The Letter ل (‘Laam’)

بِسۡمِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Like the letter ‘ra’, the letter ‘laam’ can also be pronounced as a thick / full mouth (tafkheem) or thin (tarqeeq) letter.

Tafkheem

To produce this sound, the tongue elevates in the mouth producing a thick/ heavy sound.

2 categories:

1. The in the pronunciation of the name ‘Allah’ ﷲ , when it is preceded by a fathah or Dammah

Examples

fathah

قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

112 : 1

Dammah

نَصْرُ ٱللَّهِ

110:1

The in the pronunciation of the name ‘Allah’ ﷲ ; when it is preceded by a sukoon , and the letter before that carries a fathah or Dammah

Dammah

وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ

2:185

Dammah

وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ

2:189

CAUTION!

If the letter preceding the name ‘Allah’ ﷲ is a thin one, be careful not to pronounce it thick as this can easily be done due to the letter laam being pronounced thick

2:7	خَتَمَ ٱللَّهُ

The letter should be pronounced thin even though the laam is being pronounced thick

Tarqeeq

To produce this sound, the back of the tongue lowers so that a flat sound is produced

3 categories:

1. The in the pronunciation of the name ‘Allah’ ﷲ when it is preceded by a kasra 

85:8

بِاللّٰهِ

82:19

يَوْمَئِذٍۢ لِّلَّهِ

2. The in the pronunciation of the name ‘Allah’ ﷲ when it is preceded by a sukoon, and this is preceded by a kasra

3:144

وَسَيَجْزِى ٱللَّهُ

3. In all other instances

111:1

لَهَبٍۢ

111 : 2

مَالُهُۥ

Miscellaneous

When the letter preceding the name ‘Allah’ is a  , the harakaat of the letter preceding the  will determine if the in Allah’s name is pronounced thick or thin

thick

هَدَى ٱللَّهُ ۗ

2 : 143

Tarqeeq (thin)

كَيْفَ يَهْدِى ٱللَّهُ

3 : 86