Stopping while reciting Qur'an

3-12-2003 | IslamWeb

Question:

I need to know to right way when of reading the (Qur'an), I mean when to stop on what Ayah and when to continue,

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions. There is no case of recitation stop where the Qur'an reciter commits sin by applying or disregarding it. Imam As-Suyouti , in his "Itqan 1/229: Notices", said: Some scholars hold the opinion that it is not valid to stop at the first part of the construct state (Mudhaf, in Arabic) without the second (Mudhaf Ilaih) (not stopping on a connector or an intensifier). Ibn Al-Jazri said, 'they mean the validity of recitation which entails beauty and completeness of recitation. They do not mean that it is prohibited or dislikable unless it (stop) leads to interpolation or gives a meaning other than that determined by Allah Almighty, in which case the reciter not only commits a sin, rather an act of disbelief. Commenting on the importance of the science of stop (ending) and beginning, Imam As-Suyouti said: The twenty-eighth type of knowing where to stop and to begin were classified by some scholars, such as Abu Ja'far , Ibn Al-Anbari , Az-Zajjaj , Ad-Dani , Al-Umani , As-Sajawandi , and others. This science is a significant one by which one recites the Qur'an in the best way. Imam As-Suyouti stated the types of stops, saying, The Imams of recitation marked some types and names of stops and beginnings and differed on the details. Ibn Al-Anbari said: "stops are of three kinds: perfect, preferable, and dislikable. The perfect is the kind where it is preferable to stop and to begin with the following word provided that the following word is not linked to the word stopped at. An example of this is the verse: {…and they are the successful.}[2:5]. And: {…warn them or do not warn them, they will not believe.}[2:6]. The preferable kind is the one where it is preferable to stop at a certain word but it is unfit to begin from the word following it, for example: "Praise be to Allah", for to begin with "the Lord of the Worlds" is not appropriate since it is a descriptive phrase related to the previous noun "Allah". The dislikable kind of stop is the one which is neither perfect nor preferable, such as to stop at "in the name" of "in the Name of Allah", or to stop at the first part of the construct state (Mudhaf and Mudhaf Ilaih), thus separating it from the second, or the to stop at the noun before completing its description or to stop at the predicate in such a way separating it from its complement, separating a verb from its noun, an affirmative item from its affirmed word (noun, pronoun, etc.), a word form another being added to it a substitutive noun from its substituted one…etc. According to other scholars, stop is of four categories: perfect-optional, sufficient-permissible, likable-understood, and dislikable-abandoned. Thus, it is to be taken into consideration that it is not an obligation to stop at a word or a sentence, and that to continue is permissible unless it is not aimed at causing interpolation to the meaning of the Qur'anic text. This is as concerns recitation stops, as concerns the etiquette of recitation, this needs an elaborate and extensive explanation which the dear questioner could find in the books written on this issue, such as: "At-Tibyan fi Aadab Hamalat Al-Qur'an" by Imam An-Nawawi , may Allah have mercy on him. Allah knows best.