Two learners recite قَالَ. One stretches it noticeably longer than the other, and both are certain they are right. Neither of them is arguing about which letters to read — they can both see the alif. They are arguing, without knowing it, about how long to hold it. There are only three Madd letters — alif (ا), waw (و) and yaa (ي) — and no one ever disagrees about those.
That is the whole difficulty of this chapter. Madd Rules are the part of Tajweed rules where the letters are easy to see and the length is easy to get wrong. The good news is how short the real list is: those three letters, one natural length of two counts, and a small set of reasons that length changes. Learn the reasons and the numbers stop being a memory test.
Also written Mad; in Arabic المد, plural Mudood (المدود). The letters themselves are called huroof al-madd (حروف المد). Every count on this page follows the riwayah of Hafs ‘an ‘Asim by the way of Ash-Shatibiyyah, and the first stop after this page should be Madd Asli, the natural length everything else is measured against.
⚡ The 30-second version: three letters carry Madd (ا و ي) · the natural length is 2 counts · a hamzah after the letter pushes it to 4 or 5 · a permanent sukoon or shaddah pushes it to 6 · a temporary stop gives you a choice of 2, 4 or 6 · and whichever length you choose, keep it identical every time.
What Is Madd in Tajweed?
Madd (المد) means lengthening. In Tajweed, Madd is the rule of stretching the sound of a vowel when it carries one of the three Madd letters — alif (ا), waw (و) or yaa (ي). The natural length is two counts, and it increases to four, five or six counts when a hamzah or a sukoon follows.
The literal meaning of madd is to extend or draw something out. Its opposite in this chapter is qasr (قصر), shortening — and both words appear in the counts table further down, because several types of Madd give you a choice between a longer and a shorter reading. So the Madd Tajweed rules are not really a list of sounds. They are a list of durations, and that is why so many learners who can read Arabic fluently still recite this chapter incorrectly.
The unit of measurement is the count, called a harakah (حركة) and often translated as a beat. The classical description is simple: one count is the time it takes to open or close one finger at a steady recitation pace. Notice what that definition does not contain — a number of seconds. A count is relative to your own pace. A slow reciter’s two counts last longer in real time than a fast reciter’s two counts, and both are correct. What is not correct is your own two-count changing from one ayah to the next.
One more thing worth saying early, because it removes a lot of confusion later: Madd in Tajweed is not something you add to a word. The stretching is already built into the letter. A Madd letter is a vowel with nothing to stop it, so the sound simply continues until something ends it. The rules below are all answers to one question — what ends it, and how long does it run before it does?
📖 Riwayah note: every count on this page follows Hafs ‘an ‘Asim by the way of Ash-Shatibiyyah, the reading printed in the standard Madani mushaf. Other turuq differ — most visibly on Madd Jaiz Munfasil, which is read with only two counts by the way of At-Tayyibah. If your teacher’s numbers differ from ours on that one type, this is almost always why.
Madd Letters: The Three Letters of Lengthening
There are three Madd letters, and that number never changes: alif (ا), waw (و) and yaa (ي). Every single Madd in the Quran, from the shortest to the longest, is built on one of these three. What changes from type to type is not the letter — it is what comes after it.
| Madd letter | Must be | Preceded by | Example | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ا (alif) | always sakinah — it never carries a vowel of its own | fathah | قَالَ | aa |
| و (waw) | sakinah | dammah | يَقُولُ | oo |
| ي (yaa) | sakinah | kasrah | قِيلَ | ee |
🔑 The condition is the whole rule: a waw or a yaa is only a Madd letter when it is sakin AND the letter before it carries the matching vowel. The waw in وَلَد is not a Madd letter, because it carries a fathah of its own. The yaa in بَيَان is not a Madd letter either. Miss this one line and you will stretch half the words on the page.
One word that contains all three: نُوحِيهَا
You do not need to memorise a list. All three Madd letters appear together, in order, inside a single Quranic word — نُوحِيهَا in Surah Hud. The waw follows a dammah, the yaa follows a kasrah, and the alif follows a fathah. Teach a child this one word and the letters are learned for life. Listen to Sheikh Al-Husary say it on its own:
نُوحِيهَا
Hud 11:49 · nooheehaa — “We reveal it” · waw, yaa and alif, one after the other
Tap any word or row to hear it.
How many Madd letters are there?
Three: ا, و and ي. A waw or a yaa only counts as one of the Madd letters in Tajweed when it is sakin and the letter before it carries the matching vowel — a dammah before the waw, a kasrah before the yaa. The alif is always a Madd letter, because it can never carry a vowel of its own.
The layn letters (حروف اللين) — related, but not Madd letters
There is one near-miss worth naming. A waw or a yaa that is sakinah but preceded by a fathah — as in خَوْف and بَيْت — is called a letter of softness, harf layn, not a letter of lengthening. In normal reading it is not stretched at all. It is only lengthened when you stop on the word it ends, and that stretched version has its own name, Madd Layn, which appears in the counts table below. Most English pages either skip this distinction or teach it as a fourth Madd letter; it is neither.
Types of Madd in Tajweed
Before any list, take the map. Every Madd in the Quran is one of two things: Asli — natural, needing no cause — or Far‘i — secondary, caused by something that follows the Madd letter. That something is only ever a hamzah (ء) or a sukoon. Every named type you have ever seen is a branch of one of those two, and once you can place a type on this map you can work out its length without remembering it.
| Main type | What it is | Cause | Branches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madd Asli (Tabee‘i) المد الأصلي |
The natural length. A Madd letter with no hamzah and no sukoon after it. | None — this is the baseline | Madd Badal · Madd ‘Iwad · Madd Silah Sughra · Madd Tamkeen |
| Madd Far‘i المد الفرعي |
Madd Far‘i is a secondary type of Madd caused by a hamzah or sukoon. Its length depends on the specific type; some secondary types, such as Madd Badal, are read for two counts. | A hamzah (ء) or a sukoon after the Madd letter | Because of hamzah: Wajib Muttasil · Jaiz Munfasil · Silah Kubra Because of sukoon: Lazim · ‘Arid lis-Sukoon · Layn |
Read the middle column again, because it is the shortcut. Madd Asli is the default state of a Madd letter: nothing has happened to it, so it runs for two counts and stops. Everything filed under Far‘i is a Madd Asli that ran into an obstacle. The obstacle decides the new length, which is why the causes — hamzah, permanent sukoon, temporary sukoon — matter more than the names.
How many types of Madd are there?
There are two main types — Madd Asli and Madd Far‘i — and they branch into around ten commonly taught kinds. If you have searched this question before, you will have seen “2”, “6”, “13” and “15” all given as the answer, which is why the question keeps being asked.
Here is the honest explanation nobody puts on the page: those numbers are not disagreements about the rules. They are different levels of the same tree. Count the trunks and you get 2. Count the main branches of Far‘i and you get around 6. Keep going and split Madd Lazim into its four classical sub-varieties — kalimi and harfi, each of which can be muthaqqal or mukhaffaf — and the total climbs past 13. Every one of those authors would recite the same ayah with exactly the same length. They are slicing one tree at different heights.
So the useful question is not how many types exist. It is what is in front of my Madd letter, and how many counts does that mean — which is the table in the next section.
The four types with their own guides
Four of the branches are common enough to deserve a full page each. This page is the map; those four are the territory.
How Many Counts Is Each Madd?
This is the reference table, and it is deliberately sorted by length rather than by name — because when you are mid-recitation you are not looking up a taxonomy, you are looking up a number. If you have ever searched how many beats is Madd, this is the answer to it — a beat and a count are the same unit. Short answer for the impatient: Madd Asli is 2, Muttasil and Munfasil are 4 or 5, Madd Lazim is always 6, and the temporary ones let you choose.
| Counts | Type | Trigger | Quran example | Ruling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Madd Asli (Tabee‘i) | Madd letter with nothing after it | قَالَ · نُوحِيهَا | Fixed |
| 2 | Madd Badal | Hamzah before the Madd letter | آمَنُوا · إِيمَان | Fixed |
| 2 | Madd ‘Iwad | Tanween fath, when you stop | حَكِيمًا → حَكِيمَا | Fixed (at a stop only) |
| 2 | Madd Silah Sughra | Ha’ of the pronoun between two vowels | إِنَّهُ كَانَ | Fixed |
| 4 or 5 | Madd Wajib Muttasil | Hamzah after the Madd letter, same word | جَاءَ · وَالسَّمَاءِ | Obligatory |
| 4 or 5 | Madd Jaiz Munfasil | Hamzah after the Madd letter, next word | إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ | Permissible — 2 counts by At-Tayyibah |
| 4 or 5 | Madd Silah Kubra | Ha’ of the pronoun followed by a hamzah | مَالَهُ أَخْلَدَهُ | Permissible |
| 2, 4 or 6 | Madd ‘Arid lis-Sukoon | Temporary sukoon, because you stopped | الْعَالَمِينَ (at a stop) | Permissible — pick one and stay consistent |
| 2, 4 or 6 | Madd Layn | Layn letter + temporary sukoon at a stop | خَوْفٍ (at a stop) | Permissible |
| 6 | Madd Lazim | Permanent sukoon or a shaddah after the Madd letter | الضَّالِّينَ · الم | Obligatory — no choice |
Scroll the table sideways on a phone. Counts follow Hafs ‘an ‘Asim by the way of Ash-Shatibiyyah.
⚖️ The consistency rule: wherever a Madd allows 4 or 5 counts, or 2, 4 or 6, the choice is genuinely yours — but once you have chosen, keep it identical for every occurrence in the same recitation. Four counts on one Munfasil and five on the next, in the same page, is the mistake. The length itself was never the problem.
Hear the ladder: 2, then 4–5, then 6
Play these three in order, from Sheikh Al-Husary, without reading anything in between. The table becomes obvious the moment you hear the difference instead of picturing it.
قَالَ
Al-Baqarah 2:30 · Madd Asli · qaala — nothing follows the alif, so it stops at the natural length
جَاءَ
An-Nasr 110:1 · Madd Wajib Muttasil · the hamzah sits in the same word, so the alif is held
الضَّالِّينَ
Al-Fatihah 1:7 · Madd Lazim · a shaddah follows the alif, so six counts, every time
Muttasil or Munfasil? Only the space matters
These two are the pair most often confused, and the test takes half a second: look at where the hamzah is. In جَاءَ the hamzah is inside the same word as the alif — connected, muttasil, and the lengthening is obligatory. In إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ the alif ends one word and the hamzah begins the next — separated, munfasil, and the lengthening is permissible. Same three letters, same hamzah, different ruling, entirely because of a space.
🎧 Why your sheikh may differ on Munfasil: by the way of Ash-Shatibiyyah — the path this page follows and the one Sheikh Al-Husary recites in the recordings above — Madd Jaiz Munfasil is four or five counts. By the way of At-Tayyibah it is read at two counts, the same as a natural Madd. Both are authentic transmissions of Hafs. If you have heard the same ayah recited two ways, this is the reason, and neither reciter was making a mistake.
Which Madd Is This? Answer Two Questions
Ten names is a lot to hold in your head while you are reciting. You do not have to. Every type on the table above is decided by two questions, in this order — and this tool asks them for you. Use it on a word you are stuck on and it will tell you the type, the count and where to read more.
Step 1 of 2
Look at your word. Is there a Madd letter in it — an alif, or a sakin waw after a dammah, or a sakin yaa after a kasrah?
A learning aid, not a ruling. Rare cases — and any word you are unsure of — belong with a teacher.
Madd Rules in the Quran: Worked Examples
Madd in Quran recitation is not a rare event — it is on almost every line, which is exactly why an error in it spreads so far. Everything below is Sheikh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary, cut word by word: tap a single word and you hear that word alone, at teaching pace. Words carrying a Madd are marked in orange. Use Hide highlights to test yourself, and Slow speed when you are counting.
Madd in Surah Al-Fatihah, ayah by ayah
Start here, with the surah you already know by heart. Seven ayat contain four different types of Madd and not one new word to learn — which makes Al-Fatihah the fastest complete tour of this chapter in the Quran. Read the note under each ayah, then tap the words.
Two natural Madds: the dagger alif in الرَّحْمَٰنِ and the yaa in الرَّحِيمِ — two counts each. Stopping on the last word turns it into ‘Arid lis-Sukoon.
الْعَالَمِينَ holds two Madds — a natural alif in the middle, then a yaa at the end that becomes Madd ‘Arid lis-Sukoon because you stop on it. Listen to how long Al-Husary holds it.
The same two words as ayah 1, but now the second one is at the end of an ayah — so the natural two counts become 2, 4 or 6, your choice, held consistently.
Watch the middle word. يَوْمِ has a sakin waw after a fathah — a layn letter, not a Madd letter, and not stretched here at all.
أُوتُوا is Madd Badal: the hamzah comes first and the yaa follows it, so it stays at two counts. A very common place to over-stretch.
Three natural Madds in a row — the whole ayah is Madd Asli, and it should sound perfectly even. If one of the three is longer than the others, that is the fault to fix.
The longest Madd in the surah closes it: الضَّالِّينَ is Madd Lazim, six counts, obligatory — a shaddah sits directly on the letter after the alif. Compare it with وَلَا immediately before it, which is only two.
🕌 Four types, one surah: Madd Asli (وَلَا), Madd Badal (أُوتُوا), Madd ‘Arid lis-Sukoon (الْعَالَمِينَ at a stop) and Madd Lazim (الضَّالِّينَ). You recite all four at least seventeen times a day.
Twelve worked examples, one per type
One clip per row, ordered from the shortest length to the longest. Read the count before you press play, then check whether your ear agrees with the number.
قَالَ
Al-Baqarah 2:30 · Madd Asli · 2 counts · “he said”
نُوحِيهَا
Hud 11:49 · Madd Asli · 2 counts · all three Madd letters in one word. Its final alif meets the hamzah of إِلَيْكَ, which makes that one a Munfasil.
آمَنُوا
Al-Baqarah 2:9 · Madd Badal · 2 counts · hamzah first, Madd letter second
جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ
An-Nasr 110:1 · Madd Wajib Muttasil · 4–5 counts
وَالسَّمَاءِ
Ash-Shams 91:5 · Madd Wajib Muttasil · 4–5 counts · the hamzah closes the same word
إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ
Al-Kawthar 108:1 · Madd Jaiz Munfasil · 4–5 counts · the alif ends one word, the hamzah begins the next
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
Al-Baqarah 2:104 · Munfasil then Badal in one phrase · 4–5, then 2 — the best two-second test of whether you are counting or guessing
وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
Al-Fatihah 1:7 · Madd Lazim Kalimi Muthaqqal · 6 counts · a shaddah follows the alif
الم
Al-Baqarah 2:1 · Madd Lazim Harfi · 6 counts on the laam and the meem of the huroof muqatta‘ah (الحروف المقطعة)
آلْآنَ
Yunus 10:51 · Madd Lazim Kalimi Mukhaffaf · 6 counts · this form occurs only twice in the whole Quran, both in Surah Yunus
مِنْ خَوْفٍ
Quraysh 106:4 · Madd Layn, and only when you stop · 2, 4 or 6 counts. Continue past it and there is nothing to stretch.
رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Al-Fatihah 1:2 · Madd ‘Arid lis-Sukoon at the stop · 2, 4 or 6 counts · your choice, then the same choice every time
Every ayah above can be checked against Quran.com, and the recitation throughout is Sheikh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary.
5 Common Madd Mistakes
Four of these five are length errors, not reading errors. That is the pattern: learners who make them can read every letter on the page correctly.
1. Flattening everything to two counts
By a wide margin the most common error. Every long vowel gets the natural length, so جَاءَ comes out the same size as قَالَ, and الضَّالِّينَ loses two thirds of its length. Play the 2 / 4–5 / 6 ladder above three times a day for a week and the ear fixes itself.
2. Being inconsistent
Four counts on one Munfasil and five on the next, in the same page. Both numbers are correct on their own; using both in one sitting is not. Decide before you open the mushaf.
3. Stretching a waw or yaa that carries a vowel
وَلَد and بَيَان look like they contain Madd letters and do not. The letter must be sakin, and the vowel before it must match. This is the mistake the letters table above exists to prevent.
4. Over-holding Madd Lazim past six counts
Usually done to sound more beautiful. Six is the ruling, not a minimum, and going beyond it changes the recitation rather than adorning it. The same applies to squeezing the ‘Arid at a stop down to nothing because you have run out of breath.
5. Applying the temporary Madds while continuing
Madd ‘Arid lis-Sukoon and Madd Layn exist only because you stopped. Read straight through الْعَالَمِينَ into the next ayah and it is an ordinary two-count Madd Asli again. Stretching it anyway is a length that has no cause.
🎧 On the audio: every clip on this page is a correct recitation by Sheikh Al-Husary. We do not publish recordings of the mistakes above, because an incorrect recitation should never be attached to a reciter’s name — and because hearing an error repeatedly is a good way to learn it.
Practise the Rules of Madd in Tajweed
How many counts? A 10-clip ear trainer
Naming a Madd from the page is one skill; hearing its length is another, and it is the one this chapter is actually about. Play the clip, decide whether Sheikh Al-Husary held it for 2, 4–5 or 6, then check. No account, no sign-up, and your score resets whenever you like.
Listen, then choose the length you heard.
Listen and copy: six ayat, one per length
Work through the clips in the examples table in this order, repeating each one aloud straight after Sheikh Al-Husary and matching his length rather than his voice: قَالَ (2) → آمَنُوا (2) → إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ (4–5) → وَالسَّمَاءِ (4–5) → الم (6) → الضَّالِّينَ (6). Turn on Repeat and Slow speed for the first pass. Five minutes a day for a week does more than reading this page twice.
Play: The 4 or 6 Counts Basketball Game
Deciding a length calmly is one thing; deciding it in the half-second you actually get while reciting is another. Shoot each word into the 4-count hoop or the 6-count hoop before the clock runs out. It works on phones and tablets, and no account is needed.
Game not loading? Open it in a new tab · or browse all our free Tajweed games.
Learn More
Start with the four types that have their own guides — each one takes a single row of the counts table and opens it out. The badge on each card is its length, so this row doubles as a revision aid.
The four types of Madd
The rest of the Tajweed cluster
All of them sit inside the wider set of Tajweed rules, and all are taught step by step in our Tajweed for adults and Tajweed for kids classes.
Madd Rules FAQ
May Allah beautify your recitation and accept it from you. 🤲
Hafidha of the Quran · Arabic Language Graduate · Writer on Islamic Sciences
Jehad Mahmoud is a graduate of the Arabic Language department and a Hafidha of the Quran who writes the Islamic educational content at Quran Book Academy.
She writes with a focus on Tajweed, Quranic recitation and the sharia sciences, making technical rules accessible to English-speaking Muslim families.
Her articles are educational, not fatwa. For a ruling on a specific personal situation, readers are advised to consult a qualified scholar or mufti.
References & Sources
1. Al-Azhar Al-Sharif — azhar.eg
2. The chapter on Madd in the classical primers Tuhfat al-Atfal and Al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah, and the riwayah of Hafs ‘an ‘Asim by the way of Ash-Shatibiyyah.
3. Surah Al-Fatihah 1 — Quran.com · Surah Al-Kawthar 108 — Quran.com · Surah An-Nasr 110 — Quran.com
4. Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics — Brill Reference Works
5. Recitation — Sheikh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary (Hafs, murattal), audio via EveryAyah.com; word-level timings via the Quran.com audio segment data.
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