Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Madd 'arid li-s-sukoon
Updated on 04 October 2026 at 11:01 PM
📖 6 min readIt is that there is found after a madd letter or a leen letter a sukoon occurring at the time of stopping.
الرَّحْمَنُ ¹, الْعَالَمِينَ ², الْمُفْلِحُونَ ³, الْبَيْتِ ⁴, خَوفٍ ⁵.
The permissibility of shortening it (qasr) or lengthening it.
Three ways are allowed in it: the qasr of two harakat, the tawassut of four harakat and the ishba' of six.
The qasr of two harakat, in consideration of the occurrence of the sukoon, which is not taken into account since stopping allows without restriction the meeting of the two saakin letters, and in consideration of the state of connection, where it becomes a madd tabi'i. This way is preferred in the recitation with the level of hadr.
The way of tawassut takes the meeting of the saakin letters into account while observing its accidental character: it has been lowered in relation to the original, becoming neither totally nonexistent, to the point of being like the madd tabi'i, nor permanently present, to the point of being original and lengthened six harakat like the lazim. The observation of its accidental character has placed it at an intermediate rank. This way is preferred in the recitation with the level of tadwir.
The way of ishba', by resemblance, in this case, to the madd lazim, where two saakin letters meet, so that the long madd becomes necessary in order to remove the meeting of the saakin letters. This way, in recitation, is preferred with the level of tarteel ¹, knowing that any of the three ways is permitted at any degree of the degrees of recitation.
It is called 'arid (occurring) for the occurrence of the sukoon at the time of stopping; for if there were connection, it would be a madd tabi'i.
The madd 'arid li-s-sukoon has three types: the mansub, the majrur and the marfu'.
The first: the mansub, by which we mean that which ends with a fathah, whether a fathah of i'rab like الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ² or a fathah of construction like الْعَالَمِينَ; it has three ways: the qasr of two harakat, the tawassut of four harakat and the ishba' of six, all with the pure sukoon, that is, free of rawm and ishmaam.
The second: the majrur, by which we mean that which ends with a kasrah, whether a kasrah of i'rab like الرَّحِيمِ ³ or a kasrah of construction like هَذَانِ خَصْمَانِ ⁴; it has four ways: the three previous ones of the mansub, namely the qasr, the tawassut and the ishba' with the pure sukoon, then the rawm with the qasr, for the rawm is like the connection and is done only with the qasr.
The third: the marfu', by which we mean that which ends with a dammah, whether a dammah of i'rab like نَسْتَعِينُ ⁵ or a dammah of construction like يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ ⁶; it has seven ways: the three previous ones with the pure sukoon, the same with ishmaam, and the seventh way, the rawm with the qasr.
It is summarized from this that ishmaam is specific to what ends with a dammah, its purpose being to indicate that the vowel of the letter on which one stops is a dammah, and that the rawm is specific to what ends with a kasrah or a dammah, its purpose being likewise to indicate the vowel of the letter on which one stops.
If the 'arid sukoon is preceded by a leen letter, like خَوْفٍ ¹, بيْت ², شَيء ³, سُوْء ⁴, it takes the previous ways wherever it is found, except that the scholars have differed on the way of qasr: some scholars say that what is meant by the qasr is the madd of two harakat, giving it the ruling of the madd 'arid li-s-sukoon and considering the leen letter as a madd letter when stopping on what follows it, to facilitate the pronunciation. This is what the author of al-'Ameed said ⁵, and most of the commentators of al-Shatibiyya say, concerning the meaning of the words of Imam al-Shatibi وعنهم سقوط المد فيه, that what is meant by that is the qasr of two harakat, like the madd 'arid li-s-sukoon.
Other scholars say that what is meant by the qasr is the total suppression of the madd, so that the pronunciation of the two leen letters at the stop be like their pronunciation in the state of connection, giving them the ruling of the strong letters (sahihah) ⁶.
The scholars have also differed on the way of rawm: most of them say that the rawm comes with the qasr which is the total absence of madd originally, for the leen letter, in the state of connection, has no madd at all, unlike the madd 'arid li-s-sukoon which, in connection, is a madd tabi'i, as was explained before.
Some say that the rawm comes with the qasr which has the meaning of a certain madd, estimated as being below the madd tabi'i. The scholar al-Dabba' reported it in his book "Al-Ida' fi Usul al-qira'a", and he mentioned that among those who held this view there are al-Dani and Makki, when they said: في حرفي اللين من المد بعض ما في حروف المد; likewise al-Ja'bari said: واللِّين لا يخلو من أيسر مد فيمد بقدر الطبع ⁷. On this basis, the rawm is in it according to this model, and it can only be mastered through oral transmission.
If the madd 'arid li-s-sukoon is preceded by a hamzah, like إِسْرَائِيلَ ¹, مَآبِ ², لَرَءُوفٌ ³, the previous ways are allowed in it as well.
The madd ending with fathah, like إِسْرَائِيلَ, has at the stop three ways: the qasr, the tawassut and the ishba' with the pure sukoon. The madd ending with kasrah, like مَآبٍ, has at the stop four ways: the three previous ones with the pure sukoon, then the rawm with the qasr.
The madd ending with dammah, like لَرَءُوفٌ, has at the stop seven ways: the three previous ones with the pure sukoon, the same with ishmaam (which makes six), then the rawm with the qasr, the total being thus seven ways.
ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ فِرَٰشًۭا وَٱلسَّمَآءَ بِنَآءًۭ وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءًۭ فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ رِزْقًۭا لَّكُمْ ۖ فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا۟ لِلَّهِ أَندَادًۭا وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
Surah 2, 22: Madd 'arid li-s-sukoon: the waw of تعلمون takes a sukoon at the waqf, three possible readings (qasr, tawassut, ishba').