The Accent
The
is
defined in the modern study of sounds as: Pressure on a part or a specific letter of the word, so that
its sound is a little louder than that of the juxtaposed letters.
This
accent (
) varies from language
to language, and from dialect to dialect.
An important thing to note here is that in as far as the Qur’anic
recitation goes the term
is
a modern term describing what occurs in recitation passed down through
generations from the mouth of the Prophet, 
.
Making an “accent” at the places that will be described
necessary by all certified scholars of the Qur’an, but the actual term
may be different. In the
Glorious Qur’an
the
is
noted, and Allah knows best, in the complete rules of recitation in five
different circumstances.
We will discuss the first two circumstances in this lesson and the
other three, insha’ Allah, in the next lesson.
The
first circumstance of the
in recitation
Stopping
on a word that that has a shaddah on the last letter.
Examples:
Click
here to hear this word
Click
here to hear this word
All
of these are examples where the last letter of the word has a shaddah.
We know that a shaddah on a letter indicates that the letter is
divided in to two letters as far as formation of the letters goes.
The first is formed by collision (
) of the two articulation
bodies , where as the second is formed by separation
(
)
of the two articulating bodies; this is when the reader is continuing
reading and not stopping on the word.
When stopping on a word like this, we stop with one saakin letter,
meaning this letter is formed by collision (
) of the two
articulating bodies. It is
then as if one letter has been dropped from the reading.
It is for this reason that the learned reciters of the Qur’an
warn of the necessity of an accent on this last letter, actually beginning
on the letter preceding it, to point out to the listener that this one
letter, is actually two. We
drop the vowel of the last letter of a word when stopping, but do not
eliminate the letter. An
exception to the
in
this case are the noon and meem with shaddah on them. These two letters
with a shaddah have the most complete ghunnah.
This long ghunnah lets the listener know that there are two
letters. Stopping on the word
is
therefore different than stopping on the word
and
stopping on
is
different than stopping on
, so as stated, there is no need for an accent (
) in the case of
stopping on a word that ends with a
noon or
meem with a shaddah
Another
exception, Allah knows best, is stopping on a qalqalah letter that has a
shaddah. When stopping on a word ending with a qalqalah letter with a
shaddah, both letters of the shaddah are pronounced. Examples are in the following words:
and
When
stopping on either of these words both
and
both
are
pronounced. The first
in
the word
is
pronounced with a sukoon, and the second is pronounce with a qalqalah.
The same can be said about the two
in
the word
.
The
is
then left out in this case, unless the qalqalah letter with
a shaddah is preceded by a medd letter, such as in:
and
for it then falls in
to the third circumstance of
, which will be
discussed subsequently, insha’
Allah.
The
second circumstance of the
in
recitation.
There
are two cases:
1.
This case occurs when pronouncing a
that has a shaddah and the letter before it has a dhammah or a
fath.
Examples:
and
2.
This case occurs when pronouncing a
that has a shaddah, and the letter before it has a kasrah or a
fath. Examples:
click
here to hear this word
and
click
here to hear this word
There
is a
in
these cases due to the possibility of incorrectly reciting a medd
(lengthening) or lengthening the
leen. In the example
of
and
the
and
are
preceded by a vowel of its own category, meaning the
is
preceded by a dhammah, and the
is
preceded by a kasrah. There
is no lengthening here, and to avoid it, the
and
are
read with an accent (
), making clear to the
listener that there is no lengthening.
Pressure on the letter cuts short its time, and therefore excludes
the possibility of lengthening it. The
same can be said of the
and
that have a shaddah and are preceded by a fath, as in
,
and
. Fear
of the reader creating an inappropriate lengthened leen letter
necessitates a
.
These
are the first two of the five circumstances of the
,
insha’ Allah, we will continue with the other circumstances in the next
lesson.
