FAST !
Tajweed Intensive
Workshop!
Rules of Raa
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Rules of Raa
FAST Tajweed Intensive - Summer 2012
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The Rules of Raa
¡ Raa ( )رis a letter that can be pronounced as
either light or heavy, depending on certain
conditions.
¡ The rules change according to whether
¡ A) Raa is Sakinah
¡ B) Raa is mutaharrik (i.e. it has some harakah on it)
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When Raa is Mutaharrik
¡ If Raa has a Fat-hah or a dhamma on it, then it
is always pronounced heavy, as in the following
examples:
Examples of Heavy
Raa
َ أَدْرَا
ك
ٍرَّاضِيَة
ٌنَار
ُوَالرُّوح
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When Raa is Mutaharrik
¡ If Raa has a kasrah on it, then it is always
pronounced light, as in the following:
Examples of Light Raa
ِالْبَرِيَّة
ِفَالْمُورِيَات
ِالْخَيْر
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When Raa is Sakinah
¡ If Raa is Sakinah, then we look at the harakah
of the letter before it.
¡ If the letter before the Raa Sakinah has a
Fathah or a dhamma on it, then it is always
pronounced heavy, as in the following
examples:
Examples of Heavy Raa Sakinah
َفَأَثَرْن
ُتَرْجُف
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When Raa is Sakinah…Contd.
¡ If the letter preceding Raa Sakinah has a
kasrah on it, then the Raa Sakinah is
pronounced light, unless:
¡ A) if the Raa Sakinah is coming right after a
hamzatul wasl:
¡ It will always be pronounced heavy, regardless of the
harakah on the letter before Hamzat-ul-Wasl
Example of Heavy Raa Sakinah After Hamzatul
Wasl
ٰلِمَنِ ارْتَضَى
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When Raa is Sakinah…Contd.
¡ B) If the Raa Sakinah is followed by one of the
heavy letters in the same word:
¡ If the heavy letter has a kasrah, the Raa
Sakinah is pronounced light
¡ Otherwise the Raa is pronounced heavy
¡ See the examples on the following slide
¡ Heavy letters are:
ْخُصَّ ضَغْطٍ قِظ
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When Raa is Sakinah…Contd.
Examples of heavy Raa followed by heavy letter and preceded by a
kasrah
ِلَبِالْمِرْصَاد
ٍقِرْطَاس
إِرْصَادًا
Example of light Raa followed by a heavy letter and preceded by a
kasrah
ٍفِرْق
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When Raa is Sakinah…Contd.
¡ If the Raa Sakinah is preceded by another
Sakinah letter (because we have to stop at the
Raa Sakinah), then we look at the harakah of
the letter before that Sakinah letter.
Example of heavy Raa Sakinah preceded by a
Sakinah letter preceded by a letter with a Fat-hah or
dhamma on it
عَشْ ٍر
ٌصُفْر
Example of light Raa Sakinah preceded by a Sakinah
letter preceded by a letter with a kasrah on it
ٍحِجْر
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An exception
¡ An exception to this rule is that a Raa Sakinah
preceded by a yaa Sakinah ( ) is ALWAYS ْي
pronounced light, even if the letter preceding
that yaa Sakinah has a Fat-hah or dhamma on
it, such as:
ْخَيْر
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