salaam 'alayk, Ibn Durayd, in his dictionary (10th century) says that the pronunciation of Qaaf as Gaaf is an acceptable variant in Arabiyyah. This is mentioned in Haywood's new arabic grammar. Unfortunately Arabic is not spoken as a native language anywhere. The arabs have lost it. they would prefer speaking English or French to each other rather than Arabic..in fact they deride it. they prefer using their ugly and hideous dialects (which they deceivingly term as 'arabi' and give real Arabic the term 'fuSHa'.). E.g most of them cannot pronounce Jiim - they think it's like the 's' in 'pleasure'. it is the a'aajim who are proud of Arabic. They laugh at us for speaking Arabic, we pity them for speaking an excremental language they have the gall to call 'arabic'. wa salam alayk.
this is also not correct, because it is now very common, specially in young generation, to use kaaf for qaaf.
i think this is not correct, actually this is how native people speak. do you think we speak correct urdu? or anglophones speak correct english?
yes, except in news, speaches, and khutbas. it gets quite difficult to learn when you live among arabs from various countries, everybody is speaking different arabic. even sometimes arabs cannot understand other accents for example my yemeni workfellows say that thay hardly understand tunisans. they also suggest that it is good to learn fusaha because everybody understands that.
thanks for this! so it seems NO ONE really SPEAKS correctly i.e. in the way we recite the Qur'an in everyday speech? no one speaks fusaha?!
I thought it was more of a pakistani thing but now that you point out, I guess it is the Punjabis who bring it, but I have always noted the "keema" "shab-e-kadar" and "kul hu allahu ahad" -- the dakny pronounciation of qaaf as khaaf is dangerously all over in Hyderabad, save the `ulema and the learned, so what you have tonight there, is "shab-e-khadar" for the common man, and you might eat "kheema" at seher. I remember when I was younger, I was so paranoid with this mistake that, in common usage, I would replace some of the correct "kha's" with "qaa" and would then have to correct myself. I guess someone is to blame for the widespread mis-pronounciation of Daad all over the sub-continent.
is this the reason why the third rightly guided khalifa, sayyidina 'uthman dhun nurain radiyAllahu ta'ala anhu, gathered all the different versions of the qur'an and made one?
one brother from UAE also explained to me that the yemenis and people in the gulf generally pronounce qaaf as 'gaaf' as in game. but the egyptians and levantines (syrians/lebanese/palestinians) usually elide it (remove the sound) to 'aa' qarib (قريب) becomes arib (اريب); qalb (قلب) becomes alb (الب). however the egyptians convert the jeem to gaaf as 'laa yagooz' (لايجوز) or gayiz(جائز) or gameel (جميل) or guma (جمعة). (in arabic words in parentheses jeem is pronounced as gaaf, and it is also common among yemenies and saudis:noori) the sudanese are similar to gulf (they say galb for qalb) except that the gaf is more deeper somewhat cross of kaaf and gaaf. in the uae, jeem is yaa. rijil(رجل with kasrah/zir on both raa and jeem:foot) is riyl (ريل with kasrah/zair on both raa and yaa); rajul (رَجُل)becomes rayyal (رَيَل). jaayiy (جائي) (he is coming) becomes yayiy (يائي). the kaaf in the uae is ch. kadha (likewise) becomes chidhi; kadh'dhab becomes chadh'hab. ch as in the `ajami sound chor(thief) or chay (tea); a friend tells me that some kuwaitis do the same and a certain part in palestine pronounce kaaf as cha. as for the uae, it must be because of the irani influence. it is common to hear the iranians say: Allahu achbar in the maTaaf. also, in the uae, they change Daad (ض) to DHaa (ظ); so, Dabt(ضبط:exact) become DHabt (ظبت as in ظالم). but the syrians change Daad (ض) to zaa (ز). biD'Dabt (بضبط) becomes, bi'z zabet (بزَّبط). they also say mazboot ( مزبوط ) for maD'but ( مضبوط ). interestingly, the makhraj of qaaf described is same as gaaf. a little lower than kaaf, a little more pharyngeal. i remember having read that it has been so since RasulAllah's time salawatullahi wa salamuhu `alayh. (also it is common among arabs, specially egyptians, yemenis, and saudis that they change dhaa (ذ) with daal (د), so kadha (كَذا) becomes kida (كِدا):noori) additionally, the punjabis make it as a little better than k; and people in southern india (deccan) change qaaf for khaa. it is khuran, khabar (thus, both news and grave are khabar) khalb, and khareeb.
salam, my apology, I wanted to move the irrelevant posts, and mistakenly moved yours there too, when I moved it back, I had lost the title you set. arabs have many different accents, this one is a typical yemenite and egyptian accent, and also very common in K.S.A, however it is not common in all parts of yemen, for example people from taiz do pronounce qaaf few hints if an arab pronounces (qaaf) qareeb ( قريب ) as gareeb (like g in game) - egyptian, yemeni (but people from taiz pronounce qaaf), saudi (jeem) jadeed ( جديد ) as gadeed (like g in game) - yemeny, egyptian, saudi (qaaf) qalb ( قلب )as alb - syrian, lebanese, some egyptians (tha ث) thalatha ( ثلاثة ) as talata تلاتة (with ta) - almost all arabs (qaaf) qaal ( قال ) as ghaal (غال ) - sudanies
:s1: I love Sayyid Habib Ali and like to listen to him even though I don't understand much Arabic but I've noticed that he always pronounces the letter qaaf as a g sound i.e. gaaf. e.g. galb [for qalb] and haqiqat as hagigat. is this the modern yemenite pronounciation? Just interested!
