Alif ا
There are 28 letters in the Arabic language, Alif ( ا ) is not counted among the letters instead, Hamza ء is counted as a letter
| Note, there are two kinds of Alif | الحُرُوفُ | 2 hamza | English | Moon letter | الحُرُوفُ القَمَرِيَّةُ |
| ء (hamza) is one of the six guttural letters as it is pronounced from the back of the throat, the sound emanates from the inside of the throat | أَلِفٌ مُتَحَرِّكَةٌ | هَمزَةُ القَطْعِ | A / هَمْزَةٌ / أَ | a | أَلِفٌ مُتَحَرِّكَةٌ |
| ا (Alif) is the first letter of the Arabic alphabet | أَلِفٌ لَيِّنَةٌ | هَمزَةُ الوَصَلِ | A / ا / أَلِفٌ | to bring, unite, join, to be continuous | أَلَّفَ يُئَلِّفُ |
Alif
There are two kinds of Alif, Alif and Hamza, which are used for many objects and purposes in Arabic grammar as mentioned below,
1.) the soft or quiescent Alif (Alif Layyinah أَلِفٌ لَيِّنَةٌ) or the liason Alif هَمْزَةُ الوَصْلِ is used as below
a) Alif al Mamdudah (أَلِفُ المَمْدُودَةِ) Alif of prolongation or Alif as a carrier of آ Madd, gives fullness to a sound and helps to express force, effect, grandeur, perfection, increase, copiousness, saturation etc
b) Alif al Fasilah أَلِفُ الفَاصِلَةِ or the seperating Alif which is added after the وَاو of the plural to make a separation between the وَاو and what follows it
c) Alif al Nun al Khafifah أَلِفُ النُّوْنِ الخَفِيفَةِ or the Alif of the light or single Nun e.g. لَنَسْفَاً here the Alif substitutes for the Nun
d) Alif al Iwdz أَلِفُ العِوضِ or Alif of exchange when the Alif is substituted for the narration of the accusative case or tanwin when one pauses upon it
e) Alif al Istinkar أَلِفُ الإِسْتِنكَارِ or Alif of disapproval e.g. أَانْتَ قُلْتَ No you have not said
f) Alif al Nudbah أَلِفُ النُّدبَةِ or Alif of lamentation
g) Alif al Tab’i أَلِفُ التَّبْعِي or Alif of inability to express what one desires to say and is also called Alif al Taghalat أَلِفُ التَّغَالَهِ or Alif of feigning negligence or heedlessness
h) Alif al Munqalibah an Ya al Idzafat أَلِفُ المُنْقَلَبَةِ عَن يَا الإِضَافَةِ or the Alif that is converted from the affixed pronoun Ya as Ya waylata يَا وَيلَتَى instead of يَا وَيلَتِي
i) Alif al Muhawwalah أَلِفُ المحَوَّلَةِ or the transmitted Alif which is originally a Waw or Ya as in قَالَ instead of قَوَلَ and بَاعَ instead of بَيَعَ
j) Alif al Tathniyah أَلِفُ التَّثنِيَّةِ or Alif of making dual as يَجْلِسَانِ and it is also indicative of the accusative case as رَئَيْتُ فَاهُ I saw his mouth
k) Alif al Jama’a أَلِفُ الجَمْعِ or the Alif of making plural as in مَسَاجِدٌ
l) Alif al Tanith أَلِفُ التَّانِيثِ or Alif of making the femine gender as in سَلْمَى Alif al Maqsurah, shortened Alif or عَمْيَاءُ Alif al Mamdudah, lenghtened Alif
m) Alif al Ilhaq أَلِفُ الإلحَاقِ or Alif of adjunction or coordination
n) Alif al Takthir أَلِفُ التَّكْثِيرِ or Alif of multiplication
o) Alif that occurs in verbs of the measure of Af’al افْعَال as in اكرَام Akram or اخفَاء Ikhfa
p) Alif al Ibarah أَلِفُ الإِبَارَه or Alif of signification to mean because or though
and,
2.) Alif Mutaharrikah أَلِفٌ مُتَحَرِّكَةٌ which is also called hamza ء or هَمْزَةُ القَطْعِ is used as mentioned below,
a) Alif al Tafdzil wa al Taqsir أَلِفُ التَّفْضِيلِ وَالتَّقصِيرِ or Alif of denoting excess or deficiency or the superlative degree or wonder and surprise هُوَ أَفْضَلُ مِنكَ He is more distinguished than you
b) Alif al Istifham أَلِفُ الإِسْتِفهَامِ Alif of interrogation used as a particle introducing direct or indirect questions where the answer is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’
b1) to make a person acknowledge or confesses a thing or to establish it as ءَأَنْتَ in 5:116 or أَلَم in 94:1
b2) for reproving as in أَتَعْبُدُونَ in 37:95 and أَصْطَفَى in 37:153
b3) to express a nullifying or denial as in أَفَاَ in 17:40
b4) to denote irony as in أَصَلَوتُكَ as in 11:87
b5) to denote wonder as in أَلَم تَرَ in 35:45
b6) to deem a thing slow or tardy as in أَلَم يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ as in 57:16
b7) to denote a command as in ءَأَسْلَمتُم as in 3:20
b8) to denote equality occurring after سَوَآءٌ or مَآ أَدْرِي or the like as in 21:109
b9) Ali al Nida أَلِفُ النِّدَآءِ or the Alif of calling or Vocative Alif used in the calling him who is near and Alif with Madd calling to him who is distant. This interrogative article is placed before a verb أَجَعَلتُم as in 9:19 or before a preposition أَفِي اللهِ as in 14:10 or before a pronoun ءَأَنْتَ as in 5:116 or before another particle or a letter of the conjunction such as ل Lam, إِنَّ Inna, و Waw, ف Fa, as in أَلَم تَرَ in 105:1 and أَوَأَرَادَنِي as in 39:38 or to introduce an alternative question, the second alternative starts with أَم as in 25:15 or to denote a duplicative sense meaning ‘whether’ or ‘is it’?
c) Alif sometimes does not only give the meaning of interrogation, it is also used to make the word infinitive ءَأَنْذَرتُم as in 2:6 meaning whether you warn them
ء (hamza) is one of the six guttural letters as it is pronounced from the back of the throat thus the sound emanates from the inside of the throat