Tajweed ul Quran

The ruling of reading with Tajweed

The ruling of reading with Tajweed

Muhammad bin Al-Jazaree the great Qur'an and Hadeeth scholar of the 9th Century (Hijri) says in his famous poem detailing the rules of Tajweed:

"And applying Tajweed is an issue of absolute necessity, Whoever doesn't apply Tajweed to the Qur'an, then a sinner is he."

Sheikh Zakariyyaa Al-Ansari [died in 926 H.] said in explanation of this verse in his book: Sharh al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyaa

"It is required to observe all of the Arabic rules in that which changes it and ruins the meaning".

So he regarded it as an obligation to keep away from the major mistakes in reciting the Qur'an.

The scholars have divided the types of mistakes one might fall into when reciting the Qur'an into two types:

1. Clear mistakes: which usually change obvious things and change the meaning.

2. Unobvious (hidden) mistakes: for which one may need to study Tajweed rules.

And the majority of scholars agree that applying the Tajweed rules of Qur'an such that the Clear Mistakes are avoided is an individual obligation (Fard 'Ayn) upon every Muslim who has memorised part of or all of the Qur'an. As for applying all of the rules of Tajweed and avoiding the Unobvious mistakes then it is (Fard Kifaayah) upon the Muslim ummah. That is, there must be some students of knowledge who have knowledge of that. This is because the Qur'an was revealed with the Tajweed rules applied to it and the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) recited it back to Jibreel in that way and the Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) read it in that way, so it is an established Sunnah.

The Clear mistakes must be avoided by all and to avoid them one must memorise and read attentively and have knowledge of some basic aspects of Tajweed. If a person falls into the Clear Mistakes, this is considered a sin and Ibn Taymiyyah even regarded it undesirable for a Student of Knowledge (i.e. someone who knows Tajweed) to pray behind a person who makes Clear Mistakes in their Salaah. As for the Unobvious mistakes, then the ruling on them is lighter and the recitation of a person falling into this type of mistake is regarded as lacking in completeness but prayer behind such a person is sound.

The List below shows what type of mistakes fall under each category.