Show the next words when a reciter gets stuck (talqeen)

Talqeen, or prompting, means giving a reciter the next words when they get stuck. In Samee, turn on Show the next words when the reciter gets stuck, after in the Listen setup and choose 3 s, 5 s or 8 s. When the reciter stops in the middle of an ayah for that long, a card at the top of the text shows the next few words, so you can prompt them, or a student can glance at them.

Turn prompting on

1. Open Listen.
2. Under While listening, switch on Show the next words when the reciter gets stuck, after.
3. Choose how long to wait: 3 s, 5 s (the default) or 8 s. Choosing a time switches prompting on as well.
4. Set up the rest of the session and tap Start listening.

Samee remembers the setting in this browser for your next sessions.

What you see

When the reciter goes quiet, a card appears above the ayah text:

• Next words · 2:255 when they stopped in the middle of an ayah;
• Next ayah · 2:256 when they stopped at the end of one (in a hifz test only).

Below the label are the next few words in Arabic, usually three or four. The phone vibrates three short times where vibration is allowed. When the reciter carries on, the card disappears; if they stop again somewhere else, a new card appears.

The card is visual only. Samee never says anything aloud, so nothing interrupts the prayer or the lesson.

How Samee decides when to prompt

Samee waits until it has placed the words recited before the silence, so it doesn't prompt with words that were just said. Then:

• In the middle of an ayah, it prompts after the silence you chose.
• At the end of an ayah, a pause is natural. In ordinary listening Samee doesn't prompt there at all, because a silence between ayahs is usually a breath, ruku or sujood.
• In a hifz test and in Practice, it also prompts at the end of an ayah, after twice the time you chose, because there a long silence usually means the student is stuck.

If you pause the session yourself, the card is hidden.

Talqeen in a hifz test

When you switch on Hifz test: hide the text until it is recited, the words appear only as they are recited, and a prompt is the one way to see what comes next. If you have never changed the prompting setting, Samee switches it on with the hifz test.

On the Practice tab, reciting with Hide the text while I recite gives a hint after about 4 seconds of silence, labelled A hint: the next words. Each hint you needed is a sign the passage needs more revision. See hifz test and vowel check.

Using it in Taraweeh

If you are following an imam to help him when he gets stuck, Samee shows you where he is and what comes next, so your prompt is right the first time. Keep in mind:

• Correcting the imam is a responsibility of those praying behind him, and the schools of fiqh have their own details on when and how to do it. Follow your mosque's practice and ask a scholar if unsure.
• Don't operate a phone while you pray. Samee's card is for someone listening who isn't in the prayer, or for reviewing afterwards.
• Choose 5 s or 8 s for Taraweeh, so a breath or a slow, measured recitation doesn't trigger a card.

The blog post what is talqeen covers the practice in more detail.

Tips

• For a nervous student, 8 s gives them time to remember before the answer appears.
• For revision of a passage you know well, 3 s keeps you moving.
• With Hesitations and repeats on, each stop of about 3 seconds or more in the middle of an ayah is also recorded as a Hesitated note in the report, so you can see where prompts were needed. See what each finding means.