الكاملAl-kāmil metre

One of the sixteen classical metresThree feet to each half-line

One of the thirty texts in Matn is in al-kāmil.

One bayt, foot by foot

Under each half, the words are rewritten as they are spoken, then counted: a bar for a long syllable, a cup for a short one. Read from the right, with the Arabic.

Step through lights each syllable in turn, holding a long syllable twice as long as a short one.

Ṣadr, the first half

يَا مَنْ يَرُومُ تِلاوةَ القُرآنِ

  1. يَاْمَنْ يَرُوْyā long,man long,ya short,rū long,مُتْفَاْعِلُنْmutfāʿiluniḍmār
  2. مُتِلَاْوَتَلْmu short,ti short,lā long,wa short,tal long,مُتَفَاْعِلُنْmutafāʿilun
  3. قُرْآْنِيْqur long,ʾā long,nī long,مَفْعُوْلُنْmafʿūluniḍmār and qaṭʿʿarūḍ

ʿAjuz, the second half

وَيَرُودُ شَأْوَ أَئِمَّةِ الإِتْقَانِ

  1. وَيَرُوْدُ شَأْwa short,ya short,rū long,du short,shaʾ long,مُتَفَاْعِلُنْmutafāʿilun
  2. وَأَئِمْمَتِلْwa short,ʾa short,ʾim long,ma short,til long,مُتَفَاْعِلُنْmutafāʿilun
  3. إِتْقَاْنِيْʾit long,qā long,nī long,مَفْعُوْلُنْmafʿūluniḍmār and qaṭʿḍarb
Umdat al-Mufid wa Uddat al-Mujid, bayt 1

Read for scansion, with the missing vowel marks supplied:يَا مَنْ يَرُومُ تِلَاوَةَ الْقُرْآنِوَيَرُودُ شَأْوَ أَئِمَّةِ الْإِتْقَانِ

Reading the scansion

A metre
A metre (baḥr) is a set pattern of long and short syllables. Every bayt of the poem keeps to it, with a few permitted changes. The system goes back to al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad of Basra, who described fifteen metres. A sixteenth, al-mutadārak, was added after him.
Long and short
A short syllable is a consonant with a short vowel: bi, ta. A long syllable has a long vowel, as in bā and qū, or ends in a consonant, as in bis and qal. Only what is pronounced counts, so the bayt is first written out as it is spoken.
Feet
The syllables fall into feet (tafʿīlāt). Each foot is named with a word built on the root f-ʿ-l, and the word has the foot’s rhythm: mus-taf-ʿi-lun is long, long, short, long.
Two halves
A bayt has two halves, the ṣadr and the ʿajuz. In al-kāmil each half has three feet. The last foot of the ṣadr is the ʿarūḍ and the last foot of the ʿajuz is the ḍarb. Some changes are allowed only in these two places.
In this bayt
  • The article’s lām is pronounced before qāf and before hamza.
  • The shadda in أَئِمَّةِ counts as two letters.
  • Bayt 2’s ḍarb shows the same foot without iḍmār: هِلِوَاْنِيْ (from فِيهِ لِوَانِ), hi-li-wā-nī (faʿilātun: short, short, long, long).
  • The opening bayt’s halves rhyme (taṣrīʿ), so the ʿarūḍ takes the ḍarb’s form, mafʿūlun.

The four metres in Matn

Every text in Matn is in one of four metres. Each row is one half-line in its sound form, read from the right.

The four metres of the texts in Matn, one half-line each
MetreOne half-line, sound formShapeTexts
الرجزal-rajazmustafʿilun: long long short long, mustafʿilun: long long short long, mustafʿilun: long long short longThree matching feet, each ending short, longTexts in Matn 24
الطويلal-ṭawīlfaʿūlun: short long long, mafāʿīlun: short long long long, faʿūlun: short long long, mafāʿīlun: short long long longA three-syllable foot, then a four-syllable one, twice overTexts in Matn 3
البسيطal-basīṭmustafʿilun: long long short long, fāʿilun: long short long, mustafʿilun: long long short long, fāʿilun: long short longA long foot, then a short one, twice overTexts in Matn 2
الكاملal-kāmilmutafāʿilun: short short long short long, mutafāʿilun: short short long short long, mutafāʿilun: short short long short longEach foot opens with two quick shortsTexts in Matn 1

Texts in al-kāmil

The scansions were made by hand and cross-checked with pyarud 1.0.0. Permitted forms follow al-Damāmīnī, al-ʿUyūn al-ghāmiza ʿalā khabāyā al-Rāmiza. Reciters lengthen and pause freely.