The 
(Hiding)
of the 
Saakinah
and Tanween
This lesson defines the 
,
the last of the four rules for the saakinah
and tanween. The three other rules saakinah
and tanween and their explanations are located in the tidbit archives link.
The is
linguistically defined as: hiding or concealment
The applied definition of the is:
The pronunciation of a non-voweled letter stripped of any shaddah,
characterized somewhere between an 
and an 
with a ghunnah remaining on the first
letter, in this case the saakinah
and the tanween.
The letters of the for the saakinah
and tanween are all the remaining letters in the Arabic alphabet after we
remove the letters that cause ,
,
and 
.
There are 15 letters in the
Arabic alphabet, all causing ,
or hiding of the saakinah
and tanween; they are: 
If a saakinah
or tanween is followed by any of these 15 letters, we hide the .
The can take place between two words (as will
always be the case with the tanween) or in the middle of a word. To hide the our
tongue does not touch the teeth or gum, instead our tongue moves close to, but
not at, the articulation point of the next letter, which is the letter causing
the (hiding).
We then hold this sound with an accompanying ghunnah (nasalization) for the
amount of timing appropriate for the . The (or hiding) of the saakinah
or tanween is also known as 
.
The technique of the of the takes practice to perfect. There is no
difference in the or in the technique of the whether it is a written that
is being hidden, or a tanween. Some students simply keep their tongue at the articulation point
of the during
the , and prolong the sound with a ghunnah
(nasalization). This is not the correct technique. Others let the back
portion of the tongue rise up to the roof of the mouth and rest it there, which
is again, incorrect. The tongue shouldn’t be touching the roof, gums, or
teeth, but should be close to the articulation point of the next letter, as
stating previously.
Examples of the of the saakinah
and tanween:
In this example above, there is a
saakinah
in the middle of the second word, followed by the letter 
,
one of the letters of . We don’t let our tongue touch the
articulation point of the ,
but instead put our tongue in a position close to, but not touching the
articulation point of the letter ,
and hold this sound with a ghunnah for a period of time. The exact period of
time cannot be explained in writing, but instead should be learned and copied
from a qualified Qur’an teacher. It is not correct to state that the ghunnah
is held for two counts.
In this example there is a
tanween at the end of the second word, followed by a 
as
the first letter of the next following word. The is
one of the letters that causes hiding of the saakinah
and tanween. The technique is similar to that described above, except our
tongue should get close to the articulation point of the instead
of the .
This aayah has a saakinah
as the last letter of the first word, it is followed by a 
,
which is one of the letters that causes hiding of the saakinah.
Again, as previously stated, we don’t let our tongue go to the articulation
point of the ,
but instead bring our tongue close to, but not touching, the ,
and hold the sound with an accompanying ghunnah for the appropriate period of
time.