Sifat al-Huruf: The 17 Characteristics of Arabic Letters

Sifat al-huruf are the characteristics of the Arabic letters: how each letter sounds once it leaves its makhraj. Following Ibn al-Jazari, there are 17. Ten come in five opposite pairs (hams and jahr, shiddah and rakhawah, isti'la and istifal, itbaq and infitah, idhlaq and ismat), and seven have no opposite.

If the makharij tell you where a letter is born, the sifat tell you how it behaves, such as whether breath escapes or the tongue rises. Below you will find Ibn al-Jazari's memory phrases, a table of every letter's sifat, and word pairs from the Qur'an that show why they matter. For the exit points themselves, see our guide to makharij al-huruf, where every Arabic letter is born.

What are sifat al-huruf?

Sifat al-huruf (also written sifaat al-huroof or sifatul huruf) means the characteristics of the letters. A sifah is one characteristic and sifat is the plural. Each sifah describes something that happens as the letter is pronounced: the breath, the sound, the position of the tongue, or an extra feature such as a whistle or a bounce.

Permanent and temporary sifat

Tajweed books divide the sifat into two kinds. Sifat lazimah (permanent) stay with a letter in every state, whatever its vowel and with sukun; lose one that defines the letter and you may end up saying a different letter. Sifat 'aridah (temporary) appear only in certain situations, such as idgham, ikhfa, madd, or a ra that is heavy in one word and light in the next. This article is about the permanent sifat.

Why do the sifat matter if you know the makharij?

The sifat matter because several letters share one makhraj and only their sifat keep them apart. ت, د and ط all come from the tip of the tongue against the roots of the upper front teeth. ت lets breath escape (hams), د holds it and bounces (jahr and qalqalah), and ط also rises and presses against the palate (isti'la and itbaq). Use the wrong sifah and you have said a different letter, and often a different word:

The Qur'an describes its own language as clear:

What are the five pairs of opposite sifat?

The five pairs of opposite sifat are hams and jahr, shiddah and rakhawah (with tawassut between them), isti'la and istifal, itbaq and infitah, and idhlaq and ismat. Every letter takes exactly one sifah from each pair, so every letter has at least five sifat. Tawassut is the middle point between shiddah and rakhawah, not a separate sifah in the count of 17. Ibn al-Jazari gathered the letters of each group into short memory phrases in his poem on tajweed, al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah.

Hams and jahr: does the breath escape?

Hams (whispering) means breath runs out with the letter because it rests lightly on its makhraj; jahr (audibility) means the breath is held because the letter rests firmly on it. Hold your palm in front of your mouth and say أَتْ, then أَدْ. You will feel a small puff of breath after the ت and hardly any after the د, and that puff is a large part of what separates two letters from the same makhraj.

Shiddah, tawassut and rakhawah: does the sound stop?

Shiddah and rakhawah are about the sound rather than the breath. With shiddah (strength) the sound stops completely at the makhraj: say أَبْ and it cuts off (the small bounce after it is qalqalah, a separate sifah). With rakhawah (softness) the sound keeps running: you can hold أَسْ for as long as your breath lasts. The five tawassut letters sit in between, so in أَلْ the sound neither stops dead nor runs freely.

Isti'la and itbaq: the heavy letters

With isti'la (elevation) the back of the tongue rises towards the roof of the mouth, which gives the seven letters of خُصَّ ضَغْطٍ قِظْ their full, heavy sound. With itbaq (closing) the tongue also presses against the palate so the sound is enclosed. Only four letters have itbaq, ص ض ط ظ, and all four are isti'la letters too, which makes them the heaviest. The heaviness of ra and of the lam in the name Allah changes with context, so it is a temporary sifah; see our guide to ra rules in tajweed.

Idhlaq and ismat: the light letters and the rest

Idhlaq (fluency) describes the six letters said quickly and lightly from the tip of the tongue or the lips: ف ر م ن ل ب. Every other letter has ismat (literally restraint), and this is what ismat means: an Arabic word with four or five root letters, such as ja'far or safarjal, is not built from ismat letters alone, because they are heavy on the tongue, but contains at least one idhlaq letter.

What are the seven sifat without an opposite?

The seven sifat without an opposite belong to particular letters only: safir, qalqalah, lin, inhiraf, takrir, tafashshi and istitalah. Ibn al-Jazari lists them in the closing lines of his section on the sifat.

Two of these need special care. Takrir is the ra's readiness to roll, and you learn it in order to keep it out: the ra is made with one firm contact rather than a trill, and Ibn al-Jazari tells the reciter to hide the repetition when the ra has a shaddah. Qalqalah has its own levels, explained in qalqalah: mastering the five echoing letters.

What are the sifat of each Arabic letter?

The sifat of each Arabic letter are one sifah from each of the five pairs, plus any of the seven single sifat it carries. The table works them out letter by letter from Ibn al-Jazari's lists. The alif of madd is left out of the table.

Read the table across letters that share a makhraj and you can see exactly which sifah separates them. ث, ذ and ظ differ only in hams or jahr and in isti'la and itbaq. When a teacher says a letter is "too light" or "too breathy", this table tells you which sifah to work on.

How do you practise the sifat?

You practise the sifat by isolating one quality at a time and hearing it in real words from the Qur'an. This routine works well between lessons:

Expect some letters, often ض, ظ, ع and ق, to take longer than others. The Prophet ﷺ promised a reward for that struggle:

If you would like someone to listen and correct your letters one sifah at a time, you can find a Qur'an or Arabic teacher of your choice for one-to-one lessons. Our beginner's guide to tajweed shows where the sifat fit among the other rules.