What ۬ means
It is a recitation cue, not an ordinary letter. In African and other Qur’anic orthographies, ۬ may indicate wasla (continuing across a word boundary), ikhtilas (a shortened vowel), or a related reading convention.
Qur’anic notation has a long history: early manuscripts used dots and small marks to guide reading or mark verse structure, and later notation added more specialized signs. The precise reading depends on the edition and riwāya, the transmitted recitation tradition.
Why does its meaning change between Qur’ans?
The written convention and recitation tradition can change its job. Identify the edition and its riwāya—the transmitted way of reading—before deciding whether ۬ marks a pause or a pronunciation detail.
Warsh and Qalun are two transmitted Qur’anic readings. In some notation for them, ۬ above alif, the Arabic letter, identifies hamzat al-wasl with a short-a vowel (the fatha case) when recitation begins there. Hamzat al-wasl is pronounced at the start of reading but joins into the flow when reading continues from the previous word.
Why does it float or change shape?
It attaches to an Arabic letter, and the font controls its placement. ۬ is a combining mark. Without a suitable base, a font may put it on a dotted circle; several marks on one letter may also stack differently.
Keep the base letter and marks in the order used by the edition. Similar-looking marks are separate characters: ۫ is hollow and high, ۪ is hollow and low, and ٜ is a below-dot mark used in some Qur’anic spellings.
Specialist Qur’anic notation, suited to a printed reading edition or recitation tool; in ordinary prose it can look like stray markup.
Don’t label it “pause here” until you know the edition; it can guide pronunciation instead.
Who writes ۬
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Don't confuse it with
3
Related characters
1
Questions people ask
2Why does ۬ appear on a dotted circle by itself?
That is a font fallback for a combining mark with no suitable Arabic base. Place it after its intended base letter to see its normal attachment.
Can ۬ mean “pause here” in every Qur’an?
No. Its role varies by written convention and recitation tradition; some uses mark pronunciation, so it is not a universal stop signal.
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How to type or find ۬
- Search it as
- quran · quranic · mushaf · wasla mark · ikhtilas mark · hamza wasl · quran dot over alif · quranic diacritic
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
۬\06EC۬ after the intended Arabic base, then check the complete sequence in a Qur’anic Arabic font.Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.