pronounication of quranic letters and the tajweed?
Question
Is it obligatory on all Muslim to know the proper
pronounication of quranic letters and the tajweed?
Answer
THE IMPORTANCE OF TAJWID
An Arabic adage proclaims: "The speech of the kings is
the king of all speech."
So, can the excellency of the speech of the kings of
all kings Allah Taala even be equated with
man-made speech.
One of the many miracles of the noble Quraan is that
regardless of the number of times it is recited, one
never gets tired nor bored with its recitation. Allah
Taala says in the noble Quraan, Indeed the
believers are those who tremble with fear when Allah
is remembered and when the verses of the Quraan are
recited before them, it increases their belief and
upon Allah they have complete trust." (8:2)
One of the salient points mentioned in this verse is
that when a believer recites the noble Quraan in the
correct manner, it increases his faith and belief in
Allah. Reciting the noble Quraan in the correct
manner means to recite it with Tajwid.
What is Tajwid
Allah Taala says in the noble Quraan, And recite
the Quraan with Tarteel. (73:4)
When asked about the meaning of Tarteel, Hadhrat Ali
(Radhiallaahu Anhu) replied, It means that the
Quraan should be recited with Tajwid and with due
observance to the rules of Waqf (pausing or stopping
at the end of the verse).
Tajwid means to recite every letter correctly, i.e.
from its proper origin of pronunciation coupled with
its stipulated attributes.
According to Imaam Jawzi (Rahmatullaahi Alayhi), the
verse, Verily my people have renounced the Quraan
has two interpretations. Firstly, it could mean that
they had renounced the Quraan by not believing in it
and practicing upon it. And secondly, it could mean
that they used to recite the Quraan in such a
disgusting manner that it sounded like senseless and
meaningless jabbering. Reading the Quraan without
Tajwid could also be included in the second
interpretation.
Tajwid from the Hadith
Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) has said,
Indeed Allah desires that the Quraan be recited in
the manner it was revealed. This Hadith clarified by
the Aayat and, We revealed the Quraan with Tartil.
(2:32)
The definition of Tartil has been explained above.
Since the Quraan emphatically commands us to recite
the Quraan with Tajwid, it is Fardh to recite the
Quraan with Tajwid.
Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) has said,
The Quraan will either testify in your favour or
against you. Hence, if we fail to observe the
requirements of the noble Quraan during our
recitation, the Quraan will testify against us. If we
are unacquainted with these prerequisites, we are
compelled to acquire the laws of Tajwid.
Due to the vastness of the Arabic language, any small
mistake in pronunciation of a letter or word may
change the meaning of that word. For example, the word
Qalb (with q) means heart, if read Kalb (with k),
it will mean a dog. So just as how in any other
language we learn pronunciation of letters and words,
for example, in English we learn that ph stands for
f (as in phone) and not pone. Similarly, in the
Arabic language, we also have to learn pronunciation
of letters and words, which we term as Tajwid.
Tajwid is not like all other subjects which we are
able to separate from the Quraan but instead Tajwid
and Quraan work hand in hand. If there is no Tajwid
with Quraan, there is no Quraan. The question may
arise that, how can such a statement be made that if a
person reads Quraan without Tajwid, he is not read
Quraan? Yes, such a statement is 100% correct.
Our beloved Rasul (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) states
in one Hadith, There are a lot of readers that read
the Quraan but the Quraan curses them instead of
making Duaa for them. We get some people nowadays
who spend hours and hours reciting the Quraan
thinking that they are getting and attaining great
rewards. But because there pronunciation of letters is
incorrect, a very big problem arise. It sounds very
small when we say, I am only pronouncing a letter
incorrectly.. But did this thought ever cross our
minds that when a letter changes in a word, the word
changes and if a word changes in a sentence then the
whole sentence changes and eventually the meaning also
changes. So from this, we understand the Hadith of our
Rasul (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), that some people
read so much of the Quraan but because they do not
know the correct pronunciation of the letters, they
change the letters which then changes the words which
eventually leads to the changing of the sentence and
meaning of the Quraan. So, the Quraan in turn,
instead of making Duaa for such people it curses
them.
We should also remember that from the time and
generation of Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) till
now, no one has ever denied this fact that Tajwid is
compulsory. It is only now in our generation that
people have lost respect and forgotten the status of
Tajwid. Today, even logic will show us the importance
of Tajwid. If we write a letter to our beloved and
give it to someone to give it to him or her, but this
Mr Someone takes the letter and changes a few words
which eventually changes the meaning of your letter,
how would we feel?
Wouldnt we get angry and take such a person to task ,
so in the same way, the Quraan is the word of Allah.
If we change the word of Allah then Allah Taala will
definitely get angry with us and take us to task just
as how we would do if someone changes our words in our
letters.
So from all this, we can see that the Quraan is not
Quraan until and unless it is read with Tajwid. Just
as how if someone changes our letter addressed to our
beloved, we would say that this is not our letter. We
can also see from all this, the importance of reading
the Quraan with Tajwid.
May Allah give me, you and all the ability to read the
Quraan correctly so that we may earn the mercy of
Allah Taala and not the anger of Allah.
Qari Ismail Abdul-Aziz
Head and Senior Lecturer: Department of Qiraat
An Expert in the different dialects of recitation
(Seven and Ten)
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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