A detailed explanation of Noon Qutni in the Quraan

In brief: the Noon qutni is a noon with a kasrah/zer under it. It occurs when a word ending
tanween is followed by a word starting with hamzatul wasl. To prevent two saakin letters
from meeting between words the noon of the tanween aquires a kasrah. When a person is
continuing their recitation the noon qutni must be read. It is a major mistake to leave it. If a
person stops on a word ending in a tanween they apply the normal tajweed rules for stopping,
and the noon qutni is not read.
What follows is a more detailed explanation:
The Tanween this is two fat-hahs (or two zabars) together, one on top of the other (called
tanween fat-hah or fat-hah tain or do zabar), two dhammahs together (or two peshs), one on
top of the other or next to each other (called tanween dhammah or dhammah tain or do pesh),
or two kasrahs (or two zers) together one on top of the other (called tanween kasrah or kasrah
tain or do zer). When the tanween is seen on or under a letter it means a noon saakinah is
added on to that letter. The second vowel/mark represents the noon saakinah. It is read by
placing a noon saakinah after the letter it sits on (or under) and reciting the vowel on that
letter.
For example:

is read as

(an).

If the letter following the tanween is a hamzatul wasl and we are continuing the recitation
(i.e. not stopping, even for a breath) the hamzatul wasl is dropped (as it always is when we
continue the recitation) and the noon saakinah of the tanween acquires a kasrah and joins to
the saakin letter of the next word, because two saakin letters are not allowed to be next to
each other between two words in Arabic. This noon with a kasrah is called noon qutni.
The Indo-Pak Quraan has the noon qutni written in it when it occurs between two stop signs
and it looks like this . In the Indo-Pak copy of the Quraan, hamzatul wasl when it occurs
within a verse will not carry a mark over or under it and is distinguished from the madd alif
by the fact that it will begin a word and the madd alif never begins a word. In some copies of
the Indo Pak Quraan the noon qutni is written under the hamzatul wasl. It is a mistake to start
a word with a noon qutni as it is a part of the tanween not the following word with the
hamzatul wasl. It is also a major mistake to not recite the noon qutni when a person is
continuing their recitation. Another point to note is the Indo-Pak Quraan does not have all the
noon qutni written in it when the verse ends in a tanween and the following verse begins with
a hamzatul wasl. The Uthmaani Quraan does not have the noon qutni written in it, but as the
hamzatul wasl is clearly defined by an alif with a small over it, it is clear where the noon
qutni is recited.
When stopping on a word ending in a tanween we apply the stopping rules as normal and
when starting on a word beginning with hamzatul wasl we apply another set of rules as stated
later.
The following link contains a table of all of the places where noon qutni occurs between two
stop signs in both the styles of the Quraan:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/127046919/The-Noon-Qutni-Places-in-the-Uthmani-Script-ofthe-Quraan
A person cannot start their recitation on a letter without a vowel. Therefore when the first
letter of a word does not have a vowel there will be a hamzatul wasl before it, which will
allow the recitor to start their recitation. The vowel the hamzatul wasl gets depends on the
make-up of that word. The hamzatul wasl that stands before the laam of the definite article
alif-laam tareef (meaning the word the in Arabic) will always carry a fat-hah. In all nouns
and verbs, the hamzatul wasl will carry a kasrah unless the third letter of the verb (including
the hamzatul wasl and two letters for a shaddah if applicable) carries an original dhammah, in
which case it will carry a dhammah. Another way of looking at it is to remember the
hamzatul wasl will always get a kasrah unless hamzatul wasl is part of the alif-laam tareef
(when it will carry a fat-hah) or the third letter carries an original dhammah (when it will
carry a dhammah).
The team behind the great website abouttajweed.com have put a table together showing
what vowel to put on the hamzatul wasl when beginning the relevant verses of the Quraan.
Click the following link to download it:
http://www.abouttajweed.com/Verbs%20and%20Nouns%20beginning
%20with%20hamzah%20al.pdf
The next link has an detailed explanation of hamzatul wasl in the Indo Pak Quraan:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/226018538/Detailed-explaination-of-the-Hamzatul-wasl-in-theIndo-Pak-copy-of-the-Quraan
Note: if the letter after the hamzatul wasl is a hamzah, the maddi badal rules are also applied.
The hamzatul wasl is only recited when starting on that word but dropped when continuing
the recitation, i.e. the last letter of the last word with a vowel joins on to the letter without a
vowel. When continuing the recitation from verse 1 to 2 of suratul Ale Imran, the meem
saakinah of the Meem in the first verse acquires a fat-hah and this joins to the Name of Allah
in the second verse.
May Allah make it easy for everyone to recite the Quraan correctly and to a standard that is
acceptable and pleasing to Him. Ameen.

Sister Uzma 2017