Laam al-Amr

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Laam al-Amr: definition

It is the sakina laam superfluous to the word's structure, which enters upon the present verb to turn it into the imperative form, on condition that it is preceded by a thumma, a waaw or a faa. Example of the one preceded by thumma: ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا تَفَثَهُمْ; example of the one preceded by the waaw: وَلْيُوفُوا نُذُورَهُمْ ¹; example of the one preceded by the faa: فَلْيَمْدُدْ بِسَبَبٍ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ ².

The ruling on laam al-amr

Its ruling: obligatory Izhaar without condition, like the ruling on the noun.

The reply to the objection

If it is said: why did you merge the laam in التَّائِبُونَ ³ and not in فَلْتَقُمْ طَائِفَةٌ ⁴?

The reply: the laam in التَّائِبُونَ is the laam of definition, frequent in the Quran, unlike the laam of the imperative, which is rare, and its Izhaar involves no hardship there, as previously noted for the case of laam al-fi'l.

Note: know that the letters of the alphabet that follow the sakina laams number twenty-eight, after excluding the three madd letters, as was done for the sakina noon and the tanween, and the sakina meem, out of fear of the meeting of the two sakinas, as previously noted.

The author of Tuhfat al-Atfal pointed to the first two types with his words:

للامِ أل حالانِ قبلَ الأحرفِ ... أولاهما إظهارُها فلتَعْرِفِ
قبلَ ارْبع معْ عَشْرَةٍ خُذْ عِلْمَهُ ... من ابغ حَجَّك وخَفْ عَقيمهُ
ثانيهما إدغامُها في أربعِ ... وعشرةٍ أيضًا ورمزَها فَعِي
طِبْ ثمَّ صِلْ رحمًا تفزْ ضِفْ ذا نِعمْ ... دعْ سُوءَ ظَنٍّ زُرْ شريفًا للكَرمْ
والَّلامَ الُاولَى سمِّها قمْرِيَّةْ ... والَّلامَ الُاخْرى سمِّها شمسيَّةْ
وأَظهرنَّ لامَ فعلٍ مُطلقًا ... في نحو قلْ نعم وقلْنا والْتقى

Meaning: the laam of "al" has two states before the letters: the first is making it apparent (learn it before four and ten letters, whose knowledge is taken from "ibghi hajjaka wa khaf 'aqimah"); the second is merging it into four and ten others likewise (their symbol is the line "tib thumma sil rahiman tafuz dif dha ni'am, da' su'a zannin zur sharifan lil-karm"); the first laam, name it qamariyyah, and the second laam, name it shamsiyyah; and make the laam of the verb apparent in absolute terms, as in "qul na'am", "qulna" and "il-taqa".

The author of La'ali al-Bayan summarized the five rulings with his words:

ألْ في ابغ حجك وخف عقيمهُ ... أظهر وكن في غيرها مدغمه
واللامَ من فعلٍ وحرفٍ أظهرا ... لا قل وبل فأدغمنهما برا
ومعهما في اللامِ هل وأظهرا ... في اسم لامِ الأمر أيضًا قررا

Meaning: the "al" of "ibghi hajjaka wa khaf 'aqimah": make it apparent, and merge it into everything else; the laam of the verb and the laam of the particle: make them apparent, except "qul" and "bal" which must be merged completely; along with them he made the laam of "hal" apparent, and for the laam of the noun and the laam of the imperative he likewise ruled Izhaar.

Additional examples (Qawa'id al-Tajwid on the recitation of Hafs)