Al Madd (Elongation) (المد) Al Madd (Elongation): It is the elongation of the sound of one of the three letters of Madd when they have a sukun (A و that has a sukun and is preceded by a letter that carries a dammah - a ي that has a sukun and is preceded by a letter that carries a Kasrah - an ا that has a sukun and is preceded by a letter that carries a fatha).
Al-Madd is divided into different types:
1. Natural Madd (المد الطبيعي) - This madd exists when a letter (that is not a hamzah or a letter with a sukun) with a vowel sign follows a madd letter. Its duration is for two counts.
Examples are قال - يقول – قيل
2. Extended Madd (المد الفرعي) - This madd exists when a letter that is a Hamzah, or a letter with a sukun (specifically a letter that has a shaddah) follows a madd letter. This madd is distinguished in the Uthmaniy Mushaf by the wavy sign on the madd letter. This type of Madd is divided into 11 types.
a. The Connected Madd (المد المتصل) - This Madd is Waajib (obligatory to be extended beyond the natural 2 counts). It is extended for 4 or 5 counts. This madd exists when the madd letter and the letter (hamzah) which is the reason for the extension beyond 2 counts are both present in the same word.
Examples are الماء - السماء - السوء - سيئت (seeat is the first example)
b. The Separated Madd (المد المنفصل) - This Madd is Jaiz (permissible to be extended beyond 2 counts). It is extended for either 2 or 4 or 5 counts. This madd exists when the madd letter is the last letter of a first word, and the hamzah is the first letter of the next/following word.
Examples are مآ أنزلنا - قولوا ءامنا
c. The Required Madd [Heavy and in One Word] (المد اللازم الكلمي المثقل) - This madd is as its name implies, it is heavy and it is required to be elongated to the maximum length of 6 counts. This madd exists as a result of the madd letter being followed by a letter with sukun (in the Uthmaniy Mushaf it is written as a letter with a shaddah) in the same word.
Examples are الضآلّين - الطآمّة
d. The Required Madd [In a letter] (المد اللازم الحرفي) - This madd only exists in some of the letters that begin certain surahs in the Qur’an (29 surahs to be exact) and these letters are a total of 14 in number. These letters mentioned above are divided into three types:
1. ا alif, and it has no madd in it.
2. Some letters are made up of 3 letters when their name is spelt out in Arabic, and the middle of the 3 letters being a madd letter. There are 8 of these letters, they are نقص عسلكم. These 8 letters are elongated to 6 counts when pronounced at the beginnings of the surahs and the wavy sign is printed on them to identify them in the Uthmaniy mushaf.
3. The remaining 5 letters when spelt out are made up of 2 letters and the second of the 2 letters is a madd letter. These letters are only elongated for 2 counts when pronounced. The 5 letters are حي طهر.
Examples of these types of madd are الم - كهيعص - طسم - طه - يس
e. The Required Madd [Light and in One word] (المد الكلمى اللازم المخفف) - This madd exists when a letter with sukun (and without a shaddah) comes after a madd letter in one word. The only example of this is the word ءآلئان and it is present only in two places in the Qur’an.
The only example of this is the word ءآلئان
f. The Difference Madd (مد الفرق) - This is when a أ\ء of question (used to ask a question such as أ هذا لك؟) is present before a noun that begins with ال of definiteness, therefore the ء\أ is merged into it. This is present in 2 words only in the Qur’an to distinguish between the sentence that is a statement and that which is a question.
The two words are ءآلذكرين - ءآلله.
g. The Ending Madd [The madd that comes at the end of verses in the Qur’an] (المد العارض للسكون - للوقف) - This madd exists when at the end of a verse in the Qur’an there is a letter with a vowel sign as the last letter, preceded by a madd letter. This is important because the madd only exists if we stop on the word. This madd is extended for 2 or 4 or 6 counts, and we do not elongate this madd beyond the natural 2 counts if we are connecting the verse to the next verse. This madd does not carry the wavy sign of other types of madd because in reality, the verses of the Qur’an are connected, so it is not a permanent type of elongation.
Examples of this madd are الرحيم - الغفور - الغفّار
h. The Connecting Madd (مد الصلة) - This madd exists when a singular-third-person-masculine pronoun falls between two letters that both have vowel signs, as long as we don’t stop on the pronoun. This pronoun is then connected to the next word with a small و madd letter, if the pronoun carries a dammah, and a small ي madd, if the pronoun carries a Kasra.
This type of madd is further divided into two types:
[1.] The Bigger Connecting Madd (مد صلة كبرى) - This exists when the said pronoun is followed by ء and the small و or ي will be written with a wavy sign on top of it in the Mushaf. It is extended for 4 counts.
Examples are [وما يكذب به ى إلا كل معتد أثيم] - [يحسب أن ماله و أخلده]
[2.] The Smaller Connecting Madd (مد صلة صغرى) - This exists when the said pronoun is followed by any letter other than a ء, and it is written without a madd sign, it is extended for 2 counts only.
Examples are [فوسطن به ى جمعا] - [فأكرمه و ونعمه]
i. The Soft Madd (مد اللين) - This exists with the letters و and ي that both have sukun, when they are preceded by a letter that has a fatha. This madd is elongated for 2 counts only If the recitation is continuous. If we are to stop on the word with this type of madd (as is the case in Surat Quraysh) then we can extend the madd to 4 or 6 counts.
Examples are خوف - بيت
j. The Exchange Madd (مد البدل) - This madd exists when a ء precedes a madd letter, and it is elongated for 2 counts.
Examples are ءامنوا - إيمان - أوتوا
k. The Replacement Madd (مد العوض) - This madd exists when you stop on a word that ends with a Fathatain. This fathatain will be replaced with an ا madd and you will stop on that word with a single fatha, but elongate it into a 2 count madd. (**As for the words that end with a Dammatain or Kasratain, we stop on them with a sukun.)
Example of this madd is شكورًا.