Madd

Linguistic definition : Extra

Applied definition : Lengthening the sound with the letter of the madd letters.

Madd letters can appear as below

‫سبب المد‬.(reason of ext.) + ‫( حرف المد‬Letter of extension) * ‫( شرط المد‬condition of

extension)
Eg: ‫ء‬ + ‫ا‬ + ‫ج‬

Harf al Madd are - alif, waw and yaa

Sabab al madd can be one of the two – Hamza or Sukoon

The madd rules can be divided into 3.

1. Madd Tabiee (Natural extension)
2. Madd Fari’ee (Secondary extension)
3. Other Madd

Madd tabi’ee (Natural Madd)

Rule : If harf al madd (alif, waw, yaa) are preceded by the corresponding ‘shart al madd’
(fatha, dammah, kasrah) and not followed by hamza or sukoon.
It is always extended for 2 counts.
Eg: Nuheeha (Hud: 49)

Its cases:
1. In any word that contains Maad letter without being followed by Hamzah or Skoon.

Example:
2. In the separated letters in the beginning of some surah (al Horoof al Muqata'ah)
5 of these letters their spelling consists of two letters, the second is a Maad letter

They are:
3. Any word ends with Tanween Fathah (Fathateen) only in case of stopping

Example:

Madd Fari’ee are of two types

1. Madd Fari’ee sabab al madd – Hamza

2. Madd Fari’ee sabab al madd -Sukoon

 Extra Info:
The word Arid means to meet. Hence it is the meeting of madd with incidental
sukoon. The sukoon is not original, only when we stop on a word we treat the last
letter as sukoon.
Note: It is preferable to use the same amount of counts while reciting Quran in one
sitting. i.e If you are using two moves, throughout the sitting you should use two moves.
(According to Ustadha Deemah, if we start the quran with two moves, in the entire
quran, Madd arid lil sukoon should be read with two counts)

Note: Same rule applies to ain in surah Maryam

Other types of Madd

1. Madd al Silaah (The connecting madd)
This rule pertains to an additional (ha) ‫ ه‬grammatically known as ha Damir.

Haa Al- Kinayah

It is a presented pronoun added to the end of the word referred to;
1. Singular
2. Third person
3. Masculine
It occurs at the end of the noun, verb or preposition.
This Haa is translated in English as (him).
This rule is applied in case of continuation only in case of stop we
pronounce the Haa with Skoon.

The purpose of this madd is to lengthen the dammah in order for it to sound like
a waaw (‫ )و‬or to lengthen the kasra to sound like a yaa (‫)ي‬.

Madd Al Silah al Sughra : the lesser connecting madd

Extension: 2 counts
If this Haa placed between two letters with short vowel then this short
vowel will be elongated into a Madd letter with two counts; if it is
dummah we add a wow madd after it, and if it is kasrah we add yaa madd
after the haa.

It has the following conditions:

– the madd becomes void if the reciter stops at the end of the word, sounding a haa
saakin, i.e. you must continue to the next word in order to sound this madd
– the haa on the end of the word must not be part of the original word
– the haa sits between two voweled letters (two letters that have a diacritic on them –
neither of the two can have a sukoon)
– the haa is not followed by a hamzah ( ‫ ء‬or ‫) أ‬
– the haa is voweled with either a dammah or a kasra, but NOT a fat-ha
– the dammah or kasra is lengthened for 2 counts only

Madd Al Silah al Kubra : the greater connecting madd

4 counts when continuing
In Madd silah kubra, the damir ha is followed by hamza. The rule is same as madd jaiz
munfasil and hence extension for 4 moves.

Al-madd al-silah al-kubra has the following conditions:

– the madd becomes void if the reciter stops at the end of the word, sounding a haa
saakin, i.e. you must continue to the next word in order to sound this madd
– the haa on the end of the word must not be part of the original word
– the haa sits between two voweled letters (two letters that have a diacritic on them –
neither of the two can have a sukoon)
– the haa must be followed by a hamzah ( ‫ ء‬or ‫) أ‬
– the haa is voweled with either a dammah or a kasra, but NOT a fat-ha
– the dammah or kasra is lengthened for 4 counts

Conditions 1, 2, 3, and 5 are the same for kubra and sughra.

Exceptions:
A) The Haa between two Short vowels and there is no connecting
madd:
This occurs in three words only in Quraan. In them the Haa is
read with Skoon.

1. Surat al A'raf:111- , Surat Ash-Shu'raa: 36

2. Surat An-Naml: 28-

3. Surat Az-Zummar: 7

B) The Haa is proceeded by a sakin letter, but there is connecting

madd:
This occurs in one word only
 Surat Al-Furqaan: 69

2. Madd Al-Badal

Extension : 2 counts

A substituted prolongation occurs when a hamza preceeds a harf madd.

This madd is sounded for two counts when continuing recitation or stopping after the
word with the madd.
This madd is only found within one word, and occurs when the hamza has the
respective diacritic on it, e.g. if the harf madd ‘waaw’ follows a hamza, the hamza has
a dammah on it.

Example of al-madd al-badal:

‫ءادم‬

3. Madd at- Tazeem

It means extension of greatness.

This rule has to do with only one sentence ‘Laa ilaaha illallah
Laa is 4 counts as it is madd jaiz munfasil

4. Al-Madd Al-Tamkeen
This madd occurs when a yaa mushaddadah with a kasra is followed by a yaa saakinah.
This occurs only within a word, as words cannot start with a sukoon.
To be more specific: within a word, you notice a yaa that has a shaddah, and a kasra,
this generally looks like this:

‫ــيِّــ‬
then you notice that after this yaa is another one, which has sukoon on it. Naturally as
you pronounce this word, you are sounding this rule, al-madd al-tamkeen.
Examples of where this occurs in the Quran are as follows:
Note: Sometimes it is written as two yaa-s, or sometimes only one yaa is written and the
“mini” symbol for the second yaa (the yaa saakinah) is drawn.