Madd badal

Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Madd badal

The definition of the madd badal

It is that the hamzah precedes the madd letter in a word, and that after the madd letter there is neither hamzah nor sukoon.

Examples of the madd badal

Example of the alif: ءامِنُوا ¹; example of the ya': إِيمَانًا ²; example of the waw: أُوتُوا ³.

Its ruling

The permissibility of lengthening it and shortening it, except that Hafs has in this only the qasr.

The length of its madd

It is lengthened two harakat only, like the natural madd.

The reason for its name badal (substituted)

It is called madd badal because the madd letter is in it substituted for the hamzah in general, for the origin of every badal is the meeting of two hamzahs in a word: the first mutaharrik and the second saakin, the second hamzah being substituted by a madd letter of the same kind as the vowel of the first, for lightness. And it is to this that Imam al-Shatibi refers, saying:

وإبدال أخرى الهمزتين لكلهم ... إذا سكنت عزم كآدم أو هلا

"And the substitution of the other of the two hamzahs for all... when it is saakin, like Adam or Hala"

If the first hamzah is open, the second is substituted by an alif, like: ءَامِنُوا, whose origin is ءَأْمنوا; if the first hamzah is broken, the second is substituted by a ya', like: إِيْمَانًا, whose origin is إِأْمانًا; if the first hamzah is madmumah, the second is substituted by a waw, like: أُوتُوا, whose origin is أُأْتوا.

And its name madd badal is only by consideration of the general and the frequent; for among its examples there is that whose madd letter is not substituted for the hamzah, like: قُرءَان ¹, إسْرَاءِيل ², مسْئُولا ³, and this is considered similar to the badal; because the madd letter in such a case is original and not substituted for the hamzah.

And it has been made a condition in the definition that after the madd letter there be neither hamzah nor sukoon; to exclude what is like: ءآمِيْنَ ⁴, which is a madd lazim; like: برءآؤاْ, which is a madd muttasil; and like: وَجَاءُوا أَبَاهُمْ ⁶, which is a madd munfasil; and like: مَآبٍ ⁷ at the stop, which is a madd 'arid li-s-sukoon. And the madd badal has been annulled in all of that; for these madds are considered of a stronger rank than it and have preceded it, as will come the remark about it during the examination of the degrees of the madds⁸.

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

وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَـٰقَكُمْ وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَكُمُ ٱلطُّورَ خُذُوا۟ مَآ ءَاتَيْنَـٰكُم بِقُوَّةٍۢ وَٱسْمَعُوا۟ ۖ قَالُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا وَأُشْرِبُوا۟ فِى قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلْعِجْلَ بِكُفْرِهِمْ ۚ قُلْ بِئْسَمَا يَأْمُرُكُم بِهِۦٓ إِيمَـٰنُكُمْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

Surah 2, 93: Madd badal: the ya' of madd replaces the original saakin hamzah.