In the context of the recitation of the Quran, tajweed or tajwīd (Arabic: تجويد, romanized: tajwīd, lit. 'elocution', /tadʒ.wiːd/) is a set of rules for the correct pronunciation of the letters with all their qualities and applying the various traditional methods of recitation, known as qira'at. In Arabic, the term tajwid is derived from the verb جود (jawwada), meaning enhancement or to make something excellent. Technically, it means giving every letter its right in reciting the Quran. Tajwīd is a system by which one learns the pronunciation of Quranic words as pronounced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The beginning of the system of tajwīd was when the early Islamic states or caliphates expanded in the third century of Hijra (9th century / 184–288 AH) under the Abbasid Caliphate, where errors in pronunciation increased in the Quran due to the entry of many non-Arab Muslims into Islam. So the scholars of the Quran began to write the rules of intonation. It is said that the first person to collect the system of tajwīd in his book Kitāb al-Qirā'āt was Imām Abu ʻUbaid al-Qāsim bin Salām (c. 770–838 CE) in the third century of Hijra.
History The history of Quranic recitation is tied to the history of qira'at, as each reciter had their own set of tajwid rules, with much overlap between them. Abu Ubaid al-Qasim bin Salam (774–838 CE) was the first to develop a recorded system for tajwid, giving names to the rules of tajwid and putting it into writing in his book called al-Qiraat. He wrote about 25 reciters, including the 7 mutawatir reciters. He made the reality, transmitted through reciters of every generation, a system with defined rules, terms, and enunciation. Abu Bakr Ibn Mujāhid (859–936 CE) wrote a book called Kitab al-Sab’ fil-qirā’āt "The Seven of the Recitations". He is the first to limit the number of recitations to the seven known. Imam Al-Shatibi (1320–1388 CE) wrote a poem outlining the two most famous ways passed down from each of seven strong imams, known as ash-Shatibiyyah. In it, he documented the rules of recitation of Naafi’, Ibn Katheer, Abu ‘Amr, Ibn ‘Aamir, ‘Aasim, al-Kisaa’i, and Hamzah. It is 1173 lines long and a major reference for the seven qira’aat. Ibn al-Jazari (1350–1429 CE) wrote two large poems about qira'at and tajwid. One was Durrat Al-Maa'nia (Arabic: الدرة المعنية), in the readings of three major reciters, added to the seven in the Shatibiyyah, making it ten. The other is Tayyibat An-Nashr (Arabic: طيبة النشر), which is 1014 lines on the ten major reciters in great detail, of which he also wrote a commentary.
Religious obligation Knowledge of the actual tajwīd rules is a community duty (farḍ al-kifāya). There is a difference of opinion on the ruling for individuals. Sheikh Zakariyya al-Ansari stated that it is sinful to recite in a way that changes the meaning or changes the grammar. If it does not change these two things, then it is not sinful, even if it is a clear error.
Qur'an and hadith on tajwīd The central Quranic verse about tajwid is verse 73:4: "...and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation." The word tartīl (Arabic: ترتيل), as used in this verse, is often also used in hadith in conjunction with its command. It means to articulate slowly, carefully, and precisely. Abu Dawud's hadith collection has a chapter heading titled "Recommendation of (reciting with) tartīl in the Qur'an." It begins with the narration: "The Messenger of Allah peace and blessings be upon him said: One who was devoted to the Qur'an will be told to recite, ascend and recite carefully (Arabic: رتل rattil) as he recited carefully when he was in the world, for he will reach his abode when he comes to the last verse he recites (Sunan Abi Dawud 1464)." This narration describes the importance of the manner of recitation and its positive effects in the afterlife. The next narration describes the importance of prolongation (Arabic: مدا maddā): "Qatadah said: I asked Anas about the recitation of the Qur'an by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He said: He used to express all the long accents clearly (Arabic: كَانَ يَمُدُّ مَدًّا) (Sunan Abi Dawud 1465)." This narration also shows that even the companions of the prophet used some terms which are still used today in tajwīd rules.
Arabic alphabet and grammar
The Arabic alphabet has 28 basic letters, plus hamzah (ء). The Arabic definite article is ال al- (i.e. the letter alif followed by lām). The lām in al- is pronounced if the letter after it is ألقَمرية (al-qamarīyyah, lunar), but if the letter after it is ألشَّمسية (ash-shamsīyyah, solar), the lām after it becomes part of the following letter (is assimilated). "Solar" and "lunar" became descriptions for these instances as the words for "the moon" and "the sun" (al-qamar and ash-shams, respectively) are examples of this rule.
Emission points There are 17 emission points (makhārij al-ḥurūf) of the letters, located in various regions of the throat, tongue, lips, nose, and the mouth as a whole for the prolonged (madd or mudd) letters. The manner of articulation (ṣifat al-ḥurūf) refers to the different attributes of the letters. Some of the characteristics have opposites, while some are individual. An example of a characteristic would be the fricative consonant sound called ṣafīr, which is an attribute of air escaping from a tube.
Thickness and thinness
The emphatic consonants خ ص ض ط ظ غ ق, known as mufakhkham letters, are pronounced with a "heavy accent" (tafkhīm). This is done by either pharyngealization /ˤ/, i.e. pronounced while squeezing one's voice box, or by velarization /ˠ/. The remaining letters – the muraqqaq – have a "light accent" (tarqīq) as they are pronounced normally, without pharyngealization (except ع, which is often considered a pharyngeal sound). ر (rāʼ ) is heavy when accompanied by a fatḥah or ḍammah and light when accompanied by a kasrah. If its vowel sound is cancelled, such as by a sukūn or the end of a sentence, then it is light when the first preceding voweled letter (without a sukun) has a kasrah. It is heavy if the first preceding voweled letter is accompanied by a fatḥah or ḍammah. For example, the ر at the end of the first word of the Sūrat "al-ʻAṣr" is heavy because the ع (ʻayn) has a fatḥah: وَالْعَصْرِ
بِسْمِ اللّٰه
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