Natural Madd

Madd is divided into two categories:

• The Original Natural Madd
• The Branching Madd

First: The Original Natural Madd

Its Names

It has several names, including: natural (Tabee'i), innate (Tab'i), essential (Dhati), and of the letter-form (Sighah).

• Called "natural": because a person with a sound natural disposition neither shortens it below nor lengthens it beyond its due measure, and omitting it may disrupt the meaning.
• Meaning "innate": i.e. instinctive, since a person with a sound natural disposition instinctively perceives this addition and lengthening.
• Called "essential": because the very essence of Madd is only realized in these letters.
• Called "of the letter-form": because the form of the Madd letter itself — its very essence — is rooted in Madd.
• Called "original": because it is the root of all other types of Madd, all of which branch from it.

Definition of the Natural Madd

It is the Madd without which the very essence of the letter cannot be realized, and which is not followed by a Hamzah or a sukoon — that is, it does not depend on any of the causes of Madd; it is sufficient for one of the three Madd letters to occur in a word with its conditions fully met:

﴾Nooheeha﴿ (Hud: 49), without being followed by a Hamzah or a sukoon.

Its Duration

The natural Madd is lengthened exactly two counts, no more and no less, a count being roughly the time it takes to close or open a finger, at a moderate pace — neither fast nor slow.

This is a modern approximation, and should not be relied upon as a rule in itself; the true basis for duration is oral transmission, direct instruction, and reception from skilled teachers.

Its Categories

The natural Madd is divided into two types:

• Kalimi natural Madd (occurring in ordinary words)
• Harfi natural Madd (occurring in the disjointed opening letters)

Madds Attached to the Kalimi Natural Madd

• Madd At-Tamkeen
• Madd Al-'Iwad
• Madd As-Silah As-Sughra

The Harfi Natural Madd

This occurs within one of the disjointed opening letters, fourteen in number, with which Allah, Blessed and Exalted, opened twenty-nine surahs of the Holy Quran — the letters gathered in "Hayy Tahur." These are natural Madd letters because their spelling consists of two letters, the second of which is a Madd letter (Haa-Alif, Yaa-Alif, Ttaa-Alif, Haa-Alif, Raa-Alif).

States of the Kalimi Natural Madd

The Kalimi natural Madd has three states:

First State: Constant in Both Continuing and Stopping

Example: ﴾Qaloo rabbana﴿ (Al-Baqarah: 250) — ﴾Hadha rabbee﴿ (Al-An'am: 76)

Second State: Constant Only When Stopping, Not When Continuing

It has five sub-cases:

a. Madd Al-'Iwad when stopping

﴾'Aleeman hakeema﴿ (An-Nisa': 17)

b. The Seven Alifs when stopping: these are seven Alifs occurring in the Holy Quran known as "the Seven Alifs," constant when stopping but dropped when continuing, their omission being a matter of transmission and reception; they are indicated in the Mushaf by an elongated zero mark.

﴾In tarani ana﴿ (Al-Kahf: 39) — ﴾lakinna﴿ (Al-Kahf: 38) — ﴾ar-rasoola﴿ (Al-Ahzab: 66)
﴾azh-zhunoona﴿ (Al-Ahzab: 10) — ﴾as-sabeela﴿ (Al-Ahzab: 67)
﴾salasila﴿ (Al-Insan: 4) — ﴾qawareera﴿ (Al-Insan: 15)

Note: this discussion is specific to the transmission of Hafs. Note that in the word ﴾salasila﴿ (Al-Insan: 4), the zero mark is round, and it is grouped with the Seven Alifs since both readings are valid: keeping the Alif or dropping it when stopping, with keeping it being the preferred reading via Ash-Shatibiyyah. Whereas in ﴾qawareera﴿ (Al-Insan: 16), the Alif has a round zero mark above it, kept in writing to match other readings, but dropped in pronunciation, whether continuing or stopping, for Hafs from 'Asim via Ash-Shatibiyyah and those in agreement with it.

3. The genuine Permissible Separate Madd, when stopping

Example: ﴾Bima anzala﴿ (Al-Baqarah: 90), when stopping on "bima".

4. Madds dropped due to two silent letters meeting

﴾Waqala-l-hamdu lillah﴿ (An-Naml: 15) — ﴾wama fi-l-ard﴿ (Ta-Ha: 6)
﴾Ittaqullah﴿ (Al-Hashr: 18)

5. Waw and Yaa when word-final, voweled, and preceded by a matching vowel

Example: ﴾huwa﴿ (Al-Baqarah: 29) — ﴾hiya﴿ (Al-Baqarah: 68)

Third State: Constant Only When Continuing, Not When Stopping

a. Madd As-Silah As-Sughra

As in: ﴾Biyadihee malakoot﴿ (Al-Mu'minun: 88) — ﴾Innahoo huwa﴿ (Al-Baqarah: 37)

It is constant when continuing, lengthened two counts; but when stopping on the pronoun Haa (Haa Al-Kinayah), the Haa becomes silent and there is no Madd in it.

b. Madd 'Aaridh Lissukoon when continuing: this is a natural Madd when continuing, but becomes a Madd 'Aaridh Lissukoon when stopped on.

Second: The Harfi Natural Madd

This occurs within one of the disjointed opening letters, fourteen in number, with which Allah, Blessed and Exalted, opened twenty-nine surahs of the Holy Quran — the letters gathered in "Hayy Tahur." We noted these are natural Madd letters because their spelling consists of two letters, the second being a Madd letter.