Isti’laa and Istifal in Tajweed: Heavy and Light Letters
By Muhammad Hassan ·
Isti’laa(Elevation) and Istifal (Lowering)
Isti’laa استعلاء (Elevation)
Isti’laa means elevation or rising of voice . The Isti’laa refers to certain letters that are pronounced with the back of the tongue raised towards the roof of the mouth, creating a heavy sound. These heavy letters are also called full mouth letters . There are 7 Isti’laa letters, which you can easily remember with the phrase: خُصَّ ضَغْطٍ قِظْ. The letters are: خ، ص، ض، غ، ط، ق، ظ.
Let’s practice together repeat after me :
- خ as in خلق.
- ص as in صراط.I heard you read it with SEEN SIRAAT no it's صراط.
- ض as in ضالين.
- ط as in طارق.
- ق as in قال.
- ظ as in ظلم.
Istifal استفال (Lowering)
Istifaal means ‘lowering’ or ‘depression,’ it is the opposite of Isti’laa, where the tongue is raised to produce a heavy sound , In Istifaal, the tongue remains low or neutral, Istifaal is applied to all Arabic letters except the 7 letters of Isti’laa, but there are some explanation in letters ALIF RAA and LAAM which I INSHALLAH explain in my upcoming Blogs. Let's take some examples of Istifaal:ب as in بسمك as in كتابت as in تكبير
if we read it with Isti’laa it sounds like طکبیر which is incorrect it should sound like this تكبير .
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