Jump to content

Tajwid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Quranreading1 (talk | contribs) at 20:58, 6 March 2013 (→‎Mīm sakinah). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mus'haf al-Tajweed, printed with colored letters to facilitate reading the Quran with Tajweed.

Tajwīd (Arabic: تجويد taǧwīd: IPA: [tædʒˈwiːd]) is an Arabic word for elocution and refers to the rules governing pronunciation during recitation of the Qur'an. It is derived from the triliteral root ǧ-w-d, meaning to make well, make better, or improve. It is required by fard. There are Ten (tawātur) schools of Recitation, the most prevalent of which is the recitation of Imam 'Asim as transmitted by Imam Hafs.

Arabic alphabet and grammar

The Arabic alphabet has 28 basic letters.

The Arabic word for "the" is al- (the letters alif and lam). The lam in al- is pronounced if the letter after is "qamariyya" (lunar), but silent if the letter after is "shamsiyya" (solar).

Emission points

There are 17 emission points of the letters, or Makhaarijul Huruf, in various regions of the throat, tongue, lips, nose, as well as the mouth as a whole for the prolonged (Mudd) letters.

The manner of articulation, or Siffat al Huruf, refer 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, called Safeer, which is an attribute sound of air escaping from a tube.

Thickness and Thinness

The mufaḵḵam letters (خ ص ض ط ظ غ ق), or emphatic consonants, are pronounced with a “heavy accent” or Tafkhīm. Heavy accent is often pharyngealization, where the consonants are pronounced with a constricted voicebox, or velarization. The rest of the letters, called "muraqqaq", have a “light accent” or Tarqīq because they are pronounced normally, without pharyngealization (Except ع which is not considered heavy because it is a vowel).

ر rāʼ  is heavy when it has a fatḥah or ḍammah and light when it has 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 has a fatḥah or ḍammah. For example, the ر at the end of Al-Asr is heavy because the ع ʻayn has a fatḥah.

وَالْعَصْرِِ

ل lām is only heavy in the word Allāh. However, if the preceding vowel is a kasrah, then the ل in Allāh is light, such as in Bismillah,

بِسْمِ الله

Prolongation

Prolongation refers to the number of beats that are pronounced when a voweled letter (fatḥah, ḍammah, kasrah) is followed by alif, yāʼ, and wāw, which are called MUDD letters. The number of beats then becomes two. Additionally, if there is a maddah sign over the mudd letter, then it is four or five counts when it is followed by a hamzah (ء) and six counts when it is followed by a shaddah.[1] For example, the end of the last verse in Al-Fatiha has a six beat maddah because of the shaddah on the ل lām.

  • The following has the same diacritic marks as in most print Quran. It slightly differs from the full diacriticized system used in Modern Standard Arabic:

صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ ٱلضَّآلِّين

  • The following sentence is with the Modern Standard Arabic full diacriticized system:

صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ المَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّين

Sakinah

Nun sakinah and tanween

Nun sakinah or tanween refers to whenever there is tanween or a sukun sign on a nun. There are four ways it should be pronounced depending on the letter that immediately follows this nun sound.

One is called idhhār  (meaning clarity) where this nun sound is pronounced very crisp and clearly when followed by ء ه ع ح غ خ, (called "letters of the throat").

Another is called iqlāb  (meaning conversion) where this nun sound is converted to a /m/ sound, with a ghunnah (which is nasalization that is held for two beats) if it is followed by a ب.

Another is called idghām  (meaning merging) where this nun sound is dropped when followed by a ل or ر. It is dropped and also has a ghunnah if it is followed by و م ن ي. Idghām only applies between two words and not in the middle of a word.

The last way is called ikhfāʼ  (meaning hidden) where the nun sound is suppressed (the tongue does not make full contact with the roof of the mouth) and has a ghunnah if it is followed by the remaining letters not discussed.

Mīm sakinah

The mīm sakinah refers to whenever there is a sukun sign on a mīm. There are three ways it should be pronounced depending on the letter that immediately follows the mīm sound.

One is called idghām shafawī  (meaning merging for the lips) where if followed by another mīm, usually indicated by a shaddah, is merged with the following mīm and has a ghunnah.

Another is called ikhfāʼ shafawī  (meaning hidden for the lips) where the mīm is suppressed (lips are not fully closed) and has a ghunnah when followed by a ب.

The last way is called idhhār shafawī  (meaning clarity for the lips) where the mīm is pronounced clearly with no special rules if it is followed by the remaining letters not discussed.

learning tajweed [1]

Qalqalah

The five qalqalah letters are the consonants, ق ط ب ج and د. Qalqalah is the addition of a slight bounce or small vowel sound to the consonant whose vowel sound is otherwise cancelled, such as by a sukūn, shaddah or the end of sentence.[2] The lesser bounce occurs when the letter is in the middle of a word or at the end of the word but the reader joins it to the next word.[2] A medium bounce is when the letter is at the end of the word but does not have a šaddah, such as the end of the first verse of Al-Falaq.[2]

قُلۡ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ ٱلۡفَلَقِ

The biggest bounce is when the letter is at the end of the word and has a shaddah, such as the end of the first verse of Al-Masadd.[2]

تَبَّتۡ یَدَاۤ اَبِیۡ لَهَبٍ وَّ تَبَّ

Stop signs

Stop signs, or rumūz al-awqāf are

مـ -- must stop

قلي -- better to stop

ج -- allowed to stop

صلي -- better not to stop

لا -- should not stop

Manners

Manners of the heart

  • Understanding the origin of the word.
  • One should understand that the Qur'an is not the word of man.
  • The reader should throw away all other thoughts.
  • One should understand the meaning.
  • One should be humble.
  • One should feel that every message in the Qur'an is meant personally for himself or herself.

External manners

  • One should be vigilant of the purity of body, clothes, and place.
  • One is encouraged to face the Qiblah.
  • One should stop at a verse of warning and seek protection with Allah.
  • One should stop at a verse of mercy and ask Allah for mercy.
  • One should use pure Literary Arabic pronunciation, in addition to pronouncing the letter ج jīm as [d͡ʒ] or [ʒ], not as [ɡ].
  • One should have wuḍūʼ  (state of being pure) and read only for the sake of God.

See also

Analogous fields

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Madd sukoon". readwithtajweed.com. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  2. ^ a b c d "Hifdh:qalqalah". Albaseera.org. 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2011-06-26.

Books and Journals

  • Chapter in "The Art of Reciting the Qur'an" by Kristina Nelson, American University in Cairo Press (Cairo, NY) 2001.
  • “Theory and Practice of Tajwid,” Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, IV, Leiden, Brill, 2007 (or still in press)