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Tajweed Notes

Articulation Points of Quranic letters “Hadhrat Uthman (Radhiyallaho anhu) narrates that Rasulullah (Sallallaho alaihewasallam said: The

best amongst you is he who learns the Quran or teaches it.”

Introduction:

Tajweed ) (تجويد) is an Arabic word meaning “ correct Pronunciation during recitation”. It is a set of rules which dictate how the Qur'an should be read. It comes from the root word 'j a-wa-da' meaning to make well, make better or improve.

Tarteel:

The word is used in Surah Muzammil:

'And recite the Qur'an in slow measured rhythmic tone'

The Arabic word translated as 'slow, measured rythmic' is TARTEEL. The tafseer of the above ayat according to Ibn Kathir is 'recite the Qur'an slowly, making the letters clear, for this is an assistance in understanding and pondering the meaning of the Qur'an.'

The most important part of Tajweed is learning about correct positions of the organs of speech and the manner of articulation. The Qur'an can lose its meaning if the letters are not pronounced correctly.

E.g

Heart - قلب ;Dog - كلب

The first letters are similar in pronunciation, but if not pronounced correctly will change the word/meaning completely.

Tajweed is not intended to be about just learning rules and committing them to memory, but rather the correct application of those rules while reciting the Qur'an.

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Al-Lahn Means alteration or mistakes in recitation. The word lahn literally means 'incorrect

pronunciation'. In the Science of Tajweed, lahn can be described as: 'Failing to adhere to the rules of Tajweed whilst reciting the Qur'an'

There are two types of Lahn:

1.Lahn Jalee ( الجلى اللحن )- Making CLEAR mistakes. Means that the error is clear and obvious like the sun.

Example: Changing a letter or changing a sign (harakah), The reader does not pronounce the letter from its proper makhraj, such as reading ز as ظ.

Omitting or adding an extra letter of madd. The reader does not give the Madd its complete right (i.e. does not stretch the word appropriately).

These mistakes may change the meaning of the âyah. This type of mistake is Harâm.

Examples: Reading الین ,ثوم as ثم Reading ,الظالین as الض

Reading أنعمت as أنعمت.

2. Lahn Khafee ( الخفى اللحن )- Making HIDDEN mistakes

Means hidden error. For instance, this refers to errors, which may occur in Ikhfaa, Iqlaab, Idghaam or Ignoring ghunnah or subordinate madd.

Reading the Qur'an whilst being guilty of Lahney Khafee is makrooh (undesirable, not commendable). It does not necessarily alter the meaning of the Qur'an. However, it does deprive the Holy Qur'an of its real elegance and beauty.

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Articulation Points Articulation point is the place from where a letter is pronounced, making its sound

different from the sound of other letters. Each Quranic letter has different articulation point.

A letter is only a sound that relies on a specific articulation point. Quranic Articulation Points

Five major areas of the human body are used to pronounce different letters.

There are 17 different articulation points to pronounce the 28 original letters and the Madd letters.

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Only the throat, tongue and lips are used to pronounce the actual 28 letters. The nose and the empty space of mouth & throat is used to produce additional sounds (Eg: Ghunna Sounds)

Diagram of Mouth

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The Upper Throat – Adnal-halq [1]

From the upper throat emerge two letters. These are Khaa’ ( خ ), pronounced “kh” Gyan ( غ ), pronounced “gh”

It is erroneous to pronounce these two letters from the mouth, and every effort should be made to distinguish the upper throat from the inner mouth area. Note that ghayn is articulated from the same makhraj, but just below the khaa.

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The Mid-Throat – Wasat Al-halq [2]

The mid-throat is the point of articulation for the following two:

Haa’ ( ح ), pronounced “hh“ ‘Ayn ( ع ), pronounced ” ‘a “

It is important to understand that haa ( ح ) and haa ( ھـ ) are not the same, and that haa exhibits a much sharper sound and is articulated slightly above the ‘ayn.

The Deep Throat – Aqsal-halq [3]

The deepest part of the throat produces two letters, Haa’ ( ھـ ), pronounced “hh”

Hamzah ( ء ), pronounced as a glottal stop. A glottal stop is defined as “a speech sound produced by a momentary complete closure of the glottis, followed by an explosive release”. The haa emerges from the same area but just above the hamzah‘s point of articulation.

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To sum up, the six letters that emerge from the throat are: khaa’ ( خ ), ghayn ( غ ), haa’ ( ح ), ayn ( ع ), haa ( ھـ ), and hamzah ( ء ). These six letters are called Al-Ahruf Al-Halqiyyah [4] (the throat letters).

Articulation Areas – The Tongue (Al-Lisaan)

Al-lisaan: contains makhaarij for 18 letters. These are divided across 10 points of articulation, which are categorised as 4 main areas. These are: Aqsal-lisaan; Wasat Al-lisaan; Haafat Al-lisaan; and Ra’s Al-lisaan. Let’s look at some details.

1 & 2 – Deepest Area of the Tongue – Aqsal-lisaan [1] This area is divided into two points of articulation.

1. The innermost part of the tongue with what corresponds to it from the upper (soft) palate produces - Qaaf ( ق ), pronounced “qq”

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This area is the closest to the throat, and qaaf is produced with isti‘laa’ [2] (heaviness or pressure); more correctly, however, isti‘laa’ is the elevation of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth (to that which is opposite to it) after the sound is produced.

2. The innermost part of the tongue, towards the mouth, with what corresponds to it from the upper palate produces - Kaaf ( ك ), pronounced “kk”

This area is slightly closer to the mouth than throat. Kaaf is produced with istifaalah [3] (lightness) or lowering of the tongue towards the ‘floor’ of the the mouth after the sound is produced. These two letters are referred to as Al-Lahawiyyayn [4] because their makhraj involves the uvula (called lahah or lahaatul halq in Arabic).

3 – Mid-tongue Area – Wasat Al-lisaan [5]

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The mid-tongue with that which corresponds to it from the hard palate produces 3 letters.

Jeem ( ج ), pronounced “jj”

Sheen ( ش ), pronounced “shh”

Consonant yaa ( ي ), pronounced “ya” or “yi” or “yu” or “y”

It is important to note that the yaa being referred to is not the yaa maddeeyyah; which means it is the yaa with a fat-ha such as in the word

yafqahoon

or the yaa with a dammah, such as in the word

yuqinoon

or the yaa with a kasrah, such as in the word

yadayi-llahi

or the yaa with a sukoon, such as in the word

‘alayhi

Finally, it is also important to note that by mid-tongue we’re referring strictly to the upper side, called thahrul-lisaan [6]. These three letters are called Al-Ahruf Al-Shajareeyah [7] because they emerge from what is called “Shajar Al-Lisaan“. This, simply put, means these letters originate from the ‘core of the tongue’.

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4 – Edge/s of the Tongue – Haafat Al-lisaan [8]

The edge of the tongue, alongside the inner faces of the top left and/or right molars, produce the letter - Daad ( ض ), pronounced “dd“

More often, the left molars only are involved in producing the daad as this is easier. Knowing the point of articulation and mastering it is important. Commonly, this letter is transliterated into ‘dh’

5 – Between The Edge of the Tongue [and Gums] – [9]

The (front) edge (i.e. tip and fronter edges) of the tongue with that which coincides with it from the upper gum/palate is the makhraj for the letter Laam ( ل ), pronounced “ll”

The “gum” being referred to here is that which is behind the front molars, incisors and canines, i.e. the hard palate. Usually the righter side of the edge produces laam.

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Nevertheless, it is important to ensure the edges are producing the laam, and not just the tip of the tongue.

Ra’sul-lisaan [1] (the tip of the tongue). First, it is important to note that ra’sul-lisaan is the very tip of the tongue, and tarful-lisaan [2] is that small portion of the tongue just behind the tip.

Within this region, there are five points of articulation, producing 11 letters. These are:

6 – The Tip & Hard Palate

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The very tip of the tongue, with that which coincides with it from the hard palate, behind the two front teeth produces the letter - Noon ( ن ), pronounced “nn”

Note that a ghunnah passes through nasal passage to complete the sound for noon.

7 – The Tip, Upper Tip & Hard Palate

When the tip of the tongue, alongside a small area from the upper tip (tarful-lisaan), are pushed off the hard palate, the letter

Raa’ ( ر ), pronounced “rr” - is produced.

The area referred to in the hard palate is slightly off that area which produces noon, as comparable in the diagrams above. The letters noon ( ن ), raa ( ر ), and laam ( ل ) are called Al-Ahruf Al-thalqeeyah [3].

Note: laam was covered in a previous post. The reason for this name is because they are produced from thalq al-lisaan [4], i.e. it’s tip.

Here’s food for thought: did you know that thalq also means “slip”. When your tongue “slips” and you let out a secret, it happens so fast. Thalq is just another characteristic of the tongue. It “slips”quickly after producing the consonant letter in a direction respective to a fat-ha, dammah, or kasrah.

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8 – The Upper Tip & Hard Palate

Between the upper tip and hard palate, directly behind the two front incisors, the following letters are produced,

Taa’ ( ط ), pronounced “tt“

Taa’ ( ت ), pronounced “tt”

Daal ( د ), pronounced “dd”

With note that the letter taa’ ( ط ) leans against the front teeth slightly more than taa’ and daal because of the strength needed in producing its sound. These three letters are called Al-Ahruf Al-Natee‘ah [5] because they emerge from the “skin” i.e. nat’ or “gum” which covers the upper back of the front teeth.

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9 – Between The Tip And Top & Bottom Teeth

Between the top and bottom teeth is an open area which is generally known to make a hissing sound. With the tip of the tongue, this area is also the makhraj for

Saad ( ص ), pronounced “ss“

Seen ( س ), pronounced “ss”

Zay ( ز ), pronounced “zz”

with note that when pronouncing these letters, the front sides of the tongue may touch some of the upper teeth. These three letters are named Al-Ahruf Al-Asleeyah [6], because they are produced from the very tip of the tongue

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10 – The Tip & Front Incisors

Between the very tip of the tongue and the bottom edge of the two front teeth the following letters are produced

Thaa’ ( ث ), pronounced “thh”

Thaal ( ذ ), pronounced “th”

Thaa’ ( ظ ), pronounced “th“

These three letters are called Al-Ahruf Al-Lathaweeyah [7] because their point of articulation is very close to the gums of the two front teeth.

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Articulation Points : Al-Shafataan – ( The Lips) Al-Shafataan: the lips are the makhraj (point of articulation) for four letters. There are two main areas within this makhraj; they are as follows.

Between The Two Lips

Maa baynal-shafataan [1] from between the two lips emerge the following letters,

Baa’ ( ب ), pronounced “bb”

Meem ( م ), pronounced “mm”

Consonant waaw ( و ), pronounced “wa” or “wi” or “wu” or “w”. It is important to note that the waaw being referred to is not the waaw maddeeyyah; which means it is the waaw with a fat-ha such as in the word

Waylun

or the waaw with a dammah, such as in the word

yarawul-‘athaaba

or the waaw with a kasrah, such as in the word

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wifaaqan

or the waaw with a sukoon, such as in the word

awliyaa’

The letters baa’ and meem emerge from pressing the lips together. However, the consonant waaw emerges by opening the lips slightly and bringing in the sides to form an “o” shape.

The Bottom Lip and Upper Incisors

The bottom lip, alongside the lower tips of the two front teeth produce the letter

Faa’ ( ف ), pronounced “ff”

These four letters ( ف م و ب ) are all named Al-Ahruf Al-Shafaweeyah [2] because they emerge from the shafataan, i.e. the lips.

So far we’ve covered four of the five main makhaarij “areas”, and a total of 16 of the 17 specific points of articulation.

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Articulation Point-Al-Khayshoom (The Nose) [1]: Al Khayshoom means the nasal passage. The nasal passage is the 17th and last makhraj to be studied. It contains only one point of articulation.

The nasal passage is similar to the jawf in that is an “open area”, but within the nose. From this area, a ghunnah is produced, noting that the tongue has no part in producing the ghunnah.. It’s important to understand that a ghunnah is not a letter, rather, it is a fundamental characteristic, or quality, for the letters noon and meem as it is part of their original makeup.

It is sounded whether these letters have a fat-ha, dammah, kasrah, shaddah, or sukoon. Likewise, it is also sounded when doing idghaam, ikhfaa’ or ith-haar.

To understand how ghunnah works (and its significance), block your nose completely by pinching it with two fingers, then try to say a word with the letter noon or meem, or simply sound the letter ( أن ) or ( أم ). You’ll notice that you are unable to sound these letters properly without the nasal passage being open (and producing ghunnah)!

So, this wraps up the 17 makhaarij al-huroof, with just a couple of very important points to make.

First, to figure out the makhraj of a letter, pronounce it with a sukoon, preceded by a fat-ha. Examples,

أض أش أت أع أد

Note there are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, however, there are 31 huroof al-tajweed (tajweed letters). The extra letters are hamzah, consonant yaa’, and consonant waaw.

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Al-Madd Al-Tabee’ee Al-Madd Al-tabee‘ee: normal/natural prolongation is the act of prolonging or “stretching” the sound of the three madd letters:

أ و ي alif waaw yaa

for two counts, i.e. the time it takes to say (one-two).

The rule has the following conditions:

The huroof al-madd must all be silent, i.e. have no diacritic on them.

A fat-ha must be present on the letter before a silent alif

A dammah must be present on the letter before a silent waaw

A kasrah must be present on the letter before a silent yaa.

Examples of this are as follow:

qaala qeela yaqoolu

These examples can be combined into one word to help you remember the rule. The word is نوحیھا - nooheehaa

The fact is that in the Quran you will not see a diacritic on these three letters if they are in the state of madd.

It will be an alif, waaw, or yaa with no fat-ha, dammah, kasra, or sukoon ontop/underneath. When I say that these letters must be silent, I am not saying they have sukoon. In fact, if you see a sukoon on an alif or waaw or yaa it means that you are not to stretch this letter whatsoever.

An example of sukoon present on these letters is as follows:

Mala-ihi

NOT: Mala-eehi

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Aaminoo

NOT: Aaminooaa

Ulaa-ika

NOT: Uoolaa-ika

A final thing to be wary of is something called “‘ella” letters. This is when the three madd letters have no diacrtic on them, but are not prolonged because the letter preceeding them does not have the corresponding diacritic mentioned in the above conditions.

Al-Qalqalah Qalqalah: sound articulation and echo. In essence the word means shaking/disturbance.

In Tajweed, it means to disturb the letter that has sukoon, i.e. that is saakin, but without any corresponding movement of the mouth and jaw that is associated with voweled letters (i.e. letters that have fat-ha, dammah, or kasra). Qalqalah “shakes” to “echo” the letter without taking up the preceding or succeeding letter’s diacritic.

To explain:

There are five letters in the Arabic alphabet that apply to Qalqalah. These five letters are:

د ج ب ط ق daal jeem baa tah qaaf

To easily remember these letters, remember the phrase they make up, ( جد قطب ).

Simply, Qalqalah is echoing the above five letters when they are in state of sukoon, i.e.

د ج ب ط ق

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To feel the importance of Qalqalah, try saying (أط), how about (أق) you’ll find one of two things happen. Either the back end of your tongue gets stuck and it’s difficult to loosen it and breathe, or your tongue will naturally slip and the back of your mouth is open again. It is this “slipping” that Qalqalah is based on. Disturbing the letter without moving your jaw or mouth. Try it for the rest of the letters, (أد) and (أج) and (أب). Imagine trying to say the word,

أبناءIf there was no “slipping”/”shaking”/”echoing” of the letter baa ( ب) then how hard would it be to say the noon (ن) straight away with your lips still pressed together? Doing Qalqalah will cause your lips to “slip” a bit i.e. open up a tiny bit without adding a diacritic to the baa, to make it easy to pronounce the noon.

There are three types of Qalqalah:

Qalqalah Kubra (Strong Echo): occurs at the end of an ayah.

Qalqalah Wusta (Medium Echo): occurs at the end of a word in the middle of an ayah.

Qalqalah Sughra (Subtle Echo): occurs in the middle of a word whether at the beginning, middle or end of an ayah.

Examples of Qalqalah:

Kubra (strong):

Kasab Al-falaq

Muheet _ Masad _ Al-ma’aarij

You may notice the the last letters that require Qalqalah don’t actually have sukoon drawn above them! Diacritics have been put in place for readers who want to continue reading without a pause through to the next ayah. However, stopping at the end of every ayah is preferred and so in these such circumstances you must do a strong Qalqalah.

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Wusta (middle):

qad aflaha najid lahu

Here the sukoon is clearly marked on the Qalqalah letters.

V.I.Note: if you run out of breath and wish to stop in the middle of an ayah, and you stop at a word that has a qalqalah letter on the end, you must, must, must read it as a qalqalah kubra! For example, if I wanted to stop at the word qad in the above example, the daal must be echoed strongly. Then if I were to continue reading by repeating the word and continuing, I do a qalqalah wusta.

Here’s the example again:

[reciting] … [out of breath] … [stopping at word qad] … [doing a strong echo on the daal] … [takes breath] … [wants to continue] …

[start at the word qad and reads: qad aflaha, doing a qalqalah wusta on the daal].

Simple!

Sughra (subtle):

khalaqna tat-heeran abnaa’akum

Similarly the sukoon is clearly marked on the Qalqalah letters.

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