copyright © 2002/03 abouttajweed.com, all rights reserved

Question

Assalamu 'alaykum

I have only recently come across your website, so let me first express my gratitude to all those who have contributed to it, making it easier for people like me who have little knowledge of Arabic.

My questions:

#1. When some recitors make Tas-heel of the hamzah in Warsh, they sound like they are pronouncing the letter ha. Am I hearing this correctly? If so, does this have a particular name?

#2.  I have a Warsh mushaf (the one printed in Saudi Arabia) with an appendix which mentions something about grand imaalah in connection with the letter ha in Ta-ha. I do not understand it because my Arabic is very basic - could you explain it to me please.

#3. Some of the Warsh and Qaloon mushafs from North West Africa use a small letter sad to indicate the places where one stops. (I am not referring to
the Warsh mushafs printed in Saudi Arabia, which also use the same letter sad but have them in different places to the African ones). Are these stops
supposed to correspond to complete sentences? Can one apply these same stop positions to any other recitations apart from Warsh and Qaloon?
May Allah reward you for your help.
Wassalam

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Jazakum Allahu khairan. 

1.  When two hamzahs meet in one word, Warsh reads the second hamzah with  , and there is another allowed way in the reading of Warsh of making the second hamzah an long alif when both hamzahs have a fat-hah.

 is making the hamzah in between a hamzah and the medd letter that the vowel on the hamzah is similar to, such as an alif with a fath-hah, a  with a kasrah and a  with a dhammah.  It may sound like there is a similar sound to the letter  and  of the hamzah, but the sounds are not identical.  Since the hamzah and the  share the same articulation point, a changed hamzah may then sound something like a , but not exactly like one.  In fact, when reading  on a hamzah, if the sound is produced to sound exactly like a , it is incorrect .  

2. Imaalah is divided in to two sub-groups:

A.otherwise known as the lessor imaalah and

B.  or grand imaalah. 

In the alif is changed in sound so it is is 25%  and 75% alif.  This is the type of imaalah prevalently found in the recitation of Warsh on certain letter combinations, such as the words:  with a kasrah,  and, with a  before the alif maqsoora with no different allowed reading on these types of combinations, and words as: with two allowed ways and rules linked to both ways, the first allowed way of reading with a regular alif, the other way with on the alif.

The grand imaalah or has a changed alif in that the alif is read with 50% of the sound a  and 50% with an alif.  The sound then is in between an alif and a.  The only example, Allah knows best in the reading of Warsh by tareeq Ash-Shaatibiyyah  of  is with the separate letter  at the beginning of surah

3.  We do not have a copy of this type of mus-haf, so cannot comment with a specific answer.  The stop marks in all different types of printings of the musaahif have been agreed upon by different groups of scholars and in general are made at the end of a statement that is sound grammatically.  The science of the stop and start in the Qur’an is one that often has differences of opinions as to where and what kind of stop each word is, since each phrase may be looked at from a different aspect amongst the scholars as to the grammatical make up. 
Wa iyyaakum.

Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.