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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
|
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|
ال
|
+ |
ﺑﺎب |
= |
اﻟﺒﺎب |
|
| The |
+ |
Door |
= |
The Door
|
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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
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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 2
Requirements :
-
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
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(1:4) |
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The letter
 joins
straight onto the sun letter
 and
the
is ignored completely
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This is pronounced 'yaw-mid-deen'
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Examples of Solar Letters
| Sun Letter |
Definite article attached to word |
Definite article preceded by letter
/ word
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Surah : Verse |
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(95:1)
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(3:195)
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(1:3)
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(51:1)
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(2:143)
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(2:277)
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(2:22)
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(25:29)
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(112:2)
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(9:91)
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(2:260)
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(4:75)
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(2:274)
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(75:2)
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EXAMPLE 1
Requirements :
- Presence of ال
-
followed by a moon letter
Effect :
| |
ﻗَﻤﺮ |
Moon
|
|
| |
ال
|
The
|
|
|
ال
|
+ |
ﻗَﻤﺮ |
= |
اﻟْﻘَﻤﺮ |
|
| The |
+ |
Moon |
= |
The Moon
|
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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
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(1:7)
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The letter
joins
straight onto the
and
only the alif is ignored
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This is pronounced as 'ghair-ril-magh-dhoo-be'
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Examples of Lunar Letters
Click here
to view a printable chart depicting the solar and lunar
letters.
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Click 'here' to
view practice exercises for the rules of The Definite Article
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