|
Of the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet,
14 of the letters are known as
solar (sun) letters. These are
: ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض
ط ظ ل ن 14 of the letters are known as
lunar (moon) letters. These are
: ء ب ج ح خ
ع غ ف ق ك م ه و ي the Arabic letters
ال means 'The' in English
| E.g |
ﺑﺎب |
door |
|
| |
ال |
the |
|
|
ال |
+ |
ﺑﺎب |
= |
اﻟﺒﺎب |
|
| The |
+ |
Door |
= |
The Door |
|
The 1st letter of the word that follows
ال would determine the pronunciation depending on
whether it is a sun or moon letter
EXAMPLE 1
Requirements :
- Presence of
ال
- followed by a sun letter
Effect:
- the letter alif of the
ال is assimilated with the sun letter
- the letter laam of the
ال is ignored
- the sun letter carries a shaddah
| |
ﺷَﻤﺲ |
Sun |
|
| |
ال |
The |
|
ال |
+ |
ﺷَﻤﺲ |
= |
اَﻟﺸَّﻤﺲ |
|
| The |
+ |
Sun |
= |
The Sun |
This is pronounced as 'ash-shams' and not 'al-shams'
If you want to join the preceding word onto the
ال word, then you ignore the
ال completely
EXAMPLE 2Requirements :
- Presence ofال
- followed by a sun letter
- and preceded by another word
Effect :
- the last letter of this word joins straight onto the sun letter
- so the
ال is ignored completely
|
|
(1:4) |
 |
| |
|
The letter
 joins
straight onto the sun letter
 and
the
is ignored completely |
| |
|
This is pronounced 'yaw-mid-deen' |
Examples of Solar Letters
| Sun Letter |
Definite article attached to word |
Definite article preceded by letter
/ word |
Surah : Verse |
|
 |
 |
 |
(95:1) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(3:195) |
|
|
|
 |
 |
(1:3) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(51:1) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(2:143) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(2:277) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(2:22) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(25:29) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(112:2) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(9:91) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(2:260) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(4:75) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(2:274) |
|
 |
 |
 |
(75:2) |
|
EXAMPLE 1
Requirements :
- Presence of ال
- followed by a moon letter
Effect :
| |
ﻗَﻤﺮ |
Moon |
|
| |
ال |
The |
|
|
ال |
+ |
ﻗَﻤﺮ |
= |
اﻟْﻘَﻤﺮ |
|
| The |
+ |
Moon |
= |
The Moon |
|
This is pronounced as 'al-qamr' and not 'aq-qamr'
If you want to join the preceding word onto the
ال word, you only ignore the letter alif of the
ال
EXAMPLE 2
Requirements :
- Presence of ال
- followed by a moon letter
- and preceded by another word
Effect :
- the last letter of this word joins straight onto the letter laam of the alif
- therefore ignoring the letter alif only
|
|
(1:7) |
 |
| |
|
The letter
joins
straight onto the
and
only the alif is ignored |
| |
|
This is pronounced as 'ghair-ril-magh-dhoo-be' |
Examples of Lunar Letters
Click here to view a printable chart depicting the solar and lunar
letters.
 |
Click 'here' to
view practice exercises for the rules of The Definite Article |
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