Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Haa al-Kinaya
Updated on 04 October 2026 at 11:01 PM
📖 3 min readHaa al-Kinaya (the Haa of designation) is the Haa of the pronoun, additional to the word's structure, by which the third person masculine singular is designated. Our saying "additional to the word's structure" excludes the original Haa, as in نَفْقَهُ ¹, وَجْهُ ², يَنْتَهِ ³: in all of this the Haa is original, for it belongs to the word itself and is not a pronominal Haa.
Our saying "by which the third person masculine singular is designated" excludes the Haa indicating the feminine singular in عَلَيْهَا ⁴, the dual in both genders in عَلَيْهِمَا ⁵, the masculine plural in عَلَيْهِمْ ⁶ and the feminine plural in عَلَيْهِنَّ ⁷: all are indeed pronominal Haa's, but they are not called Haa al-Kinaya in the technical sense ⁸.
Its benefit: conciseness and brevity.
Its origin is indeclinability on dhammah, as in لَهُ ⁹ and مِنْهُ ¹⁰, unless a kasrah precedes it, as in بِه ¹¹, or a sakina yaa, as in عَلَيْهِ ¹²: it is then given kasrah ¹³, because of the contiguity of the kasrah or the sakina yaa. Hafs recited it with dhammah, taking the origin into account, following transmission, in وَمَا أَنْسَىٰنِيهُ ¹ in al-Kahf and عَلَيْهُ اللَّهَ ² in al-Fath.
Haa al-Kinaya attaches to nouns, to verbs and to particles: the verse قَالَ لَهُ صَاحِبُهُ وَهُوَ يُحَاوِرُهُ ³ gathers them all.
The first state: it is found between two vocalized letters, as in إِنَّهُ كَانَ تَوَّابًا ⁴, يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الْفَاسِقِينَ ⁵, وَاللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ ⁶.
Its ruling: it is joined with a waaw lengthened by two counts if it carries dhammah, and with a yaa lengthened by two counts if it carries kasrah. This holds if no hamza comes after it; if a hamza comes after it, as in the two preceding verses, the Madd then belongs to Madd Munfasil.
Three words are excepted from this rule:
The joining (Silah) means: the holding of the dhammah until a sakina madd waaw is born from it, and the holding of the kasrah until a sakina madd yaa is born from it. This joining is maintained in the state of wasl and dropped when stopping.
The second state: it is found between two sakinas, as in شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ ¹, and likewise وَمَنْ أَوْفَى بِمَا عَاهَدَ عَلَيْهُ اللَّهَ ².
Its ruling: no joining in it, for all the readers.
The third state: a vowel before it and a sakina after it, as in تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ ³.
Its ruling: the absence of joining, like the preceding state, so that two sakinas do not meet otherwise than in their own right ⁴; they meet only in the state of stopping.
The fourth state: a vowel before and after it, as in ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لا رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدىً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ ⁵, and likewise خُذُوهُ فَغُلُّوهُ ⁶.
Its ruling: the absence of joining for Hafs, except in one place of surah al-Furqan: يُضَاعَفْ لَهُ الْعَذَابُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا ⁷, where it is recited with joining, in contempt of the state of the disobedient one.
Every pronominal Haa recited with joining is followed by a small waaw or a small yaa according to its vowel, as a sign of the Madd; for the madd letter is dropped in the script, and it was compensated by the small letter.
وَٱضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا كَمَآءٍ أَنزَلْنَـٰهُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَٱخْتَلَطَ بِهِۦ نَبَاتُ ٱلْأَرْضِ فَأَصْبَحَ هَشِيمًۭا تَذْرُوهُ ٱلرِّيَـٰحُ ۗ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ مُّقْتَدِرًا
Surah 18, 45: Haa al-Kinaya between two sakina letters (cited by the book): no Madd.
وَقَالَتِ ٱلْيَهُودُ وَٱلنَّصَـٰرَىٰ نَحْنُ أَبْنَـٰٓؤُا۟ ٱللَّهِ وَأَحِبَّـٰٓؤُهُۥ ۚ قُلْ فَلِمَ يُعَذِّبُكُم بِذُنُوبِكُم ۖ بَلْ أَنتُم بَشَرٌۭ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقَ ۚ يَغْفِرُ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيُعَذِّبُ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ ٱلْمَصِيرُ
Surah 5, 18: Haa al-Kinaya between two sakina letters: no Madd.
إِذْ قَالَتِ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ يَـٰمَرْيَمُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍۢ مِّنْهُ ٱسْمُهُ ٱلْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًۭا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ وَمِنَ ٱلْمُقَرَّبِينَ
Surah 3, 45: Haa al-Kinaya after a moving letter and before a sakina letter: no Madd.