الطويلAl-ṭawīl metre

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

Three of the thirty texts in Matn are in al-ṭawīl.

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

بَدَأْتُ بِبِسْمِ اللهِ فِي النَّظْمِ أوَّلاَ

  1. بَدَأْتُba short,daʾ long,tu short,فَعُوْلُfaʿūluqabḍ
  2. بِبِسْمِلْلَاْbi short,bis long,mil long,lā long,مَفَاْعِيْلُنْmafāʿīlun
  3. هِفِنْنَظْhi short,fin long,naẓ long,فَعُوْلُنْfaʿūlun
  4. مِأَوْوَلَاْmi short,ʾaw long,wa short,lā long,مَفَاْعِلُنْmafāʿilunqabḍʿarūḍ

ʿAjuz, the second half

تَبَارَكَ رَحْمَاناً رَحِيماً وَمَوْئِلَا

  1. تَبَاْرَta short,bā long,ra short,فَعُوْلُfaʿūluqabḍ
  2. كَرَحْمَاْنَنْka short,raḥ long,mā long,nan long,مَفَاْعِيْلُنْmafāʿīlun
  3. رَحِيْمَنْra short,ḥī long,man long,فَعُوْلُنْfaʿūlun
  4. وَمَوْئِلَاْwa short,maw long,ʾi short,lā long,مَفَاْعِلُنْmafāʿilunqabḍḍarb
Hirz al-Amani (al-Shatibiyyah), bayt 1

Read for scansion, with the missing vowel marks supplied:بَدَأْتُ بِبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ فِي النَّظْمِ أَوَّلَاتَبَارَكَ رَحْمَانًا رَحِيمًا وَمَوْئِلَا

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-ṭawīl each half has four 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 name of God is spoken with a long ā (bis-mil-lā-hi), though the ā is not written as a letter.
  • فِي is shortened before the assimilated lām of النَّظْمِ.
  • The tanwīn in رَحْمَانًا رَحِيمًا is spoken as n.

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-ṭawīl

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.