| الأَحْرُف السَّبْعَة | al-aḥruf al-sabʿah | The seven modes/dialects in which the Quran was revealed |
| أُصُول | uṣūl (sing. aṣl) | General rules — rules that apply consistently across the entire Quran (madd, imālah, hamzah treatment, etc.); contrasted with farsh al-ḥurūf |
| إِبْدَال | ibdāl | Replacement — substituting hamzah with a long vowel |
| إِدْغَام | idghām | Assimilation — merging one letter into another |
| إِدْغَام كَبِير | idghām kabīr | Major assimilation — merging a voweled letter into the next identical letter |
| إِدْغَام صَغِير | idghām ṣaghīr | Minor assimilation — merging a sākin letter into the next |
| إِدْغَام مُتَجَانِسَيْن | idghām mutajānisayn | Assimilation of two letters sharing the same makhraj (e.g. tāʾ into ṭāʾ); a sub-type of idghām |
| إِدْغَام مُتَقَارِبَيْن | idghām mutaqāribayn | Assimilation of two letters with close but not identical articulatory points |
| إِسْكَان | iskān | Placing sukūn (quiescence) on a letter |
| اسْتِفْهَام حَمْزَة | istifhām hamzah | Interrogative hamzah — in certain Quranic verses, some reciters add a hamzah (أَ) before a wāw to produce rhetorical emphasis; Shuʿbah has specific positions for this |
| إِشْمَام | ishmām | Lip rounding — pursing the lips to indicate a ḍammah without voicing |
| اِخْتِلَاس | ikhtilās | Quick snatching — rapidly pronouncing a vowel so it is barely heard |
| اِخْتِيَار | ikhtiyār | Preference/choice — where a reciter has khilāf (two valid options), the reading they personally preferred |
| إِمَالَة | imālah | Vowel inclination — tilting fatḥah toward kasrah |
| إِمَالَة كُبْرَى | imālah kubrā | Full inclination — strong tilt |
| بَيْنَ بَيْنَ | bayna bayna | "Between the two" — partial imālah, same as taqlīl |
| بَسْمَلَة | basmalah | Reciting بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ |
| تَحْقِيق | taḥqīq | Full/clear pronunciation — especially of hamzah |
| تَرْقِيق | tarqīq | Light/thin pronunciation — tongue stays flat |
| تَسْهِيل | tashīl | Facilitation/softening — making hamzah easier to pronounce |
| تَفْخِيم | tafkhīm | Heavy/thick pronunciation — back of tongue raised |
| تَقْلِيل | taqlīl | Partial inclination — moderate imālah |
| تَكْبِير | takbīr | Magnification — reciting اللَّهُ أَكْبَر at the end of certain sūrahs (al-Ḍuḥā through al-Nās); distinctive to al-Bazzī (and optionally Qunbul) of Ibn Kathīr |
| تَنْوِين | tanwīn | Nunation — the doubled vowel marks (ـًـٍـٌ) |
| تَوَسُّط | tawassuṭ | Moderate/middle duration — typically 4–5 ḥarakāt |
| حَرَكَة (ج: حَرَكَات) | ḥarakah (pl. ḥarakāt) | Vowel mark; also the unit of duration for madd |
| حِرْز الأَمَانِي | Ḥirz al-Amānī | "The Fortress of Wishes" — the full title of al-Shāṭibiyyah poem; often used interchangeably with al-Shāṭibiyyah |
| حُرُوف مُقَطَّعَات | ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿāt | Disconnected letters at the beginning of certain sūrahs |
| خِطَاب | khiṭāb | Second-person address (تَعْمَلُونَ = "you do") |
| رَاوِي (ج: رُوَاة) | rāwī (pl. ruwāt) | Narrator/transmitter of a qirāʾah |
| رَسْم عُثْمَانِي | rasm ʿUthmānī | The consonantal script of the ʿUthmānī muṣḥaf |
| رُمُوز | rumūz | Symbols/codes — the cipher system of the Shāṭibiyyah |
| رَوْم | rawm | Murmur — at waqf, pronouncing a vowel very faintly (about one-third of its normal volume), indicating the grammatical case at stopping |
| سَكْت | sakt | Brief pause without breath |
| شَدَّة / تَشْدِيد | shaddah / tashdīd | Doubling of a consonant |
| صِلَة | ṣilah | Connection — adding a long vowel after a pronoun |
| صِلَة كُبْرَى | ṣilah kubrā | Major connection — ṣilah followed by hamzah (creates madd) |
| صِلَة صُغْرَى | ṣilah ṣughrā | Minor connection — ṣilah not followed by hamzah |
| طُول / إِشْبَاع | ṭūl / isbāʿ | Maximum prolongation — 6 ḥarakāt |
| غَيْب | ghayb | Third-person (يَعْمَلُونَ = "they do") |
| فَتْح | fatḥ | Pure/open pronunciation of fatḥah-alif (no inclination) |
| فَرْش الحُرُوف | farsh al-ḥurūf | "Spreading of the letters" — word-specific variant readings by sūrah |
| قَارِئ (ج: قُرَّاء) | qāriʾ (pl. qurrāʾ) | Reciter — a master of Quranic recitation |
| قِرَاءَة (ج: قِرَاءَات) | qirāʾah (pl. qirāʾāt) | A reading/recitation tradition |
| قَصْر | qaṣr | Shortening — 2 ḥarakāt (natural madd length) |
| مَتْن | matn | Text — specifically the poem text of the Shāṭibiyyah |
| مَدّ | madd | Prolongation of a long vowel |
| مَدّ بَدَل | madd badal | Substitution madd — hamzah originally before the long vowel |
| مَدُّ الصِّلَة | madd al-ṣilah | Connection madd — the ṣilah vowel of hāʾ al-kināyah becomes a madd when followed by hamzah (ṣilah kubrā); Ibn Kathīr is the main practitioner within the Shāṭibiyyah |
| مَدُّ العِوَض | madd al-ʿiwaḍ | Compensatory madd — prolonging the alif at waqf in place of tanwīn fatḥah (e.g. كِتَابًا → كِتَابَا at waqf); applies to all 14 rāwīs |
| مَدّ عَارِض لِلسُّكُون | madd ʿāriḍ li-l-sukūn | Madd caused by stopping (accidental sukūn) |
| مَدّ لَازِم | madd lāzim | Obligatory madd — long vowel + original sukūn/shaddah |
| مَدّ لِين | madd līn | Soft madd — wāw/yāʾ preceded by fatḥah |
| مَدّ مُتَّصِل | madd muttaṣil | Connected madd — hamzah in the same word |
| مَدّ مُنْفَصِل | madd munfaṣil | Detached madd — hamzah in the next word |
| مُسَهَّلَة | musahhalah | Softened/facilitated — a hamzah reduced to a glide |
| نَقْل | naql | Transfer — moving hamzah's vowel to the preceding sākin letter |
| وَصْل | waṣl | Connection — continuing without pause between sūrahs |
| وَقْف | waqf | Stopping — pausing at the end of a word or verse |
| يَاء الإِضَافَة | yāʾ al-iḍāfah | Possessive yāʾ — first-person pronoun suffix |
| يَاءَات الزَّوَائِد | yāʾāt al-zawāʾid | Extra yāʾs — additional yāʾs pronounced by some reciters |