| Sign | Meaning | Times |
|---|---|---|
| ـۘ | Waqf lazim Stop here. Joining on would change or confuse the meaning. | 22 |
| ـۗ | Al-waqf awla (qili) Stopping is better, though you may carry on. | 603 |
| ـۚ | Waqf ja'iz You may stop or carry on; both are equal. | 1972 |
| ـۖ | Al-wasl awla (sala) Carrying on is better, though you may stop. | 1682 |
| ـۛ | Mu'anaqah (embracing) Two sets of three dots close together. Stop at one of them, not at both. | 12 |
| ـۙ | La (do not stop) Do not stop here. If you run out of breath, go back a word or two and join. | 68 |
| ـۜ | Saktah A short pause without taking a breath, then carry on. | 7 |
Stopping signs in the Quran, what each waqf mark means
The small marks above the line of the mushaf tell you where you must stop, where you may, and where you should not. Here is each one with a real ayah to listen to.
The waqf signs at a glance
As printed in the Madinah mushaf, with how many times each appears in its text.
Each sign in an ayah
For each sign, the shortest ayah that carries it.
Waqf lazim
مـStop here. Joining on would change or confuse the meaning. It appears 22 times in the Madinah mushaf text used here.
فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ ۘ يَوْمَ يَدْعُ ٱلدَّاعِ إِلَىٰ شَىْءٍۢ نُّكُرٍ ﴿٦﴾
Al-waqf awla (qili)
قلىStopping is better, though you may carry on. It appears 603 times in the Madinah mushaf text used here.
وَبِٱلَّيْلِ ۗ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ ﴿١٣٨﴾
Waqf ja'iz
جYou may stop or carry on; both are equal. It appears 1972 times in the Madinah mushaf text used here.
قٓ ۚ وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ٱلْمَجِيدِ ﴿١﴾
Al-wasl awla (sala)
صلىCarrying on is better, though you may stop. It appears 1682 times in the Madinah mushaf text used here.
كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّهَا لَظَىٰ ﴿١٥﴾
Mu'anaqah (embracing)
∴ ∴Two sets of three dots close together. Stop at one of them, not at both. It appears 12 times in the Madinah mushaf text used here.
ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًۭى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ ﴿٢﴾
La (do not stop)
لاDo not stop here. If you run out of breath, go back a word or two and join. It appears 68 times in the Madinah mushaf text used here.
إِلَّا ٱمْرَأَتَهُۥ قَدَّرْنَآ ۙ إِنَّهَا لَمِنَ ٱلْغَٰبِرِينَ ﴿٦٠﴾
Saktah
سA short pause without taking a breath, then carry on. It appears 7 times in the Madinah mushaf text used here.
وَقِيلَ مَنْ ۜ رَاقٍۢ ﴿٢٧﴾
Every example is cut from the Uthmani text (Tanzil) and coloured here. Press ▶ to hear the whole ayah recited by Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary, via EveryAyah. This lesson is part of the tajweed rules.
Guide
How to use the stopping signs, and how to stop well
Stopping signs in the Quran (alamat al-waqf) are small marks printed above the words. They were added by scholars to help readers stop where the meaning is complete and avoid stopping where it would mislead. The end of every ayah, the circle with a number, is also a place where you may always stop. The signs themselves are not part of the revealed text, and they differ between printings.
The two that matter most
If you learn only two signs, learn these. Waqf lazim (ۘ) means you must stop, because joining would join two ideas wrongly: in إِنَّمَا يَسْتَجِيبُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَسْمَعُونَ ۘ وَٱلْمَوْتَىٰ يَبْعَثُهُمُ ٱللَّهُ (6:36), carrying on would make “the dead” among those who listen. La (ۙ) means do not stop, because the sentence is not finished.
Saktah, a pause without breath
In the recitation of Hafs through ash-Shatibiyyah there are four places where you must make a saktah, a short silent pause without taking a breath: 18:1 (between ʿiwajā and qayyimā), 36:52 (after marqadinā), 75:27 (after man) and 83:14 (after bal). The mushaf text also marks a saktah in 69:28 (after māliyah), where the reciter may pause or merge. The same small sin appears over a ṣad in 2:245 and 7:69, but there it means something else: read that ṣad as a sin.
How to stop on a word
- The last vowel is dropped and the letter is read with sukun: al-ʿālamīn, not al-ʿālamīna.
- Tanween with fatha becomes a long ā: tawwābā.
- A ta marbutah (ة) becomes a ha: al-qāriʿah is stopped as al-qāriʿah, with a soft h.
- If a madd letter comes before the last letter, the madd may be held 2, 4 or 6 counts. See madd.
- Stopping on a qalqalah letter gives it a stronger bounce. See qalqalah.
Starting again
After a stop, start again from a word that makes sense on its own. If you stopped where you should not have, go back and begin from the start of the phrase. Never start on a word that changes the meaning when cut from what came before.
Signs in the Indo-Pak mushaf
Mushafs printed in South Asia use a different, fuller set of marks. The common ones are:
| Sign | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| م | Lazim | Must stop. |
| ط | Mutlaq | Stop; the meaning is complete. |
| ج | Ja'iz | Stopping is allowed and better. |
| ز | Mujawwaz | Stopping is allowed; carrying on is better. |
| ص | Murakhkhas | Carry on; stop only if out of breath. |
| صلے | Al-wasl awla | Carrying on is better. |
| قف | Qif | Stop. |
| لا | La | Do not stop, except at the end of an ayah. |
| س / سكتة | Saktah | A short pause without a breath. |
| وقفة | Waqfah | A slightly longer pause without a breath. |
| ع | Ruku' | Marks the end of a section (ruku'), not a stop. |
If your mushaf is a different print, its last pages usually explain its own signs.
- Ibn al-Jazari, al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah, the verses on waqf and ibtida', and an-Nashr fi al-Qira'at al-Ashr.
- The signs and their meanings as given in the Madinah mushaf (King Fahd Complex), whose text is the Tanzil Uthmani text used here. Counts are from that text.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Questions
Good to know
What does the small meem mean in the Quran?
It is waqf lazim: you must stop there, because carrying on would change the meaning.
What does لا mean above a word in the Quran?
Do not stop here. If you have to, go back a word or two and join. At the end of an ayah you may still stop.
What are the three dots in the Quran?
Mu'anaqah, the embracing stop. They come in two sets close together: stop at one of them, but not at both.
What does ج mean in the Quran?
Waqf ja'iz: stopping and carrying on are both fine.
Is it a sin to ignore the stopping signs?
The signs are scholarly guidance, not revelation, so missing one is not a sin in itself. But stopping or starting in a way that changes the meaning on purpose is a serious error, so follow them.
Not answered here? Ask our team.