Question

Assalamun Alikum.

I have a question on tajweed, specifically on Idgham.
If you have a nun saakinah, followed by the letter waw  ( ), you would merge the letter waw ( ) with the nun saakinah and pronounce it a slight ghunnah.

Does this rule apply for all the letters of idghaam, namely ya, ra, meem, lam, waw, nun or are there some letters of idgham that are merged with the nun saakinah and NOT pronounced with ghunnah? In my understanding, it is the difference of idgham kamil and idgham naqis.

Thank you. Wassalam

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh,

When there is a saakinah or tanween at the end of a word and the first letter of the next word is  the letter , the merges into the letter , but this merging is not complete.  There remains the ghunnah of the letter , so it is called idghaam naaqis , which means incomplete merging.  During the idghaam, the letter  is 50% of the sound and the ghunnah is the other 50% of the sound.  The same holds true when the  saakinah or tanween merges into the letter , there is incomplete merging the ghunnah of the letter   remains during the pronunciation of the idghaam.

When the  saakinah or tanween merges into the letters  or , there is complete merging and no ghunnah is present during the pronunciation of the idghaam.  This is called idghaam kaamil , which means complete merging.

If the  saakinah or tanween is followed by another or a , there is idghaam with a ghunnah.  The majority of scholars consider this a complete merging , and they consider the lengthened ghunnah that is present, the ghunnah that is always present in the  and  with a shaddah. 

For more details on the idghaam rule of the  saakinah, please click here and here.

You are most welcome.  Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatu Allah.