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Quranic Arabic Stop Signs (Waqf) – Tajwid Enhancement Lesson 7

Written by Noorislam Uddin (MArch)

فَلَا يَحْزُنكَ قَوْلُهُمْ ۘ إِنَّا نَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ

Falá yaḥzuńka qouluhum. Ìnná na’lamu má yusirrúna wamá yu’linúna

[Quran 36:76…]

Sometimes in English, we feel too exhausted to say our words fully. If you work in an office, trying swtiching out ‘admin‘, ‘decaf‘, ‘app‘, and ‘doc‘, for ‘administration‘, ‘decaffeinated‘, ‘application‘, and ‘document‘ and watch how much productiviy is lost. But the way to stop in Arabic speech is really quite the time-saver, and furthermore, for those of us with smaller lungs, there are provisions in place in Quranic recitation to break up many verses using individual stopping points. One essential principle to grasp before delving into what these various stop signs are, is the ‘temporary’ sukún pause. Generally in Arabic, when one takes a breath at the end of a sentence, or even pauses at a word, a momentary sukun pause is imagined on the last full-form letter – thus omitting any vowels and even tanwín ‘nunation’ following it. For example, in [ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ سَمِيعٌۢ بَصِيرٌ ] ‘Ìnna Alllōha samí’uň baṣírun‘, the stop at the word ‘baṣírun‘ means curtailing it from the ‘r‘ – ignoring the short ‘u‘ vowel and ‘n‘ nunation after it. The transliteration method used here uses superscript formatting to represent letters that are silent under certain conditions such as this. The stopping rule extends to words ending in long vowels, which should still be pronounced long accordingly, like in for example, [ لِنُرِيَكَ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا ٱلْكُبْرَى ] ‘Linuriyaka min -áyātiná alkubroe‘ . There are other caveats to this rule of thumb to be aware of. Firstly, any silent letters should be ignored. By spelling convention, a silent [ ا ] Alif is written at the end of 3rd person plural verbs in Arabic. These can be skipped in all cases anyway, and a reciter stopping on such a word should recite it as if the sukún pause is instead on the [ ـو ] Wáu before it. For example, [ ءَامَنُوا۟ ] ‘-ámanúa‘ and [ كَفَرُوا۟ ] ‘kafarúa‘. Secondly, the [ ً ] fatḥatain ‘nunated accusative marker’ at the end of nouns is usually also followed by a full-form [ ا ] Alif. However, this Alif is only read out when the reciter stops at the word – which is equivalent to saying the sukún pause should be imagined on this last Alif – giving a long vowel sound. If the reciter continues past such a word, the ‘n‘ from the nunation should be recited instead. For example, in [ وَسَآءَ سَبِيلًا ] ‘wasã-a sabílana‘, the last word is pronounced as ‘sabílaa‘  – ending with a long ‘á‘ sound – if the reciter stops at it, and ‘sabílan‘ – ending with an ‘n‘ sound – if the reciter continues past at it. It should also be noted that a reciter is free to stop outside of the designated stop signs during formal recitation (to take a breath), though when starting again, the last few word/s before the stopping place should be repeated to clarify any potential misinterpretation in meaning. Referring strictly to the madaniyy Quranic writing script, there are 7 waqf stop signs explained below:

  • [ ۘ  ] Mandatory (M)
  • [ ۗ ] Recommended (QL)
  • [ ۚ ] Optional (J)
  • [ ۖ ] Discouraged (ṢL)
  • [ ۙ ] Prohibited (LÁ)
  • [ ۜ ] Quick (S)
  • [ ۛ ۛ ] Selectable

7.a) [ ۘ  ] Mandatory

This type of stop sign is written as a small superscript Mím. There are only a handful of such instances in the Quran. When it appears after a word, the reciter must momentarily stop (and take a breath), for continuing on so would alter the obvious meaning of the verse. If the reciter continues on from it without stoping, that portion of the recitation must be repeated.

E.g.

فَلَا يَحْزُنكَ قَوْلُهُمْ ۘ إِنَّا نَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ

Falá yaḥzuńka qouluhum. Ìnná na’lamu má yusirrúna wamá yu’linúna

[Quran 36:76…]

7.b) [ ۗ  ] Recommended

This type of stop sign is written as a small superscript Qóf and Lám. When it appears after a word, the reciter is encouraged to momentarily stop (and take a breath), for continuing on so could complicate the obvious understanding of the verse.

Notes:

• The end of the vast majority of Quranic verses themselves are also considered recommended stops

E.g.

إِذْ يَقُولُ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقُونَ وَٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ غَرَّ هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ دِينُهُمْ ۗ وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌۭ

Ìv yaqúlu almunāfiqúna waallavína fie qulúbihim mmaroḍun gorro hãùlã-i dínuhum: Wamaņ yatawakkal ‘alae Alllōhi faìnna Alllōha ‘azízun ḥakímuņ

[Quran 8:49]

7.c) [ ۚ  ] Optional

This type of stop sign is written as a small superscript Jím. When it appears after a word, the reciter may momentarily stop (and take a breath).

E.g.

وَأَلْقِ عَصَاكَ ۚ فَلَمَّا رَءَاهَا تَهْتَزُّ كَأَنَّهَا جَآنٌّۭ وَلَّىٰ مُدْبِرًۭا وَلَمْ يُعَقِّبْ ۚ يَـٰمُوسَىٰ لَا تَخَفْ إِنِّى لَا يَخَافُ لَدَىَّ ٱلْمُرْسَلُونَ

Waàlqi ‘aṣóka; Falammá roǎhá tahtazzu kaànnahá jãnnuņ wallaē mudbiroņa walam yu’aqqib; YāMúsaē lá tacof ìnnie lá yacófu ladayya almursalúna

[Quran 27:10]

7.d) [ ۖ  ] Discouraged

This type of sign is written as a small superscript Ṣód and Lám. When it appears after a word, the reciter is encouraged to continue (without taking a breath), for stopping on so could complicate the obvious understanding of the verse.

E.g.

وَلِسُلَيْمَـٰنَ ٱلرِّيحَ غُدُوُّهَا شَهْرٌۭ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهْرٌۭ ۖ وَأَسَلْنَا لَهُۥ عَيْنَ ٱلْقِطْرِ ۖ وَمِنَ ٱلْجِنِّ مَن يَعْمَلُ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِۦ ۖ وَمَن يَزِغْ مِنْهُمْ عَنْ أَمْرِنَا نُذِقْهُ مِنْ عَذَابِ ٱلسَّعِيرِ

WaliSulaimāna alrríḥa guduwwuhá ṡahruņ warowáḥuhá ṡahruņ, waàsalná lahū ‘aina alqiṭri, wamina aljinni maņ ya’malu baina yadaihī biìvni Robbihī, wamaņ yazig minhum ‘an àmriná nuviqhu min ‘avábi alsSa’íri

[Quran 34:12]

7.e) [ ۙ  ] Prohibited

This type of sign is written as a small superscript Lám and Alif. There are only a handful of such instances in the Quran. When it appears after a word, the reciter must continue (without taking a breath), for stopping on so would alter the obvious meaning of the verse. If the reciter stops on it, that portion of the recitation must be repeated.

E.g.

ٱلَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ثُمَّ لَا يُتْبِعُونَ مَآ أَنفَقُوا۟ مَنًّۭا وَلَآ أَذًۭى ۙ لَّهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ٢٦٢

Allavína yuńfiqúna àmwālahum fie sabíli Alllāhi ṫumma lá yutbi’úna mã àńfaqúa mannaņa walã àvana—lahum àjruhum ‘ińda Robbihim walá coufun ‘alaihim walá hum yaḥzanúna

[Quran 2:262]

7.f) [ ۜ  ] Quick

Priority: Recommended

This type of stop sign is written as a small superscript Sín. It is also referred to as a sakt/aḧ. There are only a handful of such instances in the Quran. When it appears after a word, the reciter is encouraged to momentarily stop, (without taking a breath), for continuing on so could lose the rhetoric effect of the verse.

E.g.

وَقِيلَ مَنْ ۜ رَاقٍۢ

Waqíla man … róqiņ

[Quran 75:27]

7.g) [ ۛ ۛ  ] Selectable

Priority: Optional

This type of stop sign is written as a small superscript methematical ‘therefore’ sign. There are only a handful of such instances in the Quran. They always appear in pairs. When they appear around a set of words, the reciter may momentarily stop (and take a breath) at either one of the two places – but not both.

E.g.

قَالَ فَإِنَّهَا مُحَرَّمَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ۛ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةًۭ ۛ يَتِيهُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْفَـٰسِقِينَ

Qóla faìnnahá muḥarromaẗun ‘alaihim – àrba’ína sanaẗaņ – yatíhúna fie alàrḍi; Falá ta-sa ‘alae alqoumi alfāsiqína

[Quran 5:26]


Allah knows best.


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Further tajwíd enhancement study:

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