Sun letters (or solar letters) and moon letters (or lunar letters)

Sun letters (or solar letters) and moon letters (or lunar letters)

In literary Arabic language, the consonants are divided into two groups, called the sun letters (or solar letters) and moon letters (or lunar letters) (Arabic: حروف شمسية‎ ḥurūf shamsiyyah and حروف قمرية ḥurūf qamariyyah, accordingly), based on whether or not they assimilate the ﻝ (l) of a preceding article. This naming scheme stems from the circumstance that the word for "the sun", aš-šams, assimilates the article, while the word for "the moon", al-qamar, does not.

             When followed by a sun letter, the ﻝ l of the Arabic definite article al- assimilates to the initial consonant of the following noun, resulting in a doubled consonant. For example, for "the Nile", one does not say al-Nīl, but an-Nīl. When the definite article is followed by a moon letter, no assimilation takes place.

             Sun letters represented coronal consonants in the classical language. Since the article, al-, ends in a coronal consonant, it lends itself to assimilation with these sounds. The letter ج ǧ three standard pronunciations: [ɡ], [ʒ] or [dʒ] in accents of Modern Standard Arabic as well as varieties of Arabic today. However, it represented a palatalized voiced velar plosive, /ɡʲ/ or /ɟ/, in the Koranic Arabic. As a result, its sound does not assimilate the article and it is classified as a moon letter.

In the written language, the ال al- is retained regardless of how it is pronounced, though gemination may be expressed by putting a šadda on the following letter.

The rule says:

• When the article "Al" is found in front of The Sun letters, "L" is not pronounced, but it is replaced by sun letter by doubling.
  
  
• When there is an article in front of The Moon letters  the article "Al" is plainly pronounced as "Al” .

Letters of Arabic alphabet are divided into two equal groups shown below with transliterations below each letter.

• I.     Al-Huruf al-Shamsiyyah, The Sun Letters, which are:

  ن  ل  ز ت ض ص س ش  ز  ر  ذ  د  ث  ط  

            Ta',  Tha',  Dal, Dha', Ra',  Za',  Sin, Shin,  Sad,  Dad,  Ta',  Za',  Lam , Nun.

           t,     ṯ,    d,   ḏ,    r,    z,    š,    s,     ṣ,     ḍ,    ṭ ,   ẓ,     l,    n.

• II.    Al-Huruf al-Qamariyyah, The Moon Letters, which are:

     ي  ه  و  م  ك  ق  ف غ  ع  خ  ح  ج  ب  ا

'A,   Ba',   Jim,   Ha',    Kha', 'Ayn, Ghayn, Fa',   Qaf   Kaf, Mim, Waw, Ha', Ya'.

ʾ,     b,     ǧ,     ḥ,     ḫ,    ʿ,     ġ,     f,     q,    k,   m,   w,   h,   y,    

 

RULE No.1

 The application of the article al ( لأ ) at the beginning of an indefinite noun makes it definite and the tanwin changes into a harakah, short vowel.

Example:

(Baytun) a house (al-Baytu) the house   (Rajulun) a man (Arrajulu) the man 

 RULE No.2

 All indefinite nouns which begin with one of the Moon letters when they are changed into the definite, the Lam of the definite article al ( J| ), should be recited. The alif of the article should be converted into hamzah al-wasl, the conjunctive hamzah which should be written but remain silent when the noun is connected either with a letter or a word.   

Example Analysis:    

Al-Mawt, al-Ma', al-Mizan: In Practice Text Rule 2, Examples 1-86 include such words which start with one of the Moon letters. In these words, including the examples mentioned above, all fourteen Moon letters are mentioned.

The final letters of these words carry either dammah,  fathah or kasrah, indicating the nominative, accusative and genitive cases respectively. For brevity's sake, the factors for these cases are avoided. Since a pause is observed at these letters in the recitation they are pronounced sakin (for details see Rule No. 54 on p. 170). In all these examples, the letter Lam should be pronounced.

EXAMPLES: (1-86).

Al-Huruf al-Qamariyyah, The Moon Letters - RULE No.2
HARF	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
ا	اَلْأَمْثَالُ	اَلْأَحَادِيثِ	وَالْأَسْبَاطِ	اَلْأَمِينُ	اَلْأَوَّل	اَلْأَرْض	اَلْإِثْمِ
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
ب	اَلْبَيِّنَاتُ	اَلْبَيْتِ	اَلْبَلَدُ	اَلْبَغْضَاءُ	اَلْبَاطِلُ	اَلْبُشْرَى	اَلْبِرَّ	اَلْبُقْعَةِ
	(88	(9)	(10)	(11)	(12)	(13)	(14)	(15)
ج	اَلْجَاهِلِيَّةِ	اَلْجِبَالُ	اَلْجَحِيمُ	اَلْجَزَاءَ	اَلْجِسْمِ	اَلْجِنُّ	اَلْجَمَلُ	اَلْجَنَّةُ
	(16)	(17)	(18)	(19)	(20)	(21)	(22)	(23)
ح	اَلْحَكِيمُ	اَلْحَيَاةُ	اَلْحُرُّ	اَلْحِكْمَةَ	اَلْحَرْثِ	اَلْحَجُّ	اَلْحَقّ	اَلْحُكْم
	(24)	(25)	(26)	(27)	(28)	(29)	(30)	(31)
خ	اَلْخَنَّاسِ	اَلْخَبِيثُ	اَلْخِزْيُ	اَلْخِطَابِ	اَلْخَالِقُ	اَلْخَلْقِ	اَلْخَبِيرُ
	(32)	(33)	(34)	(35)	(36)	(37)	(38)
ع	اَلْعَتِيقِ	اَلْعَرْشِ	اَلْعِزَّةَ	اَلْعَزِيزُ	اَلْعَدَاوَةَ	اَلْعُمُرُ	اَلْعَذَابُ	اَلْعَلِيمُ
	(39)	(40)	(41)	(42)	(43)	(44)	(45)	(46)
غ	اَلْغَاشِيَةِ	اَلْغَمَامِ	اَلْغَرَقُ	اَلْغَنِيُّ				اَلْفَاحِشَةَ
	(47)	(48)	(49)	(50)				(59)
ف	ذُوالْفَضْلِ	اَلْفَتْحُ	فَالْفَارِقَاتِ	اَلْفُرْقَانِ	اَلْفِرْدَوْسِ	اَلْفَوْزُ	وَالْفَجْرِ	كَالْفَرَاشِ
	(51)	(52)	(53)	(54)	(55)	(56)	(57)	(58)
ق	اَلْقُرْآنِ	اَلْقُدُسِ	اَلْقَوِيُّ	اَلْقُبُورُ	اَلْقَوَاعِدِ	اَلْقَرَارُ	اَلْقَوْلُ	اَلْقَيُّومُ
	(60)	(61)	(62)	(63)	(64)	(65)	(66)	(67)
ك	اَلْكَرِيمِ	اَلْكَيْلُ	اَلْكُفَّارِ	اَلْكَهْفِ	اَلْكِتَابُ	اَلْكَلِمُ
	(68)	(69)	(70)	(71)	(72)	(73)
و	اَلْوَارِثِ	وَالْوَتْرِ	اَلْوَدُودُ	اَلْوَعْدُ	اَلْوَسْوَاسِ	اَلْوَاقِعَةُ
	(74)	(57)	(76)	(77)	(78)	(79)
ه	اَلْهُونِ	بِالْهَزْلِ	اَلْهِيمِ
	(80)	(81)	(82)
ي	اَلْيَقِين	اَلْيَمِينِ	اَلْيَمِّ	اَلْيَوْمَ
	(83)	(48)	(85)	(86)

RULE No.3

All indefinite nouns which begin with one of the Sun letters, when they are changed into the definite the article al (ال  ) should be written but assimilated with the Sun letter by hardening the letter mushaddad.

Example Analysis:

Example No. 87, Atturab: Like Rule 2, Rule 3 includes examples 87-156 pertaining to the Sun letters. Here the sound of the letter Lam should be assimilated with the Sun letters.

 

EXAMPLES: (84-156).

Al-Huruf al-Shamsiyyah, The Sun Letters - RULE No.3
HARF	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
ث	اَلثُّمُنُ	اَلثَّمَرَاتِ	اَلثَّوَابِ	اَلثَّاقِبُ
	(93)	(94)	(95)	(96)
د	اَلدَّارُ	اَلدَّاعِي	اَلدَّهْرُ	اَلدَّمُ	اَلدِّينُ	اَلدَّمْعِ
	(97)	(98)	(99)	(100)	(101)	(102)
ذ	اَلذُّنُوبَ	اَلذَّارِيَاتِ	اَلذِّكْرِ
	(103)	(104)	(105)
ر	اَلرَّحِيمُ	اَلرَّسُولُ	اَلرَّسِّ	اَلرُّمَّانَ	اَلرُّوحُ	اَلرُّومُ	اَلزَّكَاةَ
	(106)	(107)	(108)	(109)	(110)	(111)	(112)
ز	اَلزَّيْتُونَ	اَلزَّانِيَةُ	اَلزَّقُّومِ	فَالزَّاجِرَاتِ	يَوْمُ الزِّينَةِ
	(113)	(114)	(115)	(116)	(117)
س	اَلسَّمَاوَاتِ	اَلسَّمَاءُ	اَلسَّبْتِ	اَلسِّحْرَ	اَلسَّبِيلِ	اَلسِّجْنُ	اَلسُّدُسُ
	(118)	(119)	(120)	(121)	(122)	(123)	(124)
ش	اَلشَّمْسَ	اَلشَّهَادَةِ	اَلشَّيْطَانُ				اَلسُّجُودِ
	(126)	(127)	(128)				(125)
ص	اَلصُّلْحُ	اَلصَّمَدُ	اَلصَّيْدِ
	(129)	(130)	(131)
ض	اَلضُّعَفَاءُ	اَلضَّأْنِ	اَلضَّرَّاءُ
	(132)	(133)	(134)
ط	اَلطَّاغُوتُ	اَلطَّلَاقُ	اَلطَّارِقُ	اَلطُّورَ	اَلطَّيْرُ	بِالطَّاغِيَةِ
	(135)	(136)	(137)	(138)	(139)	(140)
ظ	اَلظَّالِمُ	اَلظَّنِّ
	(114)	(142)
ل	اَللَّوَّامَةِ	وَاللَّيْلِ	بِاللَّغْو	اَللَّطِيفُ	اَلنِّكَاحِ
	(143)	(144)	(145(	(146)	(147)
ن	اَلنَّفَّاثَاتِ	وَالنَّازِعَاتِ	اَلنَّاشِرَاتِ	اَلنِّسَاءِ	اَلنَّفْسُ
	(148)	(149)	(150)	(151)	(152)
	اَلنَّبِيُّ	اَلنَّارُ	اَلنُّبُوَّةَ	اَلنَّبَإِ
	(153)	(154)	(155)	(156)