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The letter Hamzah (ء)

There are two types of hamzah that appear in the Qur'an. Both are read and treated differently

Hamza tul Wasl Hamza tul Qat'a

 

  • Sign in Qur'an is ء
  • May appear anywhere within a word.
  • It is always pronounced
 
  • Sign in the Qur'an is ٱ
  • Appears only at the beginning of a word.
  • Pronounced only if there is no letter before it.
 
 

 

Hamza tul Wasl (ﳘﺰة اﻟﻮﺻﻞ)

  • It occurs only at the beginning of the word.
  • It occurs without any harakah (vowel) on it.
  • It is written as ٱ
  • It can be pronounced or skipped
Pronounced   Skipped
If the reader starts reading from the word starting with hamza tul wasl, then it should be pronounced.   If the reader connects the word which begins with hamza tul wasl with the letter preceding it, this letter is directly connected to the letter following hamza tul wasl.

 

  • Hamza tul wasl will be assigned with a dammah, if the 3rd letter of the verb carries a dammah.
3rd Letter Hamza tul Wasl Extract from Verse Surah : Verse  
Dammah Dammah 7:55
Dammah Dammah 12:9

 

  • Exceptional cases. The following words are the only verbs in the Qur'an where the 3rd letter carries a dammah but a kasrah is assigned to the hamza tul wasl (if he starts reading with it) :
ٱﻣﻀﻮا
ٱﻣﺸﻮا
ٱﺑﻨﻮا
ٱﻗﻀﻮا
ٱﺋْﺘُﻮا

 

  • Hamza tul wasl will be assigned with a kasrah, if the 3rd letter of the verb carries a fattah or kasrah.
3rd Letter Hamza tul Wasl Extract from Verse Surah : Verse  
Fattah Kasrah 9:9
Kasrah Kasrah 1:6

Click here to view a printable chart depicting the rules on pronouncing Hamza tul Wasl

Click here to view a printable chart summarizing the rules of Hamza tul Wasl

Click 'here' to view practice exercises for the rules of Hamza tul Wasl

 

Hamza tul Qat'a (ﳘﺰة اﻟﻘﻄﻊ)

The letter Hamzah appears in many different forms in the Arabic language, but pronounced the same

E.g إ أ ئ ٶ ء

Note that the Alif and Hamzah are 2 different letters. The letter Alif in the Arabic language is always free from any type of harakah. If an Alif seems to have a harakah, then in actual fact it is a Hamzah

Points relating to the letter Hamzah

  1. When pronouncing a Hamzah that carries a sukoon , care should be taken that it is pronounced correctly. Failing to do so may change it into a Waw , Ya or an Alif

 
E.g (104:8)   may sound as

 

 

E.g (2:58)   may sound as

 

E.g (21:61)   may sound as

 

  1. When there appear 2 Hamzahs together, ensure both are pronounced distinctively
E.g (79:27)
E.g (21:62)

 

  1. Where the letters Hamzah and Aeyn appear together, ensure that both are differentiated clearly
E.g (114:1)

E.g

 (99:6)
E.g (21.81)

  

 
Click 'here' to view practice exercises for the rules of Hamza tul Qat'a

 

 
 

 

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