Holding our breath after reading a word in order to separate a letter from its neighbor is called Saktah. It is a state in which we hold our breath for around 1 second. According to Imam Hafs (Rh), saktah is found in four places in the Quran.

1) In the first verse of the Surah Al-Kahf  الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِى أَنْزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَـبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُ عِوَجَا – قَيِّماً لِّيُنْذِرَ بَأْسًا شَدِيدًا مِّن لَّدُنْهُ وَيُبَشِّرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصَّـلِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا when moving on from the end of the first verse to the beginning of )ِ عـَوـًجا (the second verse. The tanween in the word is removed and pronounced as (ِعـَوـَجا) and is paused for a second by holding one’s breath and moving on to read the second verse in a regular way. If one stops completely at the end of the verse for ’ waqfa’ then the ‘saktah’ is not applied.

2) In Surah Al-Ya-sin, verse 52:   قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا مَنْ بَعَثَنَا مِنْ مَرْقَدِنَا ۜ ۗ هَٰذَا مَا وَعَدَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ وَصَدَقَ الْمُرْسَلُونَ  Breath is held after the phrase مَرْقَدِنَا  And, madd (vowel) is still applied. Then, passes on to the word in a regular fashion. If one stops completely at the end of the word ‘marqadinaa’ for ’ waqf’, then the saktah is not applied.

3) In Surah Al-Qiyamah, in verse 27    وَقِيلَ مَنْ ۜ رَاقٍ . In the phrase after the word, مَنْ saktah is applied.

4) In Surah Al-Mutaffifin, in verse 14: كَلَّا ۖ بَلْ ۜ رَانَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ  In the phrase after the word بَلْ saktah is applied.