Question

Assalamualaikum,

Question regarding what vowel to be placed on hamzatul wasl if the word containing it happens to be right after a waqf (and if we stop on this waqf) surfaces a lot. Non Arabs who are not proficient with Arabic vocabulary, myself included, fumble at the very first step in this determination since the answer depends upon whether the word which starts with the hamzatul wasl is a noun or a verb. If we only consider the words starting with hamzatulwasl after a waqf, it does not appear that there are very many words one has to learn to be able to correctly determine what vowel to use. The obvious question follows my preface, i.e., has anyone ever compiled a list of such words? There are so many Tajweed schools and Tajweed scholars in Muslim countries and this encourages me to think that there may be such a list somewhere.

Examples of what I am looking for:
At-Tawbah:80 (Istaghfir)
Yousuf:9 (Uqtuloo)
Fatir:43 (Istikbaaran)
Yaseen:21 (Ittabi’oo)

Please kindly comment. May Allah reward you for your excellent efforts.
Thank you.

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatuh Allahi wa barakatuh.

Masha’ Allah, that is a good idea, although we are not aware of such a list.  You did very well with the examples you put up.  There are not many places that cause confusion.  As all nouns starting with hamzah al-wasl begin with a kasrah, and most verbs with a kasrah, unless the third letter is a fixed dhammah, then most verbs will also start with a kasrah. 

We will try and make the time to make such a list, but of course, this does not replace the need to study and understand the hamzah al-wasl and how to determine which vowel we start with, since we never know where we may run out of breath and be forced to start up with a word beginning with hamzah al-wasl in a place other than a marked stop and start.

Jazaka Allahu khairan for the good idea, and may Allah assist us in making up the list to assist the non-Arab readers of the Qur’an.