Question

Assalaamualaikum
can you please clarify to me - what is LAHN?
jazakallah
masalaam

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.

It appears we did not explain things clearly enough in our answer yesterday, and we apologize if there was any confusion caused by our answer.  Lahn ( ) means mistake, but if a teacher of the Qur’an tells you that you have a “lahn” they are almost always referring to a lack of completion of the vowel.  For example, every kasrah should sound just like a shortened , with a complete lowering of the bottom jaw .  This shortened  sound should be consistently the same for all kasrahs.  A common mistake in recitation is if there is a kasrah just before a saakin letter, as in:    or   (when stopping on these words), the reader will pronounce the kasrah like a short English “i” instead of a brief .  Some make this mistake on all kasrahs but it is especially prevalent before a sukoon.

The dhammah should sound like a shortened (in timing)  with the lips in a complete circle.  Many times if a dhammah is just before a sukoon, usually the last letter of the word, as in:   the dhammah sounds more like the English “o” than the Arabic complete dhammah. 

These mistakes in incomplete vowels are common among Arabs and non-Arabs. 

This is what most teachers would call a lahn, although in reality, lahn means any mistake, not just incompletion of the vowel sounds.   

Wa iyyaakum.  Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatu Allah.