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Hamza in Arabic

  1. Different forms of Hamza
  2. Hamza with alif
  3. Difference between hamza and alif
  4. Hamza with wow ؤ
  5. Hamza with ya ئ
  6. Hamza without kursi

We have seen different forms of the letter hamza (ء) in previous lessons, like just recently in the reading practice:
أَشِدَّاءُ
and
مُؤْمِنٌ

Hamza is a unique letter in the Arabic alphabet. Hamza produces a similar sound to the letter alif ( ا ), i.e.

We have seen that hamza is sometimes written below or above another letter. In this case, hamza has the dominant sound over the accompanying letter. The accompanying letter is called kursi (chair) of Hamza.

First, we are going to learn about the difference forms of the letter hamza (ء), then we will discuss these different forms one by one.

Different forms of Hamza

Following are the different forms of hamza.

أَ  أُ  إِ  ؤ  ءَ  ءُ  ءِ  ئ

The above-shown variations of hamza can also have double vowels ( تَنْوِيْن ), i.e.

أً  أٌ  إٍ   ءً  ءٌ  ءٍ

Hamza with alif

We see that the first form of hamza takes the letter alif as a kursi (chair). In some Arabic scripts, hamza is explicitly written above or below the letter alif with harakat. Please see the following examples.

أَ، أُ، إِ
إِنْسَانُ
رَأْسٌ
أَشِدَّاءُ

Difference between hamza and alif

In the case when hamza is using alif as a kursi (chair), there is also another style of writing. Sometimes (or in some scripts) hamza is not explicitly written with alif. So, how would we differentiate whether it's hamza or alif?
The following table indicates the difference between hamza and alif.

ء ا

Whenever the letter alif ( ا ) has any of the harakat, i.e.
( ـَ ـُ ـِ ـً ـٌ ـٍ )
or has the sukoon symbol ( ـْ ), it is hamza, and not alif.

Alif doesn't contain any of the harakat or sukoon symbol. Like the letter alif in long vowels, where it is used for the elongation of the short vowel fatha ( ـَ ).

Example

اَ، اِ، اُ 		Example

The letter alif in the word Rumman or in the word Tuffah.
رُمَّانٌ، تُفَّاحٌ


So, the rule is: any alif with harakah or sukoon symbol is hamza! whether hamza is accompanying such type of alif or not.

Hamza with wow ؤ

When hamza ( ء ) uses the letter wow ( و ) as a kursi (chair), the resulting dominant sound is of the letter hamza. This is the most simple variation of hamza and is always written as a combination, i.e. ؤ. Please see the following examples.

مُؤْمِنٌ
رُؤُوْسٌ
فُؤَادٌ
سُؤَالٌ
لُؤْلُؤْ
يُؤْمِنُوْنَ

Hamza with ya ئ

Ya as a carrier (kursi) of hamza has no dots beneath it. Please see the following examples.

قُرِئَ
يَسْئَلُوْنَ
بِئْرٌ
يُبْدِئُ
فَائِدَةٌ
مُطْمَئِنٌّ
سُئِلَ

Hamza without kursi

Forth and last type of hamza is in isolated form, without any carrier, i.e.

ءَ  ءُ   ءِ   ءً   ءٌ   ءٍ

شَيْءٌ
بِشَيْءٍ
شَيْئًا
اَلْمَاءُ
مَذْءُوْمَا
تَسَاءَلَ

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