Stopping on words with a weak ending
Words ending in a
We will repeat once again the general rules for words ending with a weak letter, meaning ending in an alif, a , or a :
They are:
1. If the medd letter is established in writing and a saakin letter does not follow it, the medd letter is then affirmed and established in pronunciation when stopping just as it is when continuing following the writing of the Qur'an.
2. If a saakin follows a word ending in a medd letter, the medd letter then is dropped in pronunciation when continuing, because of the forbidding of two saakin letters from meeting between two words, but is established in pronunciation when stopping.
3. If the medd letter is not present in the written copy of the Qur'an, the medd letter is dropped in pronunciation when continuing and stopping.
Hafs 'an 'Aasim follows the writing in the mus-haf, so if a is written at the end of a word, and we are stopping on that word, we stop with a ; if a word ends without a written, then Hafs 'as 'Aasim stops without the letter . One may wonder why we even mention this, since if it is not written we do not pronounce it; but there are some 's not written at the end of words and some of the ways of recitation establish the when stopping on the word, and others establish the unwritten when both continuing and stopping. These are called
. Examples of these are in the following words:
in the phrase:
in the phrase:
in the phrase:
in the phrase:
An important note is that these are just examples, and there are many occurrences (more than 100) in the Qur'an of the extra not written. There are also times where these same words occur with the written, and when this happens, Hafs 'an 'Aasim, as well as all the different qira'aat establish the ya' when stopping as well as continuing as long as a saakin letter doesn't follow it when continuing. An example of this is the word: ; as we can see there is a written at the end of this word, so we pronounce it when stopping and continuing, since it is not followed by a saakin.
If there is a written at the end of a word, and the next following word has a saakin letter as the first pronounced letter, the is dropped in pronunciation when continuing, following rule number two, as in:
There is one place in the Glorious Qur'an where Hafs' 'an 'Aasim stops on a word without a regular written two possible ways, one with establishing the , the other without the . This is in aayah 36 in surah An-Naml (27:36), on the word in the phrase:
Hafs 'an 'Aasim reads this word with the with a fat-h on it when continuing. To summarize: Hafs 'an 'Aasim stops on the word in surah An-Naml two possible ways, either with a saakinah or without the and therefore stopping with a saakinah. When continuing, Hafs reads this word with an established and an accompanying fat-h. In all other words, if there is a written at the end of the word, Hafs stops on the word with the , and if there is no written , Hafs does not pronounce the .
We will not be explaining more, as this is in the realm of the study of the qira'aat. The most important thing to remember is that Hafs follows the writing of the Qur'an for words ending with a , with the exception of aayah 36 of An-Naml.
This ends the subject of stopping on the ends of words.