Hāʾ al-Kināyah

By Mln. Justin Poe (Takmīl Graduate, 2019)

At times, the student will encounter terminology used in the science of Qurʾānic recitation (ar. ʿilm al-tajwīd and ʿilm al-qirāʾāt) in the works of naḥw, balāghah, tafsīr and uṣūl. Once such term is hāʾ al-kināyah.

The ʿulamāʾ of qirāʾāt (ar. qurrāʾ) use the term, hāʾ al-kināyah, for the 3^rd person masculine singular pronoun, the hāʾ li al-wāḥid al-mudhkkar al-ghāʾib, like in kitābuh كتابه (his book).^[1] In addition, they use the term hāʾ al-ḍamīr to refer to this hāʾ.

Some additional examples:

فواكه، ربه، ذريته، أرسلناه، إليه، فيه

This hāʾ is an attached pronoun. It is can be attached to an ism, fiʿl, or a ḥarf. In the above examples are examples of each.

As for the mīm (م) that is connected to the hāʾ for the 3^rd person masculine plural, the qurrāʾ, much like the grammarians, use the term mīm al-jamʿ (the mīm of plurality).^[2]

In terms of ʿilm al-qirāʾah, the qurrāʾ recite the hāʾ with elongation (ar. madd) with it is between two letters that are vowelized (ar. mutaḥarrik). When it is vowelized with a ḍammah, then it is elongated with a wāw and when vowelized with a kasrah, then with a yāʾ.

Allāh taʿālā says (Q 16:12):

وَالنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِۦ

“And the stars are subjugated by His command.”

He also says (Q 16:13):

مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ ُ

“varying colors”

And Allāh taʿālā knows best.

^[1] Muḥammad Sālim Muḥaysin, Kitāb al-Hādī Sharḥ Ṭayyibat al-Nashr fī al-Qirāʾāt al-ʿAshar, 1:159.

^[2] Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān fī al-Qirāʾāt al-Sabʿ, 1:437.