All Tajweed Rules You Should Know to Perfect Quran Recitation.

Tajweed rules are meant for improving the proficiency of Quran reciter. Linguistically, The word Tajweed means ‘proficiency’ or ‘doing something well. In the Quranic context, it means giving every letter of the Qur’an its rights and dues of characteristics.

The rules of tajweed were originated from the way Jabril has revealed Quran to the prophet Mohammed, So it was natural to the Arab. But after the expansion of the Islamic kingdom, many non-Arab nations to Islam have converted to Islam.

However, since they don’t know the Arabic language, they fell in many mistakes (the phenomenon is called Lahan (لحن in Arabic). That created the need for tajweed rules to be recorded.

In this article, we’ll talk about all of the Quran tajweed rules in detail- with examples for you to fully understand them. Keeping reading.

Why Should You Learn Tajweed Rules?

Quran is the words of Allah, and its recitation must be void of any mistakes that destroy the meanings of those words. For this reason, the Tajweed rules teach people how to recite the Quran perfectly, the way it was revealed to the prophet Mohammed.

That can be achieved through training the tongue to pronounce each letter clearly from its exit point (Makhraj) without exaggeration or compression. Also, it shows him the traits and attributes of the letters, So, he doesn’t mix them up, spoiling the meanings.

Thus, we can say that following the rules of Tajweed in reciting Quran protects the reciter from falling into mistakes

The Rules of Meem and Noon Saakin 

If a Meem ( م ) or Noon (ن is Mushaddad (that means it has Shaddah sign on it), the reciter must do Ghunnah (or Nasal sound) when pronouncing it. (Even if meem is positioned at the end of the word).

Examples:

Qalqalah

• Qalqalah means the vibration of a sound at the end of the pronunciation of a letter and it’s only applied when the letter is Saakin (the Sukoon sign ْ on it)
• The letters of Qalqalah are collected in the words (قطب جد) or ( ق، ط، ب ، ج، د)

Exercise on Surah Al Falaq. Listen to this recitation and focus your ear on the endings of each verse.

Heavy and Light Letters

Letters are three types:

• Heavy letters: collected in the word (خص ضغط). When pronouncing the heavy letters rise the back of your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth, so the letter is sounded heavy

• Temporary heavy and light: they are

1. The letter ر (we’ll explain its conditions in detail later)

2. The letter Alif Madd (آ): If follows the trait of the letter preceding it. Thus, It’s pronounced heavy if the letter preceding it is heavy like in صالحًا. And it’s light if the letter preceding it is light like in باخع.

3. Laam (ل) is heavy only when pronouncing the word of Allah in اللهم ، الله and there is a Fatha or Dumma sign on the letter preceding it. But if there is a kasrah before the word Allah, then the Laam in Allah or Allahum will be light-like. بسمِ الله. Look at the example below where ل is pronounced heavy.

• Light letters: they constitute the bulk of the letters and lower your tongue while pronouncing them.

Is the letter Ra ر Heavy or light?

There are many conditions when ر is pronounced heavy.

• There is a Fatha sign on it. Exampe:رَبَّنَا﴾ [البقرة: 127] و ﴿ٱلۡبِرَّ﴾ [البقرة: 177]﴿
• If it’s Sakin and the letter preceding it has a Fatha sign-on. Example: مَرۡيَمَ﴾ [البقرة: 87]﴿.
• There is a Dumma sign on it. Example: رُزِقُواْ﴾ [البقرة: 25] و ﴿ٱلرُّومُ﴾ [الروم: 2] ﴿.
• It’s a Sakin and the letter preceding it has a Dumma sign on it. Example ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ﴾ [البقرة: 185﴿

Likewise, there are conditions when ر is pronounced light, including:

• When there is a Kasra sign on it. Example: رِيحٖ﴾ [آل عمران: 117] و ﴿فَرِحِينَ﴾ [آل عمران: 170]﴿.
• When it’s Sakkin for Waqf and the letter preceding it has a kasra sign on it. Example لِّيُنذِرَ﴾ [الكهف: 2] و ﴿مُّنتَشِرٞ﴾ [القمر: 7].﴿
• When it’s A sakiin for Waqf and before it Ya Madd like in بَصِيرٌ﴾ [البقرة: 96] ﴿ or Ya leen like غَيۡرِ﴾ [الفاتحة: 7]﴿.

Read also: How to teach Noorani Qaida in 10 simple steps?

The Rules of Noon Sakin and Tanween

• Noon Saakinah: is a Noon with no Harakah or with a Sukoon sign on it.

• Tanween:- Is actually a noon Saakinah which comes at the end of the nouns. It is pronounced but not written as Noon Shekinah. nouns. It is pronounced but not written as Noon Shekinah.

To know the condition of Noon Sakin and Tanween, look at the letters that come after it since it’s the determinant.

1.AL-Izhar الاظهار الشفوى

• Its linguistic definition is to make the letter obvious or clear. And in tajweed, it means pronouncing each letter from its exit point without Gunna
• There are 6 letters that follow Izhar rules: الهمزة، والهاء، والحاء، والعين، والخاء، والغين
• They’re called the throat letters since they’re originated from the throat.
• .If one of those letters follows a noon shekinah or tanween, the reciter should pronounce it (Noon or tanween) clearly without any Gunna.

• Examples for Noon Sakin when reciter applies Izhar:  أنْعمت، منْ هاد، منْ خوف، منْ عمل، ينْئون.
• Examples for Tanween when reciter applies Izhar: خلقٍ عظيم، جرفٍ هار، عليمٌ حكيم، حليمًا غفورًا.

2 Al-Idghaam الإِدْغَام

• In language, it means insertion or merging which means inserting something in another.
• According to tajweed science, tajweed means the meeting of a vowel letter with a consonant, so they become one letter that weighs two letters.
• The letters of Al-Idghaam are six. Those are ياء، راء، ميم، لام، واو، نون . They’re collected in the word يرملون
• .If one of those letters comes after a noon shekinah or tanween, the reciter should pronounce it (Noon or tanween) with Gunna.
• Scholars divided Al-Idghaam in two types:
• Al-Idghaam wih Gunna in the letters ينمو . For example, فمنْ يعمل ( Noon sakinnah is followed by ى). or لقومٍ يؤمنون (tanween is followed by ى).
• Al-Idghaam wihout Gunna in only two letters: ر، ل . For example, منْ رّبه ( Noon sakinnah is followed byر. or
• هدىً للمتقين (Tanween is followed by ل).

3.Iqlab الإقلاب

• Also called qalb tajweed rule. It means a change. When Noon Sakin and Tanween comes after the letter ب, The reciter pronounce Noon and tanween as ميم
• Examples in Quran (look carefully in the letters that follow noon sakinnah or tanween.

4. Al Ikhfa الإخفاء

• In language, it means concealment and it is an intermediate state between Al-Izhar and Al-Idghaam, devoid of stress while remaining rich.
• Noon sakina or tanween does not disappear completely and does not appear completely. Rather, the letter disappears and its attribute remains.
• All of the letters left are included in this rule, which are

• When Noon sakinnah or tanween follows those letters above, Ikhfa is applied.

Examples for 4.Al Ikhfa in Quran:

Meem Sakinah Rules

The definition of meem sakinah is meem that’s free of any vowels and which has a fixed Sakoon when continuing reading or stopping. The tajweed rules of Meem Sakinah are similar to Noon skin and tanween.

1.Izhar الإظهار الحلقى

• Izhar: when Meem Sakinah is followed by any Arabic letter , except باء ، ميم .The reason behind Izhar in this case is the exit point for meem differs from that of most of the letters.
• Izhar has two forms: Inside the word such as (أَنْعَمْتَ) and between two words such as (لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ).        

2 Al-Idghaam الإِدْغَام

• It means Idghaam the Meem Sakin with meem vowel so they become one letter. (the Sukoon is removed and the vowel meem is Mushaddad.
• It has two forms. The first is Between two words like in (وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ)،[٨](أَم مَّن).[٩] The second is in the beginning of the surahs like in (الم)،[١٠](المر).[١١]        

3.Al Ikhfa الإخفاء

It occurs by opening the mouth slightly when meem Sakinah is followed by ب. For example, تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ

Exercise for the rules of Meem Sakinah. Look at the example and hide the answer to think about the answer for a while before looking at the answer. (Note: to succeed in this quiz, look at the letter that follows meem sakina and think about the rule).

Ghunna

• Its linguistic definition: A sound produced by the nasal passage without the interference of the nose itself and it’s inherent in two letters, which are م and ن. regardless of whether those letters come in consonant or vowel state and the noon includes also tanween
• There are 5levels of Gunna ordered from the strongest and most obvious Gunna to the slightest.
• Complete Ghunna: This is the longest Ghunna when there’s been or noon sakin followed by one of the Adgham letters (collected in the word (ينمو), it takes its longest timing.
• Incomplete Mashaddad:Idghaam Noon sakina and tanween in the letters ي and و , like من وفى، ومن يفعل ومن ورائهم.
• Concealed Ghuuna: concealing Noon sakina and tanween into the Ikhfa letters, and turning ب into م like عليم بكل حال، وينبش.
• clear Sakin: It means applying Gunna when there is Meem and Noon sakina and tanween followed by the throat letters. For example أنبتت
• Unclear (light) vowel: it’s the lightest level of Ghunna and occurs in the meem or noon sakin vowels and tanween, like يناجون

Tha Lam Sakinah Rules

This is one of the important lessons in tajweed rules. First, Lam Sakinah is categorized into five:

• Lam (لام ) in the combination of alif-lam of the definite letter the لام التعريف. For example القمر
• The Lam in a verb لام الأمر
• The lam in an order لام الأمر
• The lam in a noun لام الاسم
• The lam is a participle لام الحرف

Lam of the definite article لام التعريف

Its definition: it’s an extra lam sakina affixed to a noun to define it and it’s preceded by alif Wasl. The noun that follows لام التعريف might be a regular noun that’s complete and understandable without the definite article such as الشمس أو القمر or it might be irregular that the لام التعريف is inherent and can’t be broken down such as التى ،الذى.

There are two tajweed rules for لام تعريف

1. Al-Izhar الإظهار

If لام التعريف precedes a noun that begins with any of the 14 letters in this group (ابغ حجك وخف عقيمة), the lam is pronounced clearly and it’s called lam Qamariya لام قمرية.

Examples from Quranic words

1. 2.Al-Idghaam  الإدغام

If لام التعريف precedes a noun that begins with any of the 14 letters in this group :

[ت / ث / د / ذ / ر / ز / س / ش / ص / ض / ط / ظ / ن / ل] 

In this case, The lam is merged into the letters that follow it.

Examples from Quranic words

2. لام الفعل

The general tajweed rule for lam sakina is اظهار if it’s followed by all letters except لام and راء.

Idghaam is applied in two cases

• If lam sakina is followed by لام. For example وَأَقُل لَّكُمَآ﴾ [الأعراف: 22﴿ and the reason is similarity.
• If lam sakina is followed by راء. For exampleفَقُل رَّبُّكُمۡ﴾ [الأنعام: 147] ﴿, and the reason is Proximity

3.لام الأمر ولام الاسم

• لام الأمر is Lam Sakinah that’s added to the present verb and turns it into imperative. and it’s preceded by Waw. For example: :وَلۡيُوفُواْ﴾ [الحج: 29] ﴿ or فاء likeفَلۡتَقُمۡ﴾ [النساء: 102]﴿ or ثم like  ثُمَّ لۡيَقۡضُواْ﴾ [الحج: 29]﴿.
• Tajweed rule: Al-Izhar when followed by all of the letters.

• لام الاسم is Lam Sakinah inherent in the makeup of a noun and it’s positioned in the middle of the noun. Example: سُلۡطَٰنٖۚ﴾ [الأعراف: 71]﴿.
• Tajweed rule: Al-Izhar when followed by all of the letters.

4.لام الحرف

لام الحرف is Lam Sakinah inherent in the makeup of a noun and in the Quran, it’s not existed except for two letters: هل like هَلۡ يَسۡتَوِيَانِ﴾ [هود: 24]﴿ and بل like in بَلۡ أَكۡثَرُهُمۡ﴾ [البقرة: 100]﴿.

Madd Tajweed Rules

Madd in the Arabic language means extra and in tajweed, it means the lengthening of the sound for more than one movement

Madd’s letters are three:

• The Alif sakinah preceded by Fatha
• The ya sakinah perceded by Kasra
• The Waw sakinah preceded a Dumma

All three types of Madd letters appear in one word in the following examples

The Leen letters

Those are three Arabic letters (Alif, Ya, waw) if they’re Sakin and preceded by fatha. and they do not exist at the beginning of the letters.

For understanding what Leen’s letters look like, let’s take examples from Quranic verses.

The Natural lengthening المدّ الطبيعي

It’s Medd inherent in the word and without it, the word doesn’t exist. You know it when there’s no Hamza or Sakoon before it’s lengthened to two vowel counts. The timing of each count depends solely on the speed of the reciter. And it has many forms:

The lesser connecting Madd مدّ الصلة الصغرى

It’s defined by the existence of the letter هاء and it requires three conditions to be applied.

1. The هاء is vowels by Dumma or Kasra (Those signs are on the letters
2. The هاء is located between two vowels and has a Fatha or Dumma sign on it
3. The second vowel isn’t hamza.

It’s estimated to be two counts. (Note: the letter هاء here isn’t inherent in the word but affixed to it as a male pronoun. Example of it in the Quran are below

• فَإِنَّهُ نَزَّلَهُ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ
• سَنَسِمُهُ عَلَى الْخُرْطُومِ
• وإنَّهُ لَقُرْآنٌ كَرِيمٌ

Note: when the to recite stops on هاء, the Madd is dropped totally and replaced with Sukoon.

Exceptions for The lesser connecting Madd :

وإن تشكروا يرضه لكم. Here there is no Madd even all of the conditions are met.

 وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا  Here there is Madd even though all of the conditions aren’t met. (The letter before Madd is consonant -SAKIN.

2. The subtitue Madd مدّ العوض

It’s a Madd when the reciter stops at tanween fatha (تنوين منصوب), he turns tanween into Alif made. For example, the word جّنات ألفافًا is pronounced like جنات ألفافا, not جنّات ألفافن when stopping At it.

It usually occurs at the end of the verses.

Secondary Madd المدّ الفرعي

It’s a lengthening that has a longer timing than the natural Madd. and it’s indicated by the occurrence of Hamza before the Medd letter or after it, regardless of whether the Sukoon is permanent. And it’s divided into two groups: The Madd due to Hamz and The Madd to Sakoon.

المدّ بسبب الهمز The Madd due to Hamz

It includes four groups:

المدّ بسبب البدل the exchange

Occurs in the word in which the letter Madd comes after hamza. and it’s called بدل for the exchange of a Medd letter for a hamza. For example هَل ءامَنكُم عَلَيْه (the origin is أأمنكم and it has two Hamza: one is a vowel and the second is Sakin and it turns into Madd).

This Medd is lengthened to two counts.

المدّ الواجب المتصّل The required attached Madd

It occurs when a hamza follows a Medd letter in the same word. It’s called واجب as it’s required and متصل because of the attachment of hamza and Medd in the same word

This Medd is lengthened to four or five counts.

Example :فكلوه هنيئًا مريئًا /  ولقد جاءكم موسى

المدّ الجائز المنفصل The separate allowed lengthening

It occurs when a Medd letter is the last letter of the word, and Hamza is the first letter of the next word.

It can be too short as two counts or lengthened to 4 or 6 counts.

Example: فردوا أيديهم في أفواههم/ :تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ

مدّ الصلة الكبرى The Greater Connecting Lengthening

It occurs when the pronoun هـ is at the end of the word has a Dumma sign on it or Kasra. And is located between two vowels. and the first letter in the second word is Hamza.

It can be lengthened to two counts

Example:  أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَمْ يَرَهُ أَحَدٌ / وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا

المدّ بسبب السكون The Madd due to Sukoon

It’s Categorized into two types shown in the table below

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Conclusion

Learning Tajweed rules are important as they act as a light for reciter and help them perfect their recitation and prevent them from falling into mistakes resulting from Ignorance.

In this article, you’ve known many rules about tajweed, including Madd, Qalqala, Gunna, Meem and Noon Sakin, and tanween. We hope you find the information here interesting and beneficial.

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