What is tajweed? is it necessary to learn or is it just recommended?

Question

There are some sources about tajweed rules and learning them is recommended. But what is tajweed? Is it a set of rules for only reading Quran or general for arabic? I learned the arabic alphabet and can read Quran. What does tajweed add to just knowing the alphabet? Is learning tajweed just a recommendation or a necessity?

Answer 1

Tajweed is a set of rules for proper pronunciation and recital of the Quran. It is meant to replicate the way the prophet Mohammad (saws) recited the Quran. Learning tajweed means learning how to pronounce the letters in the words correctly, which covers matters like when a consonant is silent or not and how long a vowel is kept.

It is only meant for reciting the Quran however, and does not apply to enunciating (classical) Arabic.

Applying tajweed when reciting Quran is considered to be fard ain; a must for all those who recite Quran. See the following ayah.

"Or add to it, and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation."

(Muzzamil 73:4)

Answer 2

Asalamu wa alaikum,

Tajweed is only necessary for reading the Qur'an, Tajweed, as is explained in all tajweed books, is the art of keeping your tongue from making a mistake in the recitation of Allah's word/ The Quran.

Tajweed adds a beautiful voice, but that is not all, it helps you keep from making recitation mistakes.

Allah says in Surat 73 Ayah four

وَرَتِّلِ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ تَرۡتِيلاً (٤)

recite the Qur'an in slow, measured rhythmic tones. (4)

From this Ayah it would be Recommended to learn Tajweed, but not learn it but learn and apply it.

Answer 3

Tajweed is an art of reading Quran with a melody, and is a set of rules for non-Arabic readers to reading Quran correctly by using vowelized Arabic text.

The people who claim that Tajweed is required bring the following ayat as their proof:

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ عَلَيْهِ الْقُرْآنُ جُمْلَةً وَاحِدَةً كَذَلِكَ لِنُثَبِّتَ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ وَرَتَّلْنَاهُ تَرْتِيلًا
And those who disbelieve say, "Why was the Qur'an not revealed to him all at once?" Thus [it is] that We may strengthen thereby your heart. And We have spaced it distinctly.
Furkan 32 (25/32)

This translation is not good, so I need to make some points clear myself. There are three types of "reading" in Quran; "telavat", "qurae" and "tarteel". Telavat is reading a text normally. Qurae is reading it giving your mind completely and trying to understand it. Tarteel is reading a text word-by-word, thinking on each word for a long time, maybe for several minutes. In this ayat, tarteel is used. The bold part of the ayat is translated as "... And tarteel it with a tarteel."

As you see, this ayat has no order of reading Quran in an artistic way with melody. In my opinion, some people love to hear molody, and they want to read Quran with melody too. They think it would be good if they read Quran with melody. But there is no order in Quran to read it with melody. First of all, our main example must be the Rasul Muhammad (pbuh); he never read or made people read Quran with melody in his entire life. Reading Quran in an artistic way is just a bidat that is brought to Islam with some melody-loving people (I'm not saying that loving melody is bad. It is a different subject.).

Allah wants us to read Quran, understand it, and live according to it. Allah and his Rasul does not order us to use Quran as an art tool.

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There is another detail about this discussion.

The people who claim that Allah orders us to read Quran with Tajweed also claim that Tajweed is needed for reading Quran correctly.
Their famous example is the similarity between reading of the words "helek (to lose life, to be wasted)", "halak (to shave)", "khalak (to create)".
They say that, if non-Arabic readers don't read Quran according to Tajweed rules, they misread words like these, and they misread the entire Quran at all.

Misreading of non-Arabic readers?
They are already not understanding a word they read. What is the importance of correctly reading a text that you don't understand? The readers that know Arabic are already know how to read and they are correctly reading Quran.

Answer 4

When asked whether it is mandatory to recite the Qur'an with tajwid, Shaykh Muhammad Salih al-Munajid quoted the following fatwa from Hanbali scholar Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Uthaymin (from the collection Liqa'at al-Bab al-Maftuh):

The correct view is that reading Qur’aan with the rules of tajweed is not obligatory; tajweed is only a means of making one’s recitation more beautiful. If a person reads and pronounces the letters clearly with the vowels as marked, then this is sufficient. With regard to the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

and recite the Quran (aloud) in a slow, (pleasant tone and) style [al-Muzzammil 73:4],

That does not refer to tajweed; rather what is meant is to read it at a measured pace.

Answer 5

As our bothers already explained. I just want to add this:

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said, "The one who is proficient in the recitation of the Qur'an will be with the honourable and obedient scribes (angels) and he who recites the Qur'an and finds it difficult to recite, doing his best to recite it in the best way possible, will have a double reward."

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

وعن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت‏:‏ قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏:‏ ‏ "‏الذي يقرأ القرآن وهو ماهر به مع السفرة الكرام البررة، والذي يقرأ القرآن ويتتعتع فيه وهو عليه شاق له أجران‏"‏ ‏(‏‏(‏متفق عليه‏)‏‏)‏‏.‏

Source here

If you find it hard to read the Holy Qur'an, you will have a double reward. That's because:

1. You read it.
2. You are doing your best even when it is hard for you.