TAJWID

• Introduction to Tajwid
• Short Vowels
• Makhraj
• Upward Letters
• Tajwid Rules
• Rules of Mushaddad
• Rules of Sakin
• Izhar
• Iqlab
• Ikhfa
• Idgham
• Meem Sakin
• Qalqala
• Madd
• Stopping
• The Stage of Recitation

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 WHAT IS TAJWID?

To read the Quran correctly according to its rules and to pronounce every letter correctly with
all its qualities is called Tajwid.
Tajwid is the adornment of recitation; it is the beautification of reading.
Allah ta ala says in the holy Quran:

And chant the Quran with measured tones.

The learning of tajwid is incumbent upon all those who recite the holy Quran.
The object of learning tajwid is to recite the holy Quran in a manner which is correct and
pleasing to Allah ta ala.

THE SHORT VOWELS

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There are three vowels in Arabic.
We shall call them short vowels.
A vowel is called HARAKAH.
Harakah means “a motion” “a movement”.

The three short vowels are called:

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 MAKHRAJ

The place from where the sound of a letter origination is called MAKHRAJ. The plural of

Makharij is MAKHRAJ-
The letters of the alphabet originate from seventeen makhraj.
The seventeen makhraj are in five places.
They are: 1. The mouth- 01
2. the mouth – 03
3. the mouth – 10
4. the mouth – 02
5. the mouth – 01
The makhraj of a letter is obtained by reading the sakin-letter with alif-fathah.
Examples:
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 T

HE UPWARD LETTERS

The letters of the alphabet may be divided in various ways into different classes, for example,
according to Makhraj, sifat, pronunciation, shape or form, dots or rules etc.
In this lesson we divide the alphabet into UPWARD and DOWNWARD letters.
There are seven letters which are always read with a full mouth, thick or with an upward
sound, we say that these letters are read with TAFKHIM-

And we call them THE LETTERS OF TAFKHIM-

We call the upward letters HURUFUT TAFKHIM-

Their pronunciation is emphasized or magnified, that is, thick.
The upward letters are:

Hurufut tafkhim are always read upward whether they have fathah, sukun, dhammah, kasrah,
tashdid or madd.
EXAMPLES:

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 THE TASHDID

A letter that had to be read twice is written with a THASHDID or SHADDAH on it.

A letter with a tashdid on it is said to be MUSHADDAD (“strengthened”), that is, it must be

doubled or read twice.
Examples:

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 THE NUN AND MIM MUSHADDAD

The nun with tashdid is called NUN MUSHADDAD.

The mim with tashdid is called MIM MUSHADDAD.
The nun mushaddad and mim mushadaddad are read with Ghunnah and a slight delay.
Examples:

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 THE RULES OF RA-MUSHADDAD.

Whatever applies to the first Ra also applies to the second Ra

The Ra-mushaddad with a fathah or a dhammah is read with a full mouth.
EXAMPLES:

The Ra-Mushaddad with a kasrah is read with Tarqiq

EXAMPLES:

THE JAZM OR SUKUN

A JAZM OR JAZMAH is a crescent-like sign which is written above a letter. It serves to join
letters. A Jazm is also called a SUKUN.

Sukun means rest and it is therefore the opposite of Harakah which means movement.
A letter which a sukun on it is said to be SAKIN (resting)

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EXAMPLES:

A hamazah (alif) sakin is read with a jerk.

EXAMPLES:

ILH-HAR

If, after a Nun-sakin or Tanwin there appears any letter from the GUTTARALS or
HURUFUL HALAQ, then the Nun-sakin or Tanwin is pronounced from its Makhraj without
Ghunnah.
Huruful halq are the gutturals or throat letters. They are called such because they emanate
from the throat. They are.

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EXAMPLES:

Notice the following when applying Izh-har

1. There is no joining.
2. There is no ghunnah.
3. There is no delay.

QALB OR IQLAB

QALB or IQLAB means “change”.

This rule involves only the letter Ba.

THE RULE: whenever a Nun-Sakin or Tanwin is followed by the letter Ba, then the Nun-
sakin or Tanwin is changed into a Mim and read with ghunnah and a slight delay.

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EXAMPLES:

1. Nun-sakin:

2. Tanwin of Dhammatayn:

3. Tanwin of Fahatayn:

4. Tanwin of Kasrratayn:

IKHFA

If a Nun-sakin or Tanwin is followed by any of the letters of IKHFA then the Nun-sakin or
Tanwin is read with a light nasal sound between that of Izh-har and Idgham.
The letters of Ikhfa are fifteen in number. They are all the letters of the alphabet except those
of Izh-har, Idgham and Qalb:

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In applying Ikhfa note the following:
1. There is no Idgham
2. There is light Ghunnah
3. There is a slight delay in reading.

EXAMPLES:

IDGHAM WITH GHUNNA

Whenever a Nun-sakin or Tanwin is followed by one of the letters

1. The nun-sakin or Tanwin is assimilated onto the letter, that is, idgham occurs.
2. Ghunnah is produced
3. Delay slightly
Compare the above with Izh-har
NOTE:

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EXAMPLES:

EXCEPTIONS: If the nun-sakin occurs is the same word with the waw or the ya then apply
izh-har, that is, there is no idgham and no ghunnah.
The words are:

IDGHAM WITHOUT GHUNNAH

Whenever a nun-sakin or tanwin is followed by one of the letters then

1.Idgham takes place, that is, joining and assimilation takes place.
2.No ghunnah is produced, and
3.There is no delay in reading.

NOTE: the letters idgham may all be remembered as

EXAMPLES:
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 THE MIM-SAKIN

There are three rules regarding MIM-SAKIN. These are

1. IDGHAM (SAGHIR MITHLAYN)
2. IKHFA SHAFAWI
3. IZH-HR SHAFAWI

1. IDGHAM SAGHIR MITHLAYN

If after a mim-sakin there appears mim them both mim are assimilated (IDGHAM) and it is
read with Ghunnah and a slight delay.
EXAMPLES:

2. IKHFA SHAFAWI
If the mim-sakin is followed by a Ba then the mim-sakin will be pronounced with ikhfa, that
is, with a light nasal sound.

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EXAMPLES:

3. IZH-HAR SHFAWI
If the mim-sakin is followed by any letter other than mim and ba, then the mim sakin is read
with Izh-har that is, without ghunnah
EXAMPLES:

QALQALAH

QALQALAH means “a shake” of “a movement”. This is a sifah (quality) of certain letters in

which the sakin-letters are pronounced with an echoing sound or a bounce. Care should be
taken that the echoing sound does not go to the extent of forming a HARAKAH
The letters of qalqalah are:

Which are easily remembered as:

There are two types of Qalqalah : QALQALAH SUGHAR and QALQALAH KUBRA.
QALQALAH SUGHRAH

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When the letters of Qalqalah appear as sakin in a word then the letter is read with a slight
bounce or echoe.
EXAMPLES:

QALQALAH KUBRA

If the letters of Qalqalah appear at the end of a word and one intends stopping on it then the
letters will be read with a slightly stronger than is qalqalah sughra.
EXAMPLES:

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 AL-MADUL ARIDH

This is madd is applied when an arful madd appears before the last letter of a word on which
waqf is made.
DURATION: one to five alifs/harakat.
EXAMPLES:

AL-MADDUL LIN

If the waw-sakin or ya-sakin, which is preceded by a fathah, is followed by a sakin that is

caused by a waqf, then madd impermissible.
DURATION: one to three alifs but one alif is preferable.
EXAMPLES:

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 AL-MADDUL LAZIM

If, after a harful madd then appears a mushaddad-letter in the same word then we apply what
is known as AL-MADD AL-LAZIM AL-MUTHAQQAL.
DURATION: three to five alifs or harakat.
EXAMPLES:

If after a harful madd there appears a sakin in the same word, then the madd is known as AL-
MADD AL-LAZIM UL-MUKHAFFAF.
DIRATION: Three to five alifs/harakath.
EXAMPLES:

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 AL-MADDUL FAR’I

Under AL-MADDUL FAR’I we will consider the following types only.

AL-MADDUL MUTTASIL

Whenever a harful madd is followed by a hamzah in the same word the madd is called AL-
MADDUL MUTTASIL.
EXAMPLES:

DURATION: From two up to five alifs or five harakat.

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 AL-MADDUL MUNFASIL

Whenever a harful madd is followed by a hamzah (alif) in the next world then the madd is
called AL-MADDUL MUNFASIL
EXAMPLES:

DURATION: From two to four harakat.

THE MADD

MADD means lengthening or stretching the sound of a letter. The letters that cause MADD
are called THE LETTERS or MADD or HURUFUL MADD, they are:

Madd is made on these letters only when

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 1. The alif is preceded by a fathah
e.g.:

2. The waw is preceded by a dhammah

e.g.

3. The ya is preceded by a kasrath

e.g.

NOTE: When the waw-sakin and ya-sakin are preceded by a fathah then the waw and ya are
called HURUFUL LIN.
EXAMPLES:

There are two general types of Madd: AL-MADDUL ASLI and AL-MADDUL FAR’I

AL- MADDUL ASLI

If after a harful madd there is no sakin letter, a hamzah or mushaddad-letter. Then the harful
madd is read as AL-MADDUL ASLI. Its duration is that of one the time to open or close a
finger.
EXAMPLES:

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 SAKTAH

A SAKTAH is a slight pause without breaking the breath. After the SAKATH the recitation
is continued without renewing the breath. In the case id WAQF the breath is broken.
There are four places in the holy-quran where SAKTAH is observed. These are four places in
the holy-quran where SAKTAH is observed. These are the following:

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 STOPPING

WAQF means “A pause” or “a stop” by breaking off the breath at the end of a word.
CASE 1: If a letter with a HARAKAH

or with dhammatayn or Kasratayn appears at the end of a word, and one desires to stop on it,
then the letter is made sakin.
EXAMPLES:

CASE 2: One stops on a letter with Fathatayn as if stopping on the long vowel, Alif.

EXAMPLES:

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CASE 3: One stops on a long Fathah without any charge.
EXAMPLES:

CASE 4: the knotted Ta or Ta-MarbuTah becomes a . when stopping

on it.
EXAMPLES:

NOTE: the rules in CASE 1 apply to the long Ta or Ta-Tawilah and not the
rule in CASE 4.

CASE 5: A Sakin-letter remains sakin when stopping on it.

EXAMPLES:

CASE 6: When stopping on Long Vowel it remains the same.

EXAMPLES:
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 THE STAGES OF QIRA-AI

There are three stages of QIRA-AI or RECITAL with regard to Tajwid. These are AT-
TARTL, AL-HADR and AT-TADWIH.

1. AT-TARTIL

To recite slowly with care and dignity is called AT-TARTIL.

2. AL-HADR
To recite quickly or at a fast pace while still observing the rules of Tajwid is called AL-
HADR.
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 3. AT-TADWIR
To recite at a medium pace, that is, not too fast not too slow, is called AT-TADWIR. This is a
stage between AT-TARTIL and AL-HADR.
NOTE: It is not permissible to recite the Holy-Quran fast without observing the rules of
Tajwid.

Created By: BFE-LA Management

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