Characteristics of Letters  Part 8

 

Characteristics that have no opposites (2)

 

This tidbit lesson concludes the section on the characteristics of the letters.  The last three characteristics that have no opposite are described here. 

 

 

Its linguistic definition: Repeating something once or more.

 

Its applied tajweed definition: The trilling of the tongue when pronouncing a letter.

Its letter :

This characteristic of the is studied because the possibility of it happening exists.  This is not a desired characteristic; in fact we must avoid trilling our tongue when we pronounce the .  We should be careful of this especially when the  has a shaddah on it. We learn this characteristic to avoid applying it, unlike the other characteristics.

Imam Al-Jazaree said the following about this characteristic:

 

Its linguistic definition : Spreading around
Its applied tajweed definition: Spreading of the air in the mouth when articulating the letter.
Its letter:

 

The poem known as Al-Jazariyyah, stated the following about :

 

Its linguistic definition : Lengthening

Its applied tajweed Definition: It is the pushing of the tongue from the back of the mouth to the front, until the tip of the tongue lightly touches the gum line of the two top front incisors, and this it under the influence of compressed air behind the tongue.
Note: The forward pushing is mechanical; the sound should not travel forward with this involuntary movement.  If the sound went forward with the tongue, the sound of  would then end up sounding like a , which is incorrect.  The lengthened sound of  is that of its characteristic of  and should be as long as  in any other letter that has .

Its letter: 

Al-Jazariyyah poem states:

 

 

Divisions of Characteristics According to Strength and the Weakness

All of the characteristics described in the last 8 lessons are divided into three groups as far as strength:

 The Strong Characteristics

، ، ، ، ،   ، ، ،   

 

The Medium Characteristics

، ،

The Weak Characteristics

، ، ، ،

 

We can by examining the different strengths of the characteristics determine the general strength of a particular letter.  For example, the letter   has all strong characteristics, and is considered the strongest letter in the Arabic alphabet.  The letter  on the other hand has all weak characteristics, so is a weak letter.