; for example: hammat ṭā’ifatun هَمَّتْ طَائِفَةٌ should be read hammaṭ ṭā’ifatun. Since we have no example in English, it may be close to the Australian
accent “right time.”
-
“ṭ” ط followed by t” ت , the
opposite of the above, such as la’in basaṭta¸ لَئِنْ بَسَطْتَ should be read la’im basaṭəta, but because “ṭ” ط is followed by “t” ت , then it is read la’im basatta. Remember hoṭ temper.
-
“l” ل
followed by “r”ر, such as qul
rabbi قُلْ رَبِّ we should read qur rabbi. For “full
refund” we say “fur refund”. If I say “Or right” you will know
that what I mean is “all-right”.
-
“q” ق followed by
“k” ك
, such as nakhluqkum نَخْلُقْكُمْ which is supposed to be read nakhluqəkum, but
because letter “q” ق is followed
by letter “k” كand has to be assimilated with it and becomes double “k” ك,
we read nakhlukkum. For Jaque
Cartier say Jak Kartier.
-
“dh” ذ
is followed by “ẓ” ظ
, such as idh ẓalamtum إِذْ ظَلَمْتُم should be read
iẓ ẓalamtum. For with ẓeal, say
wiẓ ẓeal
-
“th” ث followed by “dh” ذ
, such as yalhath dhālika يَلْهَثْ ذَلِكَ should be read yalhadh dhālika. For have a bath there! say badh dhere!
To remember all,
try to memoraize “All-right, JaqueCartier has hoṭ-temper,
has hard-time, not right-time to have hot-dog
with ẓeal, then have a bath there”
Some important technical terms in the science of tajwīd.
When we learn any branch of knowledge we
cannot avoid learning some technical terms dealing with it. If you learn
karate, for example, you have to learn and know the names of different kinds of
standing, punching, and kicking in Japanese. If you learn yoga, you have to learn
different kinds of postures, and breathings, such as deep and shallow
breathing, in Sanskrit language. As we are dealing with tajwīd we have
to learn some important technical terms in it in Arabic language, as follows:
a. Vowel signs
-
fatḥah فَتْحَه,
sound “a”. For example, “ba” بَ
(sounds like “ba” in “bar.”) The word fatḥah literally means “opening,
gape, hole”. The verb fataḥa (فَتَحَ)
means “to open”. When we say this vowel “a” we open our mouth. In
English we have this “a” sound in hut, but, cut, some. Examples in
Arabic which we read from right to left are: دَرَسَ
(darasa, to study), رَأَسَ (ra’asa,
to lead). To remember this term just remember “fetter ” which
is close to sound fatḥah.
-
kasrah كَسْرَه,
sound “i”. For example, “bi”بِ (sounds like “be”). The word kasrah literally
means “breakdown, collapse.” The verb kasara
(كَسَرَ)means “to break.” When we say this vowel “i” we break
our sound. In English we have sit, big, and hit. The examples in
Arabic are: قِفْ (qif, stop!), and مِنْ
(min, from). To remember this term just remember “casserole” (covered
heat-proof dish in which food is cooked and then served at table) which sounds
almost like kasrah.
-
ḍammah ضَمَّه
, sound “u”. For example, “du” دُ
(sounds like short “do”). The verb ḍamma (ضَمَّ)literally means “to bring together, to join, to
embrace.” When we say this vowel “u” we join our lips. In English we have words
like put, The examples in Arabic are|: قُلْ (qul, say!), and خُذْ (khudh, take!).To remember this term just remember “dummy” which is close
to ḍammah.
-
sukūn سُكُوْن (silence). For example, تْ
in بَتْ
“bat” (sounds like “but”). The word sukūn literally means
“silence, quiet, calm, tranquility.” Here it means “vowellessness of a medial or
final consonant.” The verb sakana (سَكَنَ)means “to become still, to calm down, to repose, to
rest, to be peaceful, to be tranquil.” The examples in English are: between
(letter “t” and “n”), and helmet (letter
“h” and “t”). The examples in Arabic are: أَكْبَر (akbar, greater),[1] and
أَشْهَدُ (ashhadu, I bear witness). To remember this term just
remember “spoon”
-
shaddah شَدَّه
or tashdīd تَشْدِيْد (double consonant). For example, “batta” بَتَّ (sounds like but-ter). The term shaddah
and tashdīd mean “strengthening, intensification, and stress.” Here it means “doubling sign over a consonant”.
The verb shadda (شَدَّ)
means “to become form, solid, hard, strong,
intense.” We can hardly find any shaddah in English. Double consonant
does not intensify the letter, but makes it pronounced fast, such as “later”
and “latter”, but we find many in Italian, such as Gioseppe (Joseph), bello,
(handsome, fine, nice), bellissima (most beautiful). In English when
we say October and pronounce the letter ”c” with “t”, and read Ottober,
we then double the letter “t” and it becomes shaddah, and this is
in Italian language, Ottobre. In the same way if we say ham then
mer (ham-mer), then the double “m” is pronounced shaddah.[2] To
remember this term, just remember “shady.”
-
madd مَدّ or maddah مَدَّه
(prolongation). There are three letters used to assist the prolongation,
namely, ا (a, alif), و (w, waw), and ي
(y, ya’), for example, دَ =da,
دَا = dā; دِ
= di, دِي = dī; دُ = du, دُو = dū. In English we
have examples: father, rather, seen, feel, room,
soon. The examples in Arabic are: دَار (dār, home, abode, building, residence,
seat), مَال (māl,
property, goods, wealth); دِيْن (dīn, religion,
way of life), فِي (fī,
in, at); نُور
(nūr, light), سُورَه (surah, chapter of the Qur’ān). To remember this term, just remember “mud” and “muddy”, close
to madd مَدّ and maddah مَدَّه
-
tanwīn تَنْوِيْن , nūnation, namely, adding sound “n” by doubling the
vowel sign. For example,دَ = da, دً
= dan (not “dada”), a letter alif is used to be put
with it, so دَا = dā, and دًا = dan
(not dān); دِ
= di, دٍ = din
(not “didi”); دُ = du,
دٌ
=dun (not “dudu”). To remember this stern, just remember “tan-win”
-
waqf وَقْف
, stop, either compulsory to avoid changing the meaning, or preferred (at the
end of the sentence), either recommended or not recommended, permissible or not
permissible, etc. For people who know the meaning of what they are
reading, most probably they will not stop in the wrong place. For example, you
will never stop in the wrong place and say, “Tomorrow – morning I – shall go
with my – friend John
and his – cousin to the – market at – about ten – o’clock sharp,” but you would
say: “Tomorrow morning – I shall go - with
my friend John - and his cousin - to the
market - at about- ten
o’clock sharp.” The literal
meaning of waqf is “stopping, stop; discontinuation, suspension;
pausing, resting, pause, rest”; it also means, in religious term, endowment
fund, “wakaf” and “haboos”). The verb waqafa (وَقَفَ) means “to come to standstill, to come to
stop, to halt, to pause”, and to remember the term waqf is just to
remember giving endowment fund called waqf.
-
lafẓ al-jalālah لَفْظُ الْجَلاَلَه (lit. “the word of majesty”), namely “Allah”
اللّه
-
ḥarf isti‘lā’ حَرْفُ اِسْتِعْلاَءٍ (lit. “letter of superiority”), superior letter. There are
seven of them, and are difficult to articulate, available mostly in Semitic languages only,
especially Arabic; they are: kh خ - ṣ ص- ḍ ض- ghغ - ṭ ط- qق - ẓظ , combined in the expression خُصَّ ضَغْطُ
قِظْ. (lit. “It has been singled out to
suppress Qiẓ”). These letters are always articulated strongly
-
tafkhīm تَفْخِيْم,
it is emphatic pronunciation of a consonant, namely, pronouncing strongly. The
verb fakhkhama(فَخَّمَ)
means “to intensify, to honour, to pronounce emphatically or strongly.”
-
tarqīq تَرْقِيْق
, it is soft or weak pronunciation. The verb raqqa (رَقَّ) means “to become soft, thin, tender; to soften, to
have pity, to feel compassion.”
b. The definite article “al” ال
In English language the definite article
“the” is pronounced “thie” before the vowels, such as “the apple, the end, and the
orange.” In Arabic, article “al” remains as it is before “moon” (qamariyyah)
letters, whereas before “sun” (shamsiyyah) letters, the letter “l”
in “al” becomes assimilated with the “sun” letter that follows it, and
intensifies it. The moon in Arabic is called qamar, and if you put “al”
before it, the “al” does not change, namely, al-qamar أَلْقَمَر.
The sun in Arabic is shams, and if
you but the article “al” before it, it becomes ash-shams أَلشَّمْس .[3] The “l” is not pronounced, and the “sh”
is doubled and intensified.
Half of the 28 Arabic letters belong to the
“moon” letters, and the other half belong to the “sun” letters. The “moon”
letters are: alif/hamzah (ا/ء),
bā’ (ب),
jīm (ج),
ḥā’ (ح),
khā’ (خ),
‘ayn (ع),
ghayn (غ),
fā’ (ف),
qāf (ق),
kāf (ك),
mīm (م),
wāw (و),
hā’ (ﮬ)
and yā’ (ي).
The “sun” letters are: tā’ (ت), thā’ (ث), dāl (د), dhāl (ذ), rā’
(ر), zay
(ز), sīn
(س), shīn
(ش), ṣād
(ص), ḍād (ض), ṭā’
(ط), ẓā’
(ظ), lām
(ل) and nūn
(ن).
Since we are familiar with the verses of
the Qur’an which we recite in our prayer we do not need to remember these
“moon” and “sun” letters. By reading the Qur’an we shall become familiar with
them. The first chapter of the Qur’an is called al-Fātiḥah, and the
second one is called al-Baqarah, where letter “f” ف and “b”ب belong to the “moon” letters. In the first
chapter we say al-ḥamdu, اَلْحَمْدُ
(“ḥ”
ح is a “moon” letter), al-raḥmān الرَّحْمن(read
ar-raḥmān, so “r”ر is a
“sun” letter).
(to be continued)
(CIVIC,
10 April, 2015)
Bibliography:
Denffer, Ahmad von. ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān. Kuala
Lumpur: The Islamic Foundation, 1983
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajwid
https://ishfah7.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/belajar-tajwid-al-quran/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet#Hij.C4.81.E2.80.99.C4.AB
[2] There is a slight shaddah when the French
people say words like famille (family) and fille
(daughter) pronouncing almost like famiyyə’ and fiyyə’ respectively.
[3] There are two systems of Arabic transliteration used
nowadays: Library of Congress and McGill University. Both keep the “al” for the
“sun” letters as it is, but in other matters they have slight difference. For
example, for الشَّمْسِيَّه the Library of Congress use al-shamsiyya (with
double “y” but without “h”), whereas McGill University use al-shamsīyah
(with “īy” and with “h”) , and I prefer the mixture of the two,
namely, al-shamsiyyah, with additional “h” because of the presence of
“h” at the end of the word, although slightly pronounced. People who are not
familiar with this transliteration may write, for example, Abdurrahman, Abdul-Rahman,
Abdur Rahman, etc, where in its transliteration it should be ‘Abd
al-Raḥmān.
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