Question

Assalamu Aleikum

May Allah reward you for the information (about the Qaris) and May He make our invocations and intentions deeply sincere to Him and Him only inshallah.

Although I can read the Quran in Arabic, there are certain terms that I do not know such as saakinah and medd. Would you please tell us the definition of a "Saakinah letter" and a "Medd letter"?

Ma Salam

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh,

Ameen to your dua’.

A vowel in Arabic is called a , which means movement, the opposite of this is the lack of vowel, and the Arabic word  which means still, or lack of movement, is used for letters without vowels.  These  letters are pronounced but there is no accompanying mouth and jaw movement that is normally witnessed with vowels. 
If the letters are specifically named the word  takes the feminine form, with the female ha’ or .  If a non-specific letter is being referred to, the word then will be masculine: .  When referring to non-specific letters (plural), the female form  is used.

The term medd in Arabic means lengthening. There are three medd letters, the alif saakinah preceded by a fat-hah, , the  saakinah preceded by a kasrah, , and the  saakinah preceded by a dhammah, .  These three medd letters are the basis for all of the lengthenings ( ) which are two vowel counts or more.