Its language definition: Forbiddance

Its applied definition: Cutting off the sound for a time less than the time of a stop, without breathing, with intention of returning to the recitation immediately. 

Places that has a

It has been related that  would stop gently without breathing while in the state of continuing his recitation in four places of the revelation.  It is required (waajib) for the reader reciting the Qur'an by the way of Hafs 'an 'Aasim min tareeq Ash-Shatibiyyah to do all of these as long as he/she is reading the two words that have a in between them in continuum.  If the reader stops between the two words (which is allowed in al-Kahf and Ya seen), then the would not be employed, since it is now a stop.  All of these saktaat of Hafs are transmitted by a sound chain of transmission from the Prophet, .  They are often referred to as the saktaat of Hafs because they are unique to the way of recitation made famous by Imam Hafs.

1.  The first  , which as defined is a short breathless stop, is made on the alif substituted in place of the tanween in the word , at the beginning of surah al-Kahf, when joining the first aayah with the next one , then would read .   This doesn’t mean that it is not allowed to stop on the word since it is the end of an aayah. If one stops though, there would be no . 

2.  There is also a  after the word , in aayah 52 of surah YaSeen    
  when the reader joins it  with the next phrase without stopping.  It is allowed to stop on the word  , then there obviously would be no . 

3.  There is also a in the recitation of on the word , in aayah 27 of surah al-qiyaamah,  ; after the sakt,  the recitation continues with the word .  There is  , since the  prevents the letters from meeting, and therefore there is no .  Click here to listen to this saktof the noon saakinah in the word

4.   also has a  on the  of the word  with  of the  because again, the  prevents the two letters from meeting so there is no  in aayah 14 of surah al-Muttafifeen.  After the sakt,  then recites the next word . Click here to listen to this sakt.

NOTE: These four are required when reading these words in continuum with what follows, when reciting by the Shatabiyyah way of Hafs.

There are two allowed () sakt in two different places in the Qur’an.  These two sakt are not specific to the recitation of Hafs, but are allowed in the other ways of recitation also.  These "allowed" saktaat means there is more than one allowed way of reading in these places.

    1.  The first allowed  is between the end of surah al-Anfaal, and the beginning of surah at-Tawbah when joining the end of al-Anfaal with the beginning of surah at-Tawbah.  The allowed  is on the  of the word  then the recitation continues with .  Again, there are other allowed ways of joining these two surahs.

      2. The second allowed  is on the word , in verse 28 of surah al-Haaqqah when continuing with the next aayah .  We previously studied that there is another allowed way of reading when joining these two aayat, that is idghaam of the first saakinah letter  of the word  into the voweled  of the word  .  Both of theses two ways of joining these two aayat are allowable.

NOTE: There is a small  above the words indicating the place of  in the Glorious  Qur’an.