Question

1.      I need an exhaustive list of the uses of hamzah in both cases (wasli and qat'ia), as well as other cases, if there are any more. For example, cases of hamzatul wasli include the article “al” and the beginning of imperative verbs. Are there others cases in this category?

2.      I sometimes see hamzatul qat'i alone, without any letter, even in the middle of a word, as in "al-Qur'an." Are such cases common? Is it possible to have an exhaustive list here too?

3.      When hamzatul qat'i is written on top of a small stick as in "bi'run" (a well), does it mean that the hamzah is on the letter ya’? If yes, then why are not there the two dots of the ya?

Answer

1.      Hamzah al-wasl begins words that have a sukoon as the first letter so the reciter can start that word with a vowel, since there is a rule in Arabic that starting is always with a vowel and ending is always with a sukoon.  When there is a word starting with a hamzah al-wasl and the reciter is starting that word, the hamzah al-wasl is pronounced as a hamzah and the vowel used with it depends on what part of speech the word is, and other factors in the case of a verb.  Hamzah wasl starts nouns preceded by the definite article , ( , ) and acquires a fat-h in these cases, it may enter three ( ,  ), five
   ( , ) and six letter
    ( , ) verbs of imperative (command) form.  It also may enter past tense five ( , ) and six letter
   ( , ) verbs, original nouns derived from five and six letter verbs as in: ,  and ,  , and some irregular nouns: , .,  ,  , , , in all their forms with the varied attached pronouns (as in the last example).  In all nouns the hamzah al-wasl acquires a kasrah when starting the word. 

2.     , which is the true hamzah, can sit on on medd letter ( ,   ), or sit on a tooth such as in , , or sit on nothing such as in:  , , .  You won’t find (hamzah al-qata’) sitting on a , or a  when it is the first letter of the word; it will either be on an alif
   ( ) or by itself ( ). 

3.      As indicated in the above explanation, the hamzah on a stick, or “tooth” such as in  is not on a  and that is why you don’t see the two dots for the letter.