الرجزAl-rajaz metre

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

Twenty-four of the thirty texts in Matn are in al-rajaz, from Alfiyyat Ibn Malik to Tuhfat al-Atfaal wa al-Ghilman.

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

يَقُولُ رَاجِي عَفْوِ رَبٍّ سَامِعِ

  1. يَقُوْلُ رَاْya short,qū long,lu short,rā long,مُتَفْعِلُنْmutafʿilunkhabn
  2. جِيْ عَفْوِ رَبْjī long,ʿaf long,wi short,rab long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilun
  3. بِنْ سَاْمِعِيْbin long,sā long,mi short,ʿī long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilunʿarūḍ

ʿAjuz, the second half

مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْجَزَرِيِّ الشَّافِعِي

  1. مُحَمْمَدُبْmu short,ḥam long,ma short,dub long,مُتَفْعِلُنْmutafʿilunkhabn
  2. نُلْجَزَرِيْnul long,ja short,za short,riy long,مُفْتَعِلُنْmuftaʿilunṭayy
  3. يِشْشَاْفِعِيْyish long,shā long,fi short,ʿī long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilunḍarb
Muqaddimat al-Jazariyyah, bayt 1

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-rajaz 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 opening hamza of ibn drops in connected speech, so muḥammadu bnu is spoken mu-ḥam-ma-dub-nu.
  • The l of the article merges into the sh of al-Shāfiʿī (yish-shā) but is pronounced in al-Jazarī.
  • A doubled letter counts twice, and the final n of rabbin is spoken, so the word splits across two feet: rab | bin.
  • The final vowel of sāmiʿi is lengthened to ʿī, because the two halves rhyme.
Why al-rajaz
Each half-line has three matching feet, and each foot ends short, long. In a didactic urjūza (a poem in al-rajaz) the two halves of a bayt rhyme with each other, and the rhyme changes from one bayt to the next. Keeping one rhyme for a thousand bayts would have constrained the wording of every rule in Alfiyyat Ibn Malik. Al-rajaz is also the most permissive of the metres, so a rule of grammar or fiqh fits into it with little forcing.

The foot of al-rajaz and its variants

Each foot of al-rajaz is a mustafʿilun or a permitted change to it. In the bayt above, khabn opens both halves and ṭayy changes the middle foot of the ʿajuz.

The foot of al-rajaz and its variants
FormWeightChange
مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilunmustafʿilun: long long short longsound No change.
مُتَفْعِلُنْmutafʿilunmutafʿilun: short long short longkhabn The first long becomes short. Very common at the start of a half-line.
مُفْتَعِلُنْmuftaʿilunmuftaʿilun: long short short longṭayy The second long becomes short.
مَفْعُوْلُنْmafʿūlunmafʿūlun: long long longqaṭʿ The end of the foot is cut. Last foot only.
فَعُوْلُنْfaʿūlunfaʿūlun: short long longkhabn and qaṭʿ Both at once. Last foot only.

A fourth change, khabl, makes the foot short, short, short, long. It is rare.

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
A second bayt in al-rajaz: Tuhfat al-Atfaal wa al-Ghilman, bayt 1

Ṣadr, the first half

يَقُولُ رَاجِي رَحْمَةِ الْغَفُورِ

  1. يَقُوْلُ رَاْya short,qū long,lu short,rā long,مُتَفْعِلُنْmutafʿilunkhabn
  2. جِيْ رَحْمَتِلْjī long,raḥ long,ma short,til long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilun
  3. غَفُوْرِيْgha short,fū long,rī long,فَعُوْلُنْfaʿūlunkhabn and qaṭʿʿarūḍ

ʿAjuz, the second half

دَوْمَاً سُلَيْمَانُ هُوَ الْجَمْزُورِي

  1. دَوْمَنْ سُلَيْdaw long,man long,su short,lay long,مُسْتَفْعِلُنْmustafʿilun
  2. مَاْنُ هُوَلْmā long,nu short,hu short,wal long,مُفْتَعِلُنْmuftaʿilunṭayy
  3. جَمْزُوْرِيْjam long,zū long,rī long,مَفْعُوْلُنْmafʿūlunqaṭʿḍarb
Tuhfat al-Atfaal wa al-Ghilman, bayt 1
  • The two halves rhyme, so the ʿarūḍ is cut like the ḍarb: faʿūlun in the ṣadr, mafʿūlun in the ʿajuz.

Texts in al-rajaz

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.