Consonants of Qur’anic Arabic

1.0 Introduction

Sounds in world languages, in terms of their production, are usually introduced under two different classes: vowels, such as a, i and u and consonants, such as b, d, f and t. In Qur’anic Arabic there are 28 consonants and 6 vowels, as will be explained below. Arabic is written from right to left and it does not have capitalisation. In the n a special punctuation system is used. It is based on dividing the text into verses and the number of each verse is located at the end of it. Within each verse some symbols for pausing are used to show the reader when he/she must pause or not allowed to do so.

The major difference between consonant and vowel sounds lies in the manner air in the lungs comes out through our lips during voice production. With vowels class air passes through without any obstruction and thus vowels can easily be prolonged for a longer time. This feature is commonly employed in singing as well as in Qur’anic recitation. With consonants, on the other hand, air is obstructed in one point or another during voice production. Hearer recognises this obstruction of air sometimes as friction, as in f and v or hissing, as in s and c. No sound of this class is prolonged with easiness, as is the case with vowels.

1.1 Consonants

In comparison with English consonants, consonants of Qur’anic Arabic can be categorised into two groups. Sounds in the first group are what we call familiar sounds to speakers of English (with some slight differences in pronunciation in some cases); the sounds in this group represent the majority (18 out of 28). The second group includes the unfamiliar sounds to those speakers.

1.1.1 Familiar sounds

English Transliteration Arabic

b b ب
d d د
f f ف
h h هـ
j j ج
k k ك
l l ل
m m م
n n ن
r r ر
s s س
t t ت
w w و
y y ي
z z ز
th (in thin) th ث
th (in then) dh ذ
sh (in shoe) sh ش

A word about r. This sound in Arabic is more rolled than it is in British English; it sounds more like Scotish and Russian r.

1.1.2 Unfamiliar sounds

Transliteration Arabic

ʼ ء

(the sound replacing the t in Cockney in words such as bottle)

H ح
kh خ

(this sound is found in the English word loch)

S ص
D ض
T ط
DH ظ
‘ ع
gh غ
q ق

It should be noted that our booklet adopts a system of transliteration (in representing some familiar and the unfamiliar Arabic sounds in Roman letters) which is mainly based upon English alphabet for convenience: capitalisation for emphatic sounds ط ,ض ,ص and the ح, a combination of two letters for خ ,غ ,ش ,ذ ,ث, and single quotation symbols (ʼ and ‘) for ء and ع, respectively.

The above group of consonantal sounds, both familiar and unfamiliar, can be re-classified in terms of many features, such as voicing and emphasis. Both features are important in Qur’anic recitation. Generally speaking, readers of the Qur’a:n are obliged by rules of recitation to maintain the phonetic features of every sound including voicing and emphasis.

1.1.3 Voiced vs. Voiceless consonants

Phonetically speaking, voicing (Jahr) is a buzzing sound which accompanies some sounds during their passage from the larynx. In the larynx there are two cords known as the vocal cords through which air passes during voice production. These two vocal cords sometimes vibrate when the air passes and the sound produced is heard as a result of their vibration accompanied with buzzing. This type of sounds is called voiced (Majhu:r). On the other hand, when air passes through the vocal cords silently without causing any vibration, the sound produced is heard without any buzzing and is called voiceless (Mahmu:s).

To feel this buzzing sound one can do this simple experiment. Open your palms and block your ears with them. While you are blocking your ear, say the following sequence of sounds: S Z S Z S Z S Z S Z S Z. As a result of the blockage you will hear inside your head the buzzing sound repeatedly with the production of Z sound, but this buzzing is not heard with S. This experiment gave us the chance to feel the first voiced sound z and its voiceless counterpart s.

Under this category we have the following two groups of sounds:

(i) a group of voiceless and their voiced counterparts

Voiceless Voiced

ت t د d

ث th ذ dh

س s ز z

ح H ع ‘

خ kh غ gh.

هـ h ء ʼ

ط T ض D

(ii) a group of voiced or voiceless sounds, but their counterparts do not exist in Qur’anic Arabic.

ش sh — —

ص S — —

ف f — —

ق q — —

ك k — —

— — ب b

— — ج j

— — ر r

— — ظ DH

— — ل l

— — م m

— — ن n

— — و w

— — ي y

1.1.4 Emphatic vs. Non-Emphatic consonants

Emphasis (Tafkhi:m) is a feature found in those sounds represented above by capital English letters. Phonetically, emphasis involves a combination of two movements of the tongue during the production of an emphatic sound: first it goes backward and then upward. Uttering the following sequence will let you feel the difference clearly, t T t T t T t T. In Qur’anic recitation it is very important to maintain emphasis and not to emphasise a non-emphatic sound, as such mistake may lead to confusion in understanding of the text.

Emphatic sounds (mufakhakhama) and their non-emphatic (muraqqaqa) counterparts in Qur’anic Arabic are as follows.

Emphatic Non-Emphatic

ص S س s

ض D د d

ط T ت t

ظ DH ذ dh

ق q ك k

In addition to this list, Qur’anic Arabic includes another two sounds which act as emphatic in some phonetic environments and as non-emphatic in other environments. These are l and r. The former is emphasized in the word Alla:h الله when it is preceded by either vowel a, a, u, or uu. The latter is also emphasised if preceded by a, a, u, uu or followed by a, a.

1.1.5 Nasal consonants

Nasality (Ghunna) is another important feature of sounds in Qur’anic Arabic as well as Qur’anic recitation. There are only two nasal consonants in Arabic: m and n. The manner these two sounds are produced is unique. The air outlet during their production is not the lips, as the case with other sounds, but rather the nose. Although Qur’anic Arabic has only two nasal sounds, nasality is a characteristic feature which spreads to some surrounding sounds and, as a result, affecting their phonetic characteristics. This is explained in detail in the literature of Tajwi:d in dealing with rules of nu:n sa:kina and tanwi:n in Qur’anic recitation.

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Muhammad Elashiry

I worked as a lecturer in Arabic language and culture at the University of Birmingham in the UK. I studied and specialized in phonetics and linguistics, and later taught both subjects. My areas of interest include Arabic linguistics, Islamic discourse, and language in the media. I also worked at the University of Westminster in London and at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. Additionally, I was a broadcaster, presenter, and program producer at the BBC. Among my books are “Sounds of Recitation in Egypt: A Phonetic Study,” “Qur’anic Arabic: A Short Introduction,” and “Kitab Al-Zina in Islamic and Arabic Words by Abu Hatem al-Razi: A Linguistic Study.” I also published an anthology of short stories titled “Haram Al-Marhoum – The Wife of the Late Husband” and other books.