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Did the Messenger (peace be upon him) speak in the "Tamṭamāniyyah" dialect, in which the letter "lām" is replaced by "mīm," as in the hadith: "ليس من امبر امصيام في امسفر" (It is not righteousness to fast while traveling)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Al-Ṭumṭumaniyya is a phonetic linguistic phenomenon found in some Arab tribes, such as Tayy, Azd, and Himyar. It consists of replacing the "lam" in the definite article "al-" with a "mim." One of the oldest references to this was narrated by Al-Jahiz in "Al-Bayan wa Al-Tabyin," where "Ṭumṭumāniyyat Himyar" was mentioned as one of the dialects that differed from classical Arabic. Linguists have explained it as unfamiliar words resembling the speech of non-Arabs, or as the substitution of "lam" with "mim." This phenomenon is still prevalent today, as in their saying: "ṭāba im-hawā’" (the weather is good). It has been reported in some prophetic narrations that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used this dialect in his saying: "(Laysa min im-birri im-siyāmu fī im-safar)" (It is not righteousness to fast while traveling). However, what is preserved and authentically transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the pronunciation with "al-birr" according to the dialect of Quraysh. Scholars have considered the former pronunciation anomalous, and if it is authentic, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) might have said it to accommodate the Yemeni person being addressed, and this is a sign of his excellent character.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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