Waqf signs and symbols in the Qur'an: what every mark means

Open any copy of the Qur'an and you will see more than the words. Small letters sit above the line, circles close each verse, a little ۩ appears in the margin, and some letters carry a tiny zero. None of these are part of the revealed words. They are reading aids, added by scholars so that you stop in the right places, pause where the reciters paused, make sajdah where it is due, and pronounce each word as it was taught. Once you know them, the page starts to guide you.

Why are there signs in the mushaf?

Allah says: "And recite the Qur'an with measured recitation (tartil)" (Surah Al-Muzzammil, 73:4). A saying attributed to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib explains tartil as two things: reciting the letters correctly, and knowing the places of stopping. Stopping in the wrong place can cut a sentence so that it seems to say something it does not.

The earliest copies of the Qur'an had no dots, vowels or stop signs at all. Over the centuries scholars added them, carefully and by agreement, to protect correct reading for people who did not grow up with classical Arabic. The signs you see today come from that work.

What does the circle at the end of a verse mean?

The circle, usually with the verse number inside it, marks the end of an ayah. It is the most important stopping place on the page. Umm Salamah described how the Prophet ﷺ recited: he would read "All praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds" and stop, then "the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful" and stop, verse by verse (Sunan Abi Dawud 4001; Jami' al-Tirmidhi 2927).

So stopping at the end of each verse is a sunnah practice, and for a beginner it is the safest habit of all. If a stop sign such as لا appears above the circle, see the notes below.

What do the stop signs mean in the Arabic style mushaf?

The Arabic style mushaf uses six signs, printed small above the line. The key at the back of the mushaf lists them:

• مـ Necessary stop (waqf lazim). You must stop here. Joining the words could suggest a meaning that is not intended.
• لا Do not stop (waqf mamnu'). Stopping here would break the meaning. If you run out of breath and stop, go back a word or two and read on.
• ج Permitted stop (waqf ja'iz). Stopping and continuing are equally good.
• صلى Continuing is better (al-wasl awla). You may stop, but joining is preferred.
• قلى Stopping is better (al-waqf awla). You may continue, but stopping is preferred.
• ∴ ∴ Paired stop (mu'anaqah). Three dots appear in two nearby places. Stop at one of them, but not at both. The best-known example is in Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:2, around the words la rayba fih.

What do the stop signs mean in the Indian-style mushaf?

Indian-style copies carry a longer list, explained on a key page called Rumuz al-Awqaf (the signs of stopping), usually at the front or back. The common signs are:

• م Waqf lazim. A necessary stop, as in the Arabic style mushaf.
• ط Waqf mutlaq. An absolute stop: the meaning is complete, so stop.
• ج Waqf ja'iz. A permitted stop; stopping is better than continuing.
• ز Waqf mujawwaz. Stopping is allowed, but continuing is better.
• ص Waqf murakhkhas. Continue if you can; stopping is allowed only when you need breath.
• صلے Al-wasl awla. Continuing is better.
• ق Qila 'alayhil-waqf. Some scholars said to stop here, but most prefer to continue.
• قف Qif. "Stop": stopping is preferred.
• لا La. Inside a verse: do not stop, and if you are forced to, go back and repeat. Above the end-of-verse circle: you may stop, as at any verse end, or join it to the next verse.
• ک Kadhalik. "The same": follow the sign used just before it.
• ∴ ∴ Mu'anaqah. Stop at one of the two places, not both.
• س or سکتہ Saktah, and وقفہ waqfah. A short pause without taking a breath. A waqfah is held a little longer than a saktah.

Printers do not all use exactly the same list, and some copies add further notes in the margin. When a sign is unfamiliar, the key page of that same mushaf is the authority for it.

What is a saktah, and where does it come?

A saktah is a very short pause, for about two counts, in which the voice stops but you do not take a breath, and then you carry on. In the riwayah of Hafs from 'Asim, which almost every mushaf in India and the Arab world follows, it comes in four places:

• Surah Al-Kahf, 18:1. On 'iwaja, at the end of the first verse, before qayyiman.
• Surah Ya-Sin, 36:52. On min marqadina, before hadha.
• Surah Al-Qiyamah, 75:27. On man, before raq.
• Surah Al-Mutaffifin, 83:14. On bal, before rana.

In the Arabic style mushaf each place has a small س above it; Indian-style copies write سکتہ. A saktah is easy to describe and hard to do evenly, so it is worth practising with a teacher.

How is a verse of sajdah marked?

Some verses call for a prostration of recitation (sajdat al-tilawah). In the Arabic style mushaf the place is shown with the sign ۩ and a line above the word that calls for it. Indian-style copies write السجدة or "sajdah" in the margin beside the verse.

In the Hanafi school there are fourteen such places, and the prostration is wajib for the one who recites the verse and for the one who hears it. Some copies also mark the second place in Surah Al-Hajj (22:77). That one is counted by other schools, but in the Hanafi school there is no sajdah of recitation there. If you are unsure about a place in your own mushaf, ask your teacher.

What do the juz, hizb and ruku' marks show?

Other marks divide the Qur'an into portions for regular reading:

• Juz or para. The thirtieth part. Its number or name is printed at the top of the page or in the margin.
• ۞ Hizb and quarter marks (Arabic style). Each juz has two hizbs, and each hizb has four quarters. The ۞ marks the start of each quarter, with its number in the margin.
• Quarter, half and three-quarter marks (Indian style). The margin shows الربع, النصف and الثلاثة to divide each para.
• ع Ruku'. Found in Indian-style copies: the letter 'ayn in the margin closes a section of a few verses on one theme. Its numbers show which ruku' of the surah it is, how many verses it holds, and which ruku' of the para it is. Many imams use these to plan each rak'ah of Taraweeh.
• Manzil. Seven larger portions, one for each day, for those who complete the Qur'an every week.

For more on these divisions and how to use them, read juz, hizb, manzil and ruku': how the Qur'an is divided.

What do the small letters and silent marks mean?

A few tiny marks change how a word is pronounced. In the Arabic style mushaf the most common are:

• A small round circle ◌۟ on a letter. The letter is written but never pronounced, whether you stop or continue. An example is the alif after the waw in قَالُوا۟ (qalu).
• A small oval zero ◌۠ on an alif. The alif is silent when you join, but pronounced when you stop on the word. An example is أَنَا۠ (ana): short when you continue, long when you stop.
• The wavy madd sign ◌ٓ. Lengthen the sound beyond the normal two counts, as explained in our guide to the types of madd.
• A small meem ◌ۢ above or below a letter. A noon sakinah or tanween before the letter ba is pronounced as a meem (iqlab), as explained in our guide to noon sakinah and tanween.
• A small waw or ya after a pronoun. For example إِنَّهُۥ. The vowel of the "hu" or "hi" is lengthened when you join it to the next word, and dropped when you stop.
• A small seen above a sad. Read the letter as a seen. In Hafs this applies, for example, in يَبْصُۜطُ (2:245) and بَصْۜطَةً (7:69).

Indian-style copies show several of these differently, for example with a standing vowel or a separate madd stroke, and explain them on their key page. If your copy differs from the list above, the key in your own mushaf is the one to follow.

Where should you start again after you stop?

Stopping is only half of the skill. The other half is ibtida', starting again. The rule is simple: start from a place that makes sense on its own. After a stop in the middle of a verse, especially one forced by breath, you may need to go back a word or two and repeat them, so that the sentence you begin is complete and correct.

What you must never do is start in a way that changes the meaning. In Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:73) Allah reports the words of those who disbelieved: laqad kafaral-ladhina qalu innallaha thalithu thalathah, "Those who said that Allah is the third of three have certainly disbelieved." If you run out of breath on qalu and then start from innallaha thalithu thalathah, you have recited their false claim as a sentence of its own. Go back to laqad kafara instead. In Surah Al-Baqarah (2:26), innallaha la yastahyi an yadriba mathalan, "Allah is not shy to give an example", stopping on la yastahyi leaves a meaning that is not fitting for Allah, so keep reading to the end of the phrase.

Tajweed books describe four kinds of stop, judged by how the words before it relate to the words after it:

• Tamm (complete). No link in wording or meaning with what follows. Stopping on wa ula'ika humul-muflihun (2:5), before the passage on the disbelievers, is the classic example.
• Kafi (sufficient). Complete in wording, but the meaning continues. Stopping on wa mimma razaqnahum yunfiqun (2:3) is good, and you start from the next verse, which goes on describing the same believers.
• Hasan (good). The words make sense, but the next words are tied to them grammatically. Stopping on al-hamdu lillah (1:2) is acceptable, but you should restart from al-hamdu lillah, not from rabbil-'alamin.
• Qabih (ugly). The meaning is incomplete or distorted. Stopping on la taqrabus-salah in Surah An-Nisa (4:43), "do not go near the prayer", before wa antum sukara, "while you are intoxicated", is the example most teachers use. If it happens, go back.

What are the most common stopping mistakes beginners make?

• Stopping mid-word to breathe. Never cut a word in half. Plan your breath and stop at the end of a word in a sensible place.
• Stopping on a mudaf. A word that is joined to the next in meaning, like bismi in bismillah or maliki in maliki yawmid-din, should not be cut off from it.
• Stopping between a verb and its subject. In idha ja'a nasrullahi (110:1), stopping on ja'a, "when came", leaves the sentence without its doer. Carry on to nasrullahi.
• Ignoring the la sign inside a verse. The la inside a verse means do not stop here. If breath forces you, go back and start again from a sound place.
• Starting from a word that changes the meaning. For example, beginning at yadullahi maghlulah in Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:64) turns a quoted false claim into a sentence of your own. Start from wa qalatil-yahudu.
• Forgetting the stopping form. On stopping, the last vowel becomes a sukun: ar-rahim, not ar-rahimi. A double fathah becomes a long alif, and a final ta marbutah is read as a ha (ه) sakinah.

Most of these come from reading too fast. Slow down and read a little ahead with your eyes.

How should you use the signs when you recite?

• Make the verse ends your main stops. It follows the sunnah and keeps you safe while you are learning.
• Always stop at م, and never stop at لا inside a verse. These two signs carry the most weight for meaning.
• If your breath runs out in a bad place, go back. Restart from a word where the phrase makes sense, not from the word you stopped on.
• Stop properly on the word. The last letter usually takes a sukun, a fathah tanween becomes a long "a", and a round ta (ta marbutah) becomes a soft "h".
• Learn the signs by ear. The surest way is to recite to a teacher who knows them and hear where they stop.

To practise, open any page in our Qur'an reader, in the Arabic or the Indian style, and look for the signs above the line. If you would like a teacher to correct your stopping and starting, our Basic Tajweed course covers waqf and ibtida with live correction.

Sources

1. The Qur'an, Surah Al-Muzzammil (73), verse 4.
2. Sunan Abi Dawud, hadith 4001, and Jami' al-Tirmidhi, hadith 2927: Umm Salamah on the Prophet ﷺ stopping at the end of each verse.
3. The notes on the signs printed at the end of the Arabic style mushaf (King Fahd Complex, Madinah) and the Rumuz al-Awqaf key printed in Indian-style mushafs.
4. Ibn al-Jazari, al-Nashr fi al-Qira'at al-'Ashr: the saying attributed to 'Ali on tartil, and the saktahs of Hafs.