The letter Hamzah ( ) ‫ء‬

There are two types of hamzah that appear in the Qur'an. Both are read and treated differently

#$
• Sign in Qur'an is ‫ء‬ • Sign in the Qur'an is

• Appears only at the beginning of a

• May appear anywhere within a
word.
word.
• Pronounced only if there is no letter
• It is always pronounced
before it.
Hamza tul Wasl ( ‫ﻞﺻﻮﻟة ااﺰﳘ‬
‫ﺰﳘ‬ ‫)ﻞﺻﻮﻟة‬
• It occurs only at the beginning of the word.
•

• It is written as
#$
It occurs without any harakah (vowel) on it.

• It can be pronounced or skipped

Pronounced Skipped

If the reader connects the word which begins

If the reader starts reading from the word
with hamza tul wasl with the letter preceding it,
starting with hamza tul wasl, then it should be
this letter is directly connected to the letter
pronounced.
following hamza tul wasl.

• Hamza tul wasl will be assigned with a dammah, if the 3rd letter of the verb carries a
dammah.

Surah
3rd Letter Hamza tul Wasl Extract from Verse :
Verse

Dammah Dammah 7:55

Dammah Dammah 12:9

• Exceptional cases. The following words are the only verbs in the Qur'an where the 3rd
letter carries a dammah but a kasrah is assigned to the hamza tul wasl (if he starts
reading with it) :

# # # # #
‫ﻣﻀﻮ‬$ ‫ﻣﺸﻮ ا‬$ ‫ﺑﻨﻮ ا‬$ ‫ﻗﻀﻮ ا‬$ ‫ ا‬$‫اﺋْﺘُﻮ‬
• Hamza tul wasl will be assigned with a kasrah, if the 3rd letter of the verb carries a fathah
or kasrah.

Surah
3rd Letter Hamza tul Wasl Extract from Verse :
Verse

fathah Kasrah 9:9

Kasrah Kasrah 1:6

Hamza tul Qat'a ( ‫ﻊﻄﻘﻟة ااﺰﳘ‬
‫ﺰﳘ‬ ‫)ﻊﻄﻘﻟة‬
The letter Hamzah appears in many different forms in the Arabic language, but pronounced the
same

E.g ‫ ٕا‬$ٔ ‫ء ٶ ئ‬
Note that the Alif and Hamzah are 2 different letters. The letter Alif in the Arabic language is
always free from any type of harakah. If an Alif seems to have a harakah, then in actual fact it is a
Hamzah

Points relating to the letter Hamzah

1. When pronouncing a Hamzah that carries a sukoon , care should be taken that it is

pronounced correctly. Failing to do so may change it into a Waw , Ya or an Alif

may sound
E.g (104:8)
as

E.g (2:58) may sound as

E.g (21:61) may sound as

2. When there appear 2 Hamzahs together, ensure both are pronounced distinctively

E.g (79:27)

E.g (21:62)

3. Where the letters Hamzah and Aeyn appear together, ensure that both are
differentiated clearly

E.g (114:1)

E.g (99:6)

E.g (21.81)