The Three Bīḍ

Excerpt: Sūrah al-Aḥzāb, 40 to 48; Sūrah al-Burūj

Riwāyah: Qālūn + Warsh ʿan Nāfiʿ; Khalaf ʿan Ḥamzah

(This article is 7 to 9 minutes long)

The three bīḍ are the fifth set of nights in a lunar month named so because the moon remains luminous for the entire duration of these nights. Today was verily an occasion where three moons came together and illuminated the day in a manner that would put even the sun to shame. There could be no better introduction to these three moons, al-Dai al-Ajal Syedna Taher Saifuddin (RA), al-Dai al-Ajal al-Hayy al-Muqaddas Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin (RA) and al-Dai al-Ajal Syedna Aali Qadr Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS), than today’s recitation of Sūrah al-Aḥzāb in the unique maqām of Ḥijāz.

The excerpt contained the qirāʾah of three reciters, namely, Nāfiʿ, Ḥamzah and Abū ʿAmr . This article can never do justice to adequately represent each and every facet of the excerpt but it is nonetheless important to engage in fruitful discussions and reach beneficial conclusions.

Apart from analyzing the chronology of the recitation briefly, this article will discuss three main topics which are the maqam of Ḥijāz, the ḥukm of imālah as well as the ḥukm of tas-hīl. All of the three were used for the very first time in this Ashara Mubaraka.

The Maqām of Ḥijāz

While reciting the verses that described the lofty attributes of Rasulullah (SAW), could there be any better maqam than that of Hijāz to recite about the Hijāzī Prophet (SAW) himself? This maqam is characterized with emotion, divineness, mellowness and even deference and therefore, it is most appropriate to be used in verses that are associated with pleading before Allah Taʿālā or seeking the wasīlah of anbiyāʾ and awliyāʾ (AS).

The most striking feature of this maqām is that it is the only maqām which is sharqī (eastern) as well as gharbī (western). It comes, therefore, as no surprise that this maqām was used in the excerpt to recite verses about a Nabī (SAW) who was sent to all mankind without exception, who himself stated that:

انا سيد ولد آدم ولا فخر

(I am the leader of all men and it is no boast)

This article would be incomplete without including a few examples of Qurʾānic recitations in this maqam. Please click here to listen to some heartwarming recitations by famous qurrāʾ such as Mustafa Ismail, Abdul Basit and the master of Qurrāʾ, Sheikh Mahmoud Khalil al-Husary.

Not unlike yesterday, the excerpt commenced with Qālūn, repeating the initial verses in all wujūh of this narration before switching to Warsh. Notable was Qālūn’s optional ṣilah of mīm and optional qaṣr as well as Nāfiʿ’s recitation of النبِيُّ as النبِىءُ with a full madd and the tas-hīl of the successive humzah of the word إنّا.

Before proceeding further, let’s discuss today’s as well as some other farsh which will also serve to answer a question posted in response to yesterday’s article.

1. Nāfiʿ along with all reciters save ʿĀṣim recited the word خاتم with a kasrah (zayr) changing the noun into an agent.
2. Shuʿbah alone recited the word مكانتكم (in Hūd, 93) with an alif before tāʾ rendering the word plural.
3. Yaʿqūb recited ربَّنا باعِدْ as ربُّنا بَاعَدَ (in Sabā, 19) changing the sentence from imperative to declarative.
4. Nāfiʿ and certain others recited the word نُنْشِزُهَا (in al-Baqarah, 259) as نُنْشِرُهَا replacing the zāy with a rāʾ.
5. Shuʿbah and certain others recited the word عملته (in Yā-Sīn, 35) as عملت by omitting the hāʾ pronoun.

As you will see, the changes that occur are of different types, scholars having limited them to seven which can be found listed in a previous article here.

The naql on the phrase ودع أذاهم was notable for its efficiency and ease of delivery.

The Imālah

The imālah or the imālah kubrā as it is called when differentiating between imālah sughrā or taqlīl was introduced by Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī according to al-Suyūṭī (d. 911 AH) and scores of books have been written on the subject by grammarians and scholars of the Qurʾān alike. The imālah is when the madd of alif is slanted towards the yāʾ. It is a dialectical phenomenon followed by the tribes of Tamīm, Qays, Asad and the generality of Najd. The imālah is a regular feature in the qirāʾah of Ḥamzah and al-Kisāʾī. Today, the verse recited in Khalaf (verse 48) featured two imālahs in the words أذىهم and وكفى.

The Tas-hīl

The tas-hīl, as mentioned earlier, was seen on the second hamzah in the phrase النبىء إنا. Tas-hīl is simply to pronounce the humzah with a sound that lies between the humzah and the hāʾ. It is employed to ease the burden on the reciter when two successive humzah’s are encountered either in a single word or in two different words and either of the same vowel (zabar / zayr / paish) or different vowels. The tas-hīl occurs once in the riwāyah of Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim in the word أأعجمي (in Fuṣṣilat, 44).

The recitation ended with Sūrah al-Burūj in Warsh with verses 13 to 15 in the riwāyah of al-Sūsī ʿan Abū ʿAmr.

May Allāh Taʿālā grant a long and healthy life to our Mawla al-Dai al-Ajal Syedna Aali Qadr Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS) till the day of judgement. Ameen.