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Table of Contents
Lesson Description Page
1 Introductory Guidance 3
2 Introduction of Tajweed 5
3 The Makhaarij of the Letters 6
4 Pronunciation of Arabic 11
Vowels
5 The Rule of Madd 15
6 The Rules of Qalqala 17
7 Madd-e-Leen 19
8 The Rule of letter Laam 21
9 The Rules of Noon Saakin and 23
Tanween
10 Pronunciation of shadd 29
11 The Rule of Ghunnah 30
12 Huroof-e-Muqatta’at 31
13 Symbols of pauses (Waqf) 33

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Lesson: 1
Introductory Guidance
• It is best to recite the Quran in its
original language, Arabic.
• Recite the Quran with a beautiful
Arabic accent and proper
pronunciation.
• Start reciting the Quran with taooz
and recite tasmiyah
except for surah At-Tawbah.
• When you finish a surah and you are
starting a new surah, always say
“Bismillah”.
• Avoid any discussion while you are
reading the Quran. If you need to stop
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 for an important conversation, close
the Quran and when you are done
talking, say taooz and you can start
reading the Quran again.
• Avoid changing the sound of one letter
to another, especially the letters that
sound similar. Example:
and , and
• Avoid stretching a harakah or vowel so
that it may not sound like haroof.
• Recite heavy letters heavy and the light
letters light.

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Lesson: 2
Introduction of Tajweed
Tajweed is an Arabic word meaning
correct pronunciation during recitation.
It is a set of rules which dictates how the
Quran should be read.
It is the knowledge and application of
rules to recite the Quran as close as
possible to the way that it was recited by
Prophet Muhammad (saw).

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Lesson: 3
The Makhaarij of the Letters

The term "makhraj" in Arabic means

articulation point. The place from which
the sound of a letter originates.

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In the throat there are 3 makhaarij and
each one has 2 letters.

Upper Throat
Middle Throat
Lower Throat

is pronounced by the extreme back of the

tongue touching the upper palate to create a
thick sound.

The makhraj is slightly in front of the .

The tongue should not meet the upper palate
other than what is necessary to pronounce the
letter.

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 , and
These are all pronounced when the middle
part of the tongue comes in contact with
what lies opposite to it from the roof of the
mouth.

The rear side of the tongue touches the

upper back teeth (upper molars) in either one
of 3 ways : from the right side, from the left
side OR from both sides.

The top of the tongue touches the upper gum of

the front three teeth to say Raa.

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 Tip of the tongue touches the
back of the front two teeth to
say.

Tip of the tongue meets the edge of the

front upper teeth.

Join the upper and the lower front

teeth together, touch the teeth
with tip of the tongue to say Zaa,
Seen and Sawd.

Edge of the upper front teeth

touches the lower tip to say Faa.

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 Gently close the upper and the
lower tip together to say Baa,
Meem and Waaw.

Make your lips round to say “Waaw” just like

one would pronounce “Wow” in English
language.

Al Khayshoom
The nasal cavity is located at the furthest point
of the nose (the bridge of the nose). It is the
opening that connects the mouth with the
nose. Sound of Ghunnah should come out
from this point.

The Ghunnah is produced in the following

cases:

When the has a shaddah ( )

When the has a shaddah ( )

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Lesson: 4
Pronunciation of Arabic Vowels
Short Vowels:
Fatha (Zabar)
Kasra (Zer)

Damma (Pesh)

1: Fatha makes the sound of “A”. It

should be pronounced with an open
mouth.

Example:

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2: Kasra makes the sound of “E”. It
should be pronounced by lowering our
jaws and lips.

Example:

3: Damma makes the sound of

“OO”. It should be pronounced by
circling your lips.

Example:

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Exercise of Vowels:

Exercise of all three Vowels:

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Avoid incorrect reading or stretching of
the vowels.
Correct reading:

Incorrect reading:

Note: Total vowels are 9:

Total signs are 4 , , ,

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Lesson: 5
The Rule of Madd
There are 4 letters which we have to
stretch. The length of stretch is 2 fingers
long or 2 harakah.

1: Alif without any signs ( )

2: Waaw with saakin ( )

3: Yaa with saakin ( )

Above mentioned 3 haroof are called
haroo-e-madd.
4: Alif maqsoora, Alif mamdooda and

upside down Damma.

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These three harakahs gives the sound of
haroof-e-madd.
Exercise:
Alif madd and Alif maqsoora

Waaw madd and upside down Damma

Yaa madd and alif mamdooda

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Lesson: 6
The Rules of Qalqala
• Qalqala is a quality in which we
pronounce a letter with an echoing
sound if the letter has a saakin sign on
it. Example:

• There are five letters of Qalqala.

• When comes with

`

saakin sign, we make an echo sound.

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• To memorize these five letters, we

combine them together as .

• Qalqala does not apply to any other
letter other then QUTAB JAD.
Exercise of Qalqala:

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Lesson: 7
Madd-e-Leen
There are two Madd-e-Leen Letters,
Waaw and Yaa.
When Waaw and Yaa comes with sakoon
and has Fatha before it, we read them
with a soft voice.
Example:

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• Madd-e-Leen will occur if a Saakin
appears after a Letter of Leen.
Exercises of Waaw-e-Leen:

Exercises of Yaa-e-Leen:

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Lesson: 8
The Rule of letter Laam:
• When the harakah of Fatha or
Damma appears before the word
Allah , the letter Laam is
pronounced with a heavy voice or full
mouth.
Example:

• If Kasra appears before the word

Allah, then the Laam in Allah will not
be pronounced with a heavy voice.
But it should be pronounced with an
empty mouth.
Example:
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• However the Laam mushaddad (Laam
with shaddah) is read with an empty
mouth.

Example:

Note:
A letter that has Shaddah sign on it is
called Mushaddad.

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Lesson: 9
The Rules of Noon Saakin and
Tanween
Noon Saakin means a Noon with a Sukun
on it. Tanween means two Fatha, two
Kasra, and two Damma.
There are four rules related to Noon
Saakin and Tanween. In all the rules, you
must look at the letter that follows the
Noon Saakin or Tanween to determine
which rule to follow. The four rules are:
1. Izhar
2. Iqlaab
3. Idhghaam
4. Ikhfa

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1. Izhar:
When the noon saakin or tanween is
followed by any of the Huroof-e-Halaqi,
meaning the six letters that are
pronounced from the throat, izhar will
take place. Izhar means to pronounce
the “N” sound of the noon saakin or
tanween WITHOUT stretching it. The
huroof-e-halaqi are: ‫غ خ ع ح ءه‬

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2. Iqlaab:
If there is a letter BAA after the Noon
Saakin or Tanween, Iqlaab will take
place. Iqlaab means to change the sound
of Noon Saakin or tanween (“N” sound)
into a meem. The sound will also be
stretched into a Ghunnah. Usually there
is a little meem to signify this change.
Example:

After Tanween After Noon Saakin

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3. Idghaam:
After the Noon Saakin or Tanween, if any
of the letters of ‫( ﻳــــﺮﻣﻠون‬ )
appear, idghaam should be done.
Idghaam means to combine the “N”
sound of the Noon or tanween with the
following letter (next coming letter).
In four letters, ‫( ﻳــوﻣن‬Yaa, Waaw, Meem,
Noon) Idghaam should be WITH
Ghunnah.
In the two letters, ‫( ر ل‬Laam and Raa),
Idghaam should be without Ghunnah.

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Examples without Ghunnah:

Example with Ghunnah:

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4. Ikhfa:
Whenever any of the following fifteen
letters appear after Noon Saakin or
Tanween, Ikhfa should be done. Ikhfa
means to slightly “hide” the “N” sound
of the Noon Saakin and Tanween, and
lengthen it slightly.

‫ت ث جد ذ ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ف‬
‫قك‬

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Lesson: 10
Pronunciation of shadd
The sign ( ) above the letter with a
haraka (Fatha, Kasra, Damma) is called
‘Tashdeed’.
It looks like the English letter ‘w’.
The letter bearing a tashdeed is called
‘Mushaddad’.
Tashdeed means to strengthen or to
stress.
The letter bearing the tashdeed is
doubled - the first letter always takes
the sukun and the second letter bears
the haraka.
Example:

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Lesson: 11
The Rule of Ghunnah
It is the sound that is emitted from the
nasal passage without any function of
the tongue.
The letters of the Ghunnah are Noon

and Meem .
The length of the Ghunnah is 2 harkah.
Example:

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Lesson: 12
Huroof-e-Muqatta’at

• Certain Surahs (chapters) in the Quran

begin with some letters from the
Arabic Alphabets.

• These combinations of letters are

known as the Huroof-e-Muqatta’at.

• These letters should be recited, as

they are written.

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Lesson: 13
Symbols of pauses (Waqf)
Waqf means to stop, the plural of Waqf
is Awqaaf.
There are some symbols where we
pause or stop. Following are the
symbols of pauses.
This sign is called Waqf Lazim,
which means compulsory stop.

This sign is called an Ayat. It

comes at the end of the verse.
It means that the sentence is
now complete and one has to
STOP.
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It is preferred to continue without a
pause.

A quick pause, without breaking your

breath is allowed.

Pause is allowed, you may stop

or you may continue (The
Equality Stop).

We cannot stop (The Prohibited

Stop).

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This Tajweed book is compiled from the
following sources:
• Aasan Tajweed by Salma Kokab.
• Quran–al-Karim with Ehkham-ul-
Tajweed.
• Multiple websites.
• Tajweed Rules of the Quran by
Kareema Carol Czerepinski.

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