We take a brief break from the lessons on stopping on the end of a word to put forth the lesson on , or stealing of a vowel, since it is often compared with . 

The applied tajweed definition of   is:  It is snatching the vowel quickly so that a little departs (of the vowel count) and more remains.

 It is also called  (hiding) by scholars. The scholars have determined that what remains of the vowel count is two-thirds, and one-third has been removed, or stolen.  There is only one place in the Qur'an where Hafs 'an 'Aasim has the possibility of reading a vowel with  : that is when reading the word  in aayah 11 of surah Yusef (surah 12) with one of the two allowed ways, one being with  and an ith-haar of the two , the first with a dhammah (with ikhtilaas of the vowel) and the second with a fat-h; recited as: .  The written shaddah over the letter  represents two letters, and Hafs 'an 'Aasim reads this word either with idghaam of the two  into each other with  of the two lips, or with  of both  with  of the dhammah on the first  .

Both  and  share the characteristic of dividing the vowel, meaning removal of part of it, and leaving the other part of it.  The following table summarizes the differences between and .