Question

When listening to  the Qur'an being recited it can be heard that the two words: are pronounced without the  being heard so that all that we can hear is the .  Is this in a certain style of recitation or is it always read like this? 

Answer

When there is a  with no vowel on it (saakinah), and it is followed by a , there is a complete merging (idghaam) of the  into the , and that is exactly why you do not hear the sound of the .  When a letter completely merges into another you will not hear anything of the first letter and instead the second letter becomes emphasized (in other words, it has a shaddah on it).  That is what happened in the case you sited.  There is one place in the Qur’an where there is a with no vowel on it followed by a  where there is no merging.  That is in surah Al-Mutaffifeen, aayah, 14. .  In this case, there is a small stop, or pause with no breath, between the saakinah and the .  There is a very small “seen” above the which is the indicator of this breathless pause, known in Arabic as a “sakt”.  This sakt prevents the two letters from directly meeting and the merging then does not occur.