Hamzatul Wasl vs Qat': When to Say It and Which Vowel

Hamzatul wasl (همزة الوصل, the connecting hamza) is the alif at the start of a word that you pronounce only when you begin reading from that word. When you join it to the word before, it falls silent. Hamzatul qat' (همزة القطع, the cutting hamza) is the opposite: it is always pronounced, whether you start on it or join it.

Both look like an alif sitting at the front of a word, which is why beginners mix them up. You will also see the first one spelled hamzat al-wasl or called alif al-wasl. This guide shows you how to tell them apart in a Madani or an IndoPak mushaf, where hamzatul wasl appears, how to choose the right vowel when you start on one, and what happens to the sound when you join it to the word before.

What is the difference between hamzatul wasl and hamzatul qat'?

The difference between hamzatul wasl and hamzatul qat' is whether the hamza survives when you join the word to what comes before it. Arabic never begins a word on a letter with sukun (if the vowel marks are new to you, start with fatha, kasra, damma and sukun). A word like ٱهْدِنَا (guide us), whose first real letter ه has a sukun, needs a helper hamza with a vowel so that you can begin it. That helper is hamzatul wasl. Once you are already moving from the previous word, the helper is not needed, so it drops. Hamzatul qat' is a real letter of the word, so it never drops.

Al-Fatihah shows both kinds next to each other. In the fifth ayah, the hamza of إِيَّاكَ is a hamzatul qat', so you pronounce it both times, including after the و: wa iyyaka, never wayyaka.

The very next ayah opens with hamzatul wasl. If you start there, you say ihdina. If you read on from the end of 1:5 without stopping, the hamza and its vowel disappear and the n of نَسْتَعِينُ runs straight into the h: nasta'inu-hdina.

How do you spot hamzatul wasl in the mushaf?

You spot hamzatul wasl in a Madani (Uthmani) mushaf by a small curl, shaped like the head of the letter ص, sitting on top of the alif with no vowel. Hamzatul qat' carries the small hamza sign (ء) and its own vowel instead: on top of the alif for fatha and damma, underneath it for kasra. Sometimes a qat' is written as a free-standing ء, as in ءَامِنِينَ (15:46).

In an IndoPak mushaf

Many UK learners read from an IndoPak (South Asian) mushaf, which marks the two hamzas differently and uses no hamza sign at all. An alif with a vowel on it is pronounced, as in اِيَّاكَ and اَنْعَمْتَ. A bare alif with no vowel in the middle of an ayah is hamzatul wasl, as in الصِّرَاطَ and بِاسْمِ, and you pass over it. When an ayah begins with hamzatul wasl, the alif is printed with the vowel you start on, as in اِهْدِنَا.

The practical upshot: in an IndoPak mushaf you only need the vowel rules below when you begin in the middle of an ayah on a bare alif. In a Madani mushaf you need them every time you start on ٱ, including at the start of an ayah. Our guide to the symbols on the Qur'an page covers the other marks you will meet.

Where does hamzatul wasl appear in the Quran?

Hamzatul wasl appears in only four kinds of word, so once you know them you can treat every other hamza at the start of a word as qat'.

Every other hamza at the start of a word is hamzatul qat'. That includes ordinary nouns such as أَحَدٌ (112:1), particles such as إِنَّ and أَنْ, four-letter past verbs such as أَنْعَمْتَ (1:7), and the 'I' of the present tense, as in أَعُوذُ (113:1). In practice the mushaf already shows you which kind you are looking at. The list explains why, and it carries you through when you start mid-ayah in an IndoPak mushaf.

Which vowel do you start hamzatul wasl with?

You start hamzatul wasl with a fatha in al-, a kasra in nouns, and in verbs with a damma or a kasra depending on the third letter. Ibn al-Jazari set this out in his tajweed poem, al-Muqaddimah: begin with damma if the verb's third letter has a damma, with kasra if it has a kasra or a fatha, and with kasra in nouns other than al-. He then names the seven nouns one by one.

Exceptions: verbs with a borrowed damma

A small number of command verbs look as though they should start with damma but start with kasra. In ٱمْشُوا۟ (walk on, 38:6), ٱبْنُوا۟ (build, 18:21) and ٱقْضُوٓا۟ (carry it out, 10:71), the third letter carries a damma only because the plural ending ـُوا follows it. The verb's own vowel in that position is a kasra, so tajweed manuals tell you to begin with kasra: imshu, ibnu, iqdu.

What happens when you join hamzatul wasl to the word before?

When you join hamzatul wasl to the word before, you skip it completely and run the last sounded letter of the previous word into the next letter. What that sounds like depends on how the previous word ends.

The madd row catches out a lot of learners. The alif of ٱهْدِنَا is written, but because two vowelless letters would meet, it is not lengthened when you join: ihdinas, not ihdinaas. Surah al-'Alaq opens with a start and a join in a single line:

When you start this ayah you say iqra', with a kasra, because the third letter ر has a fatha. In the very next word, the wasl in بِٱسْمِ is silent because the ب before it already has a vowel, so it is bismi. Then ٱلَّذِى joins on in the same way: rabbika-lladhi khalaq. For the sukun case, look at the night prayer ayah in Surah al-Muzzammil:

The verb قُمْ (stand) ends in a sukun, and the next word starts with hamzatul wasl. Two sukuns cannot meet, so the م takes a kasra, and the mushaf prints it for you: qumil-layla. The same thing happens in قُلِ ٱللَّهُ (4:176). After the wasl drops, the laam of al- follows its own rule, sounded before moon letters and merged into sun letters, which our guide to sun and moon letters explains.

What are the most common mistakes with these two hamzas?

How can you practise hamzatul wasl and qat'?

Starting mid-ayah should only ever happen at a point where the meaning is complete, so pair this skill with our guide to waqf and ibtida, where to stop and start. And if you want someone to listen to your starts and joins, you can find a tajweed teacher of your choice on My Tijarah.