Signs of Waqf

Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Signs of Waqf

The famous signs of Waqf

The scholars established for the categories of Waqf symbols and signs in the mushaaf, so that they might be recognized and so as to make it easy for the reader of the Book of Allah, the Most High, to recite it in the manner that would please the Almighty, the Most High. What follows is the exposition of these signs on which they finally settled in the printing of the mushaaf.

The sign مـ: the obligatory Waqf (Waqf Laazim)

"مـ" is the sign of the obligatory Waqf (Waqf Laazim). It has already been said that its wasl (joining) gives the impression of something other than what is intended, as its example already cited shows.

The summary poem of the signs

The following is among the verses summarizing these signs:

الوقف تام حيث لا تعلقا ... فيه وكاف حيث معنى علقا
قف وابتدئ وحيث لفظا فحسن ... فقف ولا تبدأ وفي الآي يُسن
وحيث لم يتم فالقبيح قف ... ضرورة وابدأ بما قبل عرف
ولم يجب وقف ولم يحرم عدا ... ما يقتضي من سبب إن قصدا
والقطع كالوقف وفي الآيات جا ... واسكت على مرقدنا وعوجا
بالكهف مع بل ران من راق ومر ... خلف بماليه ففي الخمس انحصر

These verses indicate that the Waqf is taam (complete) where no connection (ta'alluq) exists, kaafi where the meaning connects to it, that one must stop and resume there where the two expressions (of ta'm and fasl) make the stop hasan (good) without there being a need to begin there, and that it is preferred in the verse; that where the meaning is not complete, the stop is qabih (bad), to be done out of necessity only, and one must then resume from what precedes; and that the Waqf is neither obligatory nor forbidden outside what a motive requires, if such is the intention. The cutting off (qat') is like the Waqf in the verses, and one must do the Sakt on "مرقدنا" and "عوجا" in surah al-Kahf, as well as on "بل ران", "من راق", and what comes after with "ماليه": the whole is thus limited to five places.