TAJWEED
Al-Mahdi Islamic Center London - Ontario Saffar 1433
January 2012
Definition of Tajweed
By linguistic definition: Betterment
Applied definition: Articulating every letter from its articulation point and giving the letter its rights and dues of characteristics.
The Goal of Learning Tajweed
It is preserving the tongue from mistakes in pronunciation of the Glorious Qur'an during reading.
Learning Tajweed
Mistakes Done while reading holy Quran are of two kinds:
Obvious mistakes: those are done while pronouncing the letters or the signs on the letters. Almost, anyone should be able to recognize these mistakes.
Unobvious: are the ones that are done with the tajweed rules. Only those who studied tajwed are able to distinquish them.
Learning Tajweed is WAJEB on every muslim.
Teaching Tajweed is only wajeb when there is no one else doing so.
How to learn Tajweed
Its principles
The knowledge of tajweed is contingent on four matters: 1. Knowledge of the articulation points of the letters 2. Knowledge of the characteristics of the letters 3. Knowledge of the rules of tajweed (what change in the letters due to the order of letters) 4. Exercising the tongue and a lot of repetition.
The articulation point of the arabic
letters
The articulation point of a letter is the place the
letter is emitted. Using the correct articulation point
of a letter is necessary to utter the letter correctly.
The no. of articulation points in Arabic are 17
To learn the articulation point of a letter
Pronounce the letter with a Sukoon and put a hamzah
before the letter
Places of Articulation
There are five articulation areas for the Arabic letters:
1- The empty space in the mouth and throat (Al-Jowf)
2- The Throat
3- The Tongue
4- The Two Lips
5- The nasal passage
Places of Articulation
Places of Articulation and the Arabic
letters
Articulation point areas ( AL-Jawf and letter ا)
1- The empty space in the mouth and throat (AL-Jawf)
has in it one articulation point for the three lengthened (meed) letters, which are wow و, ya’ ي and an alif ا.
1.The alif preceded by a letter with a fat-hah. Note that the Arabic alif never takes a vowel (means with sukoon) and is always preceded by a fathah)
Like in: قال، مال، مالك
But not in: أقرأ. Here the first and last letters are ء not alif
Articulation point areas ( AL-Jawf and
letter و)
2. The wow with a sukoon
preceded by a letter with a
dhammah
Like in: حيهاون
Articulation point areas ( AL-Jawf and
letter ي)
3. The ya’ with a sukoon
preceded by a letter with a
kasrah
Like in: هاين وح
The articulation points of the throat (the
hamzah (ء) and the ha’ (هاء))
2- The Throat: there are three places of articulation in the throat, each place has two letters emitted from therein.
1. The deepest part of the throat
The deepest part of the throat is the furthest away from the mouth and the closest to the chest. Two letters are articulated from here. They are the hamzah (ء) and the ha’ (هاء)
The articulation points of the throat ( ع
and ح)
2. The middle part of the throat
The middle part of the throat
lies half way in between the
beginning and the end of the
throat. The two letters that
are emitted from here are: ع
and ح.
The articulation points of the throat
(خ andغ)
3. The closest part of the
throat
The closest part of the
throat is the beginning of
the throat, or the closest to
the mouth. Two letters are
articulated from this area,
they are: غand خ.
The articulation points of the tongue (ق)
3- The tongue : It has ten articulation points for eighteen letters
1. There are two letters that use the deepest part of the tongue in articulation. They are ق and .ك
ق is articulated from the deepest part of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the roof of the mouth in the area of the soft palate.
The articulation points of the tongue
( ك)
ك is articulated from the
deepest part of the tongue
and what lies opposite to it
from the roof of the mouth
in the area of the hard
palate.
This letter is closer to the
mouth than the ق .
Areas of the tongue
Areas of the tongue used for articulation There are
four areas of the tongue used for articulation. The
deepest part, the middle, the sides, and the tip. The
following picture helps pinpoint these areas.
The articulation points of the tongue
( ج , ش ( ي ,
2. Middle of the Tongue
Three letters use the middle of the tongue for their articulation. They are ج, ش .(without a medd) ي ,
These three letters are articulated from the middle of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the roof of the mouth.
The ya’ here is not the medd letter ya’, which is articulated from Al-Jwaf. The medd letter ya’ is a ya’ saakinah preceded by a kasrah, NOT a fath.
The ya’ saakinah is preceded by a fath is discussed here.
Like in : علَيهم and الَريب
Middle of the Tongue
-ي - -ش - - ج -
The Teeth
The articulation points of the tongue
(ض)
The letter ض
This letter is articulated from the one or both sides of the tongue and from the molars and the gum area next to the molars.
This letter can be articulated from one side (right or left) of the tongue alone, or from both sides of the tongue simultaneously which is more difficult.
,has the characteristic of compression of the sound ض as well as tafkheem (heaviness), so the deep part of the tongue raises up when pronouncing it and compresses the sound at the same time.
The letter ض
The articulation points of the tongue
(ل)
The letter ل
It is articulated from front sides and the tip of the tongue, and what lies opposite to them of the gums of upper front incisors.
The articulation of this letter is then in the shape of an arc, with both sides until the tongue ends at the tip meeting up with gums of the mentioned teeth.
The articulation of the ل is an upward movement, not a forward movement like “L” is in English.
The articulation points of the tongue (ن)
Articulation points of the Tip of the Tongue and the
The letter ن
This letter is articulated from the tip of the tongue and what lies opposite to it from the gum of the two front top incisors, a bit forward from the place of the letter ل on the gum.
It’s pronounced from this point only if it has a sukoon on it and is followed by one of the following six letters: ء ’This rule will be explained later, insha .،هاء، ع، ح، غ، خAllah.
The articulation points of the tongue (ن)
The articulation points of the tongue (ر)
The letter ر
This letter is emitted from the tip of the tongue with
the top of the tip and what lies opposite to it of the
gums of the two front top incisors (the palate).
The tip with the top of the tip need to strike the
gums to produce this sound correctly.
The articulation points of the tongue (ر)
The articulation points of the tongue
(ت، دط، )
The articulation point of the ،ت، دط
These letters are pronounced from the top side of
the tip of the tongue and the gum line of the two
front upper incisors.
The articulation points of the tongue
(ت، دط، )
-ت -د - -ط-
The articulation points of the tongue
(س، زص، )
Articulation points of the ،سزص ،
These three letters are emitted from the tip of the tongue and the top edge of the two front lower incisors.
There is a little space left in between the tip of the tongue and the plates of the teeth when pronouncing these letters.
When these letters are emitted properly, a whistle type sound should be heard accompanying their sound.
The articulation points of the tongue
(س، زص، )
-ز -س - -ص-
The articulation points of the tongue
(ث، ذظ، )
Articulation point of the ،ث، ذظ
These letters are emitted from the tip of the tongue
(from the top side of the tip) and the bottom edges
of the two top front incisors.
Care should be taken to make sure the top of the
tip is really colliding or separating with the edges
of the teeth and not the plates of the teeth.
The articulation points of the tongue
(ث، ذظ، )
-ث -ذ - -ظ-
The articulation points of the Lips (the
letter ف)
2- The Lips
The lips have two articulation points for four letters.
Articulation point of the letter ف
The articulation point of the ف is between the inside of the lower lip and the tips (or edges) of the two top front incisors.
There is a meeting of these two parts of articulation to make the correct sound of this letter.
The articulation points of the Lips (the
letter ف)
The articulation points of the Lips (the
letter ،و، بم )
Articulation point of the two lips ،و، بم
There are three letters that are articulated from the two lips, but they do not all three share the same mechanism in articulation.
The unlengthened و is articulated by forming a circle of the two lips without the two lips meeting completely.
The م is articulated by closing the two lips together
The letter ب is articulated by closing the two lips together, but a stronger closing than the meem.
The articulation points of the Lips (the
letter ،و، بم )
ف
م
ب
و
The articulation points of the Nasal
Passage (the ghunnah ن and م)
5- The nasal passage
From the hole of nose towards the inside of the mouth, here there is one articulation point, that of the ghunnah.
The ghunnah is defined as: a nasal sound that is emitted from the nose. This is a required characteristic of the .م and ن
The ghunnah is not a letter but a characteristic of these two letters, but it has its own distinct place of articulation.
The articulation points of the Nasal
Passage (the ghunnah ن and م)
-م - -ن-
References
http://www.abouttajweed.com/
Useful videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FZRQEEdGuo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbI6_neGiX0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjXHMxaR-sM&feature=related