When pronouncing the Jeem is there meant to be absolutely no air with the sound or is a small/minute amount ok?

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahamtullaahi wa barakaatuhu

1) When pronouncing the Jeem is there meant to be absolutely no air with the sound or is a small/minute amount ok? I have read in some books that it is very important to separate the Jeem  from certain letters when both are found in 1 word e.g. a Jeem & Taa   and  or a Jeem & Zaai  and 

 (In   and  ) due to the possibility of idghaam and it was also mentioned that when stopping on a  and making qalqala one does not need to be as careful as in the examples mentioned above. Am unsure as to what amount of air is excusable if any.

2) When saying any letter with a Dhamma the sound generally tends to be a little thicker. Is this ok? If not, do you have any tips for making the letters as close as possible to what they should be? (e.g. when saying a daal madhmooma the sound is a bit thicker than when saying a daal maftooha)

Jazaakallaahu khairan kathiran kathiran, Yarhamukallaahu.

Wassalaamu alaikum wa rahamtullaahi wa barakaatuhu

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

1) There should not be any running of the breath or sound with the .  A common mistake, even with some Arabs is letting air and sound run with the so it becomes soft sounding.  Usually one needs to take care not to make idhgaam if there is a saakinah letter (the in the example provided in the question) and a voweled letter follows that is close in articulation point and characteristics.   It is not something that we usually caution students against, but we correct the mistake if it occurs, which is not very often.  There is a qalqalah on the in the word: , and we must add that we have never heard anyone make the mistake of idhgaam of the into the in this word and find it a very remote possibility.

2) The dhammah should not include tafkheem unless the letter that has a dhammah is one that has tafkheem, so in that aspect, there should be no thickening of the sound with a dhammah.  The dhammah, of course has a different sound than the , and it may be that you are just hearing the normal dhammah sound.  If you are sure that there is a “thickening” of the sound with all dhammahs, then you should take care to make sure you are not raising up your tongue in the back.  If it is just for the , our suggestion would be to check and make sure you are far enough forward for the articulation point, with the top of the tip at the gum line and not at the ridge behind that.  If you move back the articulation point of the and , it is quite easy to make them sound “heavy” instead of their normal sound of tarqeeq. 

Wa iyyaakum wa-l-muslimeen.  Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.