The 7 Heavy letters in Arabic | Tafkheem & Tarqeeq
Each letter in the Arabic alphabet has a sound that is either heavy or light. Heavy letters are 7 {خ ص ض غ ط ق ظ}.
These letters can be collected in a word to remember them easily which is خص ضغط قظ. This word has no meaning in Arabic but contains the heavy letters in the Arabic language.
Heaviness or lightness in Tajweed is one of the important topics each reciter has to observe while reading.
One of the common mistakes in Tajweed is not getting heavy and light letters in the right way.
Mistake in heavy and light letters has been covered in the article of 5 most common Tajweed mistakes people make when reciting Quran. I strongly recommend you to know these mistakes.
Heavy letters are also called Tafkheem letters and Isti’laa letters while the light letters are also called Tarqeeq letters or Istifaal letters.
What is Tafkheem?
Tafkheem means: Thickening or making heavy – giving the letter quality of heaviness by elevation of the tongue.
how many heavy letters are there in Arabic?
There are 7 heavy letters in Arabic that are always heavy and there are 3 letters that sometimes should be heavy and sometimes light.
The 7 heavy letters in Arabic (Tafkheem letters)
- الخاء.
- الصاد.
- الضاد.
- الغين.
- الطاء.
- القاف.
- الظاء.
Note: The heavy letters are also called the full mouth letters.
Examples of heavy letters in the Quran: صِرَاطَ, قَلبٌ, ضَرَبَ,
What is Tarqeeq?
Tarqeeq means: Thinning or lightening – giving the letter a quality
of lightness by lowering the tongue away from the
the roof of the mouth.
The light letters in Arabic (Tarqeeq letters)
- الهمزة.
- الباء.
- التاء.
- الثاء.
- الجيم.
- الحاء.
- الدال.
- الذال.
- الزاي.
- السين.
- الشين.
- العين.
- الفاء.
- الكاف.
- اللام.
- الميم.
- النون.
- الهاء.
- الواو.
- الياء.
Letters that can be heavy or light
These three letters are three. ا ر ل. Alif Madd, Raa, and Laam.
These letters can be either heavy or light depending on some rules.
Is ا (Alif) heavy or light letter?
The Madd letter Alif can be heavy or light depending on the letter preceding it. If before Alif a heavy letter it should sound heavy. If before Alif a light letter it should sound light.
Examples of Alif heavy:
صادقين, قَالَ
Alif in these two examples has a heavy sound because it’s preceded by a heavy letter.
Example of light Alif:
أُنَاسٍ, كَانَ
Alif in these two examples has a light sound because it’s preceded by a light letter.
Example of light Alif is incorrect.
The examples of light Alif are correct. (ن & ك) are light letters. I’ve just noticed that I said it’s preceded by a heavy letter. I edited it to be by a light letter.
Thank you
Thanks! My apologies.
You’re welcome
Thank you for coming over this article.
As Salaamu Alaikum , Is there such a thing as hard and sold letters of the arabic alphabets ? Or is it called heavy and light ? Please explain the difference.
There are heavy and light letters and also called full mouth and empty mouth.
There are also another characteristics called letters of strength and weaknesses and in between. And that may be what you mean by hard and solid but with a different translation. You can study all this in the characteristics of letters topic in Tajweed.