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Table of Contents

Lesson Description Page

1 Introductory Guidance 3

2 Introduction of Tajweed 5

3 The Makhaarij of the Letters 6

4 Pronunciation of Arabic

Vowels

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5 The Rule of Madd 15

6 The Rules of Qalqala 17

7 Madd-e-Leen 19

8 The Rule of letter Laam 21

9 The Rules of Noon Saakin and

Tanween

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10 Pronunciation of shadd 29

11 The Rule of Ghunnah 30

12 Huroof-e-Muqatta’at 31

13 Symbols of pauses (Waqf)

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Lesson: 1

Introductory Guidance

• It is best to recite the Quran in its

original language, Arabic.

• Recite the Quran with a beautiful

Arabic accent and proper

pronunciation.

• Start reciting the Quran with taooz

and recite tasmiyah

except for surah At-Tawbah.

• When you finish a surah and you are

starting a new surah, always say

“Bismillah”.

• Avoid any discussion while you are

reading the Quran. If you need to stop

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for an important conversation, close

the Quran and when you are done

talking, say taooz and you can start

reading the Quran again.

• Avoid changing the sound of one letter

to another, especially the letters that

sound similar. Example:

and , and

• Avoid stretching a harakah or vowel so

that it may not sound like haroof.

• Recite heavy letters heavy and the light

letters light.

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Lesson: 2

Introduction of Tajweed

Tajweed is an Arabic word meaning

correct pronunciation during recitation.

It is a set of rules which dictates how the

Quran should be read.

It is the knowledge and application of

rules to recite the Quran as close as

possible to the way that it was recited by

Prophet Muhammad (saw).

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Lesson: 3

The Makhaarij of the Letters

The term "makhraj" in Arabic means

articulation point. The place from which

the sound of a letter originates.

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In the throat there are 3 makhaarij and

each one has 2 letters.

Upper Throat

Middle Throat

Lower Throat

is pronounced by the extreme back of the

tongue touching the upper palate to create a

thick sound.

The makhraj is slightly in front of the .

The tongue should not meet the upper palate

other than what is necessary to pronounce the

letter.

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, and

These are all pronounced when the middle

part of the tongue comes in contact with

what lies opposite to it from the roof of the

mouth.

The rear side of the tongue touches the

upper back teeth (upper molars) in either one

of 3 ways : from the right side, from the left

side OR from both sides.

The top of the tongue touches the upper gum of

the front three teeth to say Raa.

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Tip of the tongue touches the

back of the front two teeth to

say.

Tip of the tongue meets the edge of the

front upper teeth.

Join the upper and the lower front

teeth together, touch the teeth

with tip of the tongue to say Zaa,

Seen and Sawd.

Edge of the upper front teeth

touches the lower tip to say Faa.

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Gently close the upper and the

lower tip together to say Baa,

Meem and Waaw.

Make your lips round to say “Waaw” just like

one would pronounce “Wow” in English

language.

Al Khayshoom

The nasal cavity is located at the furthest point

of the nose (the bridge of the nose). It is the

opening that connects the mouth with the

nose. Sound of Ghunnah should come out

from this point.

The Ghunnah is produced in the following

cases:

When the has a shaddah ( )

When the has a shaddah ( )

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Lesson: 4

Pronunciation of Arabic Vowels

Short Vowels:

Fatha (Zabar)

Kasra (Zer)

Damma (Pesh)

1: Fatha makes the sound of “A”. It

should be pronounced with an open

mouth.

Example:

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2: Kasra makes the sound of “E”. It

should be pronounced by lowering our

jaws and lips.

Example:

3: Damma makes the sound of

“OO”. It should be pronounced by

circling your lips.

Example:

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Exercise of Vowels:

Exercise of all three Vowels:

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Avoid incorrect reading or stretching of

the vowels.

Correct reading:

Incorrect reading:

Note: Total vowels are 9:

Total signs are 4 , , ,

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Lesson: 5

The Rule of Madd

There are 4 letters which we have to

stretch. The length of stretch is 2 fingers

long or 2 harakah.

1: Alif without any signs ( )

2: Waaw with saakin ( )

3: Yaa with saakin ( )

Above mentioned 3 haroof are called

haroo-e-madd.

4: Alif maqsoora, Alif mamdooda and

upside down Damma.

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These three harakahs gives the sound of

haroof-e-madd.

Exercise:

Alif madd and Alif maqsoora

Waaw madd and upside down Damma

Yaa madd and alif mamdooda

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Lesson: 6

The Rules of Qalqala

• Qalqala is a quality in which we

pronounce a letter with an echoing

sound if the letter has a saakin sign on

it. Example:

• There are five letters of Qalqala.

`

• When ` comes with

saakin sign, we make an echo sound.

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• To memorize these five letters, we

combine them together as .

• Qalqala does not apply to any other

letter other then QUTAB JAD.

Exercise of Qalqala:

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Lesson: 7

Madd-e-Leen

There are two Madd-e-Leen Letters,

Waaw and Yaa.

When Waaw and Yaa comes with sakoon

and has Fatha before it, we read them

with a soft voice.

Example:

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• Madd-e-Leen will occur if a Saakin

appears after a Letter of Leen.

Exercises of Waaw-e-Leen:

Exercises of Yaa-e-Leen:

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Lesson: 8

The Rule of letter Laam:

• When the harakah of Fatha or

Damma appears before the word

Allah , the letter Laam is

pronounced with a heavy voice or full

mouth.

Example:

• If Kasra appears before the word

Allah, then the Laam in Allah will not

be pronounced with a heavy voice.

But it should be pronounced with an

empty mouth.

Example:

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• However the Laam mushaddad (Laam

with shaddah) is read with an empty

mouth.

Example:

Note:

A letter that has Shaddah sign on it is

called Mushaddad.

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Lesson: 9

The Rules of Noon Saakin and

Tanween

Noon Saakin means a Noon with a Sukun

on it. Tanween means two Fatha, two

Kasra, and two Damma.

There are four rules related to Noon

Saakin and Tanween. In all the rules, you

must look at the letter that follows the

Noon Saakin or Tanween to determine

which rule to follow. The four rules are:

1. Izhar

2. Iqlaab

3. Idhghaam

4. Ikhfa

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1. Izhar:

When the noon saakin or tanween is

followed by any of the Huroof-e-Halaqi,

meaning the six letters that are

pronounced from the throat, izhar will

take place. Izhar means to pronounce

the “N” sound of the noon saakin or

tanween WITHOUT stretching it. The

huroof-e-halaqi are:غ خ ع ح ءه

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2. Iqlaab:

If there is a letter BAA after the Noon

Saakin or Tanween, Iqlaab will take

place. Iqlaab means to change the sound

of Noon Saakin or tanween (“N” sound)

into a meem. The sound will also be

stretched into a Ghunnah. Usually there

is a little meem to signify this change.

Example:

After Tanween After Noon Saakin

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3. Idghaam:

After the Noon Saakin or Tanween, if any

of the letters of يــــرملون ( )

appear, idghaam should be done.

Idghaam means to combine the “N”

sound of the Noon or tanween with the

following letter (next coming letter).

In four letters, ــومن ,Yaa, Waaw, Meem) ي

Noon) Idghaam should be WITH

Ghunnah.

In the two letters, ر ل (Laam and Raa),

Idghaam should be without Ghunnah.

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Examples without Ghunnah:

Example with Ghunnah:

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4. Ikhfa:

Whenever any of the following fifteen

letters appear after Noon Saakin or

Tanween, Ikhfa should be done. Ikhfa

means to slightly “hide” the “N” sound

of the Noon Saakin and Tanween, and

lengthen it slightly.

ت ث جد ذ ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ف

ق ك

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Lesson: 10

Pronunciation of shadd

The sign ( ) above the letter with a

haraka (Fatha, Kasra, Damma) is called

‘Tashdeed’.

It looks like the English letter ‘w’.

The letter bearing a tashdeed is called

‘Mushaddad’.

Tashdeed means to strengthen or to

stress.

The letter bearing the tashdeed is

doubled - the first letter always takes

the sukun and the second letter bears

the haraka.

Example:

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Lesson: 11

The Rule of Ghunnah

It is the sound that is emitted from the

nasal passage without any function of

the tongue.

The letters of the Ghunnah are Noon

and Meem .

The length of the Ghunnah is 2 harkah.

Example:

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Lesson: 12

Huroof-e-Muqatta’at

• Certain Surahs (chapters) in the Quran

begin with some letters from the

Arabic Alphabets.

• These combinations of letters are

known as the Huroof-e-Muqatta’at.

• These letters should be recited, as

they are written.

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Lesson: 13

Symbols of pauses (Waqf)

Waqf means to stop, the plural of Waqf

is Awqaaf.

There are some symbols where we

pause or stop. Following are the

symbols of pauses.

This sign is called Waqf Lazim,

which means compulsory stop.

This sign is called an Ayat. It

comes at the end of the verse.

It means that the sentence is

now complete and one has to

STOP.

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It is preferred to continue without a

pause.

A quick pause, without breaking your

breath is allowed.

Pause is allowed, you may stop

or you may continue (The

Equality Stop).

We cannot stop (The Prohibited

Stop).

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This Tajweed book is compiled from the

following sources:

• Aasan Tajweed by Salma Kokab.

• Quran–al-Karim with Ehkham-ul-

Tajweed.

• Multiple websites.

• Tajweed Rules of the Quran by

Kareema Carol Czerepinski.