Children who learnt the Qaida carefully often read every vowel, even at the end of a verse. In recitation, stopping has its own rules.
The stopping rules
| Last letter has… | When stopping | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Fatha, kasra or damma | Becomes a sukoon | الْعَالَمِينَ → al-‘alamin |
| Kasratan or dammatan (tanween) | Dropped, sukoon | أَحَدٌ → ahad |
| Fathatan | Long “aa” | أَفْوَاجًا → afwaja |
| Ta marbuta (ة) | Becomes a soft “h” | الْقَارِعَةُ → al-qari‘ah |
Practise with Al-Fatihah
- الرَّحِيمِ → ar-rahim
- الْعَالَمِينَ → al-‘alamin
- الدِّينِ → ad-din
- نَسْتَعِينُ → nasta‘in
- الْمُسْتَقِيمَ → al-mustaqim
Your child recites Al-Fatihah many times a day, so fixing it here fixes it everywhere.
A 1-week fix
- Days 1–2: read Al-Fatihah verse by verse; pause and check each last word.
- Days 3–4: Juz Amma surahs your child knows, the same way.
- Days 5–7: full recitation; you raise a hand if a vowel is added.
Joining verses
If your child joins two verses without stopping, the vowel is read normally. Stopping at each verse end is easier and recommended for children.
Teacher’s tip: tell your child that the little circle with the verse number is a “stop sign”, and the last letter must “stop” too.
Related: Stopping signs in the Quran.
