The Rules of Laam Ta'reef (Al-Qamariyyah and Ash-Shamsiyyah)

The definition of the laam tareef or the definite article laam is the laam sakin at the starting of noun added to regular common nouns to make it specific or proper nouns. This noun is preceded by a hamzah al-wasl that is read with a fat-hah when starting the word, dropped when continuing from a previous word.  This definite article laam is like the English word “the”.

In the Arabic language, the indefinite article is indicated by tanween at the end of a noun. The definite article, however, precedes the noun and is connected to it in the form of (ٱل), i.e., the connecting hamzah followed by laam. The word (كِتَابٌ) refers to any book, i.e., "a book," while (الْكتَابُ) refers to a specific book, i.e., "the book."

When there is the definite article laam preceding a noun (it only enters nouns) there are only two possible rules for the laam: ithhaar and idghaam.

Laam Ta'reef

We will now explain when each of these occurs.

1. ITHHAAR

It will be recited with Ith’har or  clearly if after the laam comes any of the huroof al-qamariyyah (moon letters). The laam of the definite article is then is called laam qamariyyah. Al-Qamar means "the moon" and cause ith-haar, i.e., the clear pronunciation of the laam.

There are 14 the Moon letters:

أ ب غ ح ج ك و خ ف ع ق ي م هـ

And they are collected in the phrase:

اَبْغِ حَجَّـكَ وَخَـفْ عَـقِيْمَـهُ

Examples:

أ: وَالْأَرْضِ

ب: وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ

غ: بِالْغَيْبِ

ح: فِي الْحَافِرَةِ

ج: وَالْجِبَالَ

ك: هُمُ الْكَفَرَةُ

و: وَإِذَا الْوُحُوْشُ

خ: بِالْخُنَّسِ

ف: يَوْمَ الْفَصْلِ

ع: فَالْعَاصِفَاتِ

ق: اَلْقَارِعَةُ

م: وَالْمُرْسَلَاتِ

ي: ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمُ

ه: عَنِ الْهَوَى

The laam saakinah of the definite article is pronounce clearly in these words.

2. IDGHAAM

When laam of the definite article is followed by any of the letters called "shamsiyyah" the laam is merged into the letter following it which takes on a shaddah. Ash-shams means "the sun" and the word itself is an example of this rule. The shamsiyyah letters which cause idghaam are fourteen:

.ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن

Examples:

ت: وَالتِّينِ

ث: مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ

د: يَوْمِ الدِّينِ

ذ: مِنَ الذَّهَبِ

ر: وَإِذَا الرُّسُلُ

ز: وَالزَّيْتُونِ

س: هُمُ السُّفَهَاءُ

ش: وَالشَّمْسِ

ص: بِالصَّبْرِ

ض: وَالضُّحَى

ط: الطَّامَّةُ

ظ: مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ

ل: وَالَّيْلِ

ن: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ

Note: Only the letter nun will be read with idghaam with ghunnah.

A reminder: the first letter of the word is a hamzah wasl, and it is only used if we are starting on the word.  If we start a word that has the definite article laam as the second letter, we start on the hamzah al-wasl with a fat-hah. 

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