Categories of Madd

Rules of Madd and Qasr

Definition of Madd

Linguistically: increase / lengthening.

Technically: prolonging the sound of one of the Madd letters or one of the two Leen (soft) letters.

Madd letters: a silent Alif preceded by a fatha; a silent Yaa preceded by a kasra; a silent Waw preceded by a damma.

Leen letters: a silent Waw after a fatha, as in khawf; a silent Yaa after a fatha, as in sayf.

Definition of Qasr

Linguistically: the opposite of length; to "restrict" something means not to go beyond it.

Technically: it has two meanings:

• Limiting the Madd to two counts only, when discussing the duration of a Madd — e.g. "Madd Al-Badal is shortened (qasr) for Hafs", meaning it is held for two counts only.
• The complete absence of Madd, when discussing whether a Madd exists at all — e.g. the Alif of "ana" is lengthened when stopping, and shortened (no Madd) when continuing.

Categories of Madd

Madd falls into two categories: the original (natural) Madd, and the branching (secondary) Madd.

1. The Original (Natural) Madd:

This is the Madd without which the letter itself cannot exist, and which has no external cause.

It can also be defined as the Madd that is not followed by a hamzah or a sukoon, and whose duration is two counts.

It is called "natural" because someone with a sound natural disposition will lengthen it by exactly two counts, no more and no less; and it is called "original" because it is the root of all other Madds, and because the Madd letter cannot be distinguished from a mere vowel except through it.

Some scholars have measured the two counts as the time it takes to pronounce two consecutive letters, such as qa qa.

The Original (Natural) Madd can be divided into several types:

• a. Natural Madd constant in both continuing (wasl) and stopping (waqf).
• b. Natural Madd constant only when stopping, not when continuing.
• c. Natural Madd constant only when continuing, not when stopping.
• d. Natural letter-Madd, found in the spelling of the opening letters of certain surahs.

2. The Branching (Secondary) Madd:

This is the Madd that depends on an external cause for its lengthening, and the letters themselves would still exist without it.

The branching Madd is divided into two categories:

• a. Branching Madd caused by Hamzah, which has three types: Madd Al-Badal, the obligatory connected Madd, and the permissible separate Madd.
• b. Branching Madd caused by Sukoon (silence), which has two types: Madd Lazim (obligatory Madd, whose cause of silence is original and unchanging), and Madd 'Aaridh Lissukoon (Madd caused by stopping, whose cause of silence is incidental — present when stopping, absent when continuing).

Each type will be detailed in the following sections.

Note: Hamzah and Sukoon are the two verbal causes of branching Madd. There is another, conceptual cause of Madd, though it does not occur in Hafs's transmission from 'Asim through Ash-Shatibiyyah: this is the intent to emphasize a negation, such as the "Madd of Glorification" in ﴾لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَ اللَّهُ﴿, and the "Madd of Disavowal" in ﴾لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ﴿.

وَالمـَدُّ لاَزِمٌ وَوَاجِـبٌ أَتَـى وَجَائِزٌ وَهْوَ وَقَـصْـرٌ ثَبَـتَـا

فَلاَزِمٌ إِنْ جَاءَ بَعْدَ حَرْفِ مَدْ سَاكِنُ حَالَيْنِ وَبِالطُّـولِ يُمَـدْ

وَوَاجِبٌ إنْ جَاءَ قَبْلَ هَمـْزَةِ مُتَّصِلاً إِنْ جُمـِعَـا بِكِلْـمَـةِ

وَجَـائزٌ إِذَا أَتَى مُنْفَـصِـلاَ أَوْ عَرَضَ السُّكُونُ وَقْفًا مُسْجَلاَ

Madd is Lazim, and Wajib has come, and Ja'iz too, and Qasr is established

Lazim: if a Madd letter is followed by a letter silent in both states, lengthened fully

Wajib: if it comes before a Hamzah, connected, joined within one word

Ja'iz: if it comes separated, or if silence arises upon stopping, established

The Degrees of Madd

The greater the number of counts held in both continuing and stopping, the stronger the Madd. Accordingly, the strongest Madd is Madd Lazim, since it may never be shortened to less than six counts in either state, and the weakest is Madd Al-Badal, since it is never held for more than two counts.

The order of Madd types from strongest to weakest is given in this line:

The strongest of Madds is Lazim, then what is connected, then what arises (from stopping), then what is separated, then Al-Badal

• Madd Lazim
• The Obligatory Connected Madd
• Madd 'Aaridh Lissukoon
• The Permissible Separate Madd
• Madd Al-Badal

If two causes of Madd combine in a single letter, the stronger cause takes precedence and governs the Madd. For example:

(aammeen) in ﴾وَلاَ آمِّينَ الْبَيْتَ الْحَرَامَ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرِضْوَانًا﴿ (Al-Ma'idah: 2) — two causes of Madd combine here: first, Madd Al-Badal (since the Madd Alif follows a hamzah), and second, Madd Lazim Kalimi (since it is followed by a doubled letter). Since Madd Lazim is stronger than Al-Badal, the ruling of Madd Lazim applies, and it is held for six counts.