The World Federation One Stop Fiqh
Search
Menu

Ruling 990

The recommended precaution is that in prayers one should not stop on a letter that has a vowel nor join a letter that has a sukūn. The meaning of stopping on a letter that has a vowel is that one pronounces the fatḥah, kasrah, or ḍammah of the last letter in a word and then pauses between that word and the next. For example, when he recites الرَّحْمٰـــنِ الرَّحِـيـْمِ [arraḥmānir rahīm], he pronounces the kasrah of the letter mīm [م] in الرَّحِيْمِ [arraḥīm, so that it is pronounced ‘arraḥīmi’] and then pauses briefly before reciting the next verse مٰلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ [māliki yawmid dīn]. The meaning of joining a letter that has a sukūn is that one does not pronounce the fatḥah, kasrah, or ḍammah of the last letter in a word and then joins that word with the next. For example, when he recites الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ [arraḥmānir rahīm], he does not pronounce the kasrah of the letter mīm [م] in الرَّحِيْمِ [arrahīm] and then immediately recites مٰلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ [māliki yawmid dīn].

  • Commentary

    In other words:
    • when reciting a verse and pronouncing the original vowel of the final letter of the word, for example mī [مِ] of [الرَّحِيمِ ] arraḥīm – then the recommended precaution is one should not pause between that and the following verse – مٰلِكِ يَومِ الدِّينِ [māliki yawmid dīn] – rather he should recite them jointly without a pause. So, if one wants to pronounce the kasra in mī [مِ], he should join that word with the next verse [arraḥīmi – māliki yawmid dīn].
    • when reciting a verse and not pronouncing the original vowel of the final letter of the word, and rather reciting it as a sukun [i.e. …arraḥīm – māliki yawmid dīn] then the recommended precaution is for one to pause between that word and the following verse, and he should not recite them jointly without a pause.