Oral Clarity

The previous two tidbit lessons on the saakinah rules mentioned that there are three rules for the  saakinah:

1. The Ikhfa’ Shafwee (oral concealment),

2. The Idghaam Mithlayn Sagheer (the merging of the two alike), and

3. The Ith-haar shafawee. 

The first two rules, ikhfa’ and idghaam were already discussed, and this lesson will explain the ith-haar rule.

The linguistic definition of (as a review) is: clear, obvious

Its applied tajweed definition:  Pronouncing every letter from its articulation point without a ghunnah [in this case, without a prolonged ghunnah] on the clear letter.

Note:  The letter has an inherit ghunnah in it, so when there is  of the meem , the ghunnah is not prolonged, but still present in the letter itself.  This can be detected by closing off your nostrils when pronouncing the letter, the sound will then be imprisoned. 

Its letters: 26 letters, the rest of the Arabic letters after excluding the letters of ikhfa’ shafawee and idghaam of the meem saakinah.  As stated in the lesson of ikhfa’ shafawee, the letter that causes the ikhfa’ of the  saakinah is the , and in the idghaam mithlayn of the  saakinah, we learned that the letter causing this idghaam is another . If any other letter follows a  saakinah, the meem is then is pronounced clearly.  This can be in one word, or between two words.

Examples:

Within one word:

Within two words:

NOTE: There needs to be special care taken that the of the  is complete when a  or a  follows it.  This care is needed in that the reader should be careful to close his lips completely and say the  saakinah clearly with no partial opening of the lips.  The possibility of saying the  saakinah with an partial opening of the lips before these two letters is due to the proximity of the articulation point of the  to the and , as they all use the lips for articulation.

TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THIS SECTION

1.      What are the three possible rules of the

 saakinah?
2.      What letter(s) cause which rule?
3.      How is the ikhfa’ of the

 saakinah done in tajweed?
4.      Can there be an idghaam of a

 saakinah within one word?  If yes, give an example, if no, state why.
5.      When is it necessary to make extra certain we are pronouncing the  saakinah clearly?