3rd Muharram al-Harām 1443 AH

Tilāwah: al-Ḥujurāt 1 – 13

Riwāyah: Warsh, al-Bazzī, Ḥafṣ, Khalaf, Abū Jaʿfar, Yaʿqūb

The Sūrah of al-Ḥujurāt, or al-Ḥujarāt according to Abū Jaʿfar, is among the unique chapters of the Qur’an that follow a consistent theme throughout. In this case, al-Ḥujurāt focuses on etiquette and character. The recitation, therefore, was performed in an exhorting manner where each verse seemed to come out with an emphatic message of its own. The audience could feel the rawness of the messages that were conveyed within the folds of each verse. Higher notes were sustained for significant durations. The rast and bayātī in today’s recitation were full of soulful melodies. One could feel the flow of emotions in the verse that mentions “And know, the Messenger of Allah is amongst you!” The recitation ended abruptly on the word “atqākum” in the 13^th verse of the Sūrah.

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Some aḥkām in today’s recitation:

1. Naql: Some of the instances where naql of Warsh was employed are: (ولو أنهم), (لبعض أن), (إليكم الإيمان)

2. Silat of the Mīm of Plurality: (أحدكم أن)

3. Badal: (ءامنوا), (الإيمان)

4. Tarqīq: (خيرا)

Most of these aḥkām are derived from the recitation of Warsh, upon which today’s tilāwah was based.

Some farsh from today’s recitation:

النَّبِيْءِ	النَّبِيِّ
Nāfiʿ	The Rest

فتثبتوا	فَتَبَيَّنُوْا
Ḥamzah, al-Kisāʾī, Khalaf	The Rest

إِخْوَتِكُمْ	أَخَوَيْكُمْ
Yaʿqūb	The Rest

مَيِّتًا	مَيْتًا
Nāfiʿ, Abū Jaʿfar, Ruways	The Rest

لِتَّعَارَفُوا	لِتَعَارَفُوْا
Al-Bazzī	The Rest

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The Uṣūl

The fat-ḥa, imālah and taqlīl are quite an interesting set of uṣūl because they cause a given recitation to stand out and quickly pull the attention of the audience to the intricacies of the Ten Readings. In simple terms, a fat-ḥa, in this context,refers to the recitation of a syllable (always a combination of a letter followed by a soft alif i.e., alif layyinah) normally. For example, the word taqwā, when recited normally, i.e., with the fat-ḥah, will be pronounced // taq-wā //. However, if one wishes to perform the taqlīl here, the pronunciation of the last syllable // wā // will change to // wae //, with a little inclination towards the sound of the letter yāʾ. In the case of imālah, the inclination towards the sound of the letter yāʾ is far greater. Therefore, // taq-wā // would become // taq-way //.

The origin of these pronunciations lies in the various Arabian dialects. Whereas fat-ḥah is sourced in the Hijāzī dialect, the imālah is derived from the Najdi, Tamimī, Asadī and Qaysī dialects. Let’s discuss some principles of the Qurrāʾ vis-à-vis fat-ḥa, imālah and taqlīl from the Shātibiya path.

In brief, the Qurrāʾ can be divided into five categories in the context of their fat-ḥa, imālah and taqlīl preferences:

1. Those who have no imālah in the Qur’an at all. Ibn Kathīr alone falls in this category.

2. Those who perform the imālah in few instances. These are Ibn ʿĀmir, ʿĀṣim and Qālūn.

3. Those who perform the taqlīl and the only place where they perform the imālah kubrā is in the hāʾ of Ṭā-hā. Warsh alone falls in this category.

4. Those who alternate between the taqlīl and the imālah. Abū ʿAmr alone falls in this category.

5. Those who perform the imālah in several instances. These are Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī.

There are detailed rules for the grammatical type of words for which imālah / taqlīl should be performed. This article shall not delve into those details for the sake of brevity and simplicity.

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