The Sakt of Ḥafṣ in the Qurʾān: A Syntactic and Semantic Study

Abstract

This study examines a specific type of pause in the Qurʾān, namely the sakt of Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān. Four saktāt transmitted from Imām Ḥafṣ through the Shāṭibiyyah have been identified. They occur in the following verses:
(“Praise be to Allah, who has sent down upon His servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance — (1) Straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him, and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward”) (al-Kahf 1–2);
(“And [mention] the Day when He will say, ‘Call My partners whom you claimed [to be so].’ Then they will call them, but they will not respond to them; and We shall place between them a barrier of destruction.”) (al-Kahf 52);
(“And it will be said, ‘Who is an enchanter [to save him]?’”) (al-Qiyāmah 27);
and
(“No! Indeed, from their Lord, that Day, they will be partitioned.”) (al-Muṭaffifīn 15).

Al-Shāṭibī gathered the saktāt of Ḥafṣ in Ḥirz al-Amānī wa-Wajh al-Tahānī, where he states:

“And a gentle pause, without a full stop, is observed by Ḥafṣ
On the alif of tanwīn in ‘ʿiwajan balā’
And on the nūn of ‘man rāq’ and (on) ‘marqadinā’ and
In ‘bal rāna’; the rest maintain continuous recitation.”
(al-Shāṭibiyyah, verse 66)

This study addresses the grammatical, semantic, and linguistic dimensions of these four saktāt. It begins with an introductory section on Imām Ḥafṣ, followed by a clarification of the concepts of waqf and sakt, and then proceeds to analyze the Qurʾānic contexts in which the sakt of Ḥafṣ occurs.