Madd Tabii (Natural Madd)

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The definition of madd tabii

It is called madd tabii (natural): it is the one whose madd letter cannot exist by itself, and the word is kept sound only by its presence; it suffices that one of the three madd letters be present, without a hamzah before it, and without a hamzah or a sukoon after it.

And the duration of its madd: two harakaat, the harakah being of the measure of the contracting of a finger or of its extending, in a moderate state, neither quick nor slow¹.

The reason for its name of "asli" (primary) madd

It is called madd asli (primary) because of its primary character with respect to the other madds; this for its keeping to a single state, which is the madd of only two harakaat, and because the madd letter itself cannot exist without it, and because it does not depend on any of the causes that will be mentioned in connection with the madd far'i.

It is also called tabii (natural); for the one who possesses a sound nature neither increases it nor decreases it beyond two harakaat.

Its 3 types

Madd tabii comes under three types:

The first: the madd letter is established in connected speech (wasl) and in pausing (waqf), whether medial as in: مَالِكِ ¹, يُوصِيكُمْ ², بِيَمِينِهِ ³, or final as in: وَضُحَاهَا ⁴, قَالُوا ⁵, وَأُمْلِي ⁶; whether it is established in the writing or omitted, as has been illustrated.

Also of this type are the five alphabetical letters found in the openings of the surahs, coming as two letters of which the second is a madd letter, and which the author of at-Tuhfa gathered in his saying "حَيٌّ طَهُورَ", such as the haa of "hm" at the beginning of the Hawameem (this will be discussed in detail).

The second: the madd letter is established in pausing without connected speech, and this for the alifs substituted for the nasb tanween, as in: عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا ⁷, in pausing.

Likewise the alifs carrying an extended sukoon, as in: أَنَا نَذِيرٌ ⁸, لَكِنَّا هُوَ اللَّهُ رَبِّي ⁹, الظُّنُونَاْ, الرَّسُولا, السَّبِيلا in al-Ahzab¹⁰, كَانَتْ قَوَارِيرَ ¹¹, in pausing.

Likewise the madds that are omitted in connected speech for fear of the meeting of two saakins, and established in pausing. Example of the alif: وَقَالا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ¹²; example of the yaa: وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ ¹³; example of the waaw: قُلِ ادْعُوا اللَّهَ ¹⁴.

The third: the madd letter is established in connected speech without pausing, as in: إِنَّهُ هُوَ ¹, بِهِ بَصِيرًا ². And this type of madd tabii is called madd as-silah, and it is specific to the pronoun haa which will be treated further on. Its mark: a small waaw after the mutaharrik haa.

Additional examples (قواعد التجويد on the recitation of Hafs)

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى جَاعِلٌۭ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةًۭ ۖ قَالُوٓا۟ أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ ٱلدِّمَآءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

Surah 2, 30: Madd tabii on the alif of قال: natural lengthening of two harakaat, with no hamzah or sukoon around it.

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَبِٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَمَا هُم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ

Surah 2, 8: Madd tabii on the waaw of يقول, a primary madd of two harakaat.

ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنۢبَآءِ ٱلْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ ۚ وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يُلْقُونَ أَقْلَـٰمَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ يَكْفُلُ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يَخْتَصِمُونَ

Surah 3, 44: Example from the book: madd tabii on the waaw and the yaa of نُوحِ.