Stopping and Starting: Waqf, Ibtidāʾ, Hamzat al-Waṣl, and the Lām and Rāʾ · Tajweed

Waqf and ibtidāʾ

Waqf (وَقْفٌ) is stopping on a word to take a breath, intending to continue. Ibtidāʾ (اِبْتِدَاءٌ) is starting again. Both should respect the meaning: the best stop is at the end of a complete sense, the worst is one that splits a phrase or leaves a false meaning (such as stopping after لَا إِلَٰهَ). If you run out of breath at a bad place, stop, then go back a word or two and restart from a sound place. The last letter of a word you stop on is always made sākin; Arabic does not end an utterance on a vowel.

Rule 1: How a word changes when you stop

A short final vowel is dropped and the letter takes sukūn: اَلدِّينِ becomes ad-dīn. Tanwīn ḍamm or kasr is dropped entirely, leaving sukūn: أَحَدٌ becomes aḥad. Tanwīn fatḥ becomes a long ā: نَارًا becomes nārā. Tāʾ marbūṭa becomes a plain hāʾ with sukūn: اَلْقَارِعَةُ becomes al-qāriʿah, and هَاوِيَةٌ becomes hāwiyah. A doubled final letter keeps its doubling, and a qalqala letter gets its strongest bounce: وَتَبَّ is wa tabb. A madd letter before the last consonant becomes madd ʿāriḍ (lesson 11). The short hāʾ of silence is written in a few words and is pronounced only at a stop: مَا هِيَهْ (101:10).

مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
māliki yawmi d-dīn
Master of the Day of Judgement
final kasra dropped: ad-dīn (1:4).
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
qul huwa llāhu aḥad
Say: He is Allah, One
tanwīn ḍamm dropped: aḥad (112:1).
سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ
sayaṣlā nāran dhāta lahab
he will burn in a fire of blazing flame
if one stopped on نَارًا it would be nārā; at the ayah end لَهَبٍ becomes lahab with qalqala (111:3).
اَلْقَارِعَةُ
al-qāriʿah
the Striking Calamity
tāʾ marbūṭa becomes hāʾ: al-qāriʿah (101:1).
وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ
wa mā adrāka mā hiyah
and what can make you know what it is
hāʾ of silence, pronounced at the stop (101:10).

The pause signs in the muṣḥaf

Small letters printed above the line to guide stopping. They are advice about meaning, not part of the text.
Sign	Name	What to do
مـ	waqf lāzim (necessary stop)	Stop: continuing would suggest a wrong meaning.
لا	lā waqfa fīh (no stop)	Do not stop here; if you must, go back and restart before it.
ج	waqf jāʾiz (permitted stop)	Stopping and continuing are both fine.
صلى	al-waṣl awlā (continuing is better)	You may stop, but it is better to continue.
قلى	al-waqf awlā (stopping is better)	You may continue, but it is better to stop.
ۛ ۛ	muʿānaqa (the embracing stop)	Two sets of three dots: stop at one of the two places, not both, as in لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى (2:2).
س / سكتة	sakta (brief pause)	Pause the voice for a moment without taking a breath; occurs four times in the Qurʾān, including عِوَجَا ۜ قَيِّمًا (18:1-2).
۝	end of ayah	A normal stop is recommended at every ayah end.

Rule 2: Hamzat al-waṣl: the connecting hamza

Some words begin with an alif that is pronounced as a hamza only when you start with the word; when you connect from the word before, it vanishes. This is hamzat al-waṣl (هَمْزَةُ الْوَصْلِ); the muṣḥaf marks it with a small ص above the alif (ٱ), unlike the cutting hamza, which is written أ or إ. When you start with such a word: the article ال takes fatḥa (al-); the name اللّٰه takes fatḥa (Allāh); nouns such as اِسْمٌ, اِبْنٌ, اِمْرَأَةٌ take kasra; verbs take kasra, unless the third letter of the verb has an original ḍamma, in which case they take ḍamma (اُنْظُرْ, اُدْعُ). In connected reading, simply skip it: سَبِّحِ اسْمَ is sabbiḥi-sma.

اِهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ
ihdina ṣ-ṣirāṭa
guide us to the path
starting a verb: kasra, ihdinā; the alif of ال then vanishes in connection (1:6).
اِقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ
iqraʾ bismi rabbika
read in the name of your Lord
starting a verb: kasra, iqraʾ; the waṣl of اِسْم is skipped after بِ (96:1).
سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ
sabbiḥi-sma rabbika
glorify the name of your Lord
connected: the hamza of اِسْمَ is dropped and the ح takes kasra to link (87:1).
اَللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ
Allāhu lā ilāha illā huwa
Allah, there is no god but He
starting with the name of Allah: fatḥa (2:255).
ثُمَّ ارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ
thumma-rjiʿi l-baṣara
then return your gaze
connected: thumma-rjiʿi; on its own the verb would start irjiʿ (67:4).
وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ
wastaghfirhu
and seek His forgiveness
connected after وَ: wastaghfirhu; alone it would be istaghfirhu (110:3).

Rule 3: The lām of the name of Allah

Every lām in the Qurʾān is light (tarqīq) except the lām of اللّٰه in certain positions. If the vowel before the name is fatḥa or ḍamma, the lām is heavy (tafkhīm): the back of the tongue rises and the ā is dark, as in قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ. If the vowel before it is kasra, the lām is light (tarqīq), as in بِسْمِ اللَّهِ. When you start with the name, the hamzat al-waṣl takes fatḥa, so the lām is heavy. The same rule applies to اَللَّهُمَّ.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ
bismi llāhi
in the name of Allah
kasra before the name: light lām (1:1).
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
al-ḥamdu lillāhi
praise be to Allah
kasra of لِ before the name: light lām (1:2).
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
qul huwa llāhu aḥad
Say: He is Allah, One
fatḥa of هُوَ before the name: heavy lām (112:1).
نَصْرُ اللَّهِ
naṣru llāhi
the help of Allah
ḍamma before the name: heavy lām (110:1).
نَارُ اللَّهِ الْمُوقَدَةُ
nāru llāhi l-mūqada
the kindled fire of Allah
ḍamma before the name: heavy lām (104:6).
أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ الْحَاكِمِينَ
alaysa llāhu bi-aḥkami l-ḥākimīn
is not Allah the most just of judges
fatḥa before the name: heavy lām (95:8).

Rule 4: The letter rāʾ: heavy or light

Rāʾ follows its vowel. Heavy (tafkhīm): when it carries fatḥa or ḍamma (رَبِّ, اَلرَّحْمَٰنِ, رُجُومًا); when it is sākin after a fatḥa or ḍamma (فَارْغَب, اَلْقُرْآنِ); and when it is sākin at a stop after a fatḥa or ḍamma, or after a sākin letter that is itself preceded by fatḥa or ḍamma (وَالْفَجْرِ, اَلْعَصْرِ when stopping). Light (tarqīq): when it carries kasra (رِحْلَةَ, غَيْرِ, اَلْكَافِرُونَ); when it is sākin after a kasra and not followed by a heavy letter in the same word (وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ, فِرْعَوْنَ); and when it is sākin at a stop after a kasra or after a yāʾ sākin (قَدِيرٌ becomes qadīr, خَيْرٌ becomes khayr). Beginners usually err by making every rāʾ heavy; practise the kasra cases until a thin rāʾ feels natural.

اَلرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
ar-raḥmāni r-raḥīm
the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful
both rāʾs carry fatḥa: heavy (1:1).
غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ
ghayri l-maghḍūbi
not of those who earned anger
rāʾ with kasra: light (1:7).
وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ
wastaghfirhu
and seek His forgiveness
rāʾ sākin after kasra, next letter هـ is not heavy: light (110:3).
وَالْفَجْرِ
wal-fajr
by the dawn
at the stop the rāʾ is sākin after a sākin ج preceded by fatḥa: heavy (89:1).
وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَارْغَب
wa ilā rabbika farghab
and to your Lord turn your longing
رَ with fatḥa heavy; رْ after fatḥa in فَارْغَب heavy (94:8).
عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr
over all things competent
at the stop the rāʾ follows yāʾ sākin: light (67:1).