My TijarahThe UltimateTajweedCheat Sheet
The letters, the rules and the stops ofHafs, to keep open by your mushaf.
What is inside
Contents
Keep this beside your mushaf and turn to the page for whatever you’re getting wrong. You may only need three or four of these pages. Page 23 is the whole book on one sheet. Page 25 is a six-week plan, if you’d like an order to follow.
Part one: the letters
- The five zones of the mouth01
- The seventeen points02
- The twenty nine letters, and the English traps03
- The twenty nine letters, continued04
- The sifaat that come in pairs05
- The seven that stand alone06
- Heavy and light07
- The seven confusions that change the meaning08
Part two: the rules
- Noon sakinah and tanween09
- The fifteen letters of ikhfa10
- Meem sakinah11
- Ghunnah and qalqalah12
- The madd, mapped13
- The madd, every kind and its count14
- The compulsory madd and the opening letters15
- The five lams16
- Ra, heavy and light17
Part three: reading it
- The stopping signs in your mushaf18
- How to stop19
- How to start20
- The exceptions in Hafs21
- The twelve mistakes a listener hears first22
- The whole thing on one page23
- Notes and sources24
- Six weeks, then a teacher25
Part one
The letters, before any rule
You can know all four rules of noon sakinah and still say ك where the ayah has ق. Rules sit on top of letters. So this book starts with the letters: where each one is made, and what it does once it’s there.
The five zones
Where sound is made, from the throat to the lips
The seventeen points
Every letter placed exactly
The twenty nine letters
And the trap English sets on each one
The sifaat
What a letter does once it has a place
Heavy and light
The seven that rise, and the three that depend
The confusions
Where one letter changes what the ayah says
Makharij al-huruf
The five zones of the mouth
Every letter is made at one of 17 points, and the points sit in five zones. Learn the zones first. The points are easier after that. If you can’t place a letter, you’ll guess, and the guess usually lands on a different letter.
The hollow of the mouth and throat. Nothing touches here. Only the three madd letters are made here, so a madd has no spot you can point to.
Six letters in three pairs, from deep in the throat outward. English has no match for four of the six, so this is where many slips start.
Eighteen letters, from the back of the tongue to its tip at the teeth. Several of the ten points sit very close together, so small moves matter.
The lower lip against the upper teeth for ف. Both lips for the rest: shut for ب and م, rounded and open for و.
The only point with no letter of its own. It carries the ghunnah, which is why a blocked nose flattens your noon and meem.
Makharij al-huruf
The seventeen points, in order
In Ibn al-Jazari’s order: the open space first, then from deep in the throat out to the lips, and the nose last.
| # | Zone | Where exactly | Letters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Space | The empty space of the mouth and throat. No contact anywhere. | ا و ي |
| 2 | Throat | Deepest part of the throat, at the chest end. | ء ه |
| 3 | Throat | Middle of the throat. | ع ح |
| 4 | Throat | Nearest part of the throat, at the mouth end. | غ خ |
| 5 | Tongue | Deepest part of the tongue against the soft palate above it. | ق |
| 6 | Tongue | Back of the tongue, a little forward of ق, against the palate above it. | ك |
| 7 | Tongue | Middle of the tongue against the palate above it. | ج ش ي |
| 8 | Tongue | Either edge of the tongue against the upper molars. The left side is easier for most. | ض |
| 9 | Tongue | The edges nearest the tip, against the gum of the upper front teeth. | ل |
| 10 | Tongue | Tip of the tongue against that same gum, a shade lower. | ن |
| 11 | Tongue | Tip again, with a little of its back, closer still to the palate. | ر |
| 12 | Tongue | Tip against the roots of the upper two front teeth. | ط د ت |
| 13 | Tongue | Tip against the tips of the lower two front teeth. | ص س ز |
| 14 | Tongue | Tip against the tips of the upper two front teeth. | ظ ذ ث |
| 15 | Lips | Inside of the lower lip against the tips of the upper front teeth. | ف |
| 16 | Lips | Both lips. Closed for ب and م, rounded and open for و. | ب م و |
| 17 | Nose | The nasal passage. It has no letter of its own, only the ghunnah. | the ghunnah only |
The alphabet
The twenty nine letters, and the trap on each
The number under each letter is its point from page 02. A filled box means always heavy, an outline means always light, and a split box means a rule decides. The note under each letter is the slip an English-speaking mouth makes on its own.
2
Deepest throat
Letting it slide away between two vowels. It is a full stop of the throat, closed and released.
16
Both lips, closed
A puff of air after it. There is none. When it carries a sukoon it bounces instead.
12
Tip at the tooth roots
Making it on the ridge behind the teeth, where the English t lives. Come forward to the roots of the teeth.
14
Tip at the tooth tips
Turning it into س. The tip has to show between the teeth, as in the English word think.
7
Middle of the tongue
The English j, which begins with a d. Press the whole middle of the tongue flat to the palate and release it once.
3
Middle of the throat
Reading it as ه. ح is narrowed and hot in the middle of the throat, ه is open and soft at the bottom of it.
4
Nearest throat
Pulling it back into the ح position. It sits at the top of the throat, as in the Scottish loch.
12
Tip at the tooth roots
The English d, made further back. Come forward, and let it bounce when it carries a sukoon.
14
Tip at the tooth tips
Turning it into ز or د. It is the sound in the English word this, with the tip showing.
11
Tip near the gum
Rolling it. One tap only, never a trill, and its weight is set by the rule on page 17, never by habit.
13
Tip near the lower teeth
Reading it as ذ. The tip stays behind the teeth and the sound whistles.
13
Tip near the lower teeth
Letting a heavy neighbour drag it up. س stays thin next to ط and ق and everything else.
7
Middle of the tongue
Cutting it short. The air spreads across the whole mouth, which is why it is called tafashshi.
13
Tip near the lower teeth
Reading it as س. Same tip position, but the back of the tongue rises and the mouth fills.
8
Edge of the tongue at the molars
Reading it as د or ظ. It starts at the molars and runs forward, which no other letter does.
The alphabet
The twenty nine letters, continued
Alif comes last here because it isn’t really a consonant. It touches nothing, it always follows a fathah, and it takes its weight from the letter before it.
12
Tip at the tooth roots
The aspirated English t. ط releases no breath at all. It is heavy, voiced, and it bounces when sakin.
14
Tip at the tooth tips
Reading it as ز or ض. It is ذ with the back of the tongue raised, tip still showing.
3
Middle of the throat
Softening it to a hamzah or to nothing at all. عَلِيم and أَلِيم are two different words.
4
Nearest throat
Flattening it to a light g. It gargles at the top of the throat and it is always heavy.
15
Lower lip at the teeth
Biting the lip hard. The touch is light, and the air keeps running through it.
5
Deepest tongue
Reading it as ك. قَلْب is a heart, كَلْب is a dog. It is made far back and it is heavy.
6
Tongue, just forward of ق
Making it heavy beside a heavy letter. ك is light in every word in the Book.
9
Edges near the tip at the gum
The dark English l of full and milk. Arabic ل is light everywhere except the name اللَّه after a fathah or a dammah.
16
Both lips, closed
Not closing the lips fully on a sakin meem, which turns the ghunnah into a hum with a gap in it.
10
Tip at the gum
Nasalising it everywhere. A clear noon has only the ghunnah built into the letter, not a held hum.
2
Deepest throat
Losing it at the end of a word. It is a real letter and it needs real breath, especially in فِيهِ and بِهِ.
16
Both lips, rounded
Confusing its two jobs. Rounded lips when it is a consonant, the open jawf when it is a madd.
7
Middle of the tongue
The same two jobs. Middle of the tongue as a consonant, the open jawf as a madd.
1
The open jawf
Giving it a weight of its own. Alif has none. It takes the weight of the letter before it.
One habit to break first
English lets a puff of air out after p, t and k. Try it: hold a sheet of paper in front of your mouth and say the English word top. It moves. Now say طَ and بَ and دَ and جَ and قَ. The paper shouldn’t move at all. These five lock in both the breath and the sound, and that’s why they’re the five that bounce.
Sifat al-huruf
The qualities that come in pairs
The makhraj tells you where a letter is made. Its sifaat tell you what happens once you’re there. Five sifaat come in opposite pairs, and every letter sits on one side of each pair. ت and ط share a point in the mouth. They differ on three of these five pairs, and that’s all that separates them.
The breath is held back and the voice carries.
every letter not in the hams list
The breath runs on after the letter.
ف ح ث ه ش خ ص س ك تThe sound stops dead. Nothing can be held.
ء ج د ق ط ب ك تThe sound runs on as long as you have breath.
the remaining sixteen
The back of the tongue rises. The letter is heavy.
خ ص ض غ ط ق ظThe tongue stays down. The letter is light.
the remaining twenty two
The tongue clamps flat against the roof of the mouth.
ص ض ط ظA gap stays open between tongue and palate.
the remaining twenty five
Light on the tongue tip or the lips, quick to say.
ف ر م ن ل بHeavier in the mouth, slower to say.
the remaining twenty three
The phrases that hold each list
Hams, 10
So a person urged him on, then fell silent
Shiddah, 8
I find a cat that wept
Tawassut, 5
Be gentle, Umar
Isti'la, 7
Singled out by pressure, endure the summer
Idhlaq, 6
Flee from the core
Qalqalah, 5
The pole of earnestness
Sifat al-huruf
The seven that stand alone
These seven have no opposite, and each belongs to only a few letters. They help a listener tell close letters apart. You make six of them happen. The seventh, takrir, you learn so you can hold it back.
Safir
A whistle. The air runs through a narrow channel at the teeth, and you should hear it.
Qalqalah
A bounce. These five lock in both the breath and the sound, so with a sukoon they are released with a small bounce.
Leen
Softness. Only when they are sakin and the letter before carries a fathah, as in خَوْف and بَيْت.
Inhiraf
The sound leans away from its own point as you say it.
Takrir
The tip of the tongue wants to roll. You learn it so you can hold it to one tap, never a trill.
Tafashshi
The air spreads out across the whole mouth instead of staying in a narrow channel.
Istitalah
The sound runs the length of the tongue, from the molars forward. It is what separates ض from د.
Tafkheem and tarqeeq
Heavy and light
Seven letters are always heavy. Three change by rule. The other nineteen stay light, whatever sits beside them. That last part is the one readers break most: a light letter picks up the weight of the heavy letter next to it.
Always heavy
خ ص ض غ ط ق ظThe letters of isti’la, held in خُصَّ ضَغْطٍ قِظْ. Four of them also clamp the tongue flat and are heavier still.
Heavy by rule
ا ل رAlif follows the letter before it. Lam is heavy only in the Name ٱللَّه after a fathah or a dammah. Ra has a rule of its own on page 17.
Always light
ء ب ت ث ج ح د ذ ز س ش ع ف ك م ن ه و يNineteen letters that never rise, in any word, beside any neighbour.
Heaviness has grades
Most teachers count five grades, set by the vowel the heavy letter carries. Here is one qaf, five times. Grade 1 is the fullest and grade 5 the least full, but even under a kasrah the qaf is still heavy.
he said
he killed
say
he kills
it was said
Where it matters most
One letter, a different ayah
Both words in each pair are in the Qur’an. One letter is all that separates them, so a slip here says a different word.
a heart
Qaf 37
a dog
A'raf 176
ق is made at the very back of the tongue and is heavy. ك is a shade forward and is light.
All Knowing
Baqarah 32
painful
Nuh 1
ع is voiced in the middle of the throat. Let it soften to a hamzah and the word becomes “painful”.
he went astray
Isra 67
he remained
Nahl 58
ض starts at the molars and runs forward. ظ is at the tips of the front teeth, with the tongue raised.
he repented
Baqarah 37
it was good
Nisa 3
Same point in the mouth. ت is light and lets the breath out, ط is heavy and lets none out at all.
And three that make no word at all
ح read as ه
الرَّحْمَٰنThe throat opens where it should narrow, and the word is no longer the Name.
ص read as س
الصِّرَاطThe tongue stays flat, the mouth stays thin, and a heavy letter is lost.
ض read as د
وَلَا الضَّآلِّينَThe books of tajweed have warned about this swap for centuries. It is still common.
Two harakat that reverse the sentence
As revealed. You bestowed favour upon them, addressed to Allah.
Say أَنْعَمْتُ instead. I bestowed favour upon them, spoken by the reciter about himself.
As revealed. It is only the people of knowledge, among His servants, who fear Allah.
Say ٱللَّهُ instead. Reverses subject and object, so that the sentence says the opposite.
Part two
The rules, and what your mouth does
Each rule names what happens when two sounds meet. With practice your mouth does it without you thinking. Say every example out loud as you go. Reading them silently won’t train your mouth.
Noon sakinah and tanween
Four rules, twenty nine letters, one chart
Meem sakinah
Three rules, and the two that blur
Ghunnah and qalqalah
The nose, and the bounce
The madd
Every kind, and what it counts to
Lam and ra
Where fluent readers still slip
Ahkam an-noon as-sakinah
Noon sakinah and tanween
A noon with a sukoon and a tanween follow the same rules, because a tanween is a noon sakinah you hear but don’t see written. The letter after it decides which of five things you do.
Say the noon clearly from its own point. No held ghunnah, no join. The six are the throat letters, too far from the noon to merge with it.
The noon disappears into the next letter, which doubles, and the nose holds for two counts. The four are in the word يَنْمُو.
The noon disappears completely and nothing at all is held in the nose. Move straight into the doubled letter.
Turn the noon into a meem, close the lips lightly without pressing, and hold the nose two counts. Your mushaf prints a small meem above the noon to mark it.
Al-ikhfa al-haqiqi
The fifteen letters of ikhfa
Halfway between clear and merged. Your tongue doesn’t touch the noon point. Your mouth gets ready for the next letter while the nose holds two counts.
Al-Jamzuri, Tuhfat al-Atfal
صِفْ ذَا ثَنَا كَمْ جَادَ شَخْصٌ قَدْ سَمَادُمْ طَيِّبًا زِدْ فِي تُقًى ضَعْ ظَالِمَاFifteen words, each starting with one of the fifteen letters. Learn the line and you have the list. As bare letters, they’re much harder to keep.
Three grades, by how near the letter is
How hidden the noon is depends on how close the next letter is made to the noon’s own point. The closer the letter, the more the noon hides. The further away, the more it sounds like a clear noon. The ghunnah is two counts in all three.
Made nearest the noon point, so the noon hides the most. This is as close as ikhfa comes to idgham.
The ten in between. Ordinary ikhfa.
Made furthest from the noon point, so the noon hides the least. This is as close as ikhfa comes to izhar.
Ahkam al-meem as-sakinah
Meem sakinah
Easier than the noon. Three rules, and again the next letter decides. All three are called shafawi, which means of the lips, because the meem is made at the lips.
Let the lips meet, barely, with no pressure, and hold the nose two counts.
A meem into a meem. The two become one doubled letter, and the nose holds two counts.
Close the lips fully and say the meem clearly. Take most care before ف and و, where the lips are already close and the meem tends to blur.
The other meem and noon rule
A meem or noon with a shaddah is a rule of its own, and the shortest one here: hold the ghunnah for two counts, every time, wherever it falls, whether you read on or stop on it.
Ghunnah and qalqalah
The nose, and the bounce
Ghunnah
A sound made in the nose, the 17th point. It belongs to ن and م. Where a rule says to hold it, you hold it for two counts. Pinch your nose and say إِنَّ. If the sound doesn’t change, you weren’t making a ghunnah.
A noon or meem carrying a shaddah. The fullest ghunnah there is.
Idgham with ghunnah, and idgham of a meem into a meem.
Ikhfa, and iqlab, and ikhfa shafawi.
Izhar. Only the ghunnah built into the letter itself.
The least of all. Nothing is held.
Ash-Shatibi named the first three only. Most later books count five. Either way you do the same thing: hold the first three for two counts.
Qalqalah
Five letters, held in قُطْبُ جَدٍّ, that lock in both the breath and the sound. With a sukoon nothing can escape, so you release the letter with a small bounce. The bounce has no vowel of its own. قَدْ is not qad-a and not qad-i. The letter bounces, then stops.
Al-madd wal-qasr
The madd, mapped
There are three madd letters: an alif after a fathah, a waw with a sukoon after a dammah, and a ya with a sukoon after a kasrah. How long you hold one depends on what comes after it.
Which count to choose
In Hafs by the way of the Shatibiyyah, the joined and separated madd are held four or five counts. Most readers are taught four for both. The separated madd may never be longer than the joined one, because the joined one is the obligatory of the two.
Where two counts comes from
If you hear a reciter hold the separated madd for only two counts, they’re still reading Hafs, by the way of the Tayyibah. Both routes are sound. Keep to one of them for the whole sitting.
Which madd is it? Ask in this order
1. Does a hamzah come after the madd letter? In the same word, it’s the joined madd. At the start of the next word, it’s the separated madd. Both are four or five counts.
2. Does a sukoon come after it? If the sukoon belongs to the word, it’s the compulsory madd: six counts. If it only comes from your stop, you choose two, four or six.
3. Neither? It’s the natural madd: two counts. That’s most of the madd on any page.
Al-madd wal-qasr
Every kind, and what it counts to
| Name | What sets it off | Counts | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
المَدّ الطَّبِيعِيTabeeʼi, the natural madd | A madd letter with no hamzah and no sukoon after it. | 2 | قَالُوا۟everywhere |
مَدّ البَدَلBadal | A hamzah comes first and the madd letter follows it. | 2 | ءَامَنُوا۟Hafs does not lengthen this |
مَدّ العِوَضIwad | You stop on a word ending in tanween with a fathah. The tanween becomes an alif. | 2 | عَلِيمًا ← عَلِيمَاon stopping only |
مَدّ الصِّلَة الصُّغْرَىSilah sughra | The ha of the pronoun between two voweled letters, with no hamzah after. | 2 | إِنَّهُۥ كَانَIsra 1 |
مَدّ التَّمْكِينTamkeen | A ya with a shaddah and a kasrah, then a madd ya. | 2 | ٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَBaqarah 61 |
المَدّ المُتَّصِلMuttasil, the joined madd | A hamzah follows the madd letter inside the same word. | 4 or 5 | وَٱلسَّمَآءَBaqarah 22 |
المَدّ المُنْفَصِلMunfasil, the separated madd | The madd letter ends one word and a hamzah begins the next. | 4 or 5 | يَـٰٓأَيُّهَاNisa 1 |
مَدّ الصِّلَة الكُبْرَىSilah kubra | The ha of the pronoun with a hamzah after it. It follows the munfasil. | 4 or 5 | عِندَهُۥٓ إِلَّاBaqarah 255 |
المَدّ العَارِض لِلسُّكُونAarid lis-sukoon | A madd letter, then a letter whose sukoon exists only because you stopped. | 2, 4 or 6 | ٱلرَّحِيمْstopping on Fatihah 3 |
مَدّ اللِّينLeen | A sakin و or ي after a fathah, then a letter made sakin by your stop. | 2, 4 or 6 | قُرَيْشْstopping on Quraysh 1 |
المَدّ اللَّازِمLazim, the compulsory madd | A madd letter followed by a sukoon that is part of the word itself, not of your stop. | 6 | وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَFatihah 7 |
مَدّ الفَرْقFarq, the madd that asks | A question hamzah on a word that already begins with al. The madd is what tells a listener it is a question. | 6 | ءَآللَّهُNaml 59 |
The first five
All natural. Two counts, nothing to decide, and most of the madd on any page.
The middle three
A hamzah comes after it. Four counts or five, and the same choice all sitting.
The last four
A sukoon comes after it. If it’s from your stop, you choose. If it’s the word’s own, it’s six.
Al-madd al-lazim
The compulsory madd, and the opening letters
Six counts, for every reciter in every reading, with no choice. It happens when the letter after the madd has a sukoon that belongs to the word, not one that comes from your stop.
In a word, and the letter after the madd carries a shaddah.
In a word, and the letter after the madd is plainly sakin. One word in the whole Qur’an, in two places.
In an opening letter, and that letter merges into the one after it.
In an opening letter, and nothing merges.
The opening letters
29 surahs open with letters read one at a time, by name. 14 different letters are used. How long you hold each one depends on how its name is spelled. Once you see the spelling, the counts make sense.
| Group | Letters | Counts | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| No madd at all | ا | 0 | Alif on its own is said as the three letters أَلِف, and none of them is a madd letter. |
| Two counts | ح ي ط ه ر | 2 | Collected as حَيٌّ طَهُرْ. Each is spelled with two letters, so the madd inside is only natural. |
| Six counts | ن ق ص س ل ك م | 6 | The seven in نَقَصَ عَسَلُكُمْ apart from the ayn. Each is spelled with three letters and a madd in the middle. |
| Four or six | ع | 4 or 6 | Its middle letter is a leen, not a madd, so it takes less. Six is the stronger of the two ways. |
Ahkam al-lam
The five lams
Lam is light in every word of the Qur’an except one: the Name of Allah. The rest of this page is about whether you say the lam at all, which trips readers up more often.
Lam of al, qamariyyah
Fourteen letters, collected as ٱبْغِ حَجَّكَ وَخَفْ عَقِيمَهْ. The lam is said plainly and carries a sukoon.
Lam of al, shamsiyyah
The other fourteen. The lam is not pronounced at all. The letter after it takes a shaddah and you go straight to it.
Lam of a verb
Said plainly, except before ل and ر, where it merges.
Lam of a particle
Only in هَلْ and بَلْ. Said plainly, except before ل and ر, where it merges. One famous exception is on page 21.
Lam inside a noun
Always said plainly and always light, wherever it falls.
The fourteen moon letters
ٱبْغِ حَجَّكَ وَخَفْ عَقِيمَهْEvery letter in this phrase is a moon letter, 14 in all. Before these the lam is heard.
The fourteen sun letters
ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل نEverything else. Before these the lam is silent and the next letter doubles.
The lam of the Name
Heavy
After a fathah, after a dammah, or when you begin with the Name itself.
Light
After a kasrah, whether the kasrah belongs to the word or arrives from a join.
Ahkam ar-ra
Ra, heavy and light
Ra is where fluent readers often slip. Its weight is decided fresh in every word. Ask three things, in order: what vowel the ra carries, what comes before it, and what comes after it.
The words where both are read
Part three
Where to stop, and how to begin again
Ibn al-Jazari records an old definition: tarteel is giving the letters their due and knowing where to stop. The second half has nothing to do with your mouth. It’s knowing where a sentence ends, and it’s the half many of us were never taught.
The signs in your mushaf
What each one asks of you
How to stop
Sukoon, rawm, ishmam, and what changes
How to start
The hamzah you do not read, and the one you do
The exceptions in Hafs
Where Hafs breaks the general rule
The twelve mistakes
And the whole book on a single sheet
Al-waqf wal-ibtida
The signs in your mushaf
These marks are not part of the revealed text. Scholars of waqf added them to help you stop where the meaning allows. They bind you less than many readers think. Ibn al-Jazari put it in one line: no stop in the Qur’an is obligatory and none is forbidden, unless there is a reason. So go by the meaning.
| Sign | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| ۘ | Waqf lazimمـ | Stop here. Reading on would join two clauses in a way that changes the meaning. |
| ۙ | La waqfلا | Better not to stop. It marks an unfinished sentence. At the end of an ayah you may still stop. |
| ۚ | Waqf jaizج | Stop or read on. The two are equal. |
| ۖ | Al-wasl awlaصلى | You may stop, but reading on is better. |
| ۗ | Al-waqf awlaقلى | You may read on, but stopping is better. |
| ۛ ۛ | Mu'anaqah∴ | Printed twice, a few words apart. Stop at one of the two, or at neither. Never stop at both. |
| ۜ | Saktahس | A short silence with no breath taken. Four places in Hafs, all listed on page 21. |
Stopping by choice
The books name four kinds of stop: tamm, complete, with nothing left hanging; kafi, complete in wording but linked in meaning to what follows; hasan, good in itself, but you go back a little before reading on; and qabih, where stopping spoils the sense. The signs above are printed shorthand for these.
Stopping without choice
Running out of breath, a cough, a sneeze, losing your place. This is idtirari, and it’s allowed anywhere, even mid-clause. Stop, breathe, then start again from the beginning of that clause, not from the word you stopped on.
Al-waqf
How to stop
When you stop, you drop the vowel on the last letter. There are three ways to do it, and that vowel decides which ways you can use.
Drop the final vowel and close the letter. This is how most stops are made, and after a fathah it is your only choice.
Say about a third of the vowel, quietly, so someone sitting near you can still hear which vowel it was.
Close the letter with a sukoon, then round your lips straight away, with no sound. It makes no sound, so a recording can’t show it.
The rule in one line
A dammah gives you all three. A kasrah gives you sukoon and rawm. A fathah gives you sukoon only.
What the last letter turns into
| When the word ends in | On stopping it becomes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Tanween with a fathah | An alif of two counts | عَلِيمًا ← عَلِيمَا |
| Tanween with a dammah or a kasrah | Nothing. It falls away | غَفُورٌ ← غَفُورْ |
| Ta marbutah ة | A sakin ha | رَحْمَةً ← رَحْمَهْ |
| Ta maftuhah ت | A sakin ta, unchanged | رَحْمَتَ ← رَحْمَتْ |
| A madd before the last letter | Aarid lis-sukoon, two, four or six | نَسْتَعِينُ ← نَسْتَعِينْ |
| A doubled letter at the end | Still doubled, then closed. Any qalqalah on it is at its strongest | بِٱلْحَقِّ ← بِٱلْحَقّْ |
Al-ibtida
How to start
Starting raises two questions: what you say before the first word, and what to do with a hamzah that is only there to help you start.
The isti’adhah and the basmalah
Say this before you start reading, wherever you start. At the start of a surah the basmalah comes next, for every surah except at-Tawbah.
Going from the end of one surah into the next, there are four ways to join or cut the three pieces. Three are allowed.
Hamzat al-wasl
Printed as an alif with a small sad on top, ٱ. When you read on, you don’t say it at all, which is why وَٱلْحَمْدُ is walhamdu, not wa-alhamdu. When you start on it, you add a vowel yourself, and the rules below decide which.
A verb
Look at the third letter. A dammah that belongs to the word means you begin with a dammah. A fathah or a kasrah means you begin with a kasrah.
A verb whose dammah is borrowed
Five verbs carry a dammah on the third letter that is not really theirs, so they begin with a kasrah.
A noun
Always a kasrah. That covers seven nouns in the Qur’an, such as these, and the verbal nouns of longer verbs, such as ibtigha.
The definite article al
Always a fathah.
Hafs by the Shatibiyyah
The exceptions in Hafs
In each of these the general rule says one thing, and the reading of Hafs, as it was passed down, says another. The reading wins. The list is short, and a listener notices these quickly.
The four saktat
A saktah is a short pause with no new breath, marked in your mushaf with a small seen, ۜ. In two of the four you can hear why: without the pause, two words would merge into one.
Keeps قَيِّمًا from being heard as a description of the crookedness just denied.
Separates what the dead say from the answer given to them.
Without it the noon would merge into the ra and the two words would be heard as one.
The same reason. The lam would otherwise merge into the ra.
Two more are allowed but not required: on مَالِيَهْ before هَلَكَ in al-Haqqah 28 to 29, and between al-Anfal and at-Tawbah if you join the two surahs.
Everything else
Ishmam
Yusuf 11
The one place in the Qur’an where the lips round in silence in the middle of a word, to show a dammah that the merging has swallowed.
Imalah
Hud 41
The one imalah Hafs reads. The fathah leans towards a kasrah and the alif towards a ya.
Tasheel
Fussilat 44
The second hamzah is eased, sounded between a hamzah and an alif rather than as either.
Idgham of ق into ك
Al-Mursalat 20
Complete. The qaf leaves nothing behind, not even its heaviness.
Idgham of ث into ذ
Al-A'raf 176
Complete. ث and ذ are made at the same point, so the ث goes fully into the ذ.
Idgham of ب into م
Hud 42
Complete. The ba is gone and the meem doubles.
Idgham of ط into ت
Naml 22, Baqarah 247, Yusuf 80
Incomplete. The ت doubles, but the clamp and the heaviness of the ط stay behind, so you still hear them.
Izhar where the rule says merge
Qalam 1, Ya Sin 1
A noon sakinah before a waw would normally merge. In these two places Hafs reads it clearly, with no ghunnah held.
Written with sad, read with seen
Baqarah 245, A’raf 69
A small seen printed above the sad. Where it sits above, read the seen.
Written with sad, read with sad
Tur 37, Ghashiyah 22
A small seen printed below the sad, or none at all. Read the sad. In at-Tur 37 the seen is also allowed.
Check yourself
The twelve mistakes a listener hears first
Ranked by how much each one changes. The first six change the letter itself, so they can change what the ayah says. The last six leave the meaning alone, but a teacher hears them within half an ayah. If you make them, you didn’t fail. Nobody has sat and listened to you read.
A puff of air after ط or ق
English lets air out after t and k, so ط can come out as an English t and ق as a k. All five qalqalah letters hold the breath back, so no air follows. With a sukoon, release them with a bounce.
A vowel inside the bounce
Qalqalah is a bounce of the letter. It adds no syllable. قَدْ is not qad-a and not qad-i.
ق read as ك
A very common swap. ق sits at the back of the tongue and is heavy. Say قَافْ then كَافْ, back and forth, until the two places feel different.
ع softened towards a hamzah
ع is voiced, in the middle of the throat, and held a moment. Practise it inside a word rather than on its own: نَعْبُدُ first, then أَنْعَمْتَ.
ح read as ه
Both are breathed, but ح narrows the middle of the throat while ه leaves the bottom of it open. Put a hand on your throat and say حَ then هَ. You will feel the difference before you hear it.
ض read as د, or as ظ
It begins at the molars, on one side, and runs forward. No other letter does this. If your tongue tip leads, what you said was not a ض.
A dark English l
The l of full and milk pulls the back of your tongue up. Arabic ل is light in every word, with the single exception of the Name اللَّه after a fathah or a dammah.
Rolling the ر
One tap. Takrir is named among the sifaat so you know to hold it to a single tap.
A light letter dragged heavy by its neighbour
The ت in ٱسْتَقَـٰمُوا۟ and the س in مُّسْتَقِيمٍ sit near a heavy ق and stay light. A heavy neighbour doesn’t change the letter beside it.
Ghunnah everywhere, or ghunnah nowhere
Two counts, and only where it belongs: doubled, merged or hidden. A clear noon holds none of it.
A madd that changes length line to line
Choose four counts or five for the joined and separated madd, then keep it for the whole sitting. The compulsory madd is always six. When a madd comes from your stop, hold it two, four or six, and keep that choice too.
Stopping for breath in the middle of a meaning
Stop if you run out of air. Breathe, then start again from the beginning of that clause, not the word you stopped on.
Print this one
The whole thing on one page
Hafs an Asim, by the Shatibiyyah
Noon sakinah and tanween
Meem sakinah
A doubled noon or meem: ghunnah of two counts, always.
The madd
Ra
Heavy on a fathah or dammah, sakin after a fathah or dammah, sakin after a borrowed kasrah, or sakin after a real kasrah with a heavy letter after it.
Light on a kasrah, sakin after a real kasrah, or on stopping after a sakin ya or a kasrah.
Lam
Light everywhere. Heavy only in ٱللَّه after a fathah or a dammah. The lam of al is heard before the fourteen of ٱبْغِ حَجَّكَ وَخَفْ عَقِيمَهْ and silent before the other fourteen.
Qalqalah and the heavy seven
The signs
Stopping
Dammah: sukoon, rawm or ishmam. Kasrah: sukoon or rawm. Fathah: sukoon only. Tanween with a fathah becomes an alif of two counts. ة becomes a sakin ha. A doubled letter at the end stays doubled, and any qalqalah on it is at its strongest.
Notes
Where this came from
The reading
- Everything in this guide is Hafs an Asim by the way of the Shatibiyyah, which is what the Madinah mushaf is set to and what most readers of English are taught.
- Where Hafs departs from the general rule, page 21 records the departure rather than smoothing it over. Where the route matters to a count, as with the separated madd, the guide says so.
- Warsh, Qalun and the other readings differ in real ways on several pages here. Nothing in this guide should be read as a claim about any of them.
The classical sources
- Ibn al-Jazari, al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah, for the seventeen makharij, the sifaat and the line on stops that are neither obligatory nor forbidden, and at-Tamhid fi at-Tajweed for the definition of tarteel on the part three divider.
- Sulayman al-Jamzuri, Tuhfat al-Atfal, for the rules of noon sakinah and tanween, meem sakinah, the two lams and the madd, and for the mnemonic lines quoted throughout.
- Ash-Shatibi, Hirz al-Amani, for the counts of the joined and separated madd and for the grades of ghunnah.
The rulings and the disputed points
- islamweb.net fatwa 95786 on waqf and ibtida and on how binding the printed stopping signs are.
- islamqa.info answer 298693 on the obligatory and permitted saktat of Hafs.
- The description of the Prophet ﷺ stopping at the end of each ayah is Umm Salamah’s, reported by Abu Dawud 4001 and at-Tirmidhi 2927. Al-Albani graded both sahih.
- The well known saying "tarteel is giving the letters their due and knowing the stops" is widely attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib. islamqa.info answer 265364 notes that no chain has been found for it, so this guide cites it to Ibn al-Jazari, who records it, rather than to a Companion.
The figures
- The sagittal section behind both makharij figures is "Neutral Sagittal Section" from Wikimedia Commons, released under CC0 into the public domain. It is an anatomical drawing of the vocal tract, recoloured here and marked up for the seventeen points.
- Every other figure in this guide was drawn for it.
The Qur’an text
- Arabic follows the Uthmani script of the Tanzil Project, retrieved through the quran.com API. Every example was copied from that text rather than retyped, so the marks on the page are the marks in the mushaf.
- English renderings are given for meaning only and should not replace the Arabic in worship or in study.
- Surah and ayah references were checked one by one. If you find one that is wrong, we would like to know.
Keep this guide
Print page 23 and keep it with your mushaf. If you find anything in this guide that’s wrong, write to us through mytijarah.co.uk and we’ll correct it.
How to use it
Six weeks, if you’d like an order
One thing a week, with a check at the end to tell you whether it landed. Ten minutes a day out loud does more than an hour on a Sunday. To practise each rule, The Tajweed Practice Book marks every place it falls in al-Fatihah and the last ten surahs.
The throat letters ء ه ع ح غ خ first, then the lip letters ب م و ف.
Check. Record al-Fatihah and listen only for your ع and your ح.
The heavy seven, and the light rest. Nothing else this week.
Check. Mark every heavy letter of al-Ikhlas on a printed copy, then recite it.
Noon sakinah and tanween, then meem sakinah.
Check. Take any page of the last juz and label every noon rule on it.
The madd. Settle your count for the joined and separated madd, then stop changing it.
Check. Read al-Kawthar at four counts, then at five. Its one separated madd is إِنَّآ أَعْطَيْنَـٰكَ in ayah 1. It has no joined madd.
Lam and ra, where readers who already sound fluent often slip.
Check. Find ten ra letters on one page and say out loud why each one is heavy or light.
Stopping and starting, then the exceptions in Hafs.
Check. Read the four saktah places, then stop once on every sign across one full page.
What this book can’t do
This book can tell you the ض starts at the molars. It can’t hear where yours starts. You’ll catch some of your own slips. Others you won’t hear at all, and that’s normal. Fixing those needs someone listening.
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