Rules of Hamza
Hamza makes a little “stop” in your voice— This little stop is called a glottal stop. Hamza can appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.
It can be written in different ways ( ء ئ ؤ أ إ ) depending on where it appears in a word and which harakat it has, but it always creates that brief pause. It is produced by briefly closing the vocal cords and then opening them.
The difference between Hamza and Alif
Alif is a vowel letter and represents a Madd letter, it has the sound of a long /a/, like in “father”. Whereas, Hamza is a consonant letter and as a glottal stop, it is produced by momentarily stopping the airflow, kind of like in “cooperation” or “uh-oh.”
HAMZA AT THE BEGINNING
When a Hamza appears at the beginning of a word, it can be categorized into two types: Hamzatul Qat’ and Hamzatul Wasl.
That means the way you say Hamza can change depending on its type.
Hamzatul Qat’ (The Cutting Hamza)
The first one is Hamzatul Qat’.
If a word starts with this kind of Hamza (written as ء أ إ ) you always say its sound. Whether you stop and start or keep on reading, you will always pronounce it.
Hamzatul Wasl (The Connecting Hamza)
The second one is Hamzatul Wasl (the connecting Hamza). It is represented by a small Hamzah on top of it which looks like this ٱ
Hamzatul Wasl can be skipped or pronounced according to its position in the sentence we read.
Sometimes when you see a word that starts with “al-” (the Arabic definite article), you don’t say the “l” sound at all. If the Laam ( ل ) has no sukoon and the very next letter carries a shadda, you don’t say the “l” sound at all—instead, you recite the next letter.
If We Continue Reading, It Will Be Skipped
If the reader continues reading, connecting one word with another starting with Hamzatul Wasl, it is skipped and not pronounced.
If We Start Reading From It, It Will Be Pronounced
If you start reading from the word starting with Hamzatul Wasl, then it should be pronounced.
So how do we know what vowel to start with when reading?
Here are three simple rules:
– If Hamzatul Wasl is followed by a Laam ( ل ) then the Hamza takes a Fatha.
– If the 3rd letter of the word has a Dhamma then Hamzatul Wasl takes a Dhamma.
– Other than these two cases, Hamzatul Wasl always takes a Kasra.
