Revisiting the Permissibility of Optional Waqf at Verses Engings/ Distances (Fawasil -e- Ayat)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

1. PhD in Islamic Studies, University of Quran and Hadith, and Graduate of Qom Seminary, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

Waqf idtirari (compulsory pause) is permissible at any position in Quranic recitation; however, waqf ikhtiyari (optional pause) is governed by the specific rules of waqf wa ibtida’ (pausing and resuming). Given that the Quran contains over 6,000 verses, the most common place for a waqf is at the end of verses, making the examination of the rules for pausing at the end of different types of verses particularly significant. When comparing the beginning of a verse to the end of the preceding verse, three categories of verses emerge: 1. Verses that are independent in both wording and meaning from the preceding verse. 2. Verses that are dependent on the preceding verse only in meaning. 3. Verses that are dependent on the preceding verse in both wording and meaning. It is unanimously agreed that pausing at the end of verses in the first and second categories, and resuming with the subsequent verse, is permissible. However, regarding the third category, there is a scholarly disagreement on whether an optional waqf is permissible at such verse endings. Furthermore, if such a waqf is permissible, what are the rules for resuming recitation afterward? Scholars have proposed four perspectives on the permissibility of waqf at the boundaries of verses in the third category. This article employs a descriptive-analytical method to address the aforementioned questions. After critically evaluating the arguments of these four perspectives, none were deemed conclusive. The findings indicate that the Sunnah does not explicitly prescribe pausing at the end of every verse. Nevertheless, considering that the end of verses is distinct from other Quranic phrases, an optional waqf at the end of verses in the first and second categories is desirable. For verses in the third category, optional waqf at their boundaries is permissible to demonstrate the Quran’s linguistic inimitability (i’jaz bayani) and rhythmic coherence.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. Qurān Karīm (The Holy Quran).
  2. ‘Awad Ṣāliḥ, ‘Abd al-Karīm Ibrāhīm, Al-Waqf wa al-Ibtidā’ wa Ṣilatuhumā bi-l-Ma’nā fī al-Qurān al-Karīm (Pause and Beginning and Their Connection to Meaning in the Holy Quran), 2nd Edition, Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 1429 AH (2008 CE).
  3. Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, Musnad Aḥmad (The Musnad of Aḥmad), Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, n.d.
  4. Ashmūnī, Aḥmad bin Moḥammad, Manār al-Hudā fī Bayān al-Waqf wa al-Ibtidā’ wa Ma’ah al-Maqṣad li-Talkhīṣ Mā fī al-Murshid (The Beacon of Guidance in Explaining the Pause and Beginning, and with it the Goal for Summarizing What is in the Guide), Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-’Ilmīyah, 1422 AH (2002 CE).
  5. Bayhaqī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad bin Ḥusayn, Shu’ab al-’Īmān (The Branches of Faith), Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-’Ilmīyah, 1410 AH (1990 CE).
  6. Dā’ās, Aḥmad ‘Ubayd and others, I’rāb al-Qurān al-Karīm (The Grammatical Parsing of the Noble Quran), Damascus: Dār al-Munīr and Dār al-Fārābī, 1425 AH (2005 CE).
  7. Dānī, Abū ‘Amr ‘Uthmān, Al-Muktāfī fī al-Waqf wa al-Ibtidā’ (The Adequate Guide in Pause and Beginning), Amman: Dār ‘Amr, 1422 AH (2002 CE).
  8. Darwīsh, Muḥyī al-Dīn, I’rāb al-Qurān wa Bayānuh (The Grammatical Parsing of the Quran and Its Explanation), 4th Edition, Syria: Dār al-Irshād, 1415 AH (1995 CE).
  9. Fakhr Rāzī, Moḥammad bin ‘Umar, Mafātiḥ al-Ghayb (The Keys to the Unseen), 3rd Edition, Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-’Arabī, 1420 AH (2000 CE).
  10. Ḥākim Nishāpūrī, Ḥāfiẓ Abū ‘Abdullah, Al-Mustadrak ‘Alā al-Ṣaḥīḥayn (The Supplement to the Two Ṣaḥīḥs), Beirut: Dār al-Ma’rifah, n.d.
  11. Ḥaṣrī, Maḥmūd, Ma’ālim al-Ihtidā’ ilā Ma’rifah al-Wuqūf wa al-Ibtidā’ (Landmarks of Guidance in Knowing Pauses and Beginnings), Cairo: Maktabah al-Sunnah, 1423 AH (2003 CE).
  12. Ḥaṣrī, Maḥmūd, Ma’ālim al-Ihtidā’ ilā Ma’rifah al-Wuqūf wa al-Ibtidā’ (he Landmarks of Guidance to the Knowledge of the Pause and the Start), Translated by Moḥammad ‘Īdī Khosrowshāhī, 3rd Edition, Tehran: Aswah, 1375 SH (1996 CE).
  13. Ḥijāzī, Moḥammad Maḥmūd, Al-Tafsīr al-Wāḍiḥ (The Clear Interpretation), Beirut: Dār al-Jīl al-Jadīd, 1413 AH (1993 CE).
  14. Ibn Anbārī, Abū Bakr Moḥammad bin Qāsim, Iẓāḥ al-Waqf wa al-Ibtidā’ fī Kitābullah ‘Azza wa Jall (Clarification of Pause and Beginning in the Book of Allah Almighty), Damascus: Majma’ al-Lughah al-’Arabīyah, 1391 AH (1971 CE).
  15. Ibn Hishām, ‘Abdullah bin Yūsuf, Mughni al-Labīb (The Sufficient Guide), 4th Edition, Qom: Kitābkhānah Ayatullāh Mar’ashī, n.d.
  16. Ibn Jazari, Abū al-Khayr Moḥammad, Al-Nashr fī al-Qirā’āt al-’Ashr (The Broadcast in the Ten Readings), Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-’Ilmīyah, n.d.
  17. Ibn Juzī, Abū al-Faraj ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, Funūn al-Afnān fī ‘Ajā’ib ‘Ulūm al-Qurān (The Arts of Branches in the Wonders of Quranic Sciences), Beirut: Mu’assasah al-Kutub al-Thaqāfīyah, 1422 AH (2002 CE).
  18. Ibn Naḥḥās, Abū Ja’far Aḥmad, Al-Qaṭ’ wa al-I’tilāf (The Cutting and Reconciliation), Dār ‘Ālam al-Kutub, 1413 AH (1993 CE).
  19. Javādī Āmulī, ‘Abdullah, Tasnīm, 21, Edited by Majīd Ḥaidarī Far, Qom: Markaz Nashr Isrā’, 1389 SH (2010 CE).
  20. Juraysī, Moḥammad Makī, Nihāyat al-Qawl al-Mufīd fī ‘Ilm Tajwīd al-Qurān (The Ultimate Useful Statement in the Science of Quranic Recitation), Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-’Ilmīyah, 1423 AH (2003 CE).
  21. Kūlaynī, Moḥammad bin Ya’qūb, Al-Kāfī (The Sufficient Source of Narrations), 4th Edition, Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah, 1407 AH (1987 CE).
  22. Ma’refat, Moḥammad Hādī, ‘Ulūm Qurānī (Quranic Sciences), 4th Edition, Qom: Mu’assasah Farhangī al-Tamhīd, 1381 SH (2002 CE).
  23. Māzandarānī, Moḥammad Ṣāliḥ, Sharḥ al-Kāfī (Commentary on al-Kāfī), 1 & 2, Tehran: al-Maktabah al-Islāmīyah, 1382 SH (2003 CE).
  24. Mīrshifī’ī, Zahra, Pāyān-Nāmah Arshad: Ta’thīr Waqf wa Ibtidā’ bar Ma’nā-yi Qurān (az Ibtidāyī Sūrat al-Isrā’ tā Antihāyī Sūrat al-Fāṭir) (Master’s Thesis: The Effect of Pause and Beginning on the Meaning of the Quran [from the beginning of Surah al-Isra to the end of Surah al-Fāṭir]), Isfahan: University of Isfahan, 1391 SH (2012 CE).
  25. Mu’addib, Sayyid Riḍā, I’jāz al-Qurān dar Naẓar Ahl al-Bayt (a) wa Bīst Nafar az ‘Ulāmā-yi Buzurg-i Islām (The Miraculous Nature of the Quran in the View of the Ahl al-Bayt and Twenty Scholars of Islam), Qom: Aḥsan al-Ḥadīth, 1379 SH (2000 CE).
  26. Mūsawī Hamadānī, Sayyid Moḥammad Bāqir, Tarjamah Tafsīr al-Mīzān (Translation of the Interpretation of al-Mīzān), 5th Edition, Qom: Daftar Intishārāt Islāmi-ye Jāmeh-ye Mudarrisīn Ḥawzah ‘Ilmīyah, 1374 SH (1995 CE).
  27. Muṣṭafá Khalīl, Ḥamdī ‘Abd al-Fattāḥ, Al-Wuqūf al-Lāzima fī al-Qurān al-Karīm wa ‘Alāqatihā bi-l-Ma’nā wa al-I’rāb (Necessary Pauses in the Noble Quran and Their Relation to Meaning and Grammar), Cairo: n.p., 1416 AH (1995 CE).
  28. Naḥḥās, Aḥmad bin Moḥammad, I’rāb al-Qurān (The Grammatical Parsing of the Quran), Beirut: Manšūrāt Moḥammad ‘Alī Bayḍūn, Dār al-Kutub al-’Ilmīyah, 1421 AH (2000 CE).
  29. Najjār, ‘Alī, Uṣūl wa Mabānī Tarjamah Qurān (Principles and Foundations of Quranic Translation), Rasht: Kitāb Mubīn, 1381 SH (2002 CE).
  30. Nowaīrī, Abū al-Qāsim Moḥammad, Sharḥ Ṭībah al-Nashr fī al-Qirā’āt (Commentary on the Tībah of Broadcasting in Readings), Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-’Ilmīyah, 1424 AH (2004 CE).
  31. Sādāt Fatīmī, Sayyid Jawād, Pajūhishī dar Waqf wa Ibtidā’ (A Research on Pause and Beginning), Mashhad: Bih Nashr, 1382 SH (2003 CE).
  32. Ṣāfī, Maḥmūd bin ‘Abd al-Raḥīm, Al-Jadwal fī I’rāb al-Qurān (The Table of Grammatical Parsing of the Quran), 4th Edition, Damascus: Dār al-Rashīd Mu’assasah al-’Īmān, 1418 AH (1998 CE).
  33. Sajāvandī, Abū ‘Abdullah Moḥammad, ‘Ilal al-Wuqūf (The Causes of Pauses), 2nd Edition, Riyadh: Maktabah al-Rushd Nāshirūn, 1427 AH (2007 CE).
  34. Shākir, Moḥammad Kāẓim, Qawā’id Waqf wa Ibtidā’ fī Qurā’ah al-Qurān (Rules of Pause and Beginning in Quranic Recitation), 3rd Edition, Qom: Būsṭān Kitāb, 1381 SH (2002 CE).
  35. Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn, Al-Ittiqān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qurān (The Perfection in the Sciences of the Quran), 2nd Edition, Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-’Arabī, 1421 AH (2001 CE).
  36. Ṭabarsī, Faḍl bin Ḥasan, Majma’ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān (The Comprehensive Commentary in the Interpretation of the Quran), 3rd Edition, Tehran: Intishārāt Nāṣir Khosrow, 1372 SH (1993 CE).
  37. Ṭabarsī, Faḍl bin Ḥasan, Majma’ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān (The Collection of Clarifications in the Exegesis of the Quran), 1, Beirut: Maktabah Dār al-Mujtaba, 1430 AH (2009 CE).
  38. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Sayyid Moḥammad Ḥusayn, Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān (The Balance in the Interpretation of the Quran), 5th Edition, Qom: Daftar Intishārāt Islāmi-ye Jāmeh-ye Mudarrisīn Ḥawzah ‘Ilmīyah, 1417 AH (1997 CE).
  39. Ṭūsī, Moḥammad bin Ḥasan, Al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān (The Clarification in the Interpretation of the Quran), Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-’Arabī, n.d.
  40. Zakarīyā al-’Abd, Firyāl, Al-Mīzān fī Aḥkām Tajwīd al-Qurān (The Balance in the Rules of Quranic Recitation), Cairo: Dār al-’Īmān, n.d.
  41. Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd, Al-Kashāf ‘An Ḥaqā’iq Ghawāmid al-Tanzīl (The Revealer of the Secrets of the Unveiling of the Quran), 3rd Edition, Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-’Arabī, 1407 AH (1987 CE).
  42. Zarkashī, Moḥammad bin ‘Abdullah, Al-Burhān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qurān (The Proof in the Sciences of the Quran), Beirut: Dār al-Ma’rifah, 1410 AH (1990 CE).

 

 

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 13 August 2023
  • Revise Date: 13 January 2024
  • Accept Date: 14 May 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics