Dropping and keeping

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Dropping and keeping: introduction

Dropping (hadhf) and keeping (ithbat) concern the three madd letters: the alif, the yaa and the waaw. Their keeping or dropping belongs specifically to the characteristics of the Uthmani script, which it is legally obligatory to follow: the reader is bound to follow the script in his recitation, so as to stop with keeping on what is kept in the script, and with dropping on what is dropped from it; for the stop, as a rule, follows the script, except for the exceptions justified by transmission (riwayah).

The 4 forms of stopping on a madd letter

Accordingly, when one wants to stop on a word that ends with one of the three madd letters, whether it belongs to the word's structure or not, one of the following four forms must hold:

The first form: the letter kept in the script and in wasl, as in قَالا رَبَّنَا ¹, إِنِّي مَعَكُمْ ², قَالُوا خَيْرًا ³; the ruling on stopping there is keeping.

The second form: the letter dropped in the script and in wasl, as in وَلَمْ يَخْشَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ ⁴, وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ الْجَوَارِ ⁵, ادْعُ إِلََى سَبِيلِ رَبِّك ⁶; the ruling on stopping there is dropping.

The third form: the letter kept in the script and dropped in wasl, as in الظُّنُونَا، هُنَالِكَ ⁷, نُنْجِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ⁸ in al-Anbiya', مُرْسِلُو النَّاقَةِ ⁹; the ruling on stopping there is keeping.

The fourth form: the letter dropped in the script and kept in wasl, as in إِنَّهُ هُوَ ¹, بِهِ بَصِيرًا ²; the ruling on stopping there is dropping, following its dropping in the script.

Accordingly, it must be known that stopping on words that end with a madd letter does not, in keeping and dropping, follow their state in wasl: it follows their state in the script, in keeping as in dropping.

The exceptions to this rule

Certain words are excepted from this rule, such as the alif of سَلاسِلا ³ in ad-Dahr, and the yaa of آتَانِيَ in an-Naml, verse 36: the first is kept in the script, the second is dropped from it, whereas for each of them Hafs has, when stopping, two permitted views: keeping and dropping. Also excepted is the alif of ثَمُودَاْ in Hud at the second occurrence, verse 68, al-Furqan verse 38, al-'Ankabut verse 38 and an-Najm verse 51: it is kept in the script, but dropped when stopping and in wasl, as will be explained ⁴; for in all of this the consideration goes to transmission, and the recitation is a followed sunnah.

Warning

The letter that belongs to the word's structure is either dropped for a reason or without a reason. If it is dropped for a reason, that reason is taken into account when stopping, and one stops with dropping: this is the case of the yaa dropped because of the meeting of two sakinas in رَبِّ أَرِنِي كَيْفَ تُحْيِي الْمَوْتَى ⁵ in al-Baqarah, وَيُحْيِي الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ⁶ in ar-Rum, إِنَّا نَحْنُ نُحْيِ الْمَوْتَى ⁷ in Ya-Sin, and their likes.

As for the letter dropped without a reason, it is compensated by the small madd letter, as in إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَسْتَحْيِي أَنْ يَضْرِبَ مَثَلاً ¹, رَبِّيَ الَّذِي يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ ², قَالَ أَنَا أُحْيِي وَأُمِيتُ ³, and one stops with keeping; for what is dropped without a reason is like what is kept, unless a text of transmission prescribes its dropping: then it is dropped, as in يَوْمَ يَأْتِ لا تَكَلَّمُ نَفْسٌ ⁴, where Hafs recites يأت with dropping. What follows is the detailed exposition of this for the three letters.