Attributes With Opposites

Salam alaikum wa rahmatu Allahi wa BarakatuHu. Peace be upon the followers of guidance.



ATTRIBUTES WITH OPPOSITES:

There are 11 attributes that have opposites, in 5 subsections. Each letter must have one of these attributes in each section. They are:

1. Hums الهمس - when pronounced you can feel air coming out of your mouth.
1. Jahr الجهر - No air coming out when pronounced.

2. Shiddat الشدة - strong, sound stops with force.
2. Tawasat التوسط - middle, sound is between continual resonation and stopping with force.
2. Rikhawat الرخاوة - weak, sound continues to resonate and does not stop with force.

3. Istaala الاستعلاء - thick letter, keep the jaw more open and lips close together.
3. Istifal الاستفال - thin letter, keep the jaw more closed and lips apart.

4. Itbaq الإطباق - keep the tongue close to the roof of the mouth.
4. Infitah الانفتاح - keep the tongue away from the roof of the mouth.

5. Ismaat الإصمات - Not of the "super" arabic letters.
5. Idhlaq الإذلاق - Of the "super" arabic letters.



1. Aired



Each letter must be either Hums الهمس (aired) or Jahr الجهر (unaired).

1. Hums الهمس - when pronounced you can feel air coming out of your mouth.
1. Jahr الجهر - No air coming out when pronounced.

Muffle your mouth with your hand, and recite the following ayat loudly:

{لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتۡ وَعَلَيۡہَا مَا ٱكۡتَسَبَتۡ‌}

Did you feel the pulses on your hand? Some of the letters have air coming out when you pronounce them, the rest don't. Our noble ulema, may Allah have mercy on them, have taught us which letters are Hums الهمس (aired), and which ones are Jahr الجهر (unaired).

Hums الهمس (aired) linguistically means hiding. In terminology it means flowing of breath when pronouncing a letter. There are ten letters, that can be found in the following:
"فحثه شخص سكت"

If you muffle your mouth while saying this statement, you will feel air coming out from each letter.

Jahr الجهر (unaired) linguistically means out loud. In terminology it means restraining the flow of the breath when pronouncing a letter in order to emphasize it's emmision point. It's letters are the rest of the letters; the ones that are not Hums الهمس (aired), all together 18 letters.



2. Strength



Each letter has a particular strength, Strong - Shiddat الشدة , Middle - Tawasat التوسط , or weak- Rikhawat الرخاوة .

2. Shiddat الشدة - strong, sound stops with force.
2. Tawasat التوسط - middle, sound is between continual resonation and stopping with force.
2. Rikhawat الرخاوة - weak, sound continues to resonate and does not stop with force.



2. Shiddat الشدة -linguistically means strong. In terminology it means restricting the flow of sound in the pronounciation of a letter in order to emphasize its emission point. There are eight letters found in the following sentence:
"أجد قط بكت"

These letters of shiddat (strength) , when they have a sakoon on them, become restrained in the pronounciation. If there were to be two of any of these letters (with sakoon) right after the other, one could not join the two together in pronounciation. Each one would have have to pronounced seperately. The sound with sakoon can not be extended for a prolonged period. Try pronouncing each of the letters of shiddat preceded by an أ , like:

أَ أْ أْ
أَ جْ جْ
أَ دْ دْ
أَ قْ قْ
أَ طْ طْ
أَ بْ بْ
أَ كْ كْ
أَ تْ تْ
These letters are shiddat (strong) letters, and one cannot force the sound to keep flowing.

2. Tawasat التوسط - linguistically means moderate. In terminology it means to be moderate in the pronounciation of a letter; not completely confined like with Shiddat الشدة , and not completely flowing like with Rikhawat الرخاوة . There are five letters of Tawasat التوسط found in the saying:
"لن عمر"


2. Rikhawat الرخاوة - linguistically means softness or complaisant, in terminology it means the flow of sound in the pronounciation of a letter. The letters are the rest of the other letters besides the letters of Shiddat الشدة and Tawasat التوسط .

These letters of Rikhawat الرخاوة , when they have a sakoon on them, become loose in pronounciation. If there were to be two of any of these letters (with sakoon) right after the other, one would have to join them together in pronounciation. They could not be pronounced seperately. The sound with sakoon could be extended for a prolonged time. Try pronouncing these of the letters of Rikhawat الرخاوة preceded by an أ , like:
أَ حْ حْ
أَ خْ خْ
أَ زْ زْ
أْ سْ سْ
أَ فْ فْ
These letters are weak (rikhawat) and flow in the pronounciation.






3. Thickness



Each letter is either thick (Istaala الاستعلاء), or thin (Istifal الاستفال) :

3. Istaala الاستعلاء - thick letter, keep the jaw more open and lips close together.
3. Istifal الاستفال - thin letter, keep the jaw more closed and lips apart.


Istaala الاستعلاء - linguistically means rising, in terminology it means raising the tongue to the top palate of the mouth in the pronounciation of a letter. It consists of the letters of the following saying:
"خص ضغط قظ"

When pronouncing the letters of Istaala الاستعلاء, i.e the thick letters, keep the sides of the lip close together.

Istifal الاستفال - linguistically means falling, in terminology it means lowering the tongue to the floor of the mouth in the pronounciation of a letter. It's letters are the other letters that are not Istaala الاستعلاء .

When pronouncing the letters of Istifal الاستفال , i.e the thin letters, keep the sides of the lip apart.

There are some letters that are sometimes pronounced thick, and sometimes thin, Allah willing we will cover this more in detail in another lesson.

Repeat after the following ayat:

{وَٱلشَّمۡسِ وَضُحَٮٰهَا}

Which letters in this ayat are thick, and which ones are thin?
(they are all thin except the ض ).

Repeat after the following ayat:

{كَلَّآ إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ لَيَطۡغَىٰٓ}

Which letters in this ayat are thick, and which ones are thin?
(they are all thin except the ط and the غ).

In the following ayats, specify which letters are thick:

{فَأَمَّا مَنۡ أَعۡطَىٰ وَٱتَّقَىٰ}

{يَحۡسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُ ۥۤ أَخۡلَدَهُ}

{وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ۬}



4. Roofed



4. Itbaq الإطباق - keep the tongue close to the roof of the mouth.
4. Infitah الانفتاح - keep the tongue away from the roof of the mouth.


Itbaq الإطباق - linguistically means adhesion. In terminology it means sticking the tongue to the roof of the mouth in the pronounciation of a letter. Itbaq الإطباق is more complete than Istaala الاستعلاء, and more specific than it. A letter of Istaala الاستعلاء is not neccesarily Itbaq الإطباق , however a letter of Itbaq الإطباق is Istaala الاستعلاء . All the letters of Itbaq الإطباق are Istaala الاستعلاء. They are of four letters:
"ص ض ط ظ"


Infitah الانفتاح - linguistically means seperating, in terminology it means seperating the tongue from the roof of the mouth so that air passes between them. It's letters are the rest of the letters that are not Itbaq الإطباق .







5. Super Arabic



5. Idhlaq الإذلاق - Of the "super" arabic letters.
5. Ismaat الإصمات - Not of the "super" arabic letters.


Idhlaq الإذلاق linguistically means eloquence of the tongue, in other words fluency. In terminology it refers to the quickness and easiness of pronouncing the letters of Idhlaq الإذلاق , i.e. these letters are not easily and not often mispronounced. Some of these letters emit from the end part of the tongue (ل lam ن nun and ر ra), and some from the lips (ب ba ف fa and م meem). They consist of six letters in the saying:
"فر من لب"


Ismaat الإصمات - linguistically means "preventing". In terminolgy it means prevention in the formation of a 4-letter or 5-letter pure arabic word. Every pure 4-letter or 5-letter arabic word has at least one of the letters of Idhlaq الإذلاق , letters "فر من لب" , in it. The letters of Ismaat الإصمات are "heavier" to pronounce. These letters are the rest of the letters, the ones that are not Idhlaq الإذلاق.
....
These are the attributes that have opposites, and May Allah protect and have mercy on our ulema. Allah willing, in the next lesson we will go over the attributes that do not have opposites.