Rhythm in Arabian music is analysed by means of rhythmic units called awzan and iqa'at.
Wazn and Iqa'
A rhythmic pattern or cycle in Arabian music is called a "wazn" (Arabic: وزن; plural أوزان / awzān), literally a "measure", also called darb, mizan, and usul as is in Ottoman classical music). A Wazn is performed on the goblet drum (tarabuka), frame drum (riqq or tar), and kettle drums (naqqarat).
A wazn is only used in musical genres with a fixed rhythmic-temporal organization including recurring measures, motifs, and meter or pulse. It consists of two or more regularly recurring time segments, each time segment consisting of at least two beats (naqarāt, plural of naqrah). There are approximately one hundred different cycles used in the repertoire of Arab music, most shared with Turkish music. They are recorded and remembered through onomatopoetic syllables and the written symbols O and I. Wazn may be as large as 176 units of time.
Iqa' (Arabic: إيقاع / īqā‘; plural إيقاعات / īqā‘āt) are rhythmic modes or patterns in Arabian music. There are reputed to be over 100 iqa'at, but many of them have fallen out of fashion and are rarely if ever used in performance. The greatest variety of iqa'at (ranging from two to 48 beats) are used in the muwashshah.
A'raj (اعرج)
Aghar Aqṣāq (آغر اقصاق)
Aqṣāq (اقصاق)
Aqsāq Ifrangi (A'raj Ifrangi)
Aqṣāq Samā'i (اقصاق سماعي)
Awfar (اوفر)
'Awīs (عويص)
Awsat Turkī
Ayūb (ايوب)
Baladī (بلدي)
Barafshān Turkī
Billīq Shāmī
Darb Fath
Dawr Al-Kabīr (دور الكبير)
Dawr Hindī (دور هندي); also called Nim Nawākht
Dawr Kabīr Halabī
Dawr Kabīr Turkī
Dharafāt
Du-Yak
Fākhit (فاخت)
Fākhitah
Fākhitah 'Arabī
Fākhitah Turkī
Far'
Fikra (فكرة)
Fikratī
Frankajīn (فرنكجين)
Hāwī
Hazaj 'Arabī
Hazaj Turkī
Jurjīnah (جرجينه)
Katākuftī (كتاكفتي)
Khafīf 'Arabī
Khafīf Turkī (خفيف تركي)
Khūsh Rank (خوش رنك)
Lamā (Raqsān)
Mālfūf (ملفوف)
Maqsūm (مقسوم)
Maṣmūdi Kabīr (مصمودي كبير)
Maṣmūdi Saghīr (مصمودي صغير)
Mudawwar (مدوّر)
Muhajjar (محجّر)
Mukhammas (مخمّس)
Mukhammas Turkī (مخمّس تركي)
Murabba' (مربّع)
Naqsh (نقش)
Naqsh in 17/4
Naqsh in 18/4
Naqsh in 21/4
Naqsh in 36/4
Naqsh in 40/4
Naqsh in 52/4
Nawākht (نواخت)
Nawākht Hindī (نواخت هندي)
Nīm Oyūn Havāsī (نيم ايون هواسي)
Nīm Dawr (نيم دور)
Nīm Hazaj (نيم هزج)
Nīm Rawān (نيم روان)
Nīm Thaqīl Turkī
Nīm Warash
Qātiqūfti
Rahaj (رهج)
Ramal Halabī
Ramal Turkī
Rawān (روان)
Sādah Dūyek (ساده دو يك)
Sādāyah
Samā'ī Ṭā'er (سماعي طائر)
Samā'ī Thaqīl (سماعي ثقيل)
Shanbar Halabī (شنبر حلبي)
Shanbar Kabīr (شنبر كبير)
Sinkīn Samā'ī (سنكين سماعي)
Sittatu 'Ashar (ستة عشر)
Sūfiyān
Taras
Thaqīl Turkī (ثقيل تركي)
Turk Zarb
Ṭurrah (طرّة)
Wāhda (واحدة)
Wāhda Mukallafa (واحدة مكلّفة)
Warash
Warshān 'Arabī (ورشان عربي)
Yūruk Samā'ī (يورك سماعي); also called Samā'i Dārij (سماعي دارج)
Zanjīr Turkī
Zīr-Afkand