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

In this lesson we will go over the letters of the Middle tongue (Wasatal Lisan).



The letters of the tongue are divided into four sections:

1. The far tongue (aqsal lisan) .
2. The middle tongue (wasatal lisan)
3. The side tongue (Hafatul lisan)
4. The tip of the tongue (tarful lisan)

The middle tongue (wasatal lisan) has three letters that emit from it, ج (jeem), ي (ya), and ش (sheen). .



ج

When ج (jeem) is written by itself, or at the end of a word, it has the tail on the bottom. Otherwise, it is written without the tail, like in جا .

The ج (jeem) is a thin letter. When pronouncing thin (muraqaqa) letters like ج (jeem) keep the side of the mouth apart. The thick letters have a "o" sound, and the thin letters have an "a" sound. The ج (jeem) is pronounced like the j in "jam" , not like that of "jaw."

A common mistake found in the pronounciation of ج (jeem), very common in the land of Yousef, misr (egypt), is reciting the ج (jeem) with a g sound, sort of like غ. In the word: جِنْ the ج should pronounced as (jin) not (gin).

ج (jeem) is also a qalqala letter, when there is a sukoon on the ج (jeem), it should be pronounced sort of like a shadda with fatha, but with a shorter length of time.

ج (jeem) is a strong letter, and cannot be extended in time in pronouncing. اَجْ would be pronouced as "ajja". It is not like غ in اَغْ that one could extend long like "aggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh".

Here are some examples for ج :

{وَرَأَيۡتَ ٱلنَّاسَ يَدۡخُلُونَ فِى دِينِ ٱللَّهِ أَفۡوَاجً۬ا}

{مِنَ ٱلۡجِنَّةِ وَٱلنَّاسِ}

{أَلَمۡ يَجۡعَلۡ كَيۡدَهُمۡ فِى تَضۡلِيلٍ۬}

{إِنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ ٱلرُّجۡعَىٰٓ}

{وَٱلۡفَجۡرِ}

{قُلۡ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ أَنَّهُ ٱسۡتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡجِنِّ فَقَالُوٓاْ إِنَّا سَمِعۡنَا قُرۡءَانًا عَجَبً۬ا}



ي

The ي (yaa) is the second letter that emits from the middle of the tongue. Some people that may have not studied the tajweed may completely omit pronouncing this letter. Like for example in the word "yell", they would say "ell" , without pronouncing the original "y" sound. It is important to stress the initial ي (yaa) sound in the beginning.

Listen to the following ayat:

{يَحۡسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُ ۥۤ أَخۡلَدَهُ}

Did you notice the ي (yaa) sound in the beginning of the ayat? One should be sure to pronounce it, not omit it.

Repeat the following 3 times, being sure to pronounce the "y" sound of ي (yaa) in the beginning:

يَ يِ يُ يً يٍ يٌ

يَ يِ يُ يً يٍ يٌ

يَ يِ يُ يً يٍ يٌ



It does take practice to correct the accent and pronounciation that one may developed from their childhood. Allah will reward greatly for making the effort to learn the beneficial knowledge.

When you have a ي (yaa) sakina preceded by a letter with a fatha َ like in the following ayat:

{وَرَأَيۡتَ ٱلنَّاسَ يَدۡخُلُونَ فِى دِينِ ٱللَّهِ أَفۡوَاجً۬ا}

It is considered to be an extension of لِين (leen). لِين (leen) is also when و (wow) sakaina preceded by a fatha َ . In this case one should pronounce it the right length, not too long. Allah willing we will cover the لِين (leen) more in detail in the future.

The ي (yaa) also is not a qalqala letter, and one should be careful not to always pronounce it with a shadda sound like the word إِلَىَّ in the following ayat:

{قُلۡ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ أَنَّهُ ٱسۡتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡجِنِّ فَقَالُوٓاْ إِنَّا سَمِعۡنَا قُرۡءَانًا عَجَبً۬ا}

ي (yaa) is a light (muraqaqa) letter, not heavy (mufakhama), and should be pronounced with an "a" sound, not an "o" sound. يَا would sound like "yeah", not "yaw". Listen to the يَا in the following ayat:

{قُلۡ يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلۡڪَـٰفِرُونَ}

Also in this ayat there is an example of ي (yaa) with a shadda right after the يَا .

Another common mistake that people make with ي (yaa) is is pronouncing it with too much extension. In the ayat above, we see that يَا is followed by a ء (hamza), and therefore we extend it 4 or 5 haraqas (beats). One might extend the يَا too much in other cases where there is not an ء (hamza) after it. يَا in arabic is a word of addressing and means "oh" .If the يَا does not have an ء (hamza) after it, it should only be pronounced with two haraqas (beats), no more, like in the following ayats:

{إِيَّاكَ نَعۡبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسۡتَعِينُ }

{يسٓ۬}



Sometimes the ي (yaa) is pronounced with ghunna (nasal), like in the following ayat from surah zilzala:

{وَمَن يَعۡمَلۡ مِثۡقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ۬ شَرًّ۬ا يَرَهُۥ}

In this ayat, the ن in مَن (and the tanween as well in شَرًّ۬ا) get partially eaten up (itgham) by the ي (yaa) after it. It is not completely eaten up, and some of the ن pronunciation remains. It should be pronounced with some nasal sound. The pronounciation is not exactly the same as in the case of leen above, where you have a ي (yaa) sakina preceded by a letter with a fatha َ . Allah willing, we will cover this in more detail on the section of ghunna and the rules of ن sakinah and tanween.


Here are some examples of ي (yaa):

{مَـٰلِكِ يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ}

{قُلۡ يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلۡڪَـٰفِرُونَ}

{وَرَأَيۡتَ ٱلنَّاسَ يَدۡخُلُونَ فِى دِينِ ٱللَّهِ أَفۡوَاجً۬ا}

{قُلۡ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ أَنَّهُ ٱسۡتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡجِنِّ فَقَالُوٓاْ إِنَّا سَمِعۡنَا قُرۡءَانًا عَجَبً۬ا}

{أَلَمۡ يَجۡعَلۡ كَيۡدَهُمۡ فِى تَضۡلِيلٍ۬}

(أَعُوذُ بالله مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ)

{إِيَّاكَ نَعۡبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسۡتَعِينُ }

{صِرَٲطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ}

{عَمَّ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ}

{وَلَمۡ يَكُن لَّهُ ۥ ڪُفُوًا أَحَدٌ}

{يَحۡسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُ ۥۤ أَخۡلَدَهُ}



ش

The ش (sheen) is pronounced from the middle of the tongue (wasatal lisan). It is pronounced continuosly, like "ashshshshshshshshshsh". One should not pronounce it like a qalqala letter like "aaashshsha" .

Like the ج (jeem), the ش (sheen) loses its tail in writing when it is connected to a letter after it, like in " شا " .

Lets practice saying the ش (sheen). Repeat the following 3 times:

شَ شِ شُ أَشْ

شَ شِ شُ أَشْ

شَ شِ شُ أَشْ

Here are some examples of ش (sheen):

{أَلَمۡ نَشۡرَحۡ لَكَ صَدۡرَكَ}

(أَعُوذُ بالله مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ)

{وَٱلشَّمۡسِ وَضُحَٮٰهَا}

{وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ}

{وَمَن يَعۡمَلۡ مِثۡقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ۬ شَرًّ۬ا يَرَهُۥ}