Lam al-fi'l

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The lam al-fi'l: definition

It is the sakin lam found in a verb, whether past, present or imperative, and in each of them medial or final: the past as in الْتَقَى, أَنْزَلْنَاهُ; the present as in يَلْتَقِطْهُ, أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَكَ; and the imperative as in وَأَلْقِ, وَتَوَكَّلْ.

It has, before the letters of the alphabet, two states:

1. The state of idghaam.
2. The state of izhaar.

The state of idghaam

The lam al-fi'l is merged (idghaam) without condition if a lam or a ra follows it, as in: قُلْ لا أَسْأَلُكُمْ, وَقُلْ رَبِّ, وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ.

The cause of the idghaam: identity for the lam, and closeness for the ra.

The state of izhaar

The lam al-fi'l is made apparent without condition if a letter among the remaining twenty-six letters follows it, as in the preceding examples.

The answer to the objection

A questioner may ask: why was the lam al-fi'l not merged into the noon in قُلْ نَعَمْ, for the closeness that exists between them, as it was merged into the ra for the same reason?

The answer: when the sakin noon is followed by a lam, its idghaam must take place without ghunnah, and it is not correct that the noon merge into itself anything of what merges into it (for fear of the disappearance of the affinity between the noon and its sisters) among the letters of "yarmalun".

And an objection may come upon this: the lam of the al merges into the noon as in "النَّاسِ"¹, so why would the lam al-fi'l not merge into it as well?

The answer: the lam of the al with the noon is frequent in the Quran, so it is more worthy of idghaam to ease the pronunciation; unlike the lam al-fi'l before the noon, which is rare in the Quran, and its izhaar involves no hardship; and the reference in all of this is audition (sama') and transmission.

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

فَتَعَـٰلَى ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمَلِكُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ وَلَا تَعْجَلْ بِٱلْقُرْءَانِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يُقْضَىٰٓ إِلَيْكَ وَحْيُهُۥ ۖ وَقُل رَّبِّ زِدْنِى عِلْمًۭا

Surah 20, 114: Lam al-fi'l merging into the ra of رب by closeness (idghaam without ghunnah).

فَٱلْتَقَمَهُ ٱلْحُوتُ وَهُوَ مُلِيمٌۭ

Surah 37, 142: Cited by the book: in فالتقمه the lam of the verb remains apparent before the ta despite the closeness of the makharij (no idghaam).

رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْوَهَّابُ

Surah 3, 8: Cited by the book: in تزغ قلوبنا the dhal remains apparent before the qaf, letters too close for idghaam.