Madd As-Silah

Madd As-Silah (Minor and Major)

Haa Al-Kinayah: this is the pronoun Haa used to refer to a singular absent masculine subject, such as in: 'indahu, kamithlihi, ba'dahu.

The ruling on lengthening it: Haa Al-Kinayah has two states regarding Madd:

1. Qasr (no Madd at all): Haa Al-Kinayah is not lengthened, only voweled, in the following cases:

●When it falls between two silent letters, such as:

◆ ﴾Wahadaynahu-n-najdayn﴿ (Al-Balad: 10)

— ﴾Wama taf'aloo min khayrin ya'lamhullah﴿ (Al-Baqarah: 197)

●When it is preceded by a voweled letter and followed by a silent one, such as:

— ﴾Fayu'adhdhibuhullahu-l-'adhaba-l-akbar﴿ (Al-Ghashiyah: 24)

●When it is preceded by a silent letter and followed by a voweled one, such as:

— ﴾Inna anzalnahu fee laylati-l-qadr﴿ (Al-Qadr: 1)

Exception: the pronoun Haa is shortened without Madd in all cases where it is preceded by a silent letter and followed by a voweled one, except for a single occurrence in Surah Al-Furqan: ﴾Wayakhlud feehee muhana﴿ (Al-Furqan: 69), where the Haa of feehi is connected with a Madd Yaa, lengthened two counts, read by Hafs as "feehee muhana."

2. Madd As-Silah: if the Haa falls between two voweled letters, it is connected with a Madd letter matching its vowel — a Madd Waw if voweled with a damma, a Madd Yaa if voweled with a kasra. Madd As-Silah is further divided according to the letter following Haa Al-Kinayah:

●Madd As-Silah As-Sughra (minor): when the letter following Haa Al-Kinayah is anything other than Hamzah, given a natural Madd of two counts. For example:

◆ ﴾Walam yakul-lahoo kufuwan ahad﴿ (Al-Ikhlas: 4)

●Madd As-Silah Al-Kubra (major): when the letter following Haa Al-Kinayah is a Hamzah. In this case it takes the ruling of the Permissible Separate Madd, lengthened four or five counts (4-5). For example:

— ﴾Wama yukadhdhibu bihee illa kullu mu'tadin atheem﴿ (Al-Mutaffifin: 12)

Exception: three words are excepted from this rule:

— ﴾Wa'in tashkuroo yardahu lakum﴿ (Az-Zumar: 7) — yardhahu is recited with a voweled Haa without connecting it to a Madd Waw, despite falling between two voweled letters. This ruling is called "the shortening of Madd As-Silah As-Sughra."

— ﴾Idh-hab bikitabee hadha fa'alqih ilayhim﴿ (An-Naml: 28) — Hafs recited fa'alqih with a silent Haa.

— ﴾Qaloo arjih wa'akhah﴿ (Al-A'raf: 111; also Ash-Shu'ara: 36) — Hafs recited arjih with a silent Haa.

The Haa of "hadhihi" (this): the pronoun-Haa rulings extend to the Haa in the demonstrative "hadhihi," such as:

— ﴾Inna hadhihee tadhkirah﴿ (Al-Insan: 29) — the Haa of "hadhihi" is connected with a Madd Yaa; this is a Madd As-Silah As-Sughra of two counts, since the following letter is not a Hamzah.

— ﴾Wa'inna hadhihee ummatukum ummatan wahidatan wa'ana rabbukum fattaqoon﴿ (Al-Mu'minun: 52) — here the Madd is a Madd As-Silah Al-Kubra of four or five counts.

— ﴾Hadhihi-n-naru-llati kuntum biha tukadhdhiboon﴿ (At-Tur: 14) — here the Haa of "hadhihi" is not connected with a Madd letter at all, since it is followed by a silent letter.

Mushaf marking: standard Mushaf script marks the connection of Haa Al-Kinayah to a Madd Waw with a small superscript Waw, and its connection to a Madd Yaa with a small superscript Yaa. Early scribes traditionally marked these small letters in red, matching the size of the main script; this became impractical for modern printing, so they were reduced in size to indicate the intended reading instead.