المقدّمة الجزرية
A guided walkthrough of Imam Ibn al-Jazarī’s poem on tajwīd
With reference to Jazariyah Sharh by Muhammad Saleem Gaibie
107 verses · 18 lessons
Each line of the poem is a couplet of two hemistichs. The Arabic sits on the right; its English translation sits directly beneath it. Read the two halves right ← left.
Arabic technical terms are given with transliteration on first use, then used freely.
Verse numbers follow the sharh. The poem is 107 verses; two further closing lines appear in some prints but not in the manuscripts.
مَنْ يُحْسِنِ التَّجْوِيدَ يَظْفَرْ بِالرَّشَدْ
“Whoever excels in tajwīd
succeeds with right guidance.”
— verse 107
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Yūsuf al-ʿUmarī al-Dimashqī. Laqab: Shams al-Dīn. Kunyah: Abū al-Khayr.
“al-Jazarī” comes from jazīrah, a peninsula — most experts say Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar.
His father, a merchant, spent forty years longing for a son and made duʿāʾ at the well of Zamzam during ḥajj. Ibn al-Jazarī was born on a Saturday night, 25 Ramaḍān 751 AH, just after the Tarāwīḥ prayer.
Ḥifẓ of the whole Qurʾān at 13. Leading the community in ṣalāh at 14.
Died 5 Rabīʿ al-Awwal 833 AH, a Friday, in Shīrāz — buried in the school he founded there.
٧٥١ — ٨٣٣ هـ
Damascus → Ḥijāz → Egypt
→ Rome → Samarqand
→ Shīrāz
Studied the seven qirāʾāt in the Levant, then the Ḥijāz, then Egypt under Ibn al-Sāʾigh, Ibn al-Baghdādī and Ibn al-Jundī. While reading to Ibn al-Jundī he reached Sūrah al-Naḥl v. 90 — and his teacher died.
Imām al-Muqriʾīn · Shaykh al-Qurrāʾ. Succeeded his teacher Ibn al-Sallār at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, and founded a Dār al-Qurʾān there.
Taught seven years in Rome under Sultan Bā Yazīd. Taymur seated him ahead of al-Sayyid al-Sharīf al-Jurjānī — “one more learned in the Qurʾān and Sunnah takes the closer seat.”
All his children were ḥuffāẓ. His daughter Salmā recited the entire Qurʾān to him from memory in the ten readings in 832 AH.
Al-Nashr fī al-Qirāʾāt al-ʿAshr
Ṭayyibat al-Nashr
Al-Durrah al-Muḍiyyah
Al-Tamhīd fī ʿIlm al-Tajwīd
Ghāyat al-Nihāyah
Al-Ḥiṣn al-Ḥaṣīn
— and this Muqaddimah
107 verses of rajaz — the metre of teaching poems.
Its full title: Al-Muqaddimah fīmā ʿalā qāriʾi al-Qurʾān an yaʿlamah — “the introduction on what the reciter of the Qurʾān is obliged to know.”
Muhammad Saleem Gaibie ← Qāri Ayyūb Isḥāq ← Anīs Aḥmad Khān ← Muḥibb al-Dīn ← ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makkī ← … ← Muḥammad al-Baqarī ← al-Yemenī ← al-Ṭablāwī ← Zakariyyā al-Anṣārī ← Riḍwān al-ʿUqbī ← Ibn al-Jazarī.
Another link runs through the author’s own son, Abū Bakr ibn al-Jazarī, who wrote a commentary on this very poem — and a third through Aḥmad al-Umyūṭī, who studied it directly from Ibn al-Jazarī himself.
عِلْمٌ نَقْلِيّ
Tajwīd is transmitted,
not deduced.
That is why the poet
names himself first.
| # | Chapter | Verses | What you will be able to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Introduction | 1–8 | Name the three things a reciter must know |
| 2 | The Makhārij | 9–19 | Place all 29 letters at their 17 exit points |
| 3 | The Ṣifāt | 20–26 | Give each letter its 17 permanent attributes |
| 4 | Defining Tajwīd | 27–33 | Tell laḥn jaliyy from laḥn khafiyy |
| 5 | Precautions | 34–40 | Keep light letters light beside heavy ones |
| 6 | The Rāʾ and the Lām | 41–44 | Decide heavy or light in every case |
| 7 | Istiʿlāʾ & Iṭbāq | 45–49 | Grade tafkhīm; guard the sukūn |
| 8 | Idghām | 50–51 | Merge — and know the three exceptions |
| 9 | The Ḍād and the Ẓāʾ | 52–61 | Recognise all 30 ẓāʾ words |
| 10 | Ghunnah & sākin mīm | 62–64 | Apply the three rulings of mīm sākinah |
| 11 | Nūn sākinah & tanwīn | 65–68 | Apply the four rulings |
| 12 | Madd & Qaṣr | 69–72 | Choose the right length, consistently |
| 13 | Waqf & Ibtidāʾ | 73–78 | Judge a stop as tāmm, kāfī, ḥasan or qabīḥ |
| 14 | Maqṭūʿ & Mawṣūl | 79–93 | Know where the 25 compounds are cut |
| 15 | The Tāʰāt | 94–100 | Stop correctly on the 13 open-tāʾ words |
| 16 | Hamzat al-Waṣl | 101–103 | Begin any word that opens on a sukūn |
| 17 | Stopping on the last letter | 104–105 | Use iskān, rawm and ishmām |
| 18 | The Epilogue | 106–107 | — |
The Introduction
Praise, salutations, and the three things every reciter must know.
Lesson 1 · verses 1–8
Two aḥādīth stand behind the poem’s opening: every good action not begun with bismillāh — and every good action not begun with the praise of Allah — is severed of blessing.
No. An action has an actual start and a relative start. It is like beginning a khatm: the actual start is the istiʿādhah, yet reaching al-ḥamdu lillāh is still “the beginning.”
Both come from raḥmah, and both are intensive forms. More letters means more intensity — so al-Raḥmān is the stronger. It is used of Allah alone; al-Raḥīm is also used of creation (Tawbah 128, of the Prophet ﷺ).
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
The poem opens where
the Qurʾān opens.
on verse 1
It looks out of order. Convention is to praise Allah first — yet the poet’s name comes in the very first word.
ʿIlm ʿaqlī — a science a person can reach by intellect alone, without a teacher.
ʿIlm naqlī — a science that cannot be reached by intellect; it exists only as a transmission handed from one person to the next.
So the author names the nāqil — the transmitter — first. The science is only as sound as the chain that carries it.
The lesson for the student is immediate: you cannot get this from a book. Find a teacher.
verses 3–4
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 5–8
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 5–8
المخارج والصفات
makhārij + ṣifāt
Where each letter is produced, and what it does there —
“so as to pronounce in the most eloquent of tongues.”
Lessons 2–3.
التجويد والوقوف
aḥkām + waqf
The rules of recitation, and knowing where and how to pause and begin.
Lessons 4–13.
رسم المصاحف
rasm al-maṣāḥif
What is written in the maṣāḥif: cut vs. joined compounds, and the open vs. closed feminine tāʾ.
Lessons 14–15.
فرض كفاية / فرض عين
theory vs. practice
Knowing the theory is farḍ kifāyah — verse 5.
Applying it is farḍ ʿayn — verse 27.
Not everyone must tell muttaṣil from munfaṣil. Everyone must recite correctly.
ʿUthmān sent several copies to the lands — hence the plural, maṣāḥif (five, or six counting his personal copy).
The Articulation Points
Seventeen places where the letters are born.
Lesson 2 · verses 9–19
Makhraj: the place from which something comes out. Technically — the place where the sound of a letter ends. Plural: makhārij.
Ḥarf itself means “end” or “point”: the letter is what you hear when the sound terminates.
Make the letter sākin, or better, mushaddad. Put a hamzah with a ḥarakah before it. Then feel where the sound stops — that is its makhraj.
Muḥaqqaq — definite: the throat, the tongue, the lips.
Muqaddar — approximate: the jawf, the empty space of mouth and throat.
أَبْ · أَبَّ
Say it. Feel where
the sound stops.
That is the makhraj.
الخليل بن أحمد
Khalīl al-Farāhīdī
Ibn al-Jazarī’s choice — “him who has chosen and tested it” — and the view of most contemporary scholars.
Counts the jawf as a makhraj of its own.
سيبويه
Sībawayh (and Imam al-Shāṭibī)
Drops the jawf.
The alif joins the lower throat; madd wāw and yāʾ join their moving counterparts.
So the throat letters become seven, not six.
الفرّاء
al-Farrāʾ
Drops the jawf, and also merges lām, nūn and rāʾ into a single makhraj — the tip of the tongue with the gums above it.
Khalīl made ḥajj and asked for a science given to no one before him — and was inspired with ʿilm al-ʿarūḍ, the science of prosody. He died in 175 AH when a pillar fell on him mid-calculation.
verse 10
The jawf is the empty space of the mouth and throat. From it come the three letters of madd: the alif, the wāw sākinah after a ḍammah, and the yāʾ sākinah after a kasrah.
Madd is always made in the alif. Its two “sisters” lose it the moment they move — and then they take a completely different makhraj.
The sound of these letters does not in fact stop in the jawf; it carries on and stops outside the mouth. Khalīl still counts the jawf as their makhraj because their sound depends so heavily on the cavity of the mouth. They are, compared to other letters, weak.
ا · وْ · يْ
Preceded by
fatḥah · ḍammah · kasrah
verses 11–12
أقصى الحلق
aqṣā al-ḥalq
Furthest from the opening of the mouth.
ء هـ
وسط الحلق
wasaṭ al-ḥalq
The centre of the throat.
ع ح
أدنى الحلق
adnā al-ḥalq
Closest to the opening of the mouth.
غ خ
حروف الحلق
the six throat letters
These six are the trigger for iẓhār ḥalqī with nūn sākinah and tanwīn — Lesson 11.
Sībawayh and al-Farrāʾ count seven, adding the alif to the lower throat.
verses 12–13
القاف
deepest tongue
The furthest back of the tongue rises to the soft palate above it.
ق
الكاف
slightly forward
Also from the back of the tongue, but not as far back — against the hard palate.
The poem marks this with a single word: asfal, “lower.”
ك
وسط اللسان
against the palate
The centre of the tongue rises to the palate above it.
This yāʾ is ghayr maddah — the moving yāʾ and the yāʾ līn. Not the madd yāʾ of verse 10.
ج ش ي
Ibn al-Jazarī says qāf and kāf come from the back of the tongue — but the tongue must touch something for a letter to sound. Qāf reaches the soft palate; kāf the hard palate.
verse 14
الضّاد
edge of the tongue vs. the molars
Against the premolars, molars and wisdom teeth.
Three ways, easiest first:
1. From the left side.
2. From the right side — harder.
3. From both at once — hardest.
الأضراس
a small grammatical point
Ibn al-Jazarī does not say upper or lower.
Two answers: it is well known that the upper are meant; and the definite article on al-aḍrās points to a specific, known set.
اللّام
anterior sides + the tip
The front sides of the tongue together with its tip, against the gums.
Three ways: right anterior side (right premolar → left canine); left anterior side; or both together.
The right is said to be easier than the left.
verse 15
Found lower than the makhraj of the lām: the tip of the tongue touches the gums of the upper central incisors.
Close to the nūn — but the top of the tongue is brought in as well, set further back, as it touches the same gums.
Al-Farrāʾ counts lām, nūn and rāʾ as one makhraj. Most scholars distinguish them, and the distinction is exact:
The lām adds the anterior sides of the tongue. The rāʾ adds the top of the tongue. The nūn has neither. Three letters, three makhārij.
ل ن ر
lām · + sides
nūn · tip only
rāʾ · + top
verses 16–18
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 16–18
ط د ت
gumline of the upper central incisors
The tip of the tongue touches the gumline just above the two front teeth.
ص ز س
above the lower central incisors
The tip of the tongue, above the lower front teeth.
Other books say “below the upper incisors,” or “between the two.” One point, described three ways.
ظ ذ ث
tips of the upper central incisors
The tip of the tongue against the very edges of the upper front teeth.
Why name the ṣafīr letters only by their attribute? Two reasons: they are well known, and he lists them explicitly in the chapter of ṣifāt.
verses 18–19
الفاء
lower lip + upper incisors
The inside of the bottom lip against the tips of the upper central incisors.
ف
الشفتان
both lips
This wāw is ghayr maddah — the moving wāw and the wāw līn, not the madd wāw of verse 10.
و ب م
الخيشوم
the nasal cavity
A nasal sound in which the tongue plays no part at all.
Test it: pinch your nose and try to say ن or م. The sound distorts — because ghunnah is a permanent attribute of both.
غُنّة
Why is a non-letter in the makhārij chapter? Those who hold it has a makhraj of its own (Ibn al-Jazarī) put it here; those who treat it as an attribute (Ibn Barrī) put it in the ṣifāt.
verses 9–19
| Region | Arabic | Points | Letters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oral cavity — the madd letters | الجوف | 1 | ا وْ يْ |
| Throat — deepest | أقصى الحلق | 2 | ء هـ |
| Throat — middle | وسط الحلق | 3 | ع ح |
| Throat — nearest | أدنى الحلق | 4 | غ خ |
| Tongue — deepest | أقصى اللسان | 5 | ق |
| Tongue — slightly forward | أقصى اللسان | 6 | ك |
| Tongue — centre | وسط اللسان | 7 | ج ش ي |
| Tongue — edge / molars | حافة اللسان | 8 | ض |
| Tongue — front sides + tip | أدنى الحافة | 9 | ل |
| Tongue — tip | طرف اللسان | 10 | ن |
| Tongue — tip + top | طرف اللسان | 11 | ر |
| Tip + upper incisor gums | طرف اللسان | 12 | ط د ت |
| Tip + lower incisors | طرف اللسان | 13 | ص ز س |
| Tip + upper incisor tips | طرف اللسان | 14 | ظ ذ ث |
| Lower lip + incisors | بطن الشفة | 15 | ف |
| Both lips | الشفتان | 16 | و ب م |
| Nasal cavity | الخيشوم | 17 | الغُنّة |
The Characteristics
What each letter does, once you know where it lives.
Lesson 3 · verses 20–26
صفات لازمة
ṣifāt lāzimah
Part of the letter’s make-up. The letter is never found without them.
These 7 verses give seventeen of them.
متضادّة
mutaḍāddah — 5 pairs
Every letter of the alphabet must carry one of each pair — and can never carry both.
غير متضادّة
ghayr mutaḍāddah — 7
Also permanent, but they apply only to certain letters.
صفات عارضة
ṣifāt ʿāriḍah — 11
Present in some circumstances and not others: ikhfāʾ, idghām, tafkhīm, madd, qalqalah at a pause…
They are the subject of the whole rest of the poem.
Ṣifah: an attribute attached to the pronunciation of a letter. Plural ṣifāt.
verses 20–22
الهمس
the breath flows — 10 letters
Weak grip on the makhraj lets the breath escape. Softer letters.
فَحَثَّهُ شَخْصٌ سَكَتْ
الجهر
the breath is imprisoned
Strong grip on the makhraj. All the remaining letters. Generally louder.
الشدّة
the sound is imprisoned — 8
Again from a strong dependence on the makhraj.
أَجِدْ قَطٍ بَكَتْ
الرخاوة
the sound flows
Everything that is neither shiddah nor tawassuṭ.
Between the two: tawassuṭ / bayniyyah — لِنْ عُمَرْ. Not an independent attribute; part shiddah, part rikhwah.
The mnemonics are sentences: “someone urged him on, but he stayed silent” · “I found Qaṭ crying” · and the Prophet ﷺ once told ʿUmar: be gentle.
verses 22–23
الاستعلاء
back of the tongue rises / stays low
The 7 raised letters are read with tafkhīm; everything else with tarqīq.
خُصَّ ضَغْطٍ قِظْ
الإطباق
centre of the tongue seals the palate
Creates a “tunnel” that makes the tafkhīm stronger.
Every iṭbāq letter also has istiʿlāʾ. ق غ خ have istiʿlāʾ only — so they are less full.
ص ض ط ظ
الإذلاق
fluency — 6 letters
Pronounced from the tip of the tongue (ل ن ر) and the lips (ف م ب).
A native 4- or 5-letter root must contain one. If it does not, the word is a loan word — عَسْجَد (gold), عَسْطُوس (a tree).
These two change the language, not your recitation. Many books omit them.
فِرَّ مِنْ لُبٍّ
Note the wording: in these four attributes the rising, lowering, sealing and opening happen in the tongue — unlike hams, jahr, shiddah and rikhwah, which you hear in the letter.
verses 24–26
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 24–26
الصّفير
a whistle
Likened classically to geese (ṣād), bees (zāy), locusts (sīn).
ص ز س
القلقلة
a disturbance, an echo
Every qalqalah letter has jahr (breath blocked) and shiddah (sound blocked). With both blocked nothing leaves the mouth — so the makhraj is disturbed to make the letter audible.
Because its cause is two permanent attributes, qalqalah is permanent too.
قُطْبُ جَدٍّ
اللّين
softness
Wāw and yāʾ sākin after a fatḥah. Pronounced with total ease.
وْ يْ
الانحراف والتكرير
inclination · trilling
The makhraj of the lām inclines toward the rāʾ and vice versa.
Takrīr is named so that you conceal it — see verse 43.
ل ر
التفشّي والاستطالة
spreading · elongation
The shīn spreads breath through the mouth.
The ḍād runs the length of its makhraj — from the wisdom teeth to the premolars, right up to where the lām begins.
This is what separates ض from ظ. Lesson 9.
ش ض
Defining Tajwīd
What it is, why it binds — and who exactly is sinful.
Lesson 4 · verses 27–33
on verse 27
Over-lengthening a madd until an extra letter is heard.
Dropping a wāw or a yāʾ that belongs to the word.
Lose the istiʿlāʾ and iṭbāq of the ẓāʾ and ظِلّاً ظَلِيلاً — “bounteous shade” — becomes ذُلّاً ذَلِيلاً, “wretched disgrace.”
“Bouncing” a sākin letter, or exaggerating qalqalah until a vowel is heard on it.
Called jaliyy — clear — because anyone can hear that something is wrong, whether or not the meaning changed.
ظِلّاً ظَلِيلاً
one letter,
and the meaning inverts
on verse 27
الخفيّ
errors in the temporary attributes
Ikhfāʾ, idghām, tafkhīm, tarqīq, madd — the ṣifāt ʿāriḍah.
Called hidden because it is obscure to most listeners.
درجتان
who can hear it
Those a basically trained reciter can catch: ikhfāʾ, idghām, tafkhīm, madd.
Those only an expert catches: excessive takrīr of the rāʾ, imprecise ikhfāʾ, exaggerated tafkhīm.
المتقدّمون
both are ḥarām
Every rule that prevents jaliyy or khafiyy is wājib; any error of either kind is prohibited.
Held by al-Ṭablāwī, and among contemporaries ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Mirṣafī.
المتأخّرون
jaliyy ḥarām, khafiyy makrūh
Only the rules preventing laḥn jaliyy are wājib.
Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī in his commentary on this poem, and most contemporary scholars.
on verse 27
Ibn al-Jazarī, in al-Nashr, divides reciters into three:
One who is able to recite correctly and does so.
One who strives to recite correctly but still falters.
One who is able to recite correctly and does not — out of negligence.
Only the third is the sinner of verse 27. The error becomes a sin when you know about it and will not fix it.
And Ibn al-Jazarī adds one more: whoever is too proud to humble himself before a teacher. Read only to yourself and you may recite wrongly for years, convinced you are right.
It is incumbent on a student
to find a capable teacher
and read to them.
— al-Nashr
verses 29–31
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 30–31
حقّها
its rights
The permanent attributes — the ṣifāt lāzimah of Lesson 3.
مستحقّها
its dues
The temporary attributes — the ṣifāt ʿāriḍah, i.e. the rest of the poem.
ردّ كلّ واحد لأصله
back to its origin
Every letter returned to its makhraj.
Put together: recite every letter from its makhraj, with all its attributes, permanent and temporary.
واللفظ في نظيره كمثله
identical cases sound identical
A بـ read alone must sound the same as the بـ in a word full of heavy letters — it does not thicken by contagion.
Pull madd munfaṣil 4 counts once, and you pull it 4 counts everywhere. The same for muttaṣil, for ʿāriḍ, for ikhfāʾ — even for vowels.
Three words in verse 29, three meanings: tilāwah is your routine recital · adāʾ is what you read to a teacher who corrects you · qirāʾah covers both.
verse 33
The beginner sounds laboured because he is attending to everything at once — every makhraj, every ṣifah, every madd. His recitation demands so much of him that it sounds arduous.
The expert shows no strain at all. No difficulty is visible on him; the Qurʾān seems to flow off his lips. No inaccuracy, no haphazardness.
Ibn al-Jazarī names one thing and one thing only: continuous practice. Not a week’s training, not a month’s, not a few months’ — years of it.
A professional footballer, tennis player or singer will practise six hours a day. Should someone who intends to make the Qurʾān his profession give it less time than those who give that much for worldly gain?
إِلَّا رِيَاضَةُ امْرِئٍ بِفَكِّهِ
“…except a person’s
practising with his jaws.”
Some Precautions
The errors that creep in when heavy letters stand next to light ones.
Lesson 5 · verses 34–40
Tafkhīm literally means to make something fat or full — technically, the fullness that fills the mouth on certain letters. Tarqīq means to make thin — the flatness found in the mouth on the rest.
Reciters attend carefully to the heavy letters and neglect the light ones — which end up sounding slightly thick, because they are surrounded by heavy letters that colour them.
Ibn al-Jazarī illustrates with the alif, hamzah, lām, mīm and bāʾ. That does not confine the rule to them: it applies to every light letter, throughout the Qurʾān.
Three letters are set aside from “always light,” each with its own chapter: the alif, the rāʾ, and the lām of the Name.
تفخيم ↔ ترقيق
full ↔ flat
The neglected half
is the flat one.
verse 34
The alif follows the letter before it — heavy after heavy, light after light. So how can the poem say it is never read with tafkhīm?
“He means the hamzah.” “He means the alif in the ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿāt.” Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī labels both far-fetched.
The author’s own son: read the statement as applying to the alif after a light letter, where it will indeed never be heavy.
Take it generally. The author was correcting certain non-Arabs who were exaggerating the alif after a full-mouth letter. It was also the position of his teacher Ibn al-Jundī, and of al-Jaʿbarī before him.
In al-Nashr, Ibn al-Jazarī reports the majority view and calls “the alif is never read with tafkhīm” incorrect. The Muqaddimah likely preserves his earlier, teacher’s position.
verses 35–36
الهمزة
especially at the start of a word
Extra care when the next letter is close to it in makhraj, or is itself heavy.
الْحَمْدُ · أَعُوذُ · اهْدِنَا
اللام
especially with a kasrah
And whenever it sits beside a full-mouth letter, or one close to it in makhraj.
لِلَّهِ · وَلْيَتَلَطَّفْ · وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
الميم
beside heavy letters
The tarqīq slips exactly where a heavy neighbour pulls on it.
مِنْ مَخْمَصَةٍ · وَمِنْ مَرَضْ
verses 37–38
The bāʾ goes thick beside heavy letters — بَرْقٍ, بَاطِلٍ — and the tarqīq must survive even when an alif stands in between.
But it also goes weak beside weak ones — بِهِمْ, بِذِي — because the following letter is itself weak.
Having asked for tarqīq, the author now asks for the opposite guard: keep the shiddah and the jahr, the two strong attributes of the bāʾ and the jīm. Lose them and the letter is deficient — because these are intrinsic to it.
ق ط ب ج د all carry jahr and shiddah. Preserve both, or the letters come out incomplete.
حُبِّ الصَّبْرِ · رَبْوَةٍ
اجْتُثَّتْ · حَجِّ الْفَجْرِ
three for the bāʾ,
three for the jīm
verse 39
القلقلة الكبرى
sākin, mushaddad, at a pause
The shaddah doubles the letter, so the bounce is at its strongest.
الْحَقّْ · وَتَبّْ
القلقلة الكبيرة
sākin, at a pause
Clearer than mid-recitation, because the letter ends the breath.
مُحِيطْ · الْفَلَقْ
القلقلة الصغرى
sākin, mid-recitation
Present, but light — the recitation carries on through it.
يَجْعَلُونَ · أَقْرَبُ
المتحرّك
the weakest — and disputed
Some deny qalqalah exists here at all, since the verse says “when it has sukūn.”
But qalqalah springs from two permanent attributes, so it cannot be circumstantial — just as ghunnah stays in a moving nūn.
قَالَ · جَعَلَ
Ḥāʾ: حَصْحَصَ · أَحَطْتُ · الْحَقُّ — keep it clear beside heavy letters and beside another throat letter. Sīn: مُسْتَقِيمٍ · يَسْطُو · يَسْقُو — do not let the heavy neighbour colour it.
The Rāʾs
One letter in so many states that the chapter is named in the plural.
Lesson 6 · verses 41–44
verse 41
الرّاء المتحرّكة
any kasrah at all
A permanent kasrah — at the start, middle or end of a word.
A temporary kasrah.
A complete kasrah, or an incomplete one (rawm, imālah).
A mushaddad rāʾ carrying a kasrah.
A rāʾ with kasrated tanwīn.
Rule of thumb: kasrah on the rāʾ → always tarqīq.
الرّاء الساكنة
preceded by a kasrah
In waṣl or in waqf.
Including when a sākin letter stands in between — this happens only at a pause.
And, by the scholars’ extension, when preceded by a yāʾ sākinah: a yāʾ sākinah and a kasrah are both flat in sound, so the effect is the same.
التفخيم
the implied opposite
Fatḥah or ḍammah on the rāʾ, or before a sākin rāʾ → tafkhīm.
Most rāʾs in the Qurʾān are heavy. That is exactly why the poem describes the smaller, lighter set — less to explain.
verse 42
قبل حرف استعلاء
→ tafkhīm
Five places only:
قِرْطَاسٍ (Anʿām 7) · إِرْصَاداً (Tawbah 107) · مِرْصَاداً (Nabaʾ 21) · الْمِرْصَادِ (Fajr 14) · فِرْقَةٍ (Tawbah 122).
But if the heavy letter begins the next word, tarqīq stays — 3 places: أَنْذِرْ قَوْمَكَ · تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ · فَاصْبِرْ صَبْراً.
So the poem should have said “in the same word.”
كسرة عارضة
→ tafkhīm
Yūsuf 81 · Ḥajj 77 · Fajr 28 — and across words, Nūr 50 · Ṭalāq 4.
كسرة منفصلة أصليّة
→ tafkhīm
The kasrah must also be in the same word as the rāʾ.
A permanent kasrah in the previous word still gives tafkhīm — only 3 places: Isrāʾ 24 · Muʾminūn 99 · Nūr 55.
The poem does not cover this case.
verses 41–42
| Kind | Same word? | Permanent? | Result | In the poem? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muttaṣilah aṣliyyah | yes | yes | tarqīq | yes — the base rule |
| Muttaṣilah ʿarḍiyyah | yes | no | tafkhīm | yes — exception 2 |
| Munfaṣilah aṣliyyah | no | yes | tafkhīm | no — omitted |
| Munfaṣilah ʿarḍiyyah | no | no | tafkhīm | yes — exception 2 |
The principle: the rāʾ is heavy by default. Only a strong cause makes it light — and a cause is strong only if it is in the same word and permanent.
verse 43
الشعراء ٦٣
a genuine disagreement
Heavy: a letter of istiʿlāʾ follows in the same word.
Light: the kasrah on the qāf weakens that tafkhīm.
Via the ṭarīq of the Shāṭibiyyah both are allowed.
At a pause the qāf’s kasrah is not read — so those who reasoned from it may allow either.
التكرير
conceal it — always
The tongue shudders against the palate on a rāʾ. The attribute is named in verse 26 so that you can suppress it.
The mushaddad rāʾ is singled out only because that is where the trill escapes — not because it is allowed elsewhere.
مَرَّةً · الرَّحْمَٰن
verse 44
التفخيم
after a fatḥah or a ḍammah
The only lām in the Qurʾān that is ever read full.
قَالَ اللَّه · عَبْدُ اللَّه · رَسُولُ اللَّه
الترقيق
after a kasrah
Back to the default for every other lām.
بِسْمِ اللَّه · لِلَّه · قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ
Istiʿlāʾ, Iṭbāq and Precision
Degrees of fullness — and four places where precision decides the word.
Lesson 7 · verses 45–49
verse 45
All seven istiʿlāʾ letters are heavy. They are not equally heavy.
The four iṭbāq letters — ص ض ط ظ — are heavier, because the centre of the tongue also rises and seals against the palate, creating a tunnel in the mouth.
ق غ خ carry istiʿlāʾ only. No seal, so less fullness.
The two examples are not chosen at random. قَالَ carries the qāf — the strongest of the three letters that have istiʿlāʾ alone. الْعَصَا carries the ṣād — the weakest of the four that have iṭbāq.
Compare them, and you hear it: the weakest sealed letter is still fuller than the strongest unsealed one.
ق غ خ ص ض ط ظ
istiʿlāʾ only
istiʿlāʾ + iṭbāq
verse 46
تامّ
complete
The first letter is wholly assimilated. Nothing of it survives.
ناقص
incomplete
An attribute of the first letter survives the merge.
Here it is the iṭbāq of the ṭāʾ, still audible inside the tāʾ.
أَحَطتُّ · بَسَطتَ
أربعة مواضع
four places only
Naml 22 · Māʾidah 28 · Yūsuf 80 · Zumar 56.
No qalqalah is made on the ṭāʾ.
The reverse — ت into ط — is always tām, because the tāʾ is the weaker letter.
المرسلات ٢٠
the disagreement
Does the qāf survive as istiʿlāʾ (nāqiṣ), or vanish (tām)?
Most qurrāʾ, including al-Shāṭibī, read it tām.
Why the dispute falls on the qāf and not the ṭāʾ: both have istiʿlāʾ, but the ṭāʾ also has iṭbāq — too strong to disappear. All agree it stays.
verses 47–49
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 47–49
السّكون
verse 47
Jerk a sukūn even slightly and it sounds like a ḥarakah. Two causes:
Letters too close — the tongue leaves a spot and must return to it at once: جَعَلْنَا · ضَلَلْنَا.
Letters too far apart — the tongue must travel: أَنْعَمْتَ · الْمَغْضُوبِ.
ذ/ظ · س/ص
verse 48
ذ and ظ share a makhraj, and both have jahr and rikhwah. Only istifāl/infitāḥ against istiʿlāʾ/iṭbāq separates them.
Let the ذ thicken and مَحْذُوراً becomes مَحْظُوراً.
س and ص are the same story: same makhraj, both hams and rikhwah, one distinction.
الشدّة
verse 49
These two are the only letters carrying shiddah (strong) together with hams (weak).
The weak attribute tends to swallow the strong one — especially when the two letters meet.
شِرْكِكُمْ · تَتَوَفَّى
Idghām
Merging the first of two letters into the second — and the three places you must not.
Lesson 8 · verses 50–51
verse 50
المثلان
same makhraj, same ṣifāt
Two identical letters.
قُلْ لَا · اذْهَبْ بِكِتَابِي
المتجانسان
same makhraj, different ṣifāt
Two letters of the same family.
قَالَتْ طَائِفَةٌ · أَثْقَلَتْ دَعَوَا
المتقاربان
close, but not identical
Deliberately omitted. The qurrāʾ differ too much about it, and this poem keeps to what is broadly agreed.
Yet the poem’s own example, قُلْ رَبِّ, is mutaqāribayn. Two answers: it is mutajānisayn according to al-Farrāʾ; or the author chose it precisely to show that even in the disputed category some places are agreed.
| Classified by… | Types | Which this poem discusses |
|---|---|---|
| The two letters | ṣaghīr (first is sākin) · kabīr (both moving) | ṣaghīr — “إِنْ سَكَنْ”. Most qurrāʾ do not read kabīr. |
| The cause | mithlayn · mutajānisayn · mutaqāribayn | the first two |
| The ruling | wājib · jāʾiz · mamnūʿ | wājib — أَدْغِمْ is an imperative |
| The manner | tām · nāqiṣ | both — see verse 46, Lesson 7 |
Ibn al-Jazarī treats idghām as wājib in both mithlayn and mutajānisayn. Most scholars make it wājib in mithlayn only, and jāʾiz in mutajānisayn where a narration establishes it — otherwise no disagreement could exist in words like أَثْقَلَتْ دَعَوَا.
verse 51
حرف مدّ
not truly mithlayn
Two wāws or two yāʾs here do not meet the definition — a madd letter and a moving one are not the same letter.
فِي يَوْمِ · قَالُوا وَهُمْ
لام الفعل
unlike the lām al-taʿrīf
The definite article’s lām does merge — النَّاس, التَّائِبُون. A verb’s lām does not.
قُلْ نَعَمْ · فَالْتَقِمْ
حرف الحلق
with one caveat
Objection: but idghām does occur in words like سَبِّحْهُ?
Answer: only when they are mithlayn, where it is wājib. If they are mutajānisayn or mutaqāribayn, iẓhār is kept.
سَبِّحْهُ · لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَ
Iẓhār here means: read every letter from its makhraj, with no extra pull in the ghunnah.
The Ḍād and the Ẓāʾ
Two letters so alike that a whole chapter is spent separating them.
Lesson 9 · verses 52–61
verse 52
الضّاد
edge of the tongue vs. the molars
Plus istiṭālah: the sound runs the whole length of the makhraj, from the wisdom teeth forward to where the lām begins.
ض
الظّاء
tip of the tongue vs. the upper incisors
No istiṭālah. The sound stays at its point.
ظ
ما يشتركان فيه
which is nearly all of it
Jahr · rikhwah · istiʿlāʾ · iṭbāq.
Take away the makhraj and istiṭālah and the two letters would be identical. That is why they are so easily swapped.
طريقة الناظم
list the smaller set
The ẓāʾ words are fewer — so he names them all: 30 words across 8 verses.
Everything else in the Qurʾān takes a ḍād.
verse 53
| # | Word | Meaning | Places | First → last |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ظَعْن | to travel | 1 | Naḥl 80 |
| 2 | ظِلّ | shade | 22 | Baqarah 57 → Mursalāt 41 |
| 3 | الظَّهِيرَة | midday | 2 | Nūr 58 · Rūm 18 |
| 4 | عَظِيم | great | 103 | Baqarah 7 → Muṭaffifīn 5 |
| 5 | حَفِظَ | to protect, secure | 42 | Baqarah 238 → Ṭāriq 4 |
| 6 | أَيْقَاظ | awake | 1 | Kahf 18 |
| 7 | أَنْظَرَ | to grant respite | 20 | Baqarah 162 → Ḥadīd 13 |
| 8 | عِظَام | bones | 15 | Baqarah 259 → Nāziʿāt 11 |
| 9 | ظَهْر | back | 16 | Baqarah 101 → Inshirāḥ 3 |
| 10 | لَفْظ | utterance | 1 | Qāf 18 |
verse 54
| # | Word | Meaning | Places | First → last |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | ظَهَرَ | clear · superior · overpower · come to know · aid · oath | 41 | six senses in all |
| 12 | لَظَىٰ | a name of Jahannam | 2 | Maʿārij 15 · Layl 14 |
| 13 | شُوَاظ | smokeless fire | 1 | Raḥmān 35 |
| 14 | كَظَمَ | to suppress anger | 6 | Āl ʿImrān 134 → Qalam 48 |
| 15 | ظَلَمَ | oppression | 288 | Baqarah 35 → Insān 31 |
| 16 | غَلِيظ | harsh | 13 | Āl ʿImrān 159 → Taḥrīm 9 |
| 17 | ظُلُمَات | darkness | 26 | Baqarah 17 → Ṭalāq 11 — counts differ |
| 18 | ظُفُر | nail, claw | 1 | Anʿām 146 |
| 19 | انْتَظَرَ | to wait | 26 | Baqarah 210 → Muḥammad 18 |
| 20 | ظَمَأ | thirst | 3 | Tawbah 120 · Ṭāhā 119 · Nūr 39 |
On ẓulumāt the sources genuinely disagree: Ibn al-Jazarī’s al-Tamhīd says 26, and his son agrees; Zakariyyā al-Anṣārī and al-Qasṭallānī say 100; Sayyid Lāshīn 288; Tāsh Kubrī Zādah 282; Iẓhār Aḥmad al-Thānawī 25.
verses 55–57
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 55–57
| # | Word | Meaning | Places | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | أَظْفَرَ | to grant victory | 1 | Fatḥ 24 — أَظْفَرَكُم |
| 22 | ظَنّ | thought, conviction | 69 | — |
| 23 | وَعْظ / مَوْعِظَة | admonition | 24 | excluding عِضِين, Ḥijr 91 — that is a ḍād |
| 24 | ظَلَّ | to remain | 9 | all nine named in the poem itself |
| 25 | مَحْظُور | forbidden | 1 | Isrāʾ 20 |
| 26 | الْمُحْتَظِر | one who builds enclosures | 1 | Qamar 31 |
| 27 | فَظّ | harsh, uncivil | 1 | Āl ʿImrān 159 |
| 28 | نَظَرَ | to look — and all derivatives | 86 | Baqarah 50 → Ghāshiyah 17 |
| 29 | غَيْظ | severe anger | 11 | Āl ʿImrān 119 → Mulk 8 |
| 30 | حَظّ | a portion, a share | 7 | Āl ʿImrān 176 → Fuṣṣilat 35 |
verses 58–59
ثلاث كلمات
three exclusions
Muṭaffifīn 24 — the sūrah beginning وَيْل.
Insān 11 — the sūrah beginning هَلْ أَتَىٰ.
Qiyāmah 22 — the first of the two; the second (v. 23) is a genuine ẓāʾ.
All three are نَاضِرَة, with a ḍād.
الرعد وهود
two exclusions
Raʿd 8 and Hūd 44 — تَغِيضُ and وَغِيضَ, both with a ḍād.
Al-Qārī and Tāsh Kubrī Zādah add that قَاصِرَه also hints at the rasm: in the Kufic script the ḍād carried a shorter alif-stroke.
الحضّ
with a ḍād
حَضّ means to urge, and always appears with طَعَام: Ḥāqqah 34 · Māʿūn 3 · Fajr 18.
التكوير ٢٤
a real qirāʾāt difference
ẓāʾ: Ibn Kathīr, Abū ʿAmr, Kisāʾī, Ruways.
ḍād: Nāfiʿ, Abū Jaʿfar, Ibn ʿĀmir, ʿĀṣim, Ḥamzah, Khalaf, Rawḥ.
Both are authentic in transmission and in text — because in the original script the two letters were written identically but for that stroke.
verses 60–61
التقاء الضّاد والظّاء
give each its full right
Not only in the examples given — wherever they meet in the Qurʾān.
أَنْقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ · يَعَضُّ الظَّالِمُ
قبل التاء والطاء
reciters slur it into idghām
And not only before ت and ط — do not go lax before other letters either: فَضْلاً, أَرْضاً.
اضْطُرَّ · وَعَظْتَ · أَفَضْتُمْ
الحروف الضعيفة
madd, līn and the hāʾ
All three are weak letters. When two meet, both must stay audible or one will go obscure.
صَفّاً · جِبَاهُهُمْ · عَلَيْهِمْ
Ghunnah and the Sākin Mīm
The nasal hold, and the three rulings of a mīm with sukūn.
Lesson 10 · verses 62–64
verses 62–64
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verse 62
Ghunnah is a permanent attribute of ن and م. It never leaves them.
“When they are doubled” covers every case: a shaddah from idghām inside one word (إِنَّ, ثُمَّ); a shaddah from idghām across two words (مِنْ نَّفْسٍ, لَهُمْ مَّا); and a shaddah with no idghām at all (أَمَّا). In all of them — clarify it.
When you pause on the letter, and when the letter is moving (نَعَمْ), the ghunnah is not obvious. It is still there, because it is a ṣifah lāzimah.
إِنَّ · ثُمَّ · لَهُمْ مَّا
Two counts of nasal hold,
wherever the shaddah falls.
verses 63–64
الإخفاء الشفوي
before ب
Hide the mīm at the lips, holding the ghunnah.
Whether the sukūn is original or produced by idghām.
تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ
الإدغام
before م
Not stated — derived. Verse 50 makes idghām compulsory in mithlayn; verse 62 says clarify the ghunnah when the mīm is doubled. Put them together.
لَهُم مَّا
الإظهار الشفوي
before the other 26
Pronounce the mīm clearly, in one word or across two.
هُمْ فِيهَا · عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا
احذر
why he singles them out
The mīm shares its makhraj with the wāw, and sits right beside the fāʾ.
So the iẓhār comes out half-hidden — the very thing it is supposed not to be.
Give these two extra care.
The unchosen view — iẓhār of the mīm before the bāʾ — belongs to Makkī ibn Abī Ṭālib and others. It is allowed via the ṭarīq of the Ṭayyibah, not the Shāṭibiyyah.
Nūn Sākinah and Tanwīn
Four rulings — iẓhār, idghām, iqlāb, ikhfāʾ.
Lesson 11 · verses 65–68
verses 65–66
Why one chapter covers both: their rules are identical, because they are only applied in waṣl — and in waṣl they sound the same. · read right ← left
verses 65–68
| Ruling | Arabic | Letters | What you do | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iẓhār ḥalqī | الإظهار الحلقي | ء هـ ع ح غ خ | Clear, with no extra pull in the ghunnah | مِنْ خَيْرٍ |
| Idghām — with ghunnah | الإدغام بغنّة | ي و م ن (يُومِنُ) | Merge, holding the nasal sound | مَن يَعْمَلْ |
| Idghām — without | الإدغام بغير غنّة | ل ر | Merge with no ghunnah — the common practice | مِن رَّبِّهِمْ |
| Iqlāb | الإقلاب | ب | Turn the nūn to a mīm, hide it, hold the ghunnah | أَنۢبَتَكُم |
| Ikhfāʾ ḥaqīqī | الإخفاء الحقيقي | the remaining 15 | Hide the nūn with ghunnah | مِن ثَمَرَاتٍ |
Some count three rulings (al-Jaʿbarī folds iqlāb into ikhfāʾ); some count five (splitting idghām by ghunnah). The differences are in expression only — everyone recites the same.
verses 66–67
لا بغنّةٍ لَزِمْ
a carefully chosen phrase
He does not say idghām into ل and ر is without ghunnah. He says the ghunnah is not necessary.
That leaves it permitted — and al-Nashr confirms it is.
Without ghunnah is the common practice, and what the Shāṭibiyyah relates for Ḥafṣ. With ghunnah comes via the Ṭayyibah.
الإظهار المطلق
four words only
Read the nūn clearly, so it is not mistaken for a madd.
Called muṭlaq because it is neither ḥalqī nor shafawī.
It applies to the nūn sākinah only — a tanwīn is always word-final, so it is always across two words.
دُنْيَا · صِنْوَان · قِنْوَان · بُنْيَان
غنّة المدغم أو المدغم فيه
and so, tām or nāqiṣ
Into ن — the second letter’s ghunnah, so tām.
Into و ي ل ر — the first letter’s, so nāqiṣ.
Into م — disputed; the majority say the second’s, so tām.
Commentators note that عَنْوَنُوا is not a Qurʾānic word — most likely chosen for the metre. Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī prefers a print that reads قِنْوَان instead.
Madd and Qaṣr
Elongation: what is necessary, what is compulsory, and what is permitted.
Lesson 12 · verses 69–72
حروف المدّ
three
Alif — always preceded by a fatḥah.
Wāw sākinah preceded by a ḍammah.
Yāʾ sākinah preceded by a kasrah.
ا وْ يْ
حروف اللين
two
Wāw and yāʾ, sākin, preceded by a fatḥah.
وْ يْ
القصر
to shorten
Affirming the letter with no extra pull at all — the minimum without which the letter cannot be read.
Two counts.
verses 69–70
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 69–72
| Type | Arabic | Cause | Length | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lāzim | اللازم | A permanent sukūn after a madd letter — in waṣl and waqf | 6 — agreed by all | الضَّالِّين |
| Wājib (muttaṣil) | الواجب المتّصل | A hamzah in the same word | 4 or 5 — never qaṣr | جَاءَ · سُوءَ |
| Jāʾiz (munfaṣil) | الجائز المنفصل | Madd ends a word, hamzah starts the next | match your muttaṣil; 2 via Ṭayyibah | بِمَا أُنزِلَ |
| Jāʾiz (ʿāriḍ) | العارض للسكون | A sukūn created only by pausing | 2, 4 or 6 | الْعَالَمِينْ |
Madd lāzim subdivides four ways: kilmī or ḥarfī × muthaqqal or mukhaffaf. And the ʿayn of كٓهيعٓصٓ and حمٓ عٓسٓقٓ also permits tawassuṭ.
verses 70–71
Lāzim’s cause is a permanent sukūn. Wājib’s cause is a hamzah in the same word.
In lāzim, all the qurrāʾ agree the length is 6. In wājib they differ — 4 or 5.
Iẓhār Aḥmad al-Thānawī: wājib is stipulated by the sharīʿah. Ibn Masʿūd once stopped a man reciting إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ without the madd and said: “the Prophet ﷺ did not teach me this way.” Lāzim, by contrast, is named so by the qurrāʾ.
“I searched for qaṣr in muttaṣil and did not find it in any of the authentic qirāʾāt, nor the anomalous — but found texts stating that madd must be made in it.”
واللَّفظُ في نظيرِه كمثلِه
Verse 31 governs here:
choose 4 or 5,
then hold it
for the whole recitation.
Waqf and Ibtidāʾ
Knowing where to stop — and where you are allowed to begin again.
Lesson 13 · verses 73–78
ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, on “and recite the Qurʾān with tartīl”: tartīl is excellence in the letters, and knowledge of waqf. Ibn al-Jazarī builds the whole obligation on this.
Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما: as sūrahs were revealed, the Companions learnt what they made lawful and forbidden, their commands and cautions — and where waqf would be proper.
“Whoever does not hold knowledge of waqf, does not hold knowledge of the Qurʾān.”
Al-Nashr records that teachers of the Qurʾān would point out to their students where to stop — and would not give ijāzah unless the student knew waqf and ibtidāʾ.
Stop in the wrong place
and the meaning can shift —
sometimes to the
opposite of what
Allah intends.
| Term | Arabic | Literally | Technically |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qaṭʿ | القطع | to cut | Stopping with no intention of continuing. Only at a verse-end. |
| Waqf | الوقف | to stop | Stopping on a complete word, long enough to renew the breath, intending to continue. |
| Sakt | السكت | silence | A break in the sound without a break in the breath. |
| Ibtidāʾ | الابتداء | to begin | Starting — after waqf or after qaṭʿ. After qaṭʿ, the rules of istiʿādhah and basmalah apply. |
Two consequences of the definition of waqf: you may never stop in the middle of a word; and a pause of five or ten minutes is not waqf at all.
verses 73–74
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 75–78
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 75–77
| Kind | Arabic | Link to what follows | Stop? | Begin from what follows? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tāmm | التامّ | None — neither in meaning nor in grammar | yes | yes |
| Kāfī | الكافي | In meaning only | yes | yes |
| Ḥasan | الحسن | In grammar — and so also in meaning | yes | no — go back; unless it is a verse-end |
| Qabīḥ | القبيح | Meaning incomplete, or distorted | only if forced | no — restart from before |
Ikhtiyārī — the chosen stop: tāmm, kāfī, ḥasan. Iḍṭirārī — the forced stop: qabīḥ, when breath, a sneeze or memory fails you.
verses 77–78
الابتداء اختياريّ دائماً
so choose well
Waqf can be forced on you. Starting never is — you always pick the place.
Which is why ibtidāʾ is graded the same four ways. A ḥasan stop can be followed by a qabīḥ start, and a qabīḥ stop by a ḥasan one.
ليس في القرآن وقف يجب
by sharīʿah
Nobody sins for stopping, or for continuing, at a given place.
Except where there is a reason — someone who understands the meaning and stops deliberately, or in jest, to distort it.
So when a teacher says “stop here” or “go through,” they mean it is better in their judgement. Not that it is obligatory.
Cut and Joined Compounds
How the maṣāḥif were written — and why it decides where you may stop.
Lesson 14 · verses 79–93
Maqṭūʿ — compounds written apart. Mawṣūl — compounds written joined.
If a compound is joined, you may only stop at the end of the whole word. If it is cut, you may stop on either part.
One does not normally stop on these at all — but you must know, for waqf iḍṭirārī (the forced stop) and waqf ikhtibārī (stopping to test or teach).
The maṣāḥif ʿUthmān wrote and dispatched to the lands. Necessarily plural: Ibn al-Jazarī reports ikhtilāf between them, which is impossible if only one copy were meant. And the science of rasm considers them all, not his personal copy alone.
The chapter covers 25 compounds.
أَنْ لَا · أَلَّا
Same words.
Two ways of writing them.
Two ways of stopping.
verses 79–82
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 80–82
| # | Sūrah | Verse | The words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | al-Tawbah | 118 | أَن لَّا مَلْجَأَ |
| 2 | Hūd | 14 | أَن لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا |
| 3 | Yāsīn | 60 | أَن لَّا تَعْبُدُوا |
| 4 | Hūd — the second place | 26 | أَن لَّا تَعْبُدُوا |
| 5 | al-Mumtaḥinah | 12 | أَن لَّا يُشْرِكْنَ |
| 6 | al-Ḥajj | 26 | أَن لَّا تُشْرِكْ |
| 7 | al-Qalam | 24 | أَن لَّا يَدْخُلَنَّهَا |
| 8 | al-Dukhān | 19 | وَأَن لَّا تَعْلُوا |
| 9 | al-Aʿrāf | 169 | أَن لَّا يَقُولُوا |
| 10 | al-Aʿrāf | 105 | أَن لَّا أَقُولَ |
Hūd 26 is named as “the second” to exclude the earlier place in the same sūrah, where all agree it is joined. Dukhān is named to exclude al-Naml, likewise agreed joined. Al-Dānī gives these ten; al-Shāṭibī adds Anbiyāʾ 87, which Ibn al-Jazarī mentions in al-Nashr but not here. Everywhere else: joined.
verses 83–85
v. 83’s first hemistich is printed with an ellipsis in the sharh; نُهُوا اقْطَعُوا is reconstructed from the standard text — worth checking against another print.
verses 82–85
| # | Compound | Ruling | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | إِنْ مَا | cut | al-Raʿd 40 only |
| 3 | أَمَّا | joined everywhere | 4 places — Anʿām 143, 144 · al-Naml ×2 |
| 4 | عَنْ مَا | cut | al-Aʿrāf 166 only |
| 5 | مِنْ مَا | cut | al-Rūm 28 · al-Nisāʾ 25 |
| 6 | أَمْ مَنْ | cut — with khulf | al-Munāfiqūn 10; cut is preferred |
| 7 | حَيْثُ مَا | cut | Tawbah 109 · Fuṣṣilat 40 · Nisāʾ 109 · Ṣāffāt 11 |
| 8 | أَنْ لَمْ | cut | al-Baqarah 144 and 150 |
| 9 | إِنَّ مَا (kasrah) | cut | wherever it appears |
| 10 | أَنَّ مَا (fatḥah) | cut | Anʿām 134; khulf in Naḥl 95 — joined better known |
| 11 | أَنَّ مَا + يَدْعُونَ | cut | Ḥajj 62 · Luqmān 30; khulf in Anfāl 41 and Naḥl |
| 12 | كُلَّ مَا | mixed | cut in 6; joined Aʿrāf 150 and Baqarah 90; khulf Baqarah 93 |
verses 86–89
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 86–90
| # | Compound | Ruling |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | فِي مَا | khulf in 10 places — Anʿām 145 · Nūr 14 · Anbiyāʾ 102 · Māʾidah 48 · Anʿām 165 · Baqarah 240 · Wāqiʿah 61 · Rūm 28 · Zumar 3 and 46. Cut in Shuʿarāʾ 146. |
| 14 | أَيْنَ مَا | joined in Baqarah 115 and Naḥl 76; khulf in Shuʿarāʾ 92, Aḥzāb 61, Nisāʾ 78; cut elsewhere |
| 15 | إِنْ لَمْ | joined in Hūd 14 only; cut everywhere else |
| 16 | أَنْ لَنْ | joined in Kahf 48 and Qiyāmah 3; cut elsewhere. Muzzammil 20 is disputed |
| 17 | كَيْ لَا | joined in Āl ʿImrān 153, Ḥadīd 23, Ḥajj 5, Aḥzāb 50 (2nd); cut in Naḥl 70, Aḥzāb 37 (1st), Ḥashr 7 |
Worth showing students: Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī openly reproaches Ibn al-Jazarī for omitting the disagreements in Aʿrāf 38, Muʾminūn 44 and Mulk 8 — which he records in al-Nashr but not here. Al-Thānawī defends him; al-Mirṣafī reads the evidence the other way.
verses 90–93
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 91–93
| # | Compound | Ruling |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | عَنْ مَنْ | cut — and only 2 places exist at all: Nūr 43 · Najm 29 |
| 19 | يَوْمَ هُمْ | cut in the 2 places where the pronoun is marfūʿ and the mīm sākin — Ghāfir 16 · Dhāriyāt 13. Joined in the other 4, where it is majrūr |
| 20 | مَالِ هَٰذَا | cut — 4 places: Kahf 49 · Furqān 7 · Maʿārij 36 · Nisāʾ 78 |
| 21 | لَاتَ حِينَ | Ṣād 3 — cut in all the dispatched maṣāḥif. Abū ʿUbayd reported it joined in ʿUthmān’s personal muṣḥaf; وُهِّلَا marks how heavily that report was criticised |
| 22 | وَزَنُوهُمْ · كَالُوهُمْ | Muṭaffifīn 3 — joined. Also read as a general precept: an attached pronoun is always joined, a detached one always cut |
| 23–25 | مِنَ الْ · وَيَا · وَهَا | never separated — always joined |
The Open Tāʾ
Thirteen words written flat — and what that does to your waqf.
Lesson 15 · verses 94–100
التاء المربوطة
stop on it with a hāʾ
The feminine tāʾ on a singular noun is normally written closed.
ة
التاء المفتوحة
stop on it with a tāʾ
Thirteen words, in forty-one places. Ibn al-Jazarī lists the smaller set, as always.
ت
المستثنى
before you even start
Verbs and plurals — always written flat.
Words not annexed — always round.
Words annexed to a pronoun — always flat.
None of these are in the discussion.
المضاف إلى اسم ظاهر
annexed to an explicit noun
Every word in this chapter is annexed to an explicit noun.
That single condition resolves most of the apparent ambiguities — e.g. why رَحْمَت in Aʿrāf 56 is meant, and not the others in the same sūrah, which carry tanwīn and so cannot be annexed.
verses 94–96
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 97–100
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 94–99
| # | Word | Places | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | رَحْمَت | 7 | Zukhruf 32 ×2 · Aʿrāf 56 · Rūm 50 · Hūd 73 · Maryam 2 · Baqarah 218 |
| 2 | نِعْمَت | 11 | Baqarah 231 · Naḥl 72, 83, 114 · Ibrāhīm 28, 34 · Māʾidah 11 · Luqmān 31 · Fāṭir 3 · Ṭūr 29 · Āl ʿImrān 103 |
| 3 | لَعْنَت | 2 | Āl ʿImrān 61 · Nūr 7 |
| 4 | امْرَأَت | 7 | Yūsuf 30, 51 · Āl ʿImrān 35 · Qaṣaṣ 9 · Taḥrīm 10 ×2, 11 |
| 5 | مَعْصِيَت | 2 | Mujādalah 8, 9 — the sūrah beginning qad samiʿa |
| 6 | شَجَرَت | 1 | Dukhān 43 |
| 7 | سُنَّت | 5 | Fāṭir 43 — all of them · Anfāl 38 · Ghāfir 85, the last verse |
| 8 | قُرَّت | 1 | Qaṣaṣ 9 — the phrase qurrat ʿayn |
| 9 | جَنَّت | 1 | Wāqiʿah 89 |
| 10 | فِطْرَت | 1 | Rūm 30 |
| 11 | بَقِيَّت | 1 | Hūd 86 |
| 12 | ابْنَت | 1 | Taḥrīm 12 |
| 13 | كَلِمَت | 1 | Aʿrāf 137 — the middle of the sūrah |
verse 100
كلّ ما اختُلف
singular or plural
Wherever the qurrāʾ differ over whether a word is singular or plural, it is written with a flat tāʾ.
Seven words, in twelve places.
الوقف عليها
hāʾ or tāʾ
Ibn Kathīr, Abū ʿAmr, Kisāʾī and Yaʿqūb stop with a hāʾ.
The remaining qurrāʾ stop with a tāʾ.
امرأت
worth memorising
Whenever امْرَأَت appears together with her husband, it is written flat.
امْرَأَتُ نُوحٍ · امْرَأَتُ فِرْعَوْنَ
كلمت
Aʿrāf 137
Al-Kharrāz records that some maṣāḥif have it flat and others round. Abū Dāwūd preferred round; al-Dānī reported the difference without preferring either.
Most — al-Shāṭibī, Ibn al-Jazarī, al-Ṣafāqusī, al-Bannā — prefer the flat tāʾ.
Hamzat al-Waṣl
You cannot begin on a sukūn — so what vowel do you begin with?
Lesson 16 · verses 101–103
همزة الوصل
temporary
Read when you start from the word. Dropped entirely when you join it to what comes before.
اسْتَغْفِرْ · اهْدِنَا
همزة القطع
permanent
Read in every state, waṣl or waqf.
أَنْزَلَ · إِنَّ
علامة
how to tell them apart
Prefix a wāw to the word.
If the hamzah disappears, it is waṣl — وَاسْتَغْفِرْ.
If it stays, it is qaṭʿ — وَأَنْزَلَ.
Why explain the smaller set? Abū Bakr ibn al-Jazarī says temporary hamzahs are fewer. Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī says there are in fact more of them — but their rules are clearer.
verses 101–103
the two halves of each line are read right ← left
verses 101–103
الأفعال
look at the third letter
Third letter has a ḍammah → begin with a ḍammah.
Third letter has a kasrah or fatḥah → begin with a kasrah.
اُدْخُلُوا · اِمْشُوا
الأسماء
always a kasrah
Whether qiyāsī (verbal nouns of five or six root letters) or samāʿī.
Except nouns with lām al-taʿrīf → a fatḥah. The poem does not say so: it is the only ḥarakah left, and too well known to state.
اِسْم · اَلْأَرْض
خمسة مواضع
verbs that look like they take ḍammah
Their third letter originally carries a kasrah — so begin with a kasrah, not a ḍammah.
Yūnus 71 · Kahf 21 · Ḥijr 65 · Ṣād 6 · Ṭāhā 64.
These are the only examples in the Qurʾān.
سبعة أسماء
verse 103 names them all
Three more exist but are not in the Qurʾān: ابْنُم · ايْمُن · اسْت. All take a kasrah, except ايْمُن which also permits a fatḥah.
ابْن · ابْنَت · امْرِئ · اثْنَيْن · امْرَأَة · اسْم · اثْنَتَيْن
Stopping on the Last Letter
Lesson 13 was where to stop. This is how.
Lesson 17 · verses 104–105
verses 104–105
الإسكان
the default
Drop the ḥarakah entirely and give the last letter a plain sukūn.
Allowed on any ending — fatḥah, ḍammah or kasrah.
نَسْتَعِينْ
الرّوم
hinting the vowel
Pronounce about a third of the ḥarakah — the voice lowered so far that only someone close to you hears it.
Allowed on a kasrah and a ḍammah. Not on a fatḥah.
الرَّحِيمِ
الإشمام
a silent gesture
Round the lips toward a ḍammah immediately after the sukūn is read.
No sound is produced at all — it is seen, not heard.
Only on a ḍammah or rafʿ.
نَسْتَعِينُ
Fatḥ vs. naṣb, ḍamm vs. rafʿ: the first of each pair names a word that is mabnī (undeclinable), the second one that is muʿrab (declinable). Rawm is barred on both fatḥ and naṣb.
verses 104–105
Take three word-endings and work through what each one permits.
نَسْتَعِينُ — iskān, or ishmām. Rawm is also open to you here.
الرَّحِيمِ — iskān, or rawm. Ishmām is not available: the lips only round toward a ḍammah.
الْعَالَمِينَ — iskān only. Neither rawm nor ishmām applies to a fatḥah.
The general rule underneath all three: never stop with a full ḥarakah.
الإسكان · الرّوم · الإشمام
ḍammah — all three
kasrah — iskān, rawm
fatḥah — iskān only
The Epilogue
The poet closes with the count of his verses, and a final salutation.
Lesson 18 · verses 106–107
verses 106–107
qāf = 100, zāy = 7. The poem counts itself — though manuscript copies do not contain this line. · the two halves of each line are read right ← left
Al-Tamhīd fī ʿIlm al-Tajwīd — the expansion of everything in this poem.
Then Al-Nashr and Ṭayyibat al-Nashr, for the ten readings.
Verse 33: there is nothing between applying tajwīd and abandoning it except a person’s practice with his jaws.
Verse 27, as the sharh reads it: the sinner is the one who could recite correctly and will not — including the one too proud to sit before a teacher.
Find a teacher. Read to them. Keep reading to them for years.
إِلَّا رِيَاضَةُ امْرِئٍ بِفَكِّهِ
Years — not weeks.
“Whoever excels in tajwīd succeeds with right guidance.”
May Allah make us among those who recite His Book as it deserves to be recited.