Ending an aya (or pausing) on the letter haa

Question

In sura 99 (az zalzalah) many of the ayats end on the letter haa, however upon listening to a few recitations, all recitors pronounce the haa, eg first aya:

زِلۡزَالَهَا

"...zilzalaha" instead of "...zilzalah" without the extra syllable at the end.

Furthermore, when listening to another sura, sura Bayyina (sura 98), within the sixth aya there is a pause on the word "feeha":

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِنۡ أَهۡلِ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ وَٱلۡمُشۡرِكِينَ فِى نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيہَآ‌ۚ أُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمۡ شَرُّ ٱلۡبَرِيَّةِ

"Inna l-lazeena kafaru min ahli l-kitaabi wa l-mushrikeena fee nari jahannama khaalideena feeha; ulaa-ika hum sharru l-bareeyah" (taken from Quran411).

All the recitations I have listened to pronounce it as "... khaalideena feeha" not "...khaalideena feeh" (with a soft h sound).

My question is do I always have to pronounce the extra syllable when ending on a haa. From what I understand, if the last letter before pausing has a fatha then we should replace it with a sukoon (for example sura 114 second aya "... khalaq" not "khalaqa") however perhaps this does not apply for the letter haa? I simply do not understand.

I know this many seem like a very small issue of mine however I am trying to learn how to read the quran and am not sure if it is just a general rule to pronounce the letter haa. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

I just opened the Quran on my phone and I see after the 'ha' there is an silent Alif or 'Laam'(Not 100% sure). Anyway the ending letter becomes that Alif so reading the 'ha' is correct.

In some other ayas there is a silent 'ya' at the end.

Answer 2

It seems to me that you are neither an Arabic speaker nor have a basic level in understanding Arabic. As what you suggest would rotate an Arabic linguist in his grave if he could. Let me explain your inquiry with a focus on the linguistic part of the question:

Your Example from surat al-Zalzala (99)

Al-Zalazala or al-Zalzalah (both actually are examples of how one could pronounce the word with pausing on the last letter which is "ة or ه") or more accurately transliterated al-Zalzalatu الزلزلة, itself is a feminine word (noun) in Arabic and so is the word Earth الأرض.
So in this case the word:

زِلۡزَالَهَا

zilzalaha
Has two parts one referring to the act of al-Zalzala or al-Zilzal (Earthquake) الزلزال and one referring to the feminine pronoun of referring to Earth which is attached in form of ـهَا which means literally "her". If you instead pronounced it "زِلۡزَالَ" zilazala there's no reference to the location this earthquake has occurred on and the sentence would be incomplete. So even if you pause at the end of the verse you necessarily need to pronounce the word fully.

While generally if a word ends with one of the two letters referred to earlier above you could end your recitation with a sukun (pause).

The example of surat al-Bayinah (98) actually is the same case

Again "feeha" is a composed word:

فِي

fee
is a synonym of "in" and ـهَا in this case means "it" (referring to Jahanam جهنم) or "her" when we have in mind that Jahannam in Arabic is a feminine noun. So again pausing here without pronouncing the word entirely would cause a linguistic issue (and the qur'an was revealed in Arabic). So reciting it:

فيه

feeh would be a reference to a masculine noun and therefore would cause terrible confusion. If you go further and don't pronounce the entire letter (هاء) ha' ـهـ you would even cause more harm, as reciting:

في

without adding on or in what this applies the sentence would be incomplete and lacks information. It is like if you recited the verse as follows:

Indeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally in.

Instead of:

Indeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. (98:6)

So the pause sign doesn't allow you to neglect or skip a letter or a meaning. While pronouncing the last word of the verse:

(a)l-Baryeeyah
ٱلۡبَرِيَّةِ

is correct.

Finally the best way to learn the recitation of the qur'an is to search for a teacher who is a hafidh and learn it by oral transmission as this is the correct way to learn it ever since.