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Question

Assalamou Aleikum,

Thanks for replying to my questions. And you were right, I did not mean "professional" as someone who makes a living off of the recitation, but rather as someone whose knowledge is more advanced in the matter of correctly reading and respecting the rules of recitation such as a teacher. 

I have a few questions regarding certain letters appearing in the Qur’an.

1. - In Surah 21 (Al-Anbiyaa’)-verse 105 for example, there is a small letter miim above the nuun in "...min b'adi..." I would like to know whether we have to pronounce "min" therefore ignoring the small miim, or "minm".

    - In the same Surah (21)  in verse 88, there is also a small nuun in " wa kathaa lika nuu djii.." Do we have to ignore it (the small nuun) or pronounce it so that it becomes "nuun djii"? 

2. I would also like to know whether these small letters that appear in Surah 25 verses 65, 68, and 70 (they look like saad and laam (verse 65), jiim (verse 68), and qaaf and laam (verse 70)) have a particular role and meaning in reading the Quran. 

3. Do you know a website where I can find some Islamic cassettes (audio and possibly VHS) of Sheikh Mustafa Ismail? 

Thank you very much and may Allah help you in finding the answers to those questions inshallah. Ma Salam

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh,

You are most welcome and may Allah reward you.

1.  A small  with a long tail above the letter   (like ) or as the second part of a tanween (as in: , indicates that the  saakinah has changed into a  in pronunciation.  This rule is called  , which means change.  The letter   is not pronounced, instead it changes into a .  It is pronounced as if the letter  was there instead of the .  Please see the lesson on  here.

The second part of question one is a different aspect of the writing.  The small  over the word   indicates a second  is present in pronunciation.  The Arabs dislike two of the same letter to be written next to each other, and often will drop the second of the two in writing.  It is well understood to them that there are two of the letter present in pronunciation.  With time though, Arabs and non-Arabs alike need these to be written in to understand how to pronounce a particular word.  These letters then are written in as small letters so as to preserve the original writing and not add anything to it.  In this word then, there are two of the letter , the first  with a dhammah, the second saakinah.  There is a hiding or of the  saakinah because it is followed by the letter , one of the letters that cause the hiding of the  saakinah.  This rule is called ; you can read more about this here.

2.  All the symbols , , ,  (with a short tail) indicate that we may or should stop at this word.
The small symbol  above a word indicates that either we must not stop, or we should not start on this word.  

The following link explains the meaning of each symbol in more detail: www.abouttajweed.com/080602.htm .

 3.  We apologize for not being able to assist you in this request.  We are not aware of the availability of the cassettes or video tapes.   

May Allah increase you in knowledge and assist you in all khair.

Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh