Arabic

Why is emphasis important? It proves truthfulness. For example, if you says “Khalid stopped by today” and your friend says “Khalid didn’t stop by today,” and you say “I swear by Allah that he stopped by today,” that proves your truthfulness. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) doesn’t need any emphasis–what He says is always true! Yet He still emphasizes. Whenever He emphasizes something, pay close attention, and realize that what He says immediately afterward is very important.

Madd (pronounced like “mud”), literally means “extension”. In recitation of the Qur’an (tajweed), madd is when you extend and stretch a vowel sound (aah, ooh, etc.). There are two types of madd: fard (obligatory: you have to recite it) and mustahab (recommended: you should recite it). The general rule is that a madd inside a word is fard, while a madd that connects two words is mustahab. For example, in Surah Baqarah, Allah says:

In English, we have words like “from”, “to”, “with”, etc. These are called prepositions. They exist in Arabic, too–“huruful jaar” (حُرُوقُ الجَرّ). Huruwful jarr modify the words immediately after them, which are called “majruwr” (مَجرُور). In Arabic Grammar, majurwr words always take kasra (either single or double). (The one exception is feminine names, which take fatha.) So for example, if we have a book (kitaabun), then we add the preposition with (bi), it becomes “bi kitaabin” (بِ كِتَابٍ).

In Arabic grammar, the default harakaat that goes on all words is dumma (ُ or ٌ, the “oo” or “oon” sound). When you don’t know the vowel, apply dumma. Other harakaat are for other cases–for example, posessive case takes kasra (ِ or ٍ, the “ee” or “een” sound). Harakaat are two types–short (aa, ee, and oo) and long (aan, een, and oon). The second point to remember is definitivity. A definitive object means a specific object, not just any old object.

Masculine and Feminine In Arabic, all words are one of two genders: masculine, or feminine. There is no “it”, no third, gender-neutral gender like English has. The main thing to remember is that when you don’t know the gender, the default is the masculine gender. You also use the masculine gender for mixed groups (eg. if you’re talking to a group of men and women). The main sign of a word being feminine (remember, if you don’t know, the default is masculine) is a specific form of the letter ta, called ta-marbuta (التَّأ المَربُوطَة), or “tied-up ta”, which looks like this:

Arabic Grammar consists almost entirely of putting harakaat on letters. Arabic writing is typically written without the harakaat. How is it possible to read? One must learn slowly, piece by piece, and read with understanding. Arabic is not like English–you have to actively read and consciously think while you read about what it means. (At least, when you start out.) Why are harakaat important? Harakaat determine the meaning of words and sentences entirely.

In Arabic, there is the letter Ya: ي. It is pronounced similar to the letter Y in English. However, there’s also another type of ya–the ya without dots, which looks like this: ى. As for that ya, sometimes pronounced as a ya, and sometimes, as an alif (ا). For example, the word على (ayn-lam-ya) can be read as ‘ala (on top: عَلَى) or as ‘Ali (as in the name: عَلِي). So how do you know when to pronounce it as a ya, and when to pronounce it as an alif?

Mnemonic: Something used to help you remember. Qalqala is best described as an “echo noise” or “bouncing noise”. There are five qalqala letters. If any of them appears with a sukoon on top, you perform qalqala. (Prime example, if you have no idea what qalqala is: the end of the last word of every verse in Surah Ikhlass.) Qalqala letters: qaff (ق), ba (ب), taw (ط), jeem (ج), and dal (د).

Surah Fatiha contains almost all the Arabic letters that the English language lacks: ‘Ayn (ع), Saad (ص), Daad (ض), Taw (ط), Qaf (ق), and 7a (ح). Once you learn to pronounce these letters correctly, you practice them 17 times a day, every day, in every state of mind. Bi ithnillah, once you learn them, practice, and you will master them quickly.

If you know your tajweed (Qur’anic rules of beautifying recitation) but feel a bit rusty or need to review them, this website explains it very well. The website helps more if you already know tajweed but need a refresher. It’s very difficult to learn tajweed without a real, human teacher. May Allah accept our reading of the Qur’an as ‘ibadah. Ameen.