The ruling of reading with Tajweed

The ruling of reading with Tajweed

Muhammad bin Al-Jazaree the great Qur'an and Hadeeth scholar of the 9th Century (Hijri) says in his famous poem detailing the rules of Tajweed:

"And applying Tajweed is an issue of absolute necessity, Whoever doesn't apply Tajweed to the Qur'an, then a sinner is he."

Sheikh Zakariyyaa Al-Ansari [died in 926 H.] said in explanation of this verse in his book: Sharh al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyaa



"It is required to observe all of the Arabic rules in that which changes it and ruins the meaning".



So he regarded it as an obligation to keep away from the major mistakes in reciting the Qur'an.



The scholars have divided the types of mistakes one might fall into when reciting the Qur'an into two types:



1. Clear mistakes: which usually change obvious things and change the meaning.



2. Unobvious (hidden) mistakes: for which one may need to study Tajweed rules.



And the majority of scholars agree that applying the Tajweed rules of Qur'an such that the Clear Mistakes are avoided is an individual obligation (Fard 'Ayn) upon every Muslim who has memorised part of or all of the Qur'an. As for applying all of the rules of Tajweed and avoiding the Unobvious mistakes then it is (Fard Kifaayah) upon the Muslim ummah. That is, there must be some students of knowledge who have knowledge of that. This is because the Qur'an was revealed with the Tajweed rules applied to it and the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) recited it back to Jibreel in that way and the Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) read it in that way, so it is an established Sunnah.



The Clear mistakes must be avoided by all and to avoid them one must memorise and read attentively and have knowledge of some basic aspects of Tajweed. If a person falls into the Clear Mistakes, this is considered a sin and Ibn Taymiyyah even regarded it undesirable for a Student of Knowledge (i.e. someone who knows Tajweed) to pray behind a person who makes Clear Mistakes in their Salaah. As for the Unobvious mistakes, then the ruling on them is lighter and the recitation of a person falling into this type of mistake is regarded as lacking in completeness but prayer behind such a person is sound.



The List below shows what type of mistakes fall under each category.



Clear mistakes



Mistakes in words which are clear and inconspicuous, usually changing the meaning. Mistakes related to correct pronunciation of letters so that letters are not mixed up. Scholars, and the ordinary Muslims should avoid these.



Examples of Clear mistakes:



• Changing one letter into another, or a short vowel (harakah) into another, (changing Fathah into Damma or the letter Qaaf into Kaaf etc)



• Not observing the elongations (Madd) at all. Reciting them quickly as if there is no Madd so that they turn into the length of a vowel.



• Making a madd letter out of a normal harakah.



• Stopping or starting at an incorrect place so that the meaning is spoilt. Like stopping at 'Laa ilaaha' (There is no God), without completing 'illallaah' (except Allah).



Unobvious mistakes



Mistakes which are to do with perfecting pronunciation and are not obvious. Known only by those who have studied Tajweed rules or experts in this field. Ordinary Muslims may not know these or perceive these as mistakes.



Examples of Unobvious mistakes:



• Not being totally exact with the elongation of letters: (Making the Madd shorter or longer by a 1/2 or even 1/4 degree etc.)



• Not observing the attributes of each letter perfectly: (Slightly rolling the Raa', or exaggerating the 'N' sound in Noon etc.)



• Not observing the rules with which to pronounce letters when they are next to each other (like not merging certain letters that should be merged (idghaam) and not clearly pronouncing those which should be clearly pronounced (ith-haar) etc.)



• Making light letters sound heavy and heavy letters sound light (Except if by doing this you change a letter into another; in this case it would be an obvious mistake.)



And of the proofs that the scholars bring to show the obligation of Tajweed and that it is an established Sunnah is that Allah says in the Qur'an, the meaning of which is:



'And recite the Qur'an (aloud) in a (slow and melodious) style (tarteela)' (Surah Muzzammil, aayah 4)  



Ali ibn Abi Talib (radi Allahu 'anhu) said in the explanation of this aayah:



"at-Tarteel is Tajweed of the letters and knowing where to stop (correctly)".

And of the proofs also is that Allah says in the Qur'an, the meaning of which is:

'Those who We have given the Book to, give it its right in recitation ( recite it as it should be recited)' (Surah al-Baqarah, aayah 121)

 

And of the rights of reciting correctly is reciting it the way it was revealed.



There are various ahadeeth also showing us the importance of Tajweed.



Umm Salamah was asked about the recitation of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) and she described it as a recitation 'clearly-distinguished letter by letter'.

Sa'eed bin Mansoor relates in his Sunan that a man was reciting the Qur'an to Abdullah bin Mas'ood and he recited

"Innamas sadaqaatu lil fuqara-i wal masaakeen",
so Ibn mas'ood said: "This was not how the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) recited it to me!" So the man asked,

"How did he read it to you oh Aba Abdir-Rahman?" So he said "Lil Fuqaraaaa-i wal masaakeen", he elongated the word Fuqaraa and the knowledge of the different lengths of elongation (mudood) is also from the rules of Tajweed.

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