Question

As-Salaamu Alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,
jazakumullahu khayran for all of your efforts.  Your site is an excellent resource for all those who desire knowledge of tajweed.

Pronunciation of Dhaad
My first question is about the proper articulation of Dhaad.  I would like a more detailed explanation of its manner of articulation, if that is possible.  I am aware that it should be pronounced from either side of the mouth near the molars, and that it has the attributes of tafkheem and iTbaaq.

However, I hear different qurraa' pronounce it with varying degrees of friction.  I would like to know is it a consonant in which the flow of air is completely stopped (a stop or plosive) like daal, taa' , or Taa', Is it a consonant in which the air is released with friction (a fricative) like dhaal, or Dhaa', or is it a consonant in which the air is first stopped and the released with friction (an affricate) like Jeem in Arabic or the ch sound in English words like child.

Sharh for Al-Jazariyyah
My second question relates to finding a sharh to the poem Al-Jazariyyah.  It is an excellent poem.  But the information is rather condensed and I was wondering if you might be able to tell me where I might be able to purchase a detailed explanation of this poem in Arabic or English.

Alif at-tafkheem
Finally I had a question about Alif at-tafkheem.  I believe I had read that Sibiwayhi had written about alif at-tafkheem in the western Arabic dialects, particularly in the Hijaaz and that Alif at-tafkheem is the Alif written as waw in words like salaah.  Can you explain to me what exactly is Alif at-tafkheem, what does it sound like, and in what qiraa'aat is it used.

Jazakumullahu Khayran

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.  Jazakum Allahu khairan for your comments. May Allah grant us all purity of intention in our deeds.

Pronunciation of Dhaad

The letter , has running of sound (), but imprisonment of the running of breath (), making it similar to the   in these two aspects, except there is a small amount of air that is released with the letter , even though they both have . 

The other characteristic that is important and solely present in the letter  is , which linguistically means lengthening.  In applied tajweed, this characteristic is: a pushing of the tongue from the back of the mouth to the front, until the tip of the tongue lightly touches the gum line of the two top front incisors, and this is under the influence of pressure of air behind the tongue.  This lengthening is a mechanical pushing forward and the sound should not travel forward with the mechanical push, even though the sound of the  is influenced by the complete mechanism of , the articulation point itself should not change.  It is a common mistake among readers of all backgrounds to let the sound move forward with the mechanical move forward, in effect, changing the articulation point, and the sound of the letter  as a result of this error sounds more like a  and in some cases, if the tip of the tongue touches the edges of the front top incisors, it sounds like the letter .

In Arabic language studies, the scholars mention many more characteristics of letters than are used in the study of tajweed.  The reason is that most are not applicable to pronunciation, but more descriptive of the letter. 

Sharh for Al-Jazariyyah

There are many different explanations available for Al-Jazariyyah in Egypt, Syria, and to some extent Saudi Arabia.  There is an explanation by Sheikh Zakariyyaa Al-AnSaari, a student of Imam Ibn Al-Jazaree, which is easy to understand, this is available in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.  Another explanation entitled  by Mulaa 'Ali Al-Qaari' is a combination of many different explanations, and is available in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  This book is more detailed, since it contains summaries of different explanations of the poem

Alif at-tafkheem

It appears that you understand the tajweed principle of the alif, which is: the alif follows the letter preceding it as to tafkheem and tarqeeq.  If the letter before the alif does not has tarqeeq, the alif also has tarqeeq; if the letter before the alif has tafkheem, the alif has tafkheem.

We referred to a scholar on this part of your question, and what we were told is that the term alif at-tafkheem is used in some Arabic grammar and language  books, some saying that it may be that the alif was written as a  because tafkheem is done with a dham of the two lips.  First of all, this is incorrect and second, there is no application of this in the recitation of the Glorious Qur'aan in any of the recitations.  Tafkheem should not be accompanied with a circling of the two lips unless the letter itself has a dhammah, which is never the case in an alif.  The words in which the alif is written as a  do not exclusively have tafkheem of the alif, and many of them have another explanation for them being written as a .  For example, in the word , there is  a  in the origin of the word; when you put this word in the present tense third person verb form, you have:  

Insha' Allah soon there will be a mu3jam published about the origin of the words in the Glorious Qur'an by  Sheikh Adel  Ash-Sha'r , a sheikh in the ten qira'aat, that will be an excellent reference for those studying the Qur'an and the Arabic language.

May Allah increase you in knowledge of the Arabic language and make you of "ahl al-Qur'aan".  Ameen

Wa iyyaakum wa-l-muslimeen