Tajweed and marks
The reader colours letters by Tajweed rule and leaves the source's pause marks in place. This page explains every colour and every symbol, so nothing on the page is unexplained.
Highlights
When Tajweed is on, letters that carry a rule are coloured and given a dotted underline in the same colour, so the marking does not rely on colour alone. The rule names below are interface aids for the annotation supplied with the text; the letters themselves are always the original source characters.
- Hamzat al-WaslConnecting hamzah, normally elided when reading continues.
- Madd · 2 countsNatural elongation held for two counts.
- Madd · 2, 4 or 6Elongation whose length depends on the reading context.
- Madd · 6 countsNecessary elongation held for six counts.
- Madd MunfasilSeparated elongation across a word boundary.
- Madd MuttasilConnected elongation within a single word.
- IkhfaPartial nasal concealment of a noon or tanween.
- Ikhfa ShafawiLabial concealment of a meem before baa.
- GhunnahNasal resonance on a doubled noon or meem.
- Idghaam with GhunnahMerging with nasal resonance.
- Idghaam without GhunnahMerging without nasal resonance.
- Idghaam ShafawiLabial merging of a meem.
- Idghaam MutajanisaynMerging of letters that share a point of articulation.
- Idghaam MutaqaribaynMerging of letters with nearby articulation points.
- IqlabConversion of noon or tanween to a meem sound.
- QalqalahEchoing articulation of a quiet letter.
- Lam ShamsiyyahAssimilated solar lam, not pronounced.
- SilentA letter the source marks as not pronounced.
Highlighting can be turned off at any time from the reader, or from Settings. Where the source annotation does not align with a verse, that verse is shown as plain text and labelled — the app does not guess.
Signs in the text
These are printed characters in the Uthmani text, not interface buttons. They tell a reciter how to carry the sentence, divide the passage, or where to prostrate.
- Wasl awlāالوصل أولىContinuing is preferred. Stopping is allowed, but it is the lesser choice.
- Waqf awlāالوقف أولىStopping is preferred. Continuing is allowed, but it is the lesser choice.
- Waqf lāzimالوقف اللازمA stop is necessary here: running on would join two statements in a way that changes the meaning.
- Lā waqfلاDo not stop at this point. The sentence carries straight on, and pausing here would break it.
- Waqf jā'izالوقف الجائزAn open choice: stopping and continuing are equally acceptable.
- Mu'ānaqahالمعانقةThese appear in pairs around a phrase. Stop at one of the two signs, never at both.
- SaktahالسكتةA brief silence with the breath held, then continue. It is shorter than a stop.
- Rub' al-ḥizbربع الحزبA division of the text — one quarter of a hizb — not an instruction to pause or continue.
- Sajdahسجدة التلاوةA verse of prostration (sajdat al-tilāwah). When reciting, a single prostration is recommended at this point. There are 15 in this text, listed on this page.
Pause signs are guidance for recitation, and schools of recitation differ in detail; follow the teaching you are studying with. Al-A'raf 7:206 is the prostration mark at the end of a surah — the last sign in the last verse.
The fifteen prostration verses
Each reference below ends with the prostration sign in this text.
Small marks
The smallest signs belong to the spelling of the Uthmani text rather than to the pause system. They are not instructions to the reader.
- Small zeroMarks a letter that is written in the Uthmani spelling but not sounded when the verse is recited continuously.
- Small waw and yehA written sign with no sound of its own; it belongs to the spelling of the word, not to the pause rules.
- Small meemPlaced above a noon or tanween to mark iqlab, where the sound becomes a meem.
A note on certainty
Meanings here follow the conventional Madani Mushaf reading. They are a reading aid, not a ruling: for worship and study, verify against a printed Mushaf and the teaching you follow. If a symbol is unexplained, or a highlight looks wrong, please write to hello@mushafly.com.