1

13. SCIENCE OF TAJWĪD (4)

Letter “l” ‫ ل‬and letter “r” ‫ر‬
Letter “l” ‫ ل‬is always pronounced lightly. But when it is in the
‫ ّه‬it could be
lafẓ al-jalālah (the exalted term), namely, “Allah” ‫للا‬,
pronounced with tafkhīm, namely, strongly or with tarqīq, namely
softly or lightly. It is pronounced strongly if:
a. it is standing alone, or in the beginning of the verse, such as
‫ ّه‬Allāhu akbar ‫للا هأَ ْك َبر‬
“Allāh” ‫ألل‬, ‫ َه‬, Allāhu lladhī .. (not Allāhu al-
‫ ّه‬...
ladhī) ‫للا ههالَّذِي‬
b. it is preceded by a letter with fatḥah, such huwa llāh ‫للا‬ ‫ه َههو ه ّه‬, (not
‫انه ّه‬
huwa Allāh), subəḥānallāh ‫للا‬ ‫( هسب َْح َه‬not subəḥāna Allāh)
c. it is preceded by a letter with ḍammah, such as ‘abədullāh ّ‫للا‬ ‫َع ْب ههد ه ه‬
(not ‘abədu Allāh) , raḥmatullāh ‫للا‬ ‫( َرحْ َم ههة ه ّه‬not raḥmatu Allāh) ,
salāmullāh ‫للا‬ ‫( َسالَ ههم ه ِه‬not salāmu Allāh), ṣalātullāh ‫للا‬ ‫صالَهةه ه ِه‬ َ (not
ṣalātu Allāh). It is pronounced lightly if it is preceded by a letter
with kasrah, such as al-ḥamdu lillāh ‫لل‬ ‫ ْال َح ْم ههده ِ ِه‬, and bismillāh ‫للا‬ ‫ ِبسْه ِهمه ِه‬.
Letter “r” ‫ ر‬is pronounced strongly, if:
a. its vowel is fatḥah, such as: raḥmah ‫ َرحْ َمه‬, barakah ‫ َب َر َكه‬, rabbanā
‫ َر َّب َنا‬, and raḥīm ‫ر ِحيْم‬.
َ (Remember run, rough, rug, Russia). In
order to pronounce letter “r”‫ ر‬strongly, the Javanese people (the
natives of Central and Eastern Java) in Indonesia pronounce “ra”
as “ro”, so that they say: roḥmah, barokah, robbanā and roḥīm.
Even the “l” in “Allāh” they pronounce strongly and become
“Allôh”, and therefore, they say roḥmatullôh ‫للا‬ ‫ َرحْ َم ههةه ّه‬. ( …ra…)1
1
The Javanese (not to be confused with “Japanese”) people are the largest
ethnic group in Indonesia. They live in Central and Eastern Java. According to
the year 2011 statistic they are approximately 100 million people representing
45 % of the total population of Indonesia, and the vast majority of them are
Muslims. They have their own script called Hanacaraka (Carakan) derived from
their alphabet ha na ca (pronounced “cha”) ra ka. As the dominant vowel in
Javanese is “o” they pronounce it as ho no co ro ko. This is more evident in
their names, such as: Yudhoyono (former president), and Joko Widodo
(present president), and Dipo Negoro (An Indonesian hero). No wonder that in
emphasizing “ra” they pronounce it as “ro”, and “Allah” as “Alloh”, as above.
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‫َي ْخ هر هه‬
b. its vowel is ḍammah, such as: rubbamā ‫ هر َّب َما‬, yakhrūju‫ج ه‬
(Remember rumour, ruler, rubie) (…ru…)
c. its vowel is sukūn, but preceded by a letter with fatḥah, .. ar
) ْ‫(ــَر‬, such as Maryam )‫( َمرْ َيم‬, marḥaban. Remember: harmony,
army. (…ar…)
d. its vowel is sukūn, but preceded by a letter with ḍammah, such
as burhān ‫ بهرْ َهان‬, qurbān ‫ قهرْ َبان‬, qur’ān‫( ههقهرْ آنهه‬Remember survey,
furniture, purchase) (…ur…)
e. its vowel is sukūn for stopping, and is preceded by “waw” or “alif”
with sukūn, namely, …ūr (‫)وْهرْه‬, and ār )‫ (ــَار‬, such as:
ْ al-jabbār… ‫(ال َجبَّارْ ) ه‬
al-ghafūr … ) ْ‫(أل َغفه ْور‬, ْ ‫ ه‬Remember: “room, car”
(…ūr. and …ār.)
f. its vowel is sukūn, but preceded by a letter called hamzah al-waṣl,
)‫“ ( َهم َْزةه ه ْا َلوصْ ل‬conjunctive hamzah” linking with the word that
preceds it. It is usually put either on the top of the letter alif )‫(أ‬
with a ḍammah )‫ (أه‬or with a fatḥah )َ‫ ه(أ‬or under the letter alif )‫(إ‬,
and therefore it sounds “i”, and then the letter alif itself is called
hamzah al-waṣl without the letter hamzah )‫(ء‬. When it is alone it
is pronounced clearly, such as irji‘ ) ْ‫(ْهإِرْ ِجع‬. This alif is dropped in
reading when we‫ ه‬connect it with the word that precedes it. For
example:
irji‘ (‫)إِرْ ِجعْه‬, but farji‘‫( َفارْ ِجع)ه‬, not fa ’irji‘ .
irḥam )‫(اِرْ َحم‬, but rabbirḥam‫بهارْ َحم)ه‬
َ ‫(ر‬
َ , not rabbi ‘irḥam.
This additional alif indicates du’a (supplication), request and
command, and therefore, it has to be there, although it is not
part of the original letters of the words, r-j-‘ )‫ع‬-‫ج‬-‫ ه(ر‬and r-ḥ-m ‫ه‬
)‫(رـهحه– هم‬. Otherwise, if the letter is original, then the letter‫ ر‬has
to be pronounced weakly, such as firdaws (‫ )فِرْ د َْوس‬where the
letter “f” )‫ (ف‬is original part of the word. ([i]r…)‫ه‬
As it is not easy to identify the hamzah al-waṣl in the
verses of the Qur’an for people who do not understand Arabic,
and most of the Muslims are non-Arabs, a small letter ṣād )‫ ه(ص‬is
put on the top of the letter alif replacing the hamzah in order to
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avoid reading it. However, if a word starts with ist the “i” is most
probably a hamzah al-waṣl (hamzatu ‘l-waṣl). For example:
istakbara ‫(ه إِسْ َت ْك َب َهر‬he became arrogant)
wa stakbra‫“( َواسْ َت ْك َب َهر‬and he became arrogant”), and the “i” is gone
istaghfir ‫“( إِسْ َت ْغفِرْه‬ask forgiveness!”)
fa staghfir ‫“( َفاسْ َت ْغفِرْه‬then ask forgiveness!”), and the “i” is gone.
In the English language if I say “bread n butter,” “wait n see,”
and “what s matter,” you will know that what I mean is “bread
and butter,” “wait and see,” and “what is the matter,”
respectively.2
g. its vowel is sukūn, but it is succeeded by one of the letters of
isti‘lā’ (i.e., kh‫ هخ‬- ṣ‫ ص‬- ḍ‫ ض‬- gh‫ غ‬- ṭ‫ط‬- q‫ ق‬- ẓ‫)ظ‬, such as qirṭās
‫ قِرْ َطاس‬, firqah ‫ فِرْ َقه‬, and mirṣād ‫صاد‬ 3
َ ْ‫مِر‬.‫…( ه ه‬rq…, …rkh… etc.)
In the word arḍ ‫ أَرْ ض‬both letter “r” and “ḍ” that follows it have
to be pronounced strongly. In English the letter ḍ is replaced with
letter th, and it becomes “earth”, whereas in German it is
replaced with letter d, and it becomes “erde”. Whenever you find
letter “r” followed by a letter difficult to pronounce in a word, or
not found in your language, be careful, you might have to stress
both letters, like the word arḍ above. (r + kh gh q ṣ ḍ ṭ ẓ). To

2
In one of his cowboy movies John Wayne in early 50s asked about his boy,
“Where’s boy” which was understood by my English teacher, Mr. Isa Rasyidi,
but not by me, as the word “the” was not clearly said, if ever. For the word
“transportation” the Americans say “transptation”. To go “to the station” the
Germans say zum Bahnhof where the letter “h” of “hof” is almost unheard.
3
As these seven letters of isti‘lā’ are always pronounced with tafkhīm (strongly,
with emphasis), when they are followed with fatḥah (vowel “a”), the Javanese
people tend to pronounce it as “o”, such as: firqoh ‫فِرْ َقه‬, sôdiq ‫صـادِق‬, َ zôlim ‫ظالِم‬, َ
kholaqo ‫ َخلَ َقه‬and qôla ‫ل‬
‫ َقا َه‬. In order to avoid being fallen in to the pit of laḥn, I
suggest that the mouth should be open a little to make sound “a”. Therefore,
we say firqoah, soadiq, zoalim, khoalaqoa, and qoala (sounds like “koala”),
rather than qôla (sounds like “coller”). The examples in their names are those
ِ ‫ َط‬, Solihin ‫صالِ ِحيْن‬,
of my friends: Kholidin ‫ َخالِ ِهديْن‬, Toriq‫ارقه‬ َ Mustofa ‫ مهصْ َط َفى‬, and
َ
Ghoromah ‫غ َرا َمهه‬.
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remember these four rules, remember: “Purchase rough

rubie+rock” or ra – ur –ru –rq, or Nauru Rock (na for ra, uru for ur
and ru, and rock for r+q). The rock indicates that it has to be
pronounced strongly.
Letter “r” ‫ ر‬is pronounced weakly, if:
a. its vowel is kasrah, i.e., namely, …ri… )...‫(ــر‬,
ِ such as: rijəsun ‫ ِرجْ سه‬,
ma‘rifatun ‫( َمعْ ِر َفةه‬Remember river, rigid, ritual) (…ri…)
b. it is preceded by a letter with kasrah, namely …ir )‫(ــِر‬, on
condition that it is NOT preceded by one of the letters of isti ‘lā’
(kh gh q ṣ ḍ ṭ ẓ) such as , such yaghfiru )‫( َي ْغ ِفره‬, Firdaws )‫ (فِرْ َد ْوس‬.
The examples in Arabic are: dirham )‫(دِرْ َهم‬, miryah )‫(مِرْ َيه‬.
(Remember: circus, firm, sir) (…ir…)
c. it is preceded by “y”‫ ي‬with sukūn, namely, …yr )‫(يْر‬, such as
َ khayr ‫ َخيْر‬, al-baṣyr ‫( اَ ْلبَصِ يْر‬Remember tyre, lyric).
khabyrun ‫خ ِبيْره‬,
Examples in English: To remember a., b. and c. above, remember
the weakening “irritating year” representing ir – ri – yr.
Waqf )‫)و ْقف‬
َ .
This term in the science of tajwīd means “stopping, pausing,
resting.” It is like having a full-stop (“.”), a comma (“,”), or a semi-
colon (“;”). When we do this, we have to do it in the right place to
avoid changing the meaning, and in the right way to avoid laḥn
(solecism, mispronunciation, grammatical mistake).
The basic rule in the waqf is to drop the vowel sign (, a, i, in, u,
un), except “an” of double fatḥah becomes ”ā” such as:
khalaqa‫;)خلَ َقه( ه‬ َ becomes halaq )‫;(خلَ ْق‬ َ ‘amalan )‫ ( َع َم اال‬becomes
‘amalā‫ال) ه‬ ‫ ( َع َم َ ه‬. al-jamali )‫ج َم ِل‬ ‫ ْه‬becomes al-jamal )‫(الج َمل‬
‫(ال َه‬ ‫ ْه‬, jamalin ‫ه‬
)‫ج َم ٍل‬
‫ ( َه‬becomes jamal )‫ج َمل‬ ‫( َه‬. al-ḥasanu ) ‫ (ا ْل َح َسنه‬becomes al-ḥasan‫ه ه‬
)‫(ال َح َسن‬ْ ; ḥasanun )‫(ح َسن‬ َ becomes ḥasan )‫(ح َسن‬. َ ‫ن‬ ‫( َي ْن ه‬yanṣurūna)
‫ص هر ْو َه‬
becomes ‫صر ْهونْه‬ ‫( َي ْن ه‬yanṣurūn); ‫ب ه‬ ‫( ه َغ ْي ٍه‬ghaybin) and ‫( َغيْبه‬ghaybun)
both become ‫( َغيْبْه‬ghayb).
Words ending with tā’ marbūṭah )‫( َتاء ه َمرْ بهو َطه‬, (lit. “tied “t”
namely ‫)ة‬, it turns into ‫“( ه‬h”) when we stop, such as: raḥmatan
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)‫(رحْ َم اة‬,
َ raḥmatin‫(رحْ َمةٍ) ه‬
َ , and raḥmatun ‫(رحْ َمة) ه‬َ all become raḥmah
)‫) َرحْ َمه‬. However, some people, especially non-Arabs would like to
keep the name without change, such as “Hikmat” and “Rahmat”
which are the names of my nephews.
When the last letter with a vowel is preceded by a letter with
sukūn, namely a consonant without vowel, the waqf can be heard
only by the reciter and the people close to him, such as: ‫ْر‬ ‫( َشه ٍه‬shahrin)
becomes ‫( َشهْرْه‬shahr); ‫( هخسْ ٍهر‬khusrin) becomes ‫( هخسْ ر‬khusr) ; ‫ض‬ ‫فِى ه ْاالَرْ ِ ه‬
(fil-arḍi) becomes ‫( فِى ه ْاالَرْ ضْه‬fil-arḍ). In these examples, the sound “r”
and “ḍ” are not clear, because they are all with sukūn. The letter
ḍi‫ضه‬ ِ is supposed to be pronounced emphatically, because it belongs
to the letter of isti‘lā’, but because it loses its ḥarakah, and does not
belong to the letters of qalqalah (remember: CaṬ Beta Gamma
Delta,‫)دهجهبهطهقه‬, then it is pronounced lightly. If it does, then it is
pronounced emphatically, such as‫ هفِسْ ْق ه‬fisqə, (compare with ‫مِسْ كك‬
misk).
Madd (Prolongation)
a. Natural Prolongation (madd ṭabī‘ī). There are three letters with
which the prolongation occurs. They are: alif )‫ (ا‬which prolongs
the fatḥah (namely, “ā”), yā’ )‫ (ي‬which prolongs the kasrah
(namely, “ī”), and waw (‫)و‬, which prolongs the ḍammah (namely,
“ū”). They are called “the letters of prolongation”, and Arab
grammarians call them “the weak letters” )‫( هحرهوفه هال ِعلَّة‬, for their
ability to prolong vowels (a, i, and u), although they themselves
are consonants. Examples:
َ = ba ‫ =ه َبا‬bā = baa‫ = َهر ;ه‬ra ‫ =ه َراه‬rā = raa; ‫ج‬
‫به‬ ‫ = َه‬ja ‫ = َجاه‬jā = jaa
‫به‬ ِ = bi ‫ = ِبي‬bī = bii ; ‫ = ِره‬ri ‫ = ِري‬rī = rii ; ‫ه=ه ِجه‬ji ‫ = ِجيه‬jī = jii
‫ = بهه‬bu ‫ = بهو‬bū = buu ; ‫ = رهه‬ru ‫ = رهو‬rū = ruu ; ‫ = جهه‬ju ‫ = جهو‬jū = juu
b. Prolongation of Hamzah )‫(ء‬. The position of hamzah (‫ه)ء‬is either:
(1) standing alone‫ (ء)ه‬and its vowel is generally fatḥah )‫;( َء‬
(2) sitting on the alif (‫)أ‬, and its vowel is either “a” )َ‫ه(أ‬or “u”)‫;ه(أه‬
(3) is placed under the alif (‫)إ‬, and its vowel is “i” )ِ‫;(إ‬
(4) sitting on the yā’)‫(ئ‬, and its vowel is “i” )‫ئ‬ِ (
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(5) sitting on the waw )‫ه(ؤ‬, and its vowel is “u”) ‫ه(ؤه‬
The prolongation of hamzah (‫ )ء‬occurs, when a vowel is
followed by hamzah, either in one word or two words. In either
case the vowel sound has to be longer than normal two taps,
between three and six taps, at least three taps. For example:
In one word:‫ إِسْ َرا ِئيْل‬Israaa’iil (3 taps); but ‫ إِسْ مَاعِ يْل‬Ismaa‘iil (2 taps)
‫‘ عِ ْز َرا ِئيْل‬Izraaa‘iil (3 taps); but ‫ إِسْ َرا ِفيْل‬Israafiil (2 taps).
In two words: ‫هللا ه‬ ّ ‫ إِنْ ه َشا َء‬in shaaaAllaah (“If Allah wills”, 3 taps);
but‫هال َخ َبره‬ ْ ‫اع‬
َ ‫ َش‬shaa ‘al-khabar (“the news has spread”, 2 taps).
It is very important to be consistent regarding the length of the
madd, whether 3, 4 or 6 taps. For exercise we read:
‫ = َال ه‬laa = no; ‫ = إِل َه‬ilaaha = god; َّ‫ال‬
‫ = إِ ه‬illaa = except; ‫= ّللا ه‬allaah =
Allah
‫ َالهإِله‬laaaa ilaaha. laaaa becomes longer because it is followed by
hamzah.
َّ َّ‫ = إِال‬Illa llaah. In reading one “a” is dropped in illaa, and the
‫هللا ه‬
“a” in allaah, for being a hamzatu ‘l-waṣl.
‫‘ = َعلَى ه‬alaa = on, upon; ‫للا‬ ‫ = ّ ه‬allaah = Allah. If we join them it
becomes ‫للا‬ ‫‘ = َعلَى ّ ه‬ala llaah. (“upon Allah”, means “leave it to
Allah”). ‘alaa loses one “a” and becomes short, whereas “allaah”
loses the first “a” in reading for being a hamzatu ‘l-waṣl.
(to be continued)
(CIVIC, 17 April, 2015)
Bibliography:
Denffer, Ahmad von. ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān. Kuala Lumpur: The Islamic
Foundation, 1983
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajwid
https://ishfah7.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/belajar-tajwid-al-quran/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet#Hij.C4.81.E2.80.99.C4.
AB
http://dhezun-notes.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/hukum-tajwid-
lengkap-dan-mudah.html