Could you kindly explain whether or not waqf at the end of Aayah 4 of Soerat al-Maa'un is permissible?

Question
Assalamu Alaikum

Could you kindly explain whether or not waqf at the end of Aayah 4 of Soerat al-Maa'un is permissible ? We have been hearing from some people that stopping at the end of this aayah (without doing wasl with aayah 5) is not allowed, (although it is the end of an aayah). Jazakumullahu Khayran.

Answer
As Salaam Alaikum
There are three types of voluntary allowed stops in Qur’anic recitation, known in Arabic as Waqafaat, the plural of waqf (stop): Waqf Taam, kaafi and Hasan. These three types of Waqf can happen at the end of Aayahs where there is an established stop (known in Arabic as Ru-oos ul Aayy) or even in the middle of Aayahs. Making all of these three types of Waqf are permissible and allowed.

A waqf Hasan is that waqf in which the meaning of the phrase is complete but when one will look ahead, one will find a grammatical connection of what is after it with what is before it. For example making Waqf on the first Aayah of Suratul Fatiha is a Waqf Hasan. This grammatical connection can happen in many ways and in the case of  the connection is that the Aayah after it is a Haal (situation) of the Aayah before.
The ruling for a waqf Hasan is that is such a Waqf is made in the middle of an Aayah then one must do I’aadah (go back a few words and repeat from there). If such a waqf is made at the end of an Aayah (Ru-oos ul Aayy) then one can start from ahead without doing wasl (joining) with the previous Aayah.
This summary of this whole discussion is that it is proven that the word is a Ra’s ul Aayy (the end of the aayah) according to all copies of the Qur’an (Masaahif) and because of that, making waqf on there is allowed and according to some scholars it is Sunnah as well as was seen in the famous Hadeeth of Umm Salamah RA when that the Prophet SAW used to recite he stop at the end of every Aayah. He would recite and stop. Then he would recite and stop. Then he would recite and then stop. Mulla Ali Qari RA mentions in his Sharh (explanation) of Jazariyyah that this Hadeeth is evidence that making waqf on Ru-oos ul Aayy (end of aayah) is Sunnah (which is another discussion of its own), and from this Hadeeth we can also see that the Waqf made were on Waqf Hassan.
What is not allowed is to cut off ones recitation at the end of aayah four of surah Al-Maa’oon. One can stop at the end of the aayah, take a breath, then continue with aayah five, but one cannot end the recitation completely at the end of this aayah due to the attachment in meaning and grammar the aayah four has with aayah five in this surah.
For lesson on the stop (waqf) please see: http://www.abouttajweed.com/al-waqf-the-stop-/index.php
Wallahu Alam