WRITING OF THE HAMZAH
When it comes to the Arabic grammarians, there are two opinions:
alif is a letter for itself and hamzah is a letter for itself
alif and hamzah are two realizations of the same letter
In the beginning, since it is new to some of you, it might seem very confusing but we will try our best in sha’a Allah to explain it step by step by giving examples for better understanding.
NOTE: In this lesson, we will not state any support of any of the 2 opinions, respecting both of them, but rather take the first opinion as an example for easier understanding, and there should be no fight between people concerning this topic. The most important thing is to understand the points in the topic itself.
There are two types of hamzah:
Hamzatu Al qat’ همزة القطع ( the permanent hamzah )
Hamzatu Al WaSl همزة الوصل ( the connecting hamzah )
Hamzatu Al qat’ همزة القطع ( the permanent hamzah )
In sha’a Allah we will focus for now on how the hamzah is written and when it will get the ‘a’, ‘u’ or ‘i’ sound.
when it comes to the hamzatu al qat’, it is the one that has a housing, a small hamzah on or underneath a housing, be it alif, yaa or waw, or be it that it comes on it’s own.
Writing of the hamzatu al qat’ when at the beginning of a word
When hamzatu al qat’ comes at the beginning of a word it is written on an alif or underneath, depending on if it starts with ‘a’, ‘u’ or ‘i’. Example:
إِسْلاَم
– islaam ( when starting with kasrah, the hamzah is written underneath the alif )
أَحْمَد
– Ahmad ( when the word starts with a fathah or dammah the hamzah is written above the alif )
أُرِيدُ
– ureedu – I want ( dammah, therefore hamzah above alif )
What about when the hamzah is in the middle or at the end of a word?
There applies a totally different rule.
Writing of the hamzatu al qat’ when at the end of a word
This rule is simple to understand but please:
NOTE: do not rush with this lesson, take each part step by step and do not despair or overwhelm yourselves with all the information. With patience in taking it step by step you will understand it in sha’a Allah.
When it comes to the writing of hamzatu al qat’ when it is at the end of a word, a simple rule is followed:
-If the letter before the hamzah carries a dammah, then the hamzah will sit on a ‘waw’ ؤ
-If the letter before the hamzah carries a fathah, then the hamzah will sit on an alif أ
-If the letter before the hamzah carries a kasrah, then the hamzah will sit on a ‘yaa’ without dots ئ
-If the letter before the hamzah carries a sukkoon, then the hamzah will stand alone ء
Now let’s look at some examples to understand better in picture 1. -you see that the ‘raa’ before hamzah has the sound of dammah ‘u’, therefore, the hamzah will sit on a ‘waw’ and you just add the final vowel on it as it’s required.
Now let us look at the second case picture 2 -you see that the ‘raa’ before hamzah has the sound of fathah ‘a’, therefore, the hamzah will sit on an ‘alif’ and you just add the final vowel on it as it’s required.
Let us look at case number 3 picture 3. -you see that the ‘raa’ before hamzah has the sound of kasrah ‘i’, therefore, the hamzah will sit on an ‘yaa’ and you just add the final vowel on it as it’s required.
Now let us look at rule number 4 picture 4. -you see that the ‘zay’ before hamzah has a sukkoon, therefore, the hamzah will stand alone and you just add the final vowel on it as it’s required.
Writing of the hamzatu al qat’ when in the middle of a word
When it comes to the topic of hamzah being in the middle of a word, related to how to write it, then there is something interesting to be mentioned here, and could seem a little bit confusing but in sha’a Allah after explaining and with patience and help of Allah, it will become clear.
When we were talking about the hamzatu al qat’ when it is at the end of the word, then we mentioned that it depends on what vowel sound the letter before it carried, or it carried a sukkoon ( related to writing ).
In this section, there is a priority of vowel sounds and even a letter coming before it on which it depends how it will be written.
The priority order is:
Kasrah ِ
Dammah ُ
Fathah َ
EXCEPTION: When preceded by an alif with sukkoon in the form of a madd
To explain, let us take an examples:
1. Priority kasrah picture 5
So you see, unlike in the case of the hamzah at the end of a word, where the focus was on what vowel sign is on the letter before the hamzah, here the focus is on what vowel has priority and of course there are certain exceptions.
2. Priority dammah picture 6
As you can see here, the dammah is on the second place on the priority list, and therefore the housing of the hamzah will be a ‘waw’, despite the fathah on the ‘baa’
3. Priority fathah picture 7
You will notice here that the sukkoon was ignored because the fathah on the priority list is the 3rd.
4. EXCEPTION: When preceded by an alif with sukkoon in the form of a madd picture 8
-As we can see, the hamzah carries a fathah which is high on the priority list, but since itis preceded by an alif, we can not write alif after alif, and therefore the hamzah will sit alone in it’s original form without a housing.
NOTE: This is when a hamzah carries a fathah after the alif with sukkoon, and we can not write an alif after an alif, this is why the hamzah will sit alone. Any other letter that carries a sukkoon, will be treated differently. Example: سَائِلٌ
You see that there is an alif with sukkoon before, the hamzah here carries a kasrah, so we look at the kasrah and the hamzah takes a seat on yaa ي PICTURE 9
Hamzatu Al WaSl همزة الوصل ( the connecting hamzah)
Both, the hamzatu al qat’ and hamzatu al wasl, are simply called ‘hamzah’ and yet there is a way how to distinguish them.
Hamzatu al wasl has certain properties which the hamzatu al qat’ does not have in that form.
There are three ways on how to distinguish them:
The connecting hamzah ( hamzatu al wasl ) comes only at the beginning of a word
The connecting hamzah ( hamzatu al wasl ) is invisible, meaning, the alif is seen but the hamzah is not seen
The connecting hamzah ( hamzatu al wasl ) is only pronounced at the start of a sentence or if a word is read by itself
You have probably seen many times this type of hamzah either by reciting the Qur’an but not really noticing it, unless of course you have knowledge of Arabic, or you might have said some words which begin with this type of hamzah but not knowing that this is the connecting hamzah ( hamzatu al wasl ).
In sha’a Allah we will now give examples of some words which begin with the connecting hamzah ( hamzatu al wasl ) and I am sure that, if you have paid attention to certain lessons we did, it will be very familiar to you.
a. Words that begin with AL ال
Important here is that we already did the definiteness and indefiniteness of a word in the Arabic language, so KNOW, that every word which begins with the definite article AL in fact starts with a connecting hamzah.
So for example, if we say like in PICTURE 10
You see that the word AL hamdu begins with an ‘alif’ which is in fact the connecting hamzah, and you also notice that we pronounce it as the sound of ‘A’. This is when the word is pronounced either by itself, or if a sentence starts with it, in both cases when we have the definite article AL, the hamzah will get the sound of fathah ‘A’.
b. Words which begin with the connecting hamzah ( hamzatu al wasl, but NOT in the form of the definite article AL ال)
Besides words that begin with the definite article AL, there are other words which have a connecting hamzah in the beginning. In this category we find proper names, common nouns and also verbs, which if they come in the beginning of a word the connecting hamzah carries a vowel sound. It can be fathah ‘a’, dammah ‘u’ or kasrah ‘i’. For this, one really needs to memorize them by heart, and regarding verbs there apply some other rules, but we will not go into it now.
We will mention only few examples, nouns used very often by us, not even realizing that this is the connecting hamzah. two of those words are (PICTURE 12)
As you can see, both nouns begin with an ‘alif’ and originally the vowel sounds are not written, but to the Arabs, it is known how they are pronounced.
If those two nouns come at the beginning of a sentence, then the kasrah ‘i’ sound on the connecting hamzah is pronounced. (PICTURE 13)
But on the other hand, if they come in the middle of a sentence or end of a sentence the connecting hamzah ( hamzatu al wasl ) is skipped and instead one jumps to the letter after it, just like we do when we read a word starting with AL in the middle of a sentence, we always jump the hamzah. (PICTURE 14)
NOTE: Please take your time with learning this step by step and do not rush, as there are many details.
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