From where is the ḍād pronounced, and the rulings in recitation?

The Shaykh : Personally, based on receiving the recitation from my father, and then based on what I read of treatises discussing the pronunciation of the letter ḍād, it became clear to me that the Arabs themselves differ in the pronunciation of the ḍād.

The questioner : Its articulation?

The Shaykh : Yes, and the ḍād of the Levant and the ḍād of Egypt differ completely from the ḍād of Iraq and the ḍād of Najd. The pronunciation of this letter is closer to correctness in the manner in which the people of Najd and the people of Iraq speak and recite it, compared to the pronunciation used by the Egyptians and the Levantines. Ibn al-Jazari, this...

The questioner : Can you describe the two pronunciations, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Yes, Ibn al-Jazari, this one, says in his poem:
"And the ḍād is by elongation and point of articulation *** Distinguished from the ḍāʾ, and all of them come out"
And in the early stages of my academic life, especially after I had read to my father and completed the Qur'an, I received the ḍād according to the guidance mentioned in al-Jazari's poem.

The questioner : By elongation?

The Shaykh : So I would sit in the shop after my father went home for his nap, and I would remain there alone. I composed a small treatise on the point of articulation of the ḍād. I remember clearly that one day, after the midday prayer, while I was sitting in the shop, there was a work table in front of us for repairing watches. To the right of the person sitting to repair them was a small window for receiving customers and their calls. I sat for several days composing a small treatise in this field, facing the window and leaving the work aside, while my father had gone for his nap. We had no urgent work to rush. One day, a man known in the Levant or in Damascus as one of the reciters passed by me. His name was 'Abd al-Wahhab Dubs wa Zayt, and "Dubs wa Zayt" was his nickname. 'Abd al-Wahhab Dubs wa Zayt stopped at the shop, greeted me, and saw that I was not facing the work but facing the window, because I had spread out books in front of me to study and copy from them. He greeted me and found that I was not working in the shop but working on something written in front of me. He asked me why. I told him I was researching the topic of the ḍād. I had reached examples where Ibn al-Jazari or others—I do not remember exactly now—point out the necessity of distinguishing the ḍād from the ṭāʾ, such as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: Today, the Egyptians and others say "fa min aṭṭar," as if they have merged the ḍād with the ṭāʾ, whereas the ḍād is a soft letter and the ṭāʾ is a raised letter. So they merged the soft ḍād with the ṭāʾ. This is a grave error. I was amazed that when I recited this example to him, he stoppedThe Shaykh : Dubs wa Zayt, who is one of the famous reciters there, began to recite and make errors, because he merges the ḍād with the ṭāʾ. I said, "O Professor, Ibn al-Jazari says:
"And the ḍād is by elongation and point of articulation *** Distinguished from the ḍāʾ, and all of them come out"
First, he said "by elongation." The ṭāʾ does not have elongation. When you pronounce a static ṭāʾ, you say "aṭṭ"; but when you speak with the soft ḍāʾ, not the ḍād, the soft one is the ḍāʾ, you say "aẓẓ," and the sound comes out from between the incisors. As for the ḍād, it shares this elongation with the ḍāʾ but is distinguished from it by its point of articulation, because the correct point of articulation for the ḍād is by attaching the edge of the tongue to the molars. As for the ḍāʾ, it is from the incisors. As for the Levantine and Egyptian ḍād, it is by attaching the tip of the tongue to the roof of the throat. This is an error. So he began to recite the verse "fa min aṭṭar," his chest tightened, and he could not articulate it except by merging, and this is an error. Since there is a similarity between the soft ḍāʾ and the soft ḍād such that the pronunciation of the ḍād sometimes becomes confused and is pronounced like the ḍāʾ, this good reciter was commanded to distinguish the ḍād from the ḍāʾ because there is a similarity. But there is no similarity between the ḍād and the ṭāʾ; rather, you are merging the ḍād into the ṭāʾ, and this is an error. I remember this discussion clearly, and I remember clearly that I composed the treatise at that time, and I was naturally under twenty years old. The treatise still exists with me in my handwriting, and I have photographed the molars and the tongue in the correct pronunciation of the ḍād: the edge of the tongue attached to the molars, not the tip of the tongue to the roof of the throat as the Levantines and others pronounce it. When we hear the ḍād from the Iraqis, whether reciters or from the people of Najd, even in their speech, it is completely different from the Egyptian and Levantine ḍād, and it is the correct ḍād. This is supported by the Arabic style in that some poems have a rhyme with the ḍāʾ, and since the ḍād is similar to the ḍāʾ, the poet does not hesitate to make the rhyme sometimes with the ḍād and sometimes with the ḍāʾ. And I find now in some treatises sent to me from Najd that they write the ḍāʾ in place of the ḍād because it is completely similar in pronunciation, and this is correct. Therefore, this confirms for us that it is necessary to receive the knowledge of recitation and tajwid from the scholars. For example, the Egyptians and the Damascenes err in the pronunciation of the ḍād. For instance, the al-Fatihah which is recited in every unit of the five prayers in Syria and elsewhere, they say This ḍād is nothing but a thick dāl, as the scholars of tajwid say. As for the correct Arabic ḍād, which Ibn al-Jazari and those who explained his words revolve around, it is a soft ḍād accompanied by elongation, such that if a person wanted to extend himself with the ḍād he would be able to, unlike the Levantine ḍād, which breaks off and collides. So there is a difference between one who says "wa lā al-dāllīn" and one who says . So its point of articulation is from the edge of the tongue attached to the molars, and between one who places the tip of the tongue in the roof of the throat. This example alone confirms that it is necessary to receive this recitation from specialists, and not leave it to instinct and nature, because it differs from country to country. The Turks, for example, due to their inability to pronounce the eloquent Arabic ḍād, you hear from them a pure ḍāʾ, "wa lā al-ẓāllīn," its point of articulation is between the incisors, between the molars and the edge of the tongue. And the scholars of tajwid say that among the characteristics of 'Umar and his specific traits is that he used to pronounce the ḍād from the two sides of the tongue, the edges of the tongue, as if our Lord had given him an extension in the width of the tongue, so he would extend it to the right and left, and the ḍād would come out very soft and in accordance with the description mentioned by al-Jazari and others. So the truth is that the knowledge of tajwid is not perfected except by transmission, but we are in need of scholars who are not imitators in the knowledge of tajwid and know where these rulings came from. Most of it is transmission, but is this transmission connected or disconnected? It may be like this and it may be like that. But the definitive answer to the matter requires specialists. I had meetings with some scholars of tajwid there in Damascus in the way of obtaining this truth, but unfortunately I did not find what I was looking for. They know, like most reciters today, how they received it, but as for where these rulings came from, they do not know anything of it. Therefore, I advise the scholars of Najd that it is obligatory for them to focus on receiving the recitation of the Qur'an from specialists, but they must choose from among them those who are closer to the Sunnah and are not those who recite the Qur'an on musical scales, raising some verses and lowering others, and perhaps extending what does not deserve extension and shortening what deserves extension, and so on. The reason is that they observe musical laws, and this is naturally not permissible, and this is what the Imams of the Sunnah, such as Imam Ahmad and others, forbade. They forbade reciting the Qur'an with melodic intonation and dragging out the sounds, and similar violations.