‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

LETS LEARN
QURAN WITH
TAJWEED
 TAJWEED
Linguistic Meaning: To beautify
something.

Technical Meaning: ‘’To give every

letter its rights with its description and its
origination’’.
What is Tajweed?

The word Tajweed linguistically means ‘proficiency’ or ‘doing

something well’. When applied to the Qur’an, it means giving every
letter of the Qur’an its rights and dues of characteristics when we
recite the Qur’an and observing the rules that apply to those letters
in different situations. We give the letters their rights by observing
the essential characteristics of each letter that never leave it. And we
give them their dues by observing the characteristics of each letter
that are present in them some of the time and not present at other
times.

The Qur’an was revealed with Tajweed rules applied to it. In

other words, when the angel Jibreel ((AS)) recited the words of Allah
to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) he recited them in a certain way
and he showed the Prophet (SAW) the ways in which it was
permissible to recite the Qur’an. So it is upon us to observe those
rules so that we recite it in the way it was revealed.
History of Tajweed:

At the time of the Prophet (SAW) there was no need for people
to study Tajweed because they talked with what is now known as
Tajweed so it was natural for them. When the Arabs started mixing with
the non-Arabs as Islam spread, mistakes in Qur’an recitation started
appearing, so the scholars had to record the rules. Now, because the
everyday Arabic that Arabs speak has changed so much from the
Classical Arabic with which the Qur’an was revealed, even Arabs have to
study Tajweed.
 The purpose of Tajweed

The Qur’an is the word of Allah, and its every syllable is

from Allah. Its recitation must be taken very seriously. The purpose of
the Science of Tajweed in essence is to make the reciter proficient in
reciting the Qur’an, observing the correct pronunciation of every letter
with the rulings and characteristics which apply to each letter, without
any exaggeration or deficiency. And so through this the reciter can
recite the Qur’an upon the way of the Prophet pbuh. as he received it
from Jibreel who received it from Allah (SWT) in the Classical Arabic
dialect that it came down in.
Arabic letters each have a Makhraj – an exit or articulation
point - in the mouth or throat from which they originate and they also
each have Sifaat – attributes, or characteristics - particular to them.
Knowing the Makhraj and Sifaat of each letter is an important part of
Tajweed. Sometimes two letters have very similar exits which makes
mixing them up easy. So if a person does not know the attributes of
each letter there is a danger that he will change the meaning of the
words in Qur’an recitation. Observing the rules of Tajweed in reciting
protects the reciter from making mistakes in reciting the Qur’an.
MAKHRAJ & SIFAAT
 Defenitions
 Tajweed: To give every letter its right
with its description and its origination.

 Makhraj: An exit or an articulation point

from where they originate.

 Sifaat: Attributes or characteristics to the

particular letters
How is the Makhraj of
a Letter Determined?
The scholars of tajweed explain that the
makhraj of an Arabic letter is
determined by:
1. Putting a sakin or shaddah (shaddah EXAMPLES
is preferred) on the letter you are trying
to determine the makhraj of.
2. Putting a hamzah with any vowel ْ
‫أت‬ ‫أ ْد‬
before the letter.
Where the sound stops is the makhraj of
the letter.
‫أ َّم‬ َّ
‫أن‬
 The Nasal The Oral
Cavity Al- Activity
Khayshoom Al – Jawf‫ا))لجوف‬
)‫ا))لخيشوم‬

5 Categories of
Makhraj

The Lips The Throat

Ash – shafatayn The Tongue
Al – Lisaan Al – Halq ‫ا))لحلق‬
‫ا))لشفتان‬
‫ا))للسان‬
 1. AL- JAWF
The first makhraj that we will cover is the jawf or empty space in the mouth and throat. What
that means is that the tongue is relaxed on the bottom of the mouth, and the empty space
between the top of the tongue and the roof of the mouth is known as the jawf.

So when you pronounce the letters of the jawf, the tongue is not involved at all, and air
simply flows from inside the body out of your mouth.

The letters that come from the jawf are:

• Alifsakin with a fatha before it
• Wow sakin with a dhammah before it
• Yaa sakin with a kasrah before it
 2. AL- HALQ
• The throat has three different makharij:

 Aqsal halq – lowest part of the throat (closest to chest)

• The letters from this makhraj are: ‫ء ه‬
 Wastal halq – middle part of the throat
• The letters from this makhraj are: ‫ح‬ ‫ع‬
 Adnal halq – highest part of the throat
• The letters from this makhraj are: ‫خ‬ ‫غ‬
1. DEEPEST PART OF THE
TONGUE ‫ا))لقصىا))للسان‬
The Makhraj of ‫ ق‬is from the extreme back of the tongue
going up and hitting the top of the mouth (soft palate).
The Makhraj of ‫ ك‬is from the back of the
tongue, right in front of the‫ق‬, hitting the top
of the mouth (hard palate).
2. MIDDLE PART OF THE
TONGUE
‫وسط ا))للسان‬
EXAMPLES FOR
3. EDGE OF THE TONGUE
‫ح)افة ا))للسان‬
The Makhraj of ‫ ض‬is pronounced with the sides of the tongue
touching the gums close to the upper molars (white teeth in the
picture). There are actually three ways to say the ‫ض‬
1. Left side of the tongue touching the gums on the left
2. Right side of the tongue touching the gums on the right
3. Both sides of the tongue touching the gums on both sides
Al-lisaan: contains makhaarij for 18 letters. These are divided across 10
points of articulation, which are categorised as 4 main areas. These are:
Aqsal-lisaan; Wasat Al-lisaan; Haafat Al-lisaan; and Ra’sul-lisaan, or Tarful-
lisaan. I’ve covered the first three areas in a previous post; below are the
letters which emerge from Ra’sul-lisaan [1] (the tip of the tongue).
First, it is important to note that ra’sul-lisaan is the very tip of the
tongue, and tarful-lisaan [2] is that small portion of the tongue just behind
the tip. This is illustrated in the diagram below. This post covers both these
regions as they are generally considered to be one main area.
The Tip & Hard Palate
The Tip, Upper Tip & Hard Palate