Question:
Assalmu alakum,
If Google “Wahhabi Printed Quran” MSH warns us about improper pauses. Unfortunately all reciters I know seem to pause between first three ayahs of ch. 1 Could you please suggest me some wahhabi-untampered resources for stops, or reciters? jzkh
Answer:
Waalaykumussalam warahmatullah.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was referring to the waqf tamm (pause of completed meaning) inside the Fatiha. Such pauses were numbered at four by the Quranic masters of Kufa: (1) Basmala; (2) al-din; (3) nasta`in; and (4) al-dallin. (The masters of Medina and Basra have only the latter three pauses because they did not count the Basmala.) This is mentioned in al-Ushmuni’s (d. 1100) Manar al-Huda fil-Waqf wal-Ibtida, an authoritative textbook in the discipline of Quranic recitational pauses. Likewise in al-Sajawandi’s (d. 560) `Ilal al-Wuquf (al-Rushd ed. 1:171-172). Mawlana’s main teacher in Homs, Shaykh `Abd al-`Aziz `Uyun al-Sud, recited the Fatiha in Salat with the above pauses.
Printed mushafs from the 1850s onwards generally contained these specific waqf tamm pause marks inside the Fatiha. The pause marks inside the Fatiha that can still be seen today in Turkish mushafs, Indian Subcontinent mushafs, North African mushafs, and the oldest southeast Asian mushafs and Quranic manuscripts, follow this style. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was angry that that was changed in some Arab countries (mostly Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia) under what he considered to be Wahhabi influence. I have witnessed the very same reaction from him firsthand.
It is agreed upon that such marks are not part of the revelation. They are inexistent in the earliest mushaf manuscripts. They were inferred in later times from what was assessed to coincide with the continuation or termination of meanings within a Quranic clause/statement. The latter may coincide with the end of the Aya, just as it may not. In the latter case the clause/statement continues beyond the end of the Aya into the next Aya or more. For example in Surat Kafirun, there is only one single waqf tamm according to meaning. Accordingly one recites without pause from the word {Qul}, pausing only just before the very last verse.
There are, however, many “ja’iz (permitted) hasan (beautiful) pauses,” defined as “pauses where you may stop but, when resuming, it is not beautiful to continue from the next word because of its ta`alluq (hinging) on what precedes it” (al-Dani d. 444, al-Muktafa fil-Waqf wal-Ibtida). So, when resuming, one must backtrack and reiterate the phrase where one had paused. In the Fatiha, there are six such additional hasan pauses. Al-Ushmuni lists the six hasan pauses in the Fatiha as: (1) al-hamdu lillah; (2) al-`alamin; (3) al-rahim; (4) na`bud; (5) al-mustaqim; (6) an`amta `alayhim.
Additionally, there is also agreement that stopping at the end of each of the verses of the Fatiha and then continuing without backtracking is also a correct way of recitation because the Holy Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) would deliberately pause at the end of each of the verses of the Fatiha and then continue with the next verse when reciting it out loud. This is specifically narrated from the Mother of the Believers Umm Salama (Allah be well-pleased with her) with sound chains by al-Hakim and others. This verse-by-verse recitational option applies to the entire mushaf.
And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
