Sarî’ | mus -taf -‘ilun mus -taf -‘ilun maf -‘u -L?TU mus -taf -ilun mus -taf -‘ilun maf -‘u -L?TU

Munsarih |mus -taf -‘ilun maf -‘û -L?TU mus -taf -ilun |

Khafif | f? -‘il? -tun -mus –Tصلى الله عليه وسلمF‘I -lun -f? -‘il? -tun |

Mud?ri‘ | maf? -‘î -lun F?‘I -l? -tun maf? -‘î -lun |

Muktadab | maf -‘û -L?TU mus -taf -‘ilun mus -taf -‘ilun |

Mudjtathth | mus -Tصلى الله عليه وسلمF‘I –lun f? -‘il? -tun f? -‘il? -tun |

Circle 5

Mutak?rib | Fصلى الله عليه وسلم‘? -lun Fصلى الله عليه وسلم‘? -lun Fصلى الله عليه وسلم‘? -lun Fصلى الله عليه وسلم‘? -lun |

Mutad?rik -‘ILUN | f? -‘ILUN f? -‘ILUN f? -‘ILUN f?-….|

The order of the 5 circles is based on an arithmetical principle. They are arranged according to the number of consonants in the mnemonic words of the metres which compose them. The three metres Tawiil, رضي الله عنهasiit and Madiid , whose hemistiches consist of 24 consonants each, form the first circle; the two metres Mutakaarib and Mutadaarik, whose hemistiches consist of only 20 consonants each, form the last circle. The remaining metres, whose hemistiches consist of 21 consonants each, are divided among the three circles in the middle. The order

of the metres within the circles is also a formal one: the صلى الله عليه وسلمdjzaa’ of a metre are first written around the periphery of a circle. Thus the three mafaa‘iilun mafaa‘iilun mafaa‘iilun of the Hazadj are inscribed around the periphery of circle 3. If one reads the circle again, but starting at a different point, one automatically gets the mnemonics words of another metre: thus if, for instance, in circle 3 one does not begin with mafaa-,(as in Hazadj), but only with the -‘ii- of mafa‘iilun, one obtains the metric scheme of Radjaz, and if one advances still further and does not begin reading till the –lun, one obtains the scheme of Ramal. The possibility of dividing the صلى الله عليه وسلمdjzaa’ of a circle in various ways, and of reaching different metric schemes by doing so, is only due to صلى الله عليه وسلمl-Khaliil having purposely constructed his circles so that the mnemonic words united in each circle not only produce the same total number of consonants, but coincide completely in their ‘moving’ and ‘quiescent’ consonants as well, if they are written in a certain relationship to one another. This can be clearly seen in the above table of the 5 circles if one transcribes the Latin letters into صلى الله عليه وسلمrabic one. The agreement emerges even more obviously if one substitute the signs which are used by the صلى الله عليه وسلمrabic prosodists for the ‘moving’ and ‘quiescent’ consonants themselves. The following picture will then emerge for circle 3 :

Hazadj ?????? ??????? ??????? ?

Radjaz ?? ???????? ?? ???? ?????

Ramal ???? ??????? ??? ???? ???

The same relative coincidence is also found between the metres contained in the remaining 4 circles. صلى الله عليه وسلمl-Khaliil’s object in arranging the metres in this purely formal system of the 5 circles has not been handed external superimposition of ‘moving’ and ‘quiescent’ consonants in the mnemonics is not meant to imply a rhythmic development of one metre out of another.

The 8 صلى الله عليه وسلمdjzaa’ , which , as we have seen, recur again and again in different distributions in the 16 metres, can be further split into their metric components. For صلى الله عليه وسلمl-khaliil, however, the metric component means something different than for the occidental prosodist. It is not the smallest indivisible unit of sound, but

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