Question

Asalaam alikum:

I was told that it is the sunnah to read the koran and when you run out of  breath and stop on a word you should go back to complete the thought of the ayat. Since Arabic is not my native language, I find that rather difficult.  Are there some tips you can give for running out breath and then continuing the ayat with the complete thought?

Thank you.

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.

It is sometimes necessary to go back a few words when you run out of breath and stop, to convey the correct meaning, and other times, it may be allowed to go on from the point you stopped.  Sometimes it is absolutely necessary to go back a few words, depending on the meaning.  The study of stops and starts depends greatly on a good understanding of Arabic, and the meaning of the aayah or phrase.  It is not necessary that each aayah is completed this way, but each grammatical phrase should be completed by either reciting it in one breath, or stopping taking a breath and going back a few words, taking care to start back up on a word that does not change the meaning. 

The stop marks in the Medinah Press copy of the Qur'an are all places where it is allowed to stop, outside when a small  is over the word.  When there is a small  over a word, we must avoid stopping on that word. 

There is a good translation of the meaning of the Qur'an that would be a good assistance to you, since the English placement of words corresponds a great deal to the same Arabic meaning. This way you can read through the explanation of the meaning and pick out a good place to stop, and go back a few words, when practicing at home.  This translation of the meaning is put out by Saheeh International, and is available in many online Islamic stores. 

We can only give a few pointers, since it is difficult to give general rules.  One thing to avoid is to pick up the words of the disbelievers without going back to the phrase indicating that the disbelievers are talking, for example, starting on what comes after , without including the words.  If ones starts after that without including the phrase indicating the speakers, the believer then recites the statement of the disbelievers and it sounds as if it is his or Allah's statement.  This is not allowed at all.     

Another thing to try and do is pick out phrases that are complete in themselves, stop, then take a breath and go back a few words.  In aayah 4 of surah Muhammad (we use this surah as an example since it was in the subject of your question), there are many places we can stop and take a breath, then go back a few words:

The first place on can stop and take a breath is on the phrase  , after the breath the reciter can pick up the two words again and continue on. 

Another place that the reciter can stop is .  After taking a breath the same two words can be recited again, then the phrase continued.

 The marked stop:  should be stopped on, and there is no need to go back a few words, in fact it is better not to go back a few words when continuing after the stop.  If one cannot read from the phrase  to the stop here, one can stop on the words .  The reader will then need to go back a few words before continuing to the stop on the word . 

There is another marked stop on the word  and of course, it is sunnah to stop at the end of the aayah.

 The study of stopping and starting is indeed a difficult one for those not proficient in Arabic, but a good translation of the meaning of the Qur'an can help a great deal.  It is always better to plan out the stops by studying the meaning of the aayaat first, and finding an appropriate place to stop on, keeping in consideration your specific breath control.

 Please also see the lessons on al-waqf  (stops) and beginnings located here and here.