Tajweed means giving every letter of the Qur'an its due: pronouncing it from its correct place, with its correct qualities, and applying the rules that govern how letters meet. It is how the Qur'an has been recited since it was first taught by the Prophet ﷺ to his Companions.
Allah commands in the Qur'an that it be recited with tartil, a measured and careful recitation (Surah al-Muzzammil, 73:4). Tajweed is the knowledge of how to do that.
Why does Tajweed matter?
Scholars of recitation describe two kinds of mistake. A clear mistake (lahn jali) changes a letter or a vowel, and can change the meaning. Every Muslim who recites must avoid these. A hidden mistake (lahn khafi) misses the finer rules, such as a ghunnah or the length of a madd. These are what a Tajweed course perfects.
For most adults the first step is not memorising rule names. It is learning to hear the difference between letters that sound alike, and to stop making the clear mistakes.
1. What are the makharij, where letters come from?
Every Arabic letter has a makhraj, a place of articulation. The scholars group them into five main areas:
| Area | What comes from it |
|---|---|
| The open space | The three long vowel letters (alif, waw and ya when they lengthen a sound) |
| The throat | Hamzah, ha (the light h), 'ayn, ha (the deep h), ghayn and kha |
| The tongue | Most letters, from the back of the tongue (qaf, kaf) to its tip (ta, dal, the s-sounds) |
| The lips | Fa, ba, mim and waw |
| The nose | The ghunnah, the nasal sound of noon and mim |
Within these areas there are seventeen precise points. You learn them by listening to a teacher and having your own recitation corrected, which is why Tajweed cannot be learned fully from a book.
2. What are heavy and light letters?
Seven letters are always pronounced heavy, with a full, rounded sound: kha, sad, dad, ghayn, ta (the heavy t), qaf and dha (the heavy dh). Students remember them with the phrase khuss daghtin qiz. The rest are generally light.
Two cases change with the vowels around them. The lam in the name Allah is heavy after a fathah or dammah and light after a kasrah. The letter ra is heavy with a fathah or dammah and light with a kasrah, with further detail when it carries a sukun.
3. What are the rules of noon sakinah and tanween?
A noon with a sukun, or a tanween (the doubled vowel at the end of a word), follows one of four rules depending on the letter after it. This is usually the first group of rules a student learns.
| Rule | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Izhar | Before the six throat letters | The noon is pronounced clearly, with no ghunnah |
| Idgham | Before ya, ra, mim, lam, waw, noon | The noon merges into the next letter; with ghunnah before ya, noon, mim and waw, and without it before lam and ra |
| Iqlab | Before ba | The noon turns into a mim sound, with ghunnah |
| Ikhfa | Before the remaining fifteen letters | The noon is hidden, between clear and merged, with ghunnah |
The six letters of idgham are remembered by the word yarmalun. Idgham only applies across two words; when the noon and the letter are in the same word, it is read clearly.
4. What are the rules of meem sakinah?
A mim with a sukun has three rules. Before a ba it is hidden with ghunnah (ikhfa shafawi). Before another mim it merges with ghunnah (idgham shafawi). Before every other letter it is pronounced clearly (izhar shafawi), taking particular care before waw and fa.
5. What are ghunnah and qalqalah?
Ghunnah is the nasal sound held for about two counts. It is strongest on a noon or mim with a shaddah, which always carries a full ghunnah.
Qalqalah is a slight bounce or echo on five letters when they carry a sukun: qaf, ta (the heavy t), ba, jim and dal, remembered as qutbu jad. The bounce is stronger when you stop on the letter at the end of an ayah.
6. What is madd, or lengthening?
Madd is the lengthening of a long vowel, measured in counts (one count is roughly the time to say one short vowel). The main types in Riwayat Hafs, by way of ash-Shatibiyyah, are:
| Madd | When | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Natural | A long vowel with no hamzah or sukun after it | 2 counts |
| Connected | A hamzah follows in the same word | 4 or 5 counts |
| Separated | A hamzah begins the next word | 4 or 5 counts |
| Necessary | A permanent sukun or shaddah follows | 6 counts |
| At a stop | You stop on the letter after a long vowel | 2, 4 or 6 counts |
Whichever length you choose for a type, keep it the same throughout your recitation. Consistency is part of the rule.
7. How do you stop and start?
When you stop at the end of a word, its last vowel becomes a sukun, and a tanween with a fathah becomes a long alif sound. The symbols printed in your mushaf show where it is best to stop, where you may stop, and where you should continue. Learn the symbols in your own mushaf with your teacher, since different prints mark them slightly differently.
Print the rules
Our free Tajweed rules chart puts these rules on four colour-coded sheets, to keep beside you while you read.
How do you learn Tajweed properly?
- Learn from a qualified teacher who hears you recite and corrects you
- Take one rule at a time and apply it before moving on
- Listen daily to a reciter who reads in Riwayat Hafs
- Read a little every day rather than a lot once a week
- Read in Salah with the same care you give in class
If you can already read the Qur'an, our one-year Basic Tajweed course covers every rule on this page in four modules, with live correction five days a week. Students who complete it receive their Sanad in Riwayat Hafs, and can continue to Advanced Tajweed, which leads to a formal Ijazah. If you cannot read yet, children start with our Maktab programme and the free Noorani Qaida PDF.