Harakat | Movements | Vowels | Symbols

What is Harakat in Quran?

Harakat and Movements: These two words are used in the Quran learning process, especially in Noorani Qaida. The word Harakat is plural of Harakah (حرکۃ) which mean movements. In the English language, there are 5 vowels letters, but In the Arabic language, there is no specific letter for vowels. Instead of vowels letters, there are 11 symbols that we put on Arabic letters as a vowel. But remember that, Arabic symbols/vowels/harakat are not a part of the Arabic alphabet. They are written as marks over or bottom of the consonant to make the voice long or short, to connect letters to each other in a different way.

What is the meaning of Harakat?

The word Harakat is plural of Harakah (حرکۃ) which mean movements. In the Arabic script, there is no specific letter for vowels. Instead, there are some symbols used in the ٓArabic as a vowel. We can say the Harakat is Diacritics marking short/long vowels in the Arabic script.

Why understanding Harakat is important?

Understanding the symbols of Harakat/Movements/vowels is very important. Without knowing symbols you cannot read Quran properly. If you read the Qur’an without knowing the Harakat/ movements, you will make a lot of mistakes that will change the meaning and will lead to sin. The possibility of making mistakes and errors is not only from non-Arabs, but also from native Arab people too. So it is very important for both Arabs and non-Arabs to know the Harakat/movements.

How many Harakat are there in Quran | Noorani Qaida | Arabic language?

There are 11 Harakat in the Arabic language:

(I have explained these 11 Harakat in details in my this article: What is Noorani Qaida?)

Here I’m going to give a short overview. For details please Click Here

1. Fatha:

It gives the sound of ‘A’

2. Fatha:

It gives the sound of ‘E/I’

3. Dammah:

It gives the sound of ‘U’

Tanveen

4. Bouble Fatha:

It gives the sound of ‘AN’

5. Bouble Kasrah:

It gives the sound of ‘EN/IN’

6. Bouble Dammah:

It gives the sound of ‘UN’

Three prolong symbols

7. Standing Fatha

It gives the sound of ‘AA’

8. Standing Kasrah

It gives the sound of ‘EE’

9. Standing Dammah

It gives the sound of ‘OO/UOO’

10. Sukoon:

It is used for consonants. It’s shaped like a Daal letter or small circle. The letter which has Sukoon symbol, we pronounce it by connecting the letter before Sukoon. to make it easy we can give example. In the English language, it is like a letter that comes after vowels. example; Big; here we are connecting the letter ‘B’ with ‘G’ but in Arabic, we have to put Sukoon symbol on ‘G’ to connect with the previous letter ‘B’. and ‘B’ has Kasrah which is representing the vowel ‘I’.

11. Shaddah:

It’s a shape like ‘w’ if you see this symbol on any letter, you will have to pronounce that letter twice. instead of writing a letter two times, we write that letter once and put Shaddah on it, so it becomes equal twice.