Updated on 04 October 2026 at 11:01 PM
📖 3 min readTajweed is the science of the correct recitation of the Quran: giving each letter its due right, guarding the tongue against error, and reciting as the Quran was conveyed to us. This section presents its rules one by one, in the classic teaching order, according to the recitation of Hafs 'an 'Asim.
In the Arabic language, tajweed means: beautification and bringing something to perfection. One says: jawwadtu ch-chay'a tajwîdan, that is: I made it beautiful in my rendering of it; and atqantahu itqânan, that is: I brought it to perfection.
Its meaning in the terminology of the scholars of tajweed: a science that deals with the Quranic words with regard to giving each letter its due among its inherent attributes that never leave it, such as isti'lâ' (elevation) and istifâl (lowering), or what belongs to it among the rules that follow from those attributes, such as tafkheem, tarqeeq, idghaam, izhaar and others.
This is what Imam Ibn al-Jazari refers to by his words in the chapter on tajweed: « Giving the letters their rights... as to an attribute they possess and what is due to them »
The purpose of tajweed is to enable the reciter to attain excellence in recitation and beautiful performance, and to guard his tongue against error (lahn) when reciting the Noble Quran, so that he earns the pleasure of his Lord and that happiness be his in this world and the Hereafter.
The words of the Quran, according to the most widespread view, with regard to giving each letter its due right and what belongs to it, without departing from what has been established of its rules by the consensus of the Ummah.
It is the noblest and most honourable of sciences, because of its connection with the word of Allah (exalted be His glory); its learning likewise carries great importance, for it helps the Muslim to recite the Noble Quran as it should be recited.
It is drawn from the way of recitation of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family), from the reading of his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), from the reading of the Successors and the Successors of the Successors among the imams of recitation, until it reached us by tawaatur (mass transmission).
Reciting the Quran with tajweed is an obligation upon everyone who recites the Book of Allah: the lahn (error of recitation) must be avoided, whether manifest or hidden. The rules presented here (ikhfa, idghaam, izhaar, iqlaab, ghunnah, the madds and their conditions) make it possible to recite according to the recitation of Hafs 'an 'Asim, as it reached us by mass transmission.