Question

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakat. May you be in the best state of health and imaan, ameen.

I request your advice with regards to the following reference:

Surah:Ghaashiyah [88]     Ayah:22 in this ayah on the last word; , I have told by my Tajweed sheikh that it is preferable to recite this kalima as Seen rather than Saad, because the small Seen is on top of the Saad in the kalima.
I have a summarized version of the Tafsir Ibn Kathir, [part 30] Translated by Habib Badr, Publishers: Dar-us-Salaam; and in this Tafseer the small Seen is below the Saad, which makes it preferable to be recited as Saad.
I have checked this kalima in the South African [Qur'aan text] and the small Seen appears above the Saad. In the Uthmani Script [Qur'aan text] there is no indication of the small Seen either above or below the Saad. Could you please confirm which is preferable and correct to do.

Jazakhallahu khair. Your help is much appreciated.
May Allah(swt) shower His(swt) blessings upon you and your family and give you every sucess in this life and the Hereafter, ameen.
Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakat

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.  May Allah reward you greatly for your wonderful dua' and give you what you asked for us and more. 

The word  in aayah 22 of surah Al-Ghaashiyah is a special word.  Hafs 'an 'Aasim has special rules for how this word is pronounced.  The word in question is pronounced with the letter  by Hafs 'an 'Aasim min tareeq ash-Shaatibiyyah.  This is the tareeq that the vast majority of Muslims in the world read, and most likely the way that you are being taught.

There are in Hafs min tareeq at-tayyibah ways that read it with a , but it would be very unlikely that you are being taught by one of those ways.

In the 10 qira'aat, only two readers (Hishaam and Khalaf 'an Hamzah) exclusively read this word with a .  Khallaad 'an Hamzah has two allowable ways of reading this word, one of these two allowable ways is with a  .

In conclusion, the word  is read exclusively with a  when reciting by the way of Hafs 'an ' Aasim by the way of Ash-Shatibiyyah.  

May Allah make easy for you the study of the Qur'an and tajweed, and make you "ahl al-Qur'an".  Ameen.

Wa iyyakum wa-l-muslimeen.

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.