Mutaba'adan: types and ruling

Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Mutaba'adan: types and ruling

The mutaba'adan: a single type

Definition: the mutaba'adan (distant) are the two letters far apart in makhraj and differing in sifat, like the ta with the kha in تُخْرَجُونَ, or far apart in makhraj and sharing the sifat, like the kaf with the ta in فَاكْتُبُوهُ. They include three divisions:

• the saghir;
• the kabir;
• the mutlaq.

The saghir: like the noon with the kha, in الْمُنْخَنِقَةُ.

The kabir: like the dal with the ha, in دِهَاقًا.

The mutlaq: like the ha with the meem, in أَنفُسَهُمْ.

The ruling of the mutaba'adan saghir

The mutaba'adan saghir has izhaar as its ruling in absolute terms, except in two cases on which consensus is established for ikhfa⁴:

1. The sakin noon followed by the qaf, as in انقَلَبُواْ.
2. The sakin noon followed by the kaf, as in أَنكَالًا.

The ruling of the large and the absolute

The mutaba'adan kabir and mutlaq has izhaar as its ruling at all times.

The poem of al-Sannudi

It is toward these four types and their divisions that Sheikh Ibrahim Shahhata refers in the Tuhfat as-Sannudiyya, on the tajwid of the Quranic words:

إن يجتمع حرفان خطًّا فهما ... حيال على الظاهر فيما قسما
"فمتماثلان إن يتحدا ... في مخرج وصفه كما بدا
ومتجانسان إن تطابقا ... في مخرج لا في الصفات اتفقا
ومتقاربان حيث فيهما ... تقارب أو كان في أيهما
متباعدان حيث مخرجا ... تباعدا والخلف في الصفات جا
وحيثما تحرك الحرفان في ... كلٍّ فسَمِّ بالكبير واقتفِ
وسمِّ بالصغير حيثما سَكَن ... أولها ومطلق في العكس عن

Meaning: "If two letters come together in the written text, they are distributed according to what is apparent: they are mutamathilayn if they unite in makhraj and sifat, as it appears; mutajanisan if they share the makhraj without the sifat; mutaqariban where there is between them a closeness; mutaba'adan where their makharij are far apart with the divergence of the sifat. Where the two letters are mutaharrik, call them large and continue; call them small where the first is sakin, and absolute in the opposite case."

Likewise, the author of the Tuhfa indicated the first three types:

إن في الصفات والمخارج اتفقْ ... حرفان فالمثلان فيهما أحقّ
أو أن يكونا مخرجًا تقاربا ... وفي الصفات اختلفا يُلَقَّبا
متقاربين أو يكونا اتفقا ... في مخرج دون الصفات حُقِّقاَ
بالمتجانسين ثم إن سكنْ ... أول كلٍّ فالصغيرَ سَمِّيَنْ
أو حُرِّكَ الحرفانَ في كلٍّ فَقُلْ ... كلٌ كبير وافهمنْهُ بالْمُثُلْ

Meaning: "If two letters share the sifat and the makhraj, they are best named identical (mutamathilayn); if their makharij draw near and their sifat differ, they are named mutaqariban; if they share the makhraj without the sifat, they are named mutajanisan; then if the first of each is sakin, name them small; and if the two letters are mutaharrik, say that each is large, and understand it by the examples."