6 Izhar Letters in Arabic And Examples From Quran

Izhar is an Arabic word that means manifestation, and it is one of the Tajweed principles. In Tajweed, the word “Izhar” refers to pronouncing a letter straight through, without pause, quiet, stress, or Ghunna. 

In this lesson, we will learn the meaning of izhar, izhar letters with examples from the Quran.

What Is Izhar?

Izhar literally written in Arabic as اظهار means to make something CLEAR. In Quran recitation Tajweed rules, Izhaar means to make the letter clear. Whenever a noon sukoon or tanween is met with any of the izhar letters you pronounce it with clearly. The simplest way to understand Izhaar is to pronounce it without a nasal sound.

What Are Izhar Letters?

There are six izhar letters that are emitted from the throat. They are divided into three sections with two letters in each section. 

• Asfal halq (lowest throat)
• Wasatal halq (middle throat)
• Adnal halq (closest top throat).

The ن sakinah and tanwin is pronounced with izhar (CLEAR), whenever it is preceded by a letter of the letters of izhar or throat letters.

Izhar Letters in Arabic

The six izhar letters in Arabic are as follows:

• الهمزة   (ء)
• الهاء    (ه‍)
• العين   (ع)
• الحاء   (ح)
• الغين   (غ)
• الخاء   (خ)

It is incumbant on all students of tajwid to memorize the following sentence in order to help us remember the letters of the izhar:

أَخِي هَاكَ عِلْمً حَازَهُ غَيْرُ خَاسِرٍ

Look at the first letter of each of the words above. The first letter of each word represents the letters of the izhar, starting with the lower throat, then the middle throat, and then the top throat. There are 2 letters in each section.

• Lower Throat: ا and ه , that is أَخِي هَاكَ 
• Middle Throat: ع and ح , that is عِلْمً حَازَهُ
• Top Throat: غ and خ , that is غَيْرُ خَاسِرٍ

The meaning of the sentence above is: “My brother take knowledge (the one that) acquires it (is) without loss.”

Izhar Halqi Letters

Halqi word in Arabs language indicates something related to “ Throat “. So , Izhar Halqi is a Tajweed rule related to some letters coming from throat  or in another word “ Throat letters “. The Halqi letters are only six, they are:

• الهمزة   (ء)
• الهاء    (ه‍)
• العين   (ع)
• الحاء   (ح)
• الغين   (غ)
• الخاء   (خ)

Izhar Letters Examples

There are tons of izhar letters examples in the Quran. Here is the list of some examples of izhar in the tables below. 

We divided the table into two, the first table is Noon Saakin Izhar examples in Quran and the second is izhar Tanween examples in Quran.

Noon Saakin Izhar Examples in Quran

Examples of Izhar with noon saakinah.

Izhar letters	Examples In One word	Examples In two words
الهمزة (ء)	وَيَنْأَوْنَ عَنْهُ	وَاسْأَلْ مَنْ أَرْسَلْنَ
الهاء  (ه‍)	فَانتَقَمْنَا مِنْهُم	خَيْرٌ مِّنْ هَـذَا
العين (ع)	وَالْأَنْعَام	فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْ عَذَابِ
الحاء (ح)	وَكانوا يَنحِتونَ مِنَ الجِبالِ بُيوتًا	وَمِنْ حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ
الغين (غ)	فَسَيُنغِضونَ إِلَيكَ رُءوسَهُم	أَوْ آخَرَانِ مِنْ غَيْرِكُمْ
الخاء (خ)	بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ خَصِمُونَ	مِّنْ خَيْرٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ

Tanween Izhar Examples in Quran

Examples of izhar with tanween.

Letters of izhar	Examples
الهمزة (ء)	وَمَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن نَّبِيٍّ إِلَّ
الهاء  (ه‍)	سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّى مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ
العين (ع)	حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ
الحاء (ح)	لَعَلِيٌّ حَكِيم
الغين (غ)	إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌ
الخاء (خ)	إِنَّ اللَّـهَ لَطِيفٌ خَبِيرٌ

Rules Of Izhar In Quran

There are 4 rules on how to pronounce ن sakinah and tanwin. Whenever you find a ن with sakoon (نْ ) or a letter with tanwin ( ً ٍ ٌ ) like بً بٍ بٌ , the nun sound would be pronounced clearly while doing izhar.

In this way of pronounciation, the ن sakinah and tanwin is pronounced clearly, and brief. The ن sakinah and tanwin is not pronounced extended, and the sound is completed immediately without any prolongation. 

It is good, whenever you see this case, to shorten the sound of the ن sakinah and tanwin. It is not appropriate to extend the sound like in the other cases.

Why Are They Called Izhar?

The reason the ن sakinah and tanwin is pronounced clearly, before any of the letters of the throat, is because their emission points are far apart. 

The ن sakinah and tanwin is pronounced from the tip of the tongue, and the letters of the throat are pronounced far away from this point, further than the back of the mouth.

The ن sakinah pronounced this way, izhar, could be in a single word by itself, or between two words. The tanwin however pronounced this way, اظهار (izhar), can only be found between two words.

Izhar Examples From Quran

Listen to the following ayat of the Quran:

وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ

Did you notice the pronounciation of the tanween in “حَاسِدٍ” ? The tanween in “حَاسِدٍ” is pronounced with izhar, because the letter after it is hamza “إِ” . 

In this way of pronounciation, tanwin is pronounced clearly, and brief. The tanwin is not pronounced extended, and the sound is completed immediately without any prolongation. 

It is good, whenever you see this case, to shorten the sound of the ن sakinah and tanwin. It is not appropriate to extend the sound like in the other cases. Compare it to the pronounciation of the ن sakinah in “مِن”.

Listen to the following ayats, and specify the places where ن sakinah and tanwin are pronounced CLEAR.

صِرَٲطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ

مَآ أَغۡنَىٰ عَنۡهُ مَالُهُ ۥ وَمَا ڪَسَبَ

إِنَّآ أَرۡسَلۡنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوۡمِهِۦۤ أَنۡ أَنذِرۡ

Did you notice which letters followed the ن sakinah and tanwin? Whenever you see these letters following ن sakinah and tanwin, be sure to pronounce it with اظهار CLEAR. The letters of اظهار CLEAR are the first letter of each word found in the following sentence.

أَخِي هَاكَ عِلْمً حَازَهُ غَيْرُ خَاسِرٍ

Also as practice recite the first few ayats of Surah Gashiya, emphasizing the pronounciation ن sakinah and tanwin with اظهار CLEAR.

Conclusion

We have learned that Noon Sakinah or a Tanween is pronounced clearly if followed by any one of the throat or Izhar letters ( ء – ه – ع – ح – غ – خ). We also learned that Izhar doesn’t have any Gunnah and it is specified as (Halqi) because it is related to throat letters.