The ruling of reading with Tajweed
Muhammad bin Al-Jazaree the great Qur’an and Hadeeth scholar of the 9th Century
(Hijri) says in his famous poem, detailing the rules of Tajweed: “And applying Tajweed is anissue of absolute necessity, whoever doesn’t apply Tajweed to the Qur’an, then a sinner is
he.”
So he regarded it as an obligation and he regarded leaving it as a sin. And the
majority of scholars agree that applying the Tajweed rules of Qur’an are an individual
obligation upon every Muslim who has memorized or read part of or all of the
Qur’an. That is because the Qur’an was revealed with the Tajweed rules applied to it and the
Prophet (SAW) recited it back to Jibreel in that way and the Companions of the Prophet
(SAW) read it in that way, so it is an established Sunnah.
The obligation of Tajweed
The proofs that the scholars bring to show the obligation of Tajweed is that Allah
says in the Qur’an,(ورتل القران ترتيلا)
The meaning of which is: ‘And recite the Qur’an (aloud) in a (slow and melodious) style
(tarteela)’ (Surah Muzzammil, Ayah 4)
Ali ibn Abi Talib (RA) said in the explanation of this aayah: “at-Tarteel is Tajweed of
the letters and knowing where to stop (correctly)”.[An-Nashr of Ibn Al-Jazaree 209:1]
And of the rights of reciting correctly is reciting it the way it was revealed. There are
various Ahadeeth also showing us the importance of Tajweed. Umm Salamah was asked
about the recitation of the Prophet (SAW) and she described it as a recitation ‘clearly distinguished
letter by letter’.[Tirmidhi]
Sa’eed bin Mansoor relates in his Sunan that a man was reciting the Qur’an to
Abdullah bin Mas’ood and he recited"انما الصادقات للفقراء والمساكين" “Innamas sadaqaatu lil fuqara-i wal masaakeen”, so Ibn
mas’ood said: “This was not how the Messenger of Allah (SAW) recited it to me!” So the
man asked, “How did he read it to you oh Aba Abdir-Rahman?” So he said “Lil Fuqaraaaa-i
wal masaakeen”, he elongated the word Fuqaraa and the knowledge of the different lengths
of elongation (mudood) is also from the rules of Tajweed.
Ibn al-Jazari (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Whoever is able to read the
words of Allah with correct Arabic pronunciation but he deliberately pronounces it
incorrectly like a non-Arab, out of arrogance, stubbornness and complacency, or because he
is too proud to go to a scholar who could help him to correct his pronunciation, is
undoubtedly falling short and sinning and being dishonest. The Messenger of Allaah (pbuh)
said: “Religion is sincerity: to Allah, to His Book, to His Messenger, and to the leaders of the
Muslims and their common folk.”
It is not permissible for anyone to deliberately change any letter of it when he is able
to pronounce it correctly. This is a kind of mistake which is a sin. If a person finds it difficult