Hamzat al-wasl: the connecting hamzah and how to start on it

What hamzat al-wasl is

Arabic words cannot begin with a letter that has a sukoon. When a word starts with a sakin letter, a hamzah is added in front so that it can be pronounced on its own. That helper hamzah is hamzat al-wasl, written ٱ in the Madinah mushaf.

• When you join it to the previous word, it disappears: in بِٱسْمِ you read “bismi”, not “bi-ismi”.
• When you start on it, after a stop or at the beginning of a verse, you pronounce it with a vowel.

Which vowel to start with

In “al-” (the definite article)

Always a fathah: ٱلْحَمْدُ begins “al-ḥamdu”. This is the most common hamzat al-wasl of all.

In verbs: look at the third letter

Third letter	Start with	Example	Read	Where
Third letter has a dammah	Start with a dammah: “u”	ٱنظُرْ	unẓur	Al-Baqarah 2:259
Third letter has a dammah	Start with a dammah: “u”	ٱدْخُلُوا۟	udkhulū	Al-Baqarah 2:58
Third letter has a kasrah	Start with a kasrah: “i”	ٱضْرِب	iḍrib	Al-Baqarah 2:60
Third letter has a fathah	Start with a kasrah: “i”	ٱقْرَأْ	iqra’	Al-‘Alaq 96:1

Count the hamzah itself as the first letter. If the third letter has a dammah, begin with “u”; with a fathah or kasrah, begin with “i”.

In a small set of nouns: always a kasrah

A handful of nouns begin with hamzat al-wasl, and you start them with “i”:

Word	Read	Meaning	Where
ٱبْنَ	ibna	Son	Al-Baqarah 2:87
ٱمْرَأَتُ	imra’atu	Woman, wife	Al ‘Imran 3:35
ٱثْنَيْنِ	ithnayn	Two	Al-An‘am 6:143
ٱسْمُهُۥ	ismuhu	His name	Al-Baqarah 2:114

Verbal nouns from longer verb forms also start with “i”, such as ٱسْتِغْفَارُ (istighfāru) in At-Tawbah 9:114.

Joining hamzat al-wasl: the common mistakes

• Pronouncing it in the middle of a phrase: reading “bi-ismi” instead of “bismi”.
• Keeping a long vowel before it: the vowel before a sakin letter is shortened, as in فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ, read “fil-arḍ”.
• Starting with the wrong vowel: beginning ٱنظُرْ as “inẓur” instead of “unẓur”.

Hamzat al-wasl works hand in hand with lam shamsiyyah and qamariyyah and with the vowel signs explained in harakat. It also decides how you restart after a pause, covered in Quran stop signs. All the rules are in our tajweed rules guide, and you can practise them with a teacher in our tajweed course.