Question

Assalamou Aleikum,

Thanks again for replying to my question about the letter miim and nuun. The lessons that you provide are not only interesting, but very helpful.

I have a couple of questions I would like to mention inshallah.

 1. The first question concerns the "stopping at a word that contains the letter taa". In Surah 66 (At-tahrim) verse 5 for example, when the reader stopped (for a short moment) at the word "Muslimatin", he pronounced the sound of the letter taa by saying: "Muslimat". However, on verse 6 of the same surah (66), when he stopped (for a short moment) at the word "Malaa ikatun" ,  he did not pronounce the sound of the letter taa and therefore read : "Malaa ika"

Would you please explain why he did so?

2. This question concerns words in Hafs and Warsh. In surah As-Shams (91) verse 15, for example, in Hafs, it is written "Wa la yakhaafu..."  But in Warsh, it is written "Fala yakhaafu..."

Since the letter "Waaw" and "Faa" are different, may this difference change or distort the meaning of the sentence? 

May Allah help you in finding the answers of those questions inshallah. 

Ma Salam

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.  You are most welcome.

There are two different letters in question, one the regular  also called , or open , the other letter looks like or and is called , or female .  The first letter  is pronounced as a ta’ when stopping or continuing.  The second letter which looks like or  is pronounced as a  saakinah when stopping and as a  when continuing.  So the sound on the end of the word is a .  This is the reason you heard two different pronunciations on the two different words. 

The conjunctive letters  and  are sometimes similar in meaning, and sometimes have the exact same meaning. Sometimes both mean “and”, sometimes both mean “then” although we usually think of  being “and” and  being “then.”  The reading of Warsh with the  in the aayah in question does not at all corrupt the meaning, but there is no rule that the reading of a word by one way of recitation has to mean the exact same as another.  The conditions for a qira’ah to be accepted are as stated in our answer to a question we received on the different ways of recitation: http://www.abouttajweed.com/110403.htm

a)   The reading should agree with the Arabic language, if only by one manner.
b)    The reading should agree with the writing of one of the ‘Uthmaani copies of the Qur’an, even if only by probability or approximation.
c) The reading should have a correct sanad (transmission chain).

The letters  and  are considered to agree in writing if only by approximation.

Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatu Allah.