Quranic Arabic Plosion (Qolqolaḧ) – Tajwid Enhancement Lesson 5

وَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌۭ فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَىٰ رِجْسِهِمْ وَمَاتُوا۟ وَهُمْ كَـٰفِرُونَ

Waàmmá allavína fie qulúbihim mmaroḍuń fazádathum rijsana ìlaē rijsihim wamátúa wahum kāfirúna

[Quran 9:125]

When the Arabs cooked over an open fire, the pot would often get hot enough to start vibrating. The word used for this phenomenon, where it was neither in motion, nor completely still, was [ قَلْقَلَة ] qolqolaḧ (lit. ‘shaking’).

In Arabic phonetics, the word refers to a characteristic found in a group of 5 plosives – letters that require a quick exhalation of air to fully pronounce. These are [ ـب ] , [ ـج] Jīm, [ ـد ] Dāl, [ ـط ] Ṭô, and [ ـق ] Qōf. To illustrate the importance of properly expressing plosive letters, Consider if you ever once told someone to, “Stopl”. The letter ‘p‘ at the end is a plosive letter. Say the word with your hand to your mouth. You should notice a small bust of air after saying that letter. Now pronounce the word but finishing short at the last letter without breathing out. It does not have the same passion to it. In fact, it would be audibly indistinguishable from the word ‘stock‘ for example, which also ends with a plosive letter, if you did the same thing. Similarly in Arabic, it is vital to express this burst of air with any of the five plosive letters if they are to be clearly distinguished in speech. The letters can be summarised in the Arabic mnemonic [ قُطبِ جَد ] quṭbi jad.

There are 2 forms of qolqolaḧ plosion explained below:

  • Small plosion (Qolqolaḧ uṣṣugroe)
  • Large plosion (Qolqolaḧ ulkubroe)

5.a) Small plosion (Qolqolaḧ uṣṣugroe)

Priority: Recommended

Summary: This type of plosion should be restrained enough when employed to avoid ambiguous recitation. It appears when one of the five Arabic qolqolaḧ plosive letters inside a word has a permanent sukūn pause – thus followed by another consonant. The burst of plosive air made pronouncing such a letter is ‘small’ due to the immediate need to pronounce the letter after it.

Notes:

• The extent of the small plosion should be subtle enough to hear, though not exaggerated as to permit the interpretation of a vowel sound after the plosion letter – since there is not

E.g.

وَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌۭ فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَىٰ رِجْسِهِمْ وَمَاتُوا۟ وَهُمْ كَـٰفِرُونَ

Waáṃmā allavīna fie qulūbihi maroḍuṅ fazādathum rijsana ílaë rijsihim wamātūa wahum käfirūna

[Quran 9:125]

أَلَّا تَطْغَوْا۟ فِى ٱلْمِيزَانِ

Állā tagoua fie almīzāni

[Quran 55:8]

وَإِن طَآئِفَتَانِ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٱقْتَتَلُوا۟ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَهُمَا ۖ فَإِنۢ بَغَتْ إِحْدَىٰهُمَا عَلَى ٱلْأُخْرَىٰ فَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ ٱلَّتِى تَبْغِى حَتَّىٰ تَفِىٓءَ إِلَىٰٓ أَمْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ فَإِن فَآءَتْ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَهُمَا بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَأَقْسِطُوٓا۟ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُقْسِطِينَ

Waíṅ ṭõífatāni mina almùminīna aqtatalūa faáṣliḥūa bainahumā, faíņ bagot íḥdähumā ‘alae alúcroë faqötilūa allatie tabgie ḥattaë tafaẽ-a ílaẽ ámri Alllähi; Faíṅ fãát faáṣliḥūa bainahumā bial’adli waáqsiṭũa, íṇna Alllöha yuḥibbu almuqsiṭīna

[Quran 49:9]

5.b) Large plosion (Qolqolaḧ ulkubroe)

Priority: Recommended

• This instance of plosion is often exaggerated due to being the larger of the two types. It appears when a reciter stops at an Arabic word ending in one of the five Arabic qolqolaḧ plosive letters. The word can end on such a letter either via a permant sukún pause – most often seen in imperative verbs, or via a temporary sukún pause (also see introduction to lesson set 7. Stop Signs). The burst of plosive air made pronouncing such a letter is ‘large’ due to the time given by the moment of silence after it.

Notes:

This category of plosion is often split into two on the belief that ending on a plosive letter via a sukūn pause – so called ‘medium’ plosion – is different from ending on a shaddaḧ double plosive letter – so called ‘large’ plosion. This distinction is a myth. Since a letter with a shaddaḧ double diacritic over it is equivalent to two of the same letter with the first having a sukūn pause, stopping on a double plosive letter evokes the same amount of plosion as stopping on a single plosive letter

E.g.

بَلِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فِى تَكْذِيبٍۢ

Bali allavīna kafarūa fie takvībiṇ

[Quran 85:19]

وَٱللَّهُ مِن وَرَآئِهِم مُّحِيطٌۢ

WaAlllöhu miṇ warõíhiṃ muḥī

[Quran 85:20]

بَلْ هُوَ قُرْءَانٌۭ مَّجِيدٌۭ

Bal huwa qur-ānu majīduṅ

[Quran 85:21]


Allah knows best.


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