11. Science of tajwīd ( 2)

1

11. SCIENCE OF TAJWĪD (2) When we introduce foreign words into English, sometimes we have to pronounce them as they are in order to be understood by people, such as Grand Prix (read “groŋ prie”; French, lit. “Grand Price”)1, ballet (Fr., read “balei”) dance, Giro d’Italia (read as “jiro ditalia” lit. “Italian tour”). As letter “z” is pronounced “ts” in Italian, we are supposed to say “pitstsa” for “pizza”, and “piatstsa” for “piazza” meaning “a place, a square. “Caffé e latte” and “café au lait” are nothing but “coffe-milk” made respectively in Italian and French way. As letter “j” is pronounced as a weak “h” in Spanish, the name José should pronounced “(H)osé” (for Joseph), and marijuana as mari(h)uana.

Since the invention of “cheese burger” people might think that hamburger is made of ham which is not supposed to be so. The word is derived from the city “Hamburg” in Germany. And hamburger is originally (1) ground or chopped beef made into round flat cake and fried, (2) sandwich or bread roll filled with this. Any hamburger has to be with beef, and not with ham. If the meat is replaced by cheese, then it is called cheese burger.

Even in the English language, American, Canadian, Australian and British English from which King’s English became the standard and educated English, they have some differences in their accents and slangs. When the American says “a letter” the sound is like saying “a ladder”, and when the Australian says “nine” it is as he is saying “neun” (9) in German. When an American tourist asked a Birtish man about the “Comedy Theatre” he did not understand it, because what he thought was “Cormedy Theatre”. When I asked for 1

The term Grand Price may refer to competitions, such as Shanghai Golden Grand Prix; to Racing, such as Grand Prix Motor Racing; to Combat Sports, such as International Wrestling Grand Prix; to Chess, such as, Grand Prix Attacks (a chess opening); to Equestrianism, such as, Grand Prix (horse race); to Awards, such as Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival); to Video games, such as, Formula One Grand Prix (video game)

2

“shipping bags” at the department store in Montreal, the girl who worked in the store did not understand me, until I found them myself and told her that these were what I wanted.

She said she did not understand me, because she thought I was saying “sheeping bags”.

Arabic language and its various dialects and slangs are more devastating for non-Arabs who learn classical or modern written Arabic, al-‘Arabiyyah al-Fuṣḥá )‫(العربية الفصحى‬, like the one used in the Qur’an. The common expression for “yes” in the Arab world besides na‘am is iywā or aywā which is originally from iy wallah ‫(إي‬ ‫ (وهللا‬meaning meaning “yes, by Allah”. Learning Arabic in the Middle-East you are also to be familiar with the slang of the area you are visiting. When I taught Lebanes school children the word ummī meaning “my mother”, they said that it should have been immī. I told them, it was in Lebanese slang, only understood by Lebanese and some other Arabs, whereas ummī, was understood by the whole Arabs as well as non-Arabs who know Arabic, because it was a classical and modern standard Arabic. Similarly, the term bayyī and khayyī stand for abī and akhī meaning “my father” and “my brother” respectively.

The verses of the Qur’an were revealed murattal, i.e., cafrefully and precisely articulated, slowly recited in chanting manner, as well as mujawwad, i.e, verses read with correct and good pronunciation.

The science of tajwīd was orally taught by the teacher to his students through repeated readings until they master it. The teacher read the verses of the Qur’an to his students, and the students listened to him. Next, the students read them, and the teacher listened to them and corrected their mistakes. There had not been any guided book for teaching tajwīd until the 4th century of A.H. when the science of tajwīd was introduced as knowledge by itself.

The first who laid down the rules of tajwīd were the leaders of readings and languists at the beginning of the era of compilation.

Some said it was laid down by al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad (100-170/718786)2, others said it was by Abū ’l-Aswad al-Du’alī (16BH-69/603– 2

Al-Khalil bin Ahmad was one of the great masters in the science of Arabic grammar, and the discoverer of the rules of prosody.

3

688)3, and another view is that it was laid down by Abū ‘Ubayd alQāsim ibn al-Sallām (157-224/774-839)4 The impact of the increase of Islamic conquest and the conversion of many non-Arabs to Islam, led to the mixure of Arabic with non-Arabic languages, and many Arabic words were wrongly pronounced. In order to save the Qur’an from this laḥn (mispronunciation) it became necessary to teach them the proper pronunciation through the science of tajwīd. Dots and vowel signs were put in the verses of the Qur’an, whereas in the ‘Uthmanic codex, there were only consonantal skeletons, and there was neither dots, nor vowel signs.

The first who compiled and composed on the tajwīd which he called ‫“( حسن األداء‬good rendition”) was Abū Muzāḥim al-Khāqānī (d.

325 AH) in the form of poetry consisting of 51 lines. The term tajwīd at that time was not well-known yet.5 He urged the Qur’an reciter to to improve his recitation. He said: ‫ أحسِ ن أداءه‬،‫“( أيا قارئ القرآن‬O reader of the Qur’an, master its rendering”). Then many authors wrote on this subject, such as Abū ‘l-Faḍl al-Rāzī (371-454/981-1062), who wrote ‫“( فضائل القرآن وتالوته‬The Virtue of the Qur’an and its Reading”), and ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Qurṭubī (d. 461 AH)) who wrote ‫الموضح في‬ ‫“( التجويد‬the Illustrator in the Tajwīd”).

There are four positions or the sound “n” in its relation with letters following it, namely: a. Assimilation )‫ ;(إِ ْد َغام‬b. Substitution )‫ ;(إِ ْقالب‬c. clarity (‫ ;)إِ ْظ َهار‬and d. Concealment )‫(إِ ْخ َفاء‬. We have dealt

3

Abū ’l-Aswad was a close companion of Ali ibn Abi Talib and a grammarian.

He was the first to place markings on consonants and vowels on Arabic letters to clearly identify them. He was the first to write on Arabic linguistics, and is said to be the first to write a book on Arabic grammar (nahw) which he took from the caliph ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib.

4 Al-Wāsim Ibn al-Sallām was a linguist. In 192/807 became judge in Ṭarṭūs (Tortosa, a small coastal town in Syria) for 18 years and died in Makkah.

5 ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd, one of the Companions of the Prophet, was reported to have said: “Render the reading of the Qur’an ith the best “Read the Qur’an with the best rendering, and decorate (beautify) it with your best voice.” ( ‫) ج ّو دوا القرآن وزينوه بأحسن األصوات‬

4

with the assimilation and the substitution in the prevous khuṭbah and shall deal with the clarity and concealment as follows: c. Clarity (‫)إِ ْظ َهار‬ There are six letters which have to be pronounced clearly whenever they follow the sound “n”. The sound “n” itself has to be sounded clealy as well. These letters are called “letters of clarity”.

They are: ‫( أ‬alif) or ‫( ء‬hamzah), its sound could be “a”, “i”, or “u”.

Example: maN Adbara, read maN Adəbara, ‫َمنْ أَ ْد َب َر‬ ‘adhābaN Alīmā, read ‘adhābaN Alīmā ‫َع َذابًا أَلِ ْي َما‬ ‫‘( ع‬ayn), its sound could be “ ‘a”, “ ‘i”, or “ ‘u” Example: maN ‘Amila, read man ‘Amila, ‫َمنْ َع ِم َل‬ mā’uN ‘Adhbun, read mā’uN ‘Adhbun ٌ‫َما ٌء َع ْذب‬ َ ‫أَ ْن َع ْم‬ an‘Amta read an‘Amta ‫ت‬ ‫( غ‬gh, ghayn), its sound could be “gha”, “ghi”, or “ghu” Example: miN GHillin, read miN GHillin ‫مِنْ غِ ل‬ mā’aN GHadaqā read mā’aN GHadaqā ‫ما َ ًء َغ َد َقا‬ ‫( ح‬ḥ, ḥā’), its sound could be “ḥa”, “ḥi”, or “ḥu” Example: rizqaN Ḥalālan read rizqaN Ḥalālan َ‫ِر ْز َقا َحالل‬ ً ْ‫َقر‬ qarḍaN Ḥasanan, read qarḍaN Ḥasanan ‫ضا َح َس ًنا‬ ‫( خ‬kh, khā’), its sound could be “kha”, “khi”, or “khu” Example: miN KHilālih read miN KHilālih ‫مِنْ خِاللِه‬ iN KHiftum read iN KHiftum ‫إِنْ ِخ ْف ُتم‬ ‫( هـ‬h, hā’), its sound could be “ha”, “hi”, or “hu” Example: iN Huwa, read in Huwa ‫;إنْ ه َُو‬ miNHum read miNHum ‫ِم ْن ُه ْم‬ The way to remember these clearly pronounced six letters after the sound “n” is by putting six words into one line of poetry. The first letter of these words is one of the six letters to remember. The first part of this line of poetry runs as follows: َ ‫ك عِ ْلمًا َح‬ ... * ‫ازهُ َغ ْي ُر َخاسِ ِر‬ َ ‫أَخِيْ َها‬ “My brother, here is knowledge whoever gets it will not become loser…”

5

For those who do not know Arabic, may be just to say the expression “Ah!” A=a+‘a=gh ) ‫ أ‬+ ‫ ع‬+ ‫ ;(غ‬H=h+ḥ+kh (‫ هـ‬+ ‫ ح‬+ ‫)خ‬ (Letter ‫ غ‬which should be included is letter ‫ ع‬with a dot on it) d. Concealment )‫(إِ ْخ َفاء‬ There are fifteen letters when it is preceded by sound “n” this sound should be concealed, although not completely. These letters are as follows: tā’(‫)ت‬, thā’ (‫)ث‬, jīm (‫)ج‬, dāl (‫) د‬, dhāl (‫)ذ‬, zay (‫)ز‬, sīn (‫)س‬, shīn (‫)ش‬, ṣād (‫)ص‬, ḍād (‫) ض‬, ṭā’ ( ‫)ط‬, ẓā’(‫)ظ‬, fā’ (‫)ف‬, qāf (‫)ق‬, and kāf (‫)ك‬.

These letters may be difficult to remember, but through practice they will be remembered. If we remember the letters in assimilation, substitusion, and clarity, all of the remaining Arabic alphabets belong to this category of concealment.

Examples: - ‫ ت‬, ‫ ُك ْن ُت ْم‬, kuntum read kuntum, like content we say content, just the equivalent of the French content.

- ‫ ث‬, ‫ مِنْ َث َم َرات‬min thamarāt read min thamarāt like anthem we say anthem - ‫ ج‬, ‫ إِ ْنجيْل‬Injīl (Bible) read Injīl, like enjoy read enjoy. It is like French enjoué (playful) - ‫ د‬, ‫‘ عِ ْن َد ُه ْم‬indahun read ‘indahum, like tendency we say tendency.

It is the equivalent of the French tendance (tendency, leaning) - ‫ ذ‬, ْ‫ َفأ َ ْنذِر‬fa’andhir read fa’andhir, like in this we read in this - ‫ ز‬, ‫ ُم ْن ِزلِيْن‬munzilīn read munzilīn, like ANZAC read ANZAC, - ‫ س‬, ‫ ُت ْن َسى‬tunsā read tunsā, like insist, we say insist. It is like the French ensuite (then, later) - ‫ ش‬, ‫ َف َمنْ َشا َء‬, faman shā’a read faman shā’a, like sunshine we say sunshine, like the French mon choix (my choice) - ‫ ص‬, ‫صار‬ َ ‫ أَ ْن‬anṣār read anṣār, close to insomnia read insomnia. (Fr. ensomnie). Although letter ‫( ص‬ṣ) is not found in English (as well as many other languages(, the sound is almost like s in the Australian accent when the say the word “side”, “inside” (also probably in French when they say incendie (fire).

6

- ‫ ض‬, ‫ضل‬ َ ْ‫ َف َمن‬, faman ḍalla read faman ḍalla. Since we do nto have this letter in English, it would be better to remember Nelson “Mandella”, close to faman ḍalla.

- ‫ ط‬, ‫ ِمنْ طِ يْن‬, min ṭīn read min ṭīn. This ‫( ط‬ṭ) letter is not found in English (as well as many other languages), the sound is almost like “t” in the Australian accent when the say the word “time”, (also probably in French when they say the name Antoin) ُ ‫ أ ُ ْن‬, unẓur read unẓur. We do not have this sound in English.

- ‫ ظ‬, ‫ظر‬ - ‫ ف‬, ‫ون‬ َ ُ‫ ُي ْن ِفق‬, yunfiqūna read yunfiqūna; for infant, we say infant. It is the equivalent of the French word enfant (child).

- ‫ ق‬, ُ‫ َي ْن َقلِب‬, yanqalibu read Yanqalibu. We do not have this sound in English, but probably close to “inquiry”.

- ‫ ك‬, ‫ ِم ْن ُك ْم‬, minkum read minkum, like anchor we say éŋkə, similar to the French encore (still, again).

This sentence may give help: “The infant Insists to enjoy the sunshine and has tendency to be content with Manḍella and the national anthem on this ANZAC day, but later he got inṣomnia.”

In conclusion: There are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, six of them belong to idghām (assimilation, remember “You aRe aLoNe With Me,” Ann, assimilate, disappear!), six letters belong to iẓhār (clarity, remember “AH”), one )‫ (ب‬belongs to iqlāb (substitution, remember “Camberra”), and the remaining 15 letters belong to ikhfā’. We also remember the intensification (qalqalah) letters, as “Cat Beta Gamma Delta”, namely, ‫ د ج ب ط ق‬. Letter hamzah )‫ (ء‬is considered to belong to letter alif )‫(ا‬. (to be continued).

(CIVIC, 27 March, 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