الإشمام- “al-ishmām”
Definition: ishmām is “to make the kasrah of the fāʾ al-fiʿl in line with a ḍammah, such that the following vowelless yāʾ slightly inclines towards a wāw, because it is following the ḥarakah of the preceding letter.”¹ The yāʾ is thus pronounced while having a slight “hint” of a ḍammah.
For example, in the passive past-tense of ajwaf verbs, like قيل, one dialect pronounces the ya with a “hint” of a ḍammah, the original pattern being فُعِلَ. The more common dialect pronounces the yāʾ without any special characteristics.
This is different from ishmām in waqf. In waqf, when a ḥarakah is elided, ishmām is “to contort the lips similar to how they appear when that ḥarakah is present, but the ḥarakah is not pronounced clearly, nor even slightly.”² This is relevant only for the ḍammah, and the lips will appear as though a ضمة will be pronounced, but no sound is omitted. The marker for this type of ishmām is in front of the letter. For example, see Yusuf: 11 (قَالُوا يَا أَبَانَا مَا لَكَ لَا تَأْمَنَّا عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ).
- Raḍī al-Dīn al-Istarābādī, Sharḥ Kāfiyah lbn al-Ḥājib, vol. 4 (Tehran: Muʾassasah al-Ṣādiq li-l-Ṭabāʿah wa-l-Nashr), 131.
حقيقة هذا الإشمام أن تنحو بكسرة فاء الفعل نحو الضمة فتميل الياء الساكنة بعدها نحو الواو قليلاً إذ هي تابعة لحركة ما قبلها
- Raḍī, Sharḥ Shāfiyah Ibn al-Ḥājib, vol. 2 (Qom: Maktabah Pārsā, 2010), 381.
