Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Lahn: definition and divisions
Updated on 04 October 2026 at 11:01 PM
📖 4 min readThe recitation of the Noble Quran is a graded recitation (a recitation with tajweed which is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) upon whoever wants to read anything of the Noble Quran. The lahn is therefore unlawful (haram) in it, and distorting it is a sin.)
On this, it befits the reciter of the Noble Quran to know the lahn in order to avoid it.
The lahn is the error and the deviation from correctness; it carries other meanings that are not meant here.
The lahn divides into two:
It is an error that touches the word and that alters the construction of the word, whether it alters its meaning or not. It has been called jali (evident) because it alters in a manifest way, whose knowledge is shared between the scholars of recitation and the common people.
Example of that which alters the meaning: the kasrah of the ta' in أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ, as well as its dammah.
And example of that which does not alter the meaning: the dammah of the ha' in الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ.
The ruling of this division: unlawful by consensus, especially if the reciter commits it voluntarily or shows negligence about it.
It is an error that touches the word and that alters the 'urf (the established usage) of the recitation, without altering the construction. It has been called khafi (concealed);
because it is known only to the one knowledgeable of the rules of tajweed alone, and it is concealed from the common people.
Example of that: leaving out the izhaar, the idghaam or the ikhfa, altogether, leaving out the rules of tajweed during the recitation.
The ruling of this division: the prohibition according to the most correct view if the reciter commits it voluntarily or shows negligence about it; it has been said: the detestability¹. And some have lowered it still by the lack of respect of the measures of the madds by default or by excess, or by the inequality between them, and the weakness of mastery in the realization of the characteristics, and the application of the rules like the excess of repetition in the ra's and the excessive ghunnah of the noons and the emphasis of the lams outside their place of emphasis, and the like².
And to all of this refers the accomplished scholar, shaykh Ibrahim 'Ali Shahhata as-Samnudi, by his statement³:
اللحنُ قسمانِ جليٌّ وخفي ... كلٌّ حرامٌ معْ خلافٍ في الخفي
أما الجليُّ فهْوَ مبنىً غُيِّرا ... ثمَّ الخفيُّ ما على الوصْفِ طَرَا
وواجبٌ شرعًا تجنُّبُ الجَلِيّ ... وواجبُ صناعةٍ تركُ الخفيّ
"The lahn is two divisions: jali and khafi... each unlawful, with divergence on the khafi.
As for the jali, it is a construction that has been altered... then the khafi is what occurs upon the description.
Avoiding the jali is a legal obligation (shar'an)... and leaving the khafi is an obligation of the craft (san'ah)"
And I find admirable in this place the statement of Imam Ibn al-Jazari in an-Nashr:
"والناس في ذلك بين محسن مأجور، ومسيء آثم أو معذور؛ فمن قدر على تصحيح كلام الله -تعالى- باللفظ الصحيح، العربي الفصيح، وعدل إلى اللفظ الفاسد العجمي أو النبطي، استغناء بنفسه، واستبدادًا واتكالا على ما ألف من حفظه، واستكبارًا عن الرجوع إلى عالم يوقفه على صحيح لفظه؛ فإنه مقصِّرٌ بلا شك، وآثم بلا ريب، وغاشٌ بلا مِرْيَة، فقد ثبت عن أبي رقية تميم بن أوس الدَّاري -رضي الله عنه- أن النبي -صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم- قال: "الدينُ النصيحةُ"، قلنا لمن؟ قال: "لله ولكتابه ولرسوله ولأئمة المسلمين وعامتهم" رواه مسلم. أما من كان لا يطاوعه لسانه، أو لا يجد من يهديه إلى الصواب فإن الله لا يكلِّف نفسًا إلا وُسْعَها".
"And the people in this are between a doer of good who is rewarded, and a wrongdoer who is sinful or excused: whoever is able to correct the speech of Allah (the Most High) with the correct pronunciation, the eloquent Arabic, and turns instead to a corrupt pronunciation, 'ajmi or Nabatean, out of self-sufficiency, self-assertion and reliance on what he has memorized by heart, and out of disdain for returning to a scholar who would instruct him in the correctness of his pronunciation, such a one is falling short without doubt, sinful without doubt, deceiving without ambiguity. It is established from Abu Ruqayyah Tamim ibn Aws al-Dari (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The religion is sincere counsel", we said: for whom? He said: "For Allah, His Book, His Messenger, the imams of the Muslims and their common folk" (reported by Muslim). As for the one whose tongue cannot obey, or who finds no one to guide him to correctness, then Allah does not burden a soul except according to its capacity." End of the words of Ibn al-Jazari with adaptation.
In truth, the Muslim must make the effort to recite the Noble Quran with a correct recitation, free of lahn and of distortion, in order to obtain the pleasure of his Lord, and to be among the angels brought near. It is indeed established from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The one who excels in the recitation of the Quran is with the noble messenger scribes, honored and righteous; and the one who recites the Quran and struggles over it, struggling to decipher it, will have two rewards." Reported by Muslim, whose mention has preceded.