Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Sifat with counterpart
Updated on 04 October 2026 at 11:01 PM
📖 9 min readIts meaning in the language is concealment (al-khafa). In the terminology: the flow of breath upon pronouncing the letter, due to the weakness of the reliance on its point of articulation.
The letters of hams are ten, gathered by Imam Ibn al-Jazari in his verses: "fahaththahu shakhsun sakat", namely: the fa, the ha, the tha, the ha (ه), the sheen, the kha, the sad, the seen, the kaf and the ta.
Some of these letters are stronger than others in hams: the highest is the sad, because of the isti'aalah, the itbaq and the safeer it contains, and these are all sifat of strength; then comes the kha, for it contains isti'aalah; then, after the kha, the kaf and the ta, because of the shiddah they contain, which is also a sifah of strength; and the weakest of these letters are the ha (ه), the fa, the ha (ح) and the tha, for they contain no sifah of strength.
The examples relating to the letters of each sifah are easy and well known, and they have been left aside for the sake of concision.
This sifah appears upon pronouncing the letter in a particular way when it is sakin or mushaddad, and also when it is mutaharrik; as for the letters of madd, that depends on their conditions.
It is the opposite of hams.
Its meaning in the language is appearing and proclaiming. In the terminology: the blocking of the flow of breath upon pronouncing the letter, due to the strength of the reliance on its point of articulation.
Its letters are: the hamza, the ba, the jim, the dal, the dhal, the ra, the zay, the dad, the emphatic ta, the emphatic za, the ayn, the ghayn, the qaf, the lam, the meem, the noon, the waw, the ya, the alif, the waw of madd and the ya of madd.
Some of these letters are stronger than others in jahr, and this in proportion to the sifat of strength the letter contains: thus the emphatic ta is stronger than the dal, although both share the sifah of jahr, but the emphatic ta alone possesses itbaq and isti'aalah, and it is the same for the others.
Its meaning in the language is power. In the terminology: the blocking of the flow of the voice upon pronouncing the letter, due to the completeness of the strength of the reliance on its point of articulation.
The letters of shiddah are eight, gathered by Imam Ibn al-Jazari in his verses: "ajid qat bakat", namely: the hamza, the jim, the dal, the qaf, the emphatic ta, the ba, the kaf and the ta. These letters are also unequal in strength: when the shiddah is combined with jahr and itbaq, the summit of strength is reached, as with the emphatic ta.
The strength of a letter is in proportion to the strong sifat it contains, and its weakness in proportion to the sifat of weakness it contains.
Its meaning in the language is balance. In the terminology: the balance of the voice upon pronouncing the letter.
The letters of tawassut are five, gathered by Imam Ibn al-Jazari in his verses: "lin 'umar", namely: the lam, the noon, the ayn, the meem and the ra.
Some call them al-bayniya (intermediate), because of the incompleteness of the blocking of the voice as it occurs in the letters of shiddah, and the incompleteness of its flow as it occurs in the letters of rakhawah: they are in an intermediate state between the completeness of the blocking of the voice and the completeness of its flow.
It is the opposite of shiddah and tawassut.
Its meaning in the language is suppleness. In the terminology: the flow of the voice upon pronouncing the letter, due to the weakness of the reliance on its point of articulation.
Its letters are eighteen: the remaining letters after the letters of shiddah and tawassut, namely: the tha, the ha (ح), the kha, the dhal, the zay, the seen, the sheen, the sad, the dad, the emphatic za, the ghayn, the fa, the ha (ه), the waw, the ya, the alif, the waw of madd and the ya of madd.
The letters of the alphabet are therefore distributed among these three sifat: what is among the letters of "ajid qat bakat" is called shadid (strong), what is among the letters of "lin 'umar" is called mutawassit or bayni (intermediate), and what is not part of them is called rakhwi (soft).
Its meaning in the language is elevation and raising. In the terminology: the elevation of a large part of the tongue, upon pronouncing most of its letters, toward the upper palate.
The letters of isti'aalah are seven, gathered by Imam Ibn al-Jazari in his verses: "khussa daght qiz", namely: the kha, the sad, the dad, the ghayn, the emphatic ta, the qaf and the emphatic za. These seven letters are the ones that are tafkheem (pronounced with emphasis) by consensus. The elevation of the greater part of the tongue is maximal upon pronouncing the emphatic ta, the sad, the dad and the emphatic za, then it becomes lesser at the qaf, then it weakens at the kha and the ghayn.
It has been said: they were called musta'liya (elevated) because their sound emerges from the side of elevation, and everything that takes place in an elevated place is musta'li. Al-Mar'ashshi said: what counts in isti'aalah is the elevation of the tip of the tongue, whether or not the rest of the tongue rises with it. End of quotation, taken from "Nihayat al-Qawl al-Mufid", p. 49.
It is the opposite of isti'aalah.
Its meaning in the language is lowering. In the terminology: the lowering of the tongue toward the bottom of the mouth upon pronouncing most of its letters.
Its letters are twenty-four: the remaining letters of the alphabet after the letters of isti'aalah, namely: the hamza, the ba, the ta, the tha, the jim, the ha (ح), the dal, the dhal, the ra, the zay, the seen, the sheen, the ayn, the fa, the kaf, the lam, the meem, the noon, the ha (ه), the waw, the ya, the alif, the waw of madd and the ya of madd.
These letters are subject to tarqeeq (softening) by consensus, with the exception of the alif, the lam and the ra, which will be dealt with further on; and these three, in the state of tafkheem, resemble the musta'liya letters.
Its meaning in the language is adhesion. In the terminology: the pressing of the tongue against the upper palate upon pronouncing its letters, so that the sound is trapped between the two.
Its letters are four: the sad, the dad, the emphatic ta and the emphatic za. But there is a hierarchy among them: the emphatic ta is the strongest in degree of itbaq, then comes the dad, then the sad; as for the emphatic za, it is the weakest of them in itbaq.
It is the opposite of itbaq.
Its meaning in the language is separation. In the terminology: the moving away of the tongue from the upper palate to let the breath out, upon pronouncing most of its letters.
Its letters are twenty-seven: the remaining letters of the alphabet after the letters of itbaq, namely: the hamza, the ba, the ta, the tha, the jim, the ha (ح), the kha, the dal, the dhal, the ra, the zay, the seen, the sheen, the ayn, the ghayn, the fa, the qaf, the kaf, the lam, the meem, the noon, the ha (ه), the waw, the ya, the alif, the waw of madd and the ya of madd.
Its meaning in the language is the delicacy of the tongue, its eloquence and its suppleness; it has also been said: the tip (of the tongue).
In the terminology: the lightness of the letter and the rapidity of its pronunciation, due to its emergence from the dalaq of the tongue, that is, its edge (its tip), or from the edge of one of the two lips or of both together.
Its letters are six, gathered by Ibn al-Jazari in his verses: "firr min lub", namely: the fa, the ra, the meem, the noon, the lam and the ba. They were called mudhlaqa (fluent) because some emerge from the dalaq of the tongue: the ra, the noon and the lam; and others from the dalaq of the lip: the ba, the fa and the meem.
It is the opposite of idhlaq.
Its meaning in the language is withholding: one says "samata 'an al-kalam" (he fell silent from speech), that is, he abstained from it.
In the terminology: the heaviness of the letter and the absence of rapidity in its pronunciation, due to its emergence far from the dalaq of the tongue and of the lip. This definition contradicts the waw, for it emerges from the two lips, yet it has been described by ismat because it contains a certain heaviness, emerging from the lips¹ with an opening between them, unlike the fa, the ba and the meem, which are the lightest and easiest letters.
The letters of ismat are twenty-five: the remaining letters of the alphabet after the letters of idhlaq, namely: the hamza, the ta, the tha, the jim, the ha (ح), the kha, the dal, the dhal, the zay, the seen, the sheen, the sad, the dad, the emphatic ta, the emphatic za, the ayn, the ghayn, the qaf, the kaf, the ha (ه), the waw, the ya, the alif, the waw of madd and the ya of madd.
It has been said: these letters were called musmata (stopped) because they are forbidden to stand alone at the base of four- and five-letter (root) words, in the sense that every four- or five-letter (root) word must necessarily contain, along with the musmata letters, one letter among the mudhlaqa letters. That is why they said that "'asjad", the name of gold, is non-Arabic (a'jami), because it is quadriliteral and contains no letter among the mudhlaqa letters¹.
With this ends the discussion of the sifat that have a counterpart; and know that each letter of the alphabet necessarily takes five of these sifat.
صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ
Surah 1, 7: Error cited by the book: softening the ta of أنعمت; the emphatic ta is distinguished from the soft ta by itbaq and isti'aalah (sifat with counterpart).
فَإِذَا جَآءَتِ ٱلطَّآمَّةُ ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ
Surah 79, 34: Example from the book: the emphatic ta is distinguished from the soft ta and from the dal by itbaq and isti'aalah; losing them turns الطامة into a ta or a dal.