The most common mistakes are in the letters themselves, meaning using the wrong articulation point for a letter, as well as improper timing of vowels (i.e. lengthening a vowel longer than one vowel count), and natural lengthening (making them shorter than they should be). Each vowel over a letter receives one count. So a dhammah receives the same timing as a kasrah, as does a fath, as long as these letters are not followed by the madd letters (alif كما; or a ya’ with no vowel preceded by a kasrah, الذين
or wow with no vowel preceded by a dhammah). معدودات
Madd letters have two vowel counts if not followed by a hamzah or a sukun.
كتب In this word, each vowel is equal in timing to the next; in other words, this word would have three vowel counts. We can notice that there are no madd letters in this word, so there is no elongation of the vowels.
كتب This word has each vowel equal timing to the next, or three vowel counts. Again, there are no madd letters here, so there is no elongation of the vowels. In summary, the timing for the first word above is equal to the second word, even though different vowels are used.
All vowels, as stated above, have equal timing in length. This is not true for letters without vowels or saakin letters. The timings of saakin letters vary depending on their characteristics. The difference is that it is not a great length of time, though. For the time being, we will not be discussing Madd letters, but we will return to them later. Saakin letters are divided into three groups when determining their timing. The three groups are:
- الشدةThe group of strength
- التوسطThe middle group
- الرخاوةThe soft group
الشدةThe group of strength letters is the group of letters that have imprisonment of the sound when pronounced. When these letters have no vowel on them (a sukun) their timing is short. The letters of this group are: أ ج د ق ط ب ك تand are combined in the phrase: أجد قظ بكت
التوسط
The middle group of letters is those that do not have a complete running of the sound, yet they do not have complete imprisonment of the sound like the group of strength letters. Therefore, these letters have a middle length when there is no vowel (a sukun) on them. The letters of this group are: ل ن ع م ر, and are combined in the phrase: لن عمر
الرخاوة
The soft group of letters is the remaining Arabic letters. This group has a running of the sound when they are without a vowel (saakin), and have the longest timing on them.
In summary, all vowels have equal length in time unless a madd letter follows them. When letters (outside of the madd letters) have a sukun, meaning they have no vowel, their timings differ in length, depending on which of the three groups they are in. The shortest timing is in the group of strength الشدة, the next longest is the middle group التوسط, and the longest is the group of softness الرخاوة. All letters of the middle group are equal in timing to each other; all letters of the soft group are equal in timing. All of the strength groups of letters are equal in timing to each other, but the two letters كاف ت have air released after they are pronounced.