Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Questions on Waqf
Updated on 04 October 2026 at 11:01 PM
📖 6 min readThis concept is not detailed in this module; see the book Qawa'id al-Tajwid on the recitation of Hafs.
All the categories mentioned by the scholars go back to the four categories cited by Abu 'Amr ad-Dani and Ibn al-Jazari: taam (complete), kaafi (sufficient), hasan (good) and qabih (bad). The type of the stop is determined by the connections between the preceding expression and the following one: the connection by wording, the proper meaning of each expression and the general context of the subject.
This concept is not detailed in this module; see the book Qawa'id al-Tajwid on the recitation of Hafs.
The taam Waqf is that of which what precedes has no connection with what follows, neither by wording nor by meaning: the first expression is complete in every respect and independent of the other. Its example: أُوْلَئِكَ عَلَى هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ, where the stop on الْمُفْلِحُونَ is taam, for what follows opens a new subject, as its opening by إِنَّ shows. The detailed subdivisions of the taam are not laid out in this module; see the book Qawa'id al-Tajwid on the recitation of Hafs.
The kaafi Waqf is that of which what precedes has no connection by wording with what follows, each of the two expressions being a profitable sentence in itself, while a connection remains in the general meaning and the context of the subject. It was named kaafi because the first sentence suffices by itself without what follows, while remaining in the same context. Its ruling: stopping there is permitted. Example: إِنَّ الْمُلُوكَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا قَرْيَةً أَفْسَدُوهَا وَجَعَلُوا أَعِزَّةَ أَهْلِهَا أَذِلَّةً وَكَذَلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ, where the stop on أَذِلَّةً is kaafi.
The hasan Waqf is that of which what precedes is connected to what follows by wording and by the context of the subject, but where the first sentence is profitable in itself, while the second is not and is only completed by the first. It was named hasan because stopping there is permitted and good, but resuming is not fitting: the reader who wants to resume repeats the first sentence. Example: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, where the stop on الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ is hasan, for رَبِّ is the attribute and الله the thing described, and the attribute cannot be separated from the thing described. The detailed subdivisions of the hasan are not laid out in this module; see the book Qawa'id al-Tajwid on the recitation of Hafs.
The connection by wording (ta'alluq lafzhi) is the grammatical link between the two expressions: the attribute and the thing described, the state (hal) and the one who has it, the relative noun and its clause, the verb and its subject. The connection by meaning (ta'alluq ma'nawi) is the unity of meaning and of the general context of the subject between what precedes and what follows. It is the presence of these connections, or of one of them, that determines the type of the Waqf: no connection gives taam or kaafi; connection by wording with the first sentence profitable gives hasan; each of the two expressions needing the other gives qabih.
The qabih Waqf is that of which what precedes is connected to what follows by wording and by meaning, with a connection so strong that neither of the two sentences forms by itself a profitable sentence. It was named qabih because it separates two connected parts of the meaning, to the point of introducing disorder into the meaning or giving the impression of a false meaning: if the reader does it deliberately, he sins, and it may even lead him to disbelief.
Among the types of the qabih Waqf: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَسْتَحْيِي and لا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلاةَ; إِنَّمَا يَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ يَسْمَعُونَ وَالْمَوْتَى; مَنْ يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِل; وَتَرَكْنَا يُوسُفَ عِنْدَ مَتَاعِنَا فَأَكَلَهُ. The worst is the one that introduces disorder into the meaning or gives the impression of a false meaning; it is also bad any stop that separates two parts of the meaning connected by wording. Its ruling: neither stopping nor resuming is fitting (the sign "لا" in the mushaf).
Ibtida is the act of beginning the recitation, whether after a cutting off (qat') followed by turning away from it, or after a Waqf. It is of two types: the good ibtida (hasan), by which it is permitted: it is the ibtida by a statement independent in its meaning, such that one does not change what Allah, the Most High, intended; and the bad ibtida (qabih), by which it is not permitted: it is the ibtida by a statement that corrupts the meaning, destroys it or changes it, like beginning with أَبِي لَهَبٍ or يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ.
Sakt in the language: prohibition. In technical terms: the interruption of the voice on the Quranic word for a very brief instant, without taking a breath, lasting two counts, bound by auditory transmission. The obligatory Sakt with Hafs is in four places: عِوَجًا in al-Kahf, مَرْقَدِنَا in Ya-Sin, مَنْ رَاقٍ in al-Qiyamah, and بَلْ رَانَ in al-Mutaffifin. The permitted Sakt is in two places: between al-Anfal and Bara'ah, and on the Haa of مَالِيَهْ، هَلَكَ in al-Haqqah, where the Sakt is the preferred mode in performance.