Question

Assalamu aleikum

My question concerns the letter dhaad. I sometimes have a little difficulty pronouncing the dhaad especially with a kasra as in "fil ardi" (on earth). The reason is when I try to read the dhaad with the sides of my tongue, I have a feeling that the top of my tongue is touching the palace in my mouth, and the tip of my tongue collides with the plates of my two incisor teeth. How should I position my tongue in order to properly pronounce the dhaad with kasra?
May Allah help you inshallah
Ma'a salam

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.

There have been some previous questions and answers about the letter dhaad, the one below may help you the most.

http://www.abouttajweed.com/270203.htm

If the middle of the top of the tongue is colliding with the roof of the mouth when pronouncing , the sound will not be correct.  The tip of the tongue rests on the gums of the two top front incisors when the is saakinah, but no pressure should be put on the tip, or else the sound will be like a .  You may need to practice putting the tip of your tongue down on the bottom of the mouth until you get used to using the sides of the tongue colliding with the molar area; this way you will eliminate the tendency to use the tip of the tongue. This is just to practice and is a temporary method as the tip of the tongue should rest on the gum area, with no applied pressure.  Insha’ Allah this will help you overcome your problem.  Also remember the collision of the side of the tongue to the molar area is a vertical movement, not a forward slide.  If there is sliding of the tongue, again it will sound more like a . 

May Allah guide you to the proper pronunciation of all letters.

Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatu Allah.