The Development of Tajwīd as a Science
Basil Farooq
Translator’s Introduction
Students often have a static understanding of the sciences, not realizing the centuries of scholarly development before they took the shape they do today. One such science is the science of tajwīd, studied by millions, yet few realize that there were texts in this science written before al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah (authored in 799-800 AH)1 or that, before tajwīd became an independent science, its topics were discussed in books of Arabic grammar. To encourage a more dynamic engagement with tajwīd, I have produced this idiomatic translation of a section from Dr. Ghānim Qaddūrī al-Ḥamad’s commentary on Al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah.2 My method has been to render Dr. Ghānim’s text into English without making it verbose or repetitive. Footnotes are from the original work unless specified as translator’s notes, which I’ve inserted to make clarifications I felt were necessary. I have only translated footnotes that are citations of primary sources, omitting lengthier background and biographical footnotes. At the end of the translation, I have added a timeline of the periods and main figures mentioned by Dr. Ghānim. I pray that Allah ﷻ accepts this effort and puts it on the scales of Dr. Ghānim and blesses him and his family infinitely. Āmīn!
The science of tajwīd is about the rules of correct pronunciation. It concerns the recitation of the Quran in particular and Arabic pronunciation in general. When the Quran was being revealed, the Arabs did not have codified sciences. In fact, the Quran was the first book known to the Arabic library. Only thereafter did there appear works that treated the Quran’s recitation [tilāwah], exegesis [tafsīr], orthography [rasm], and language [lughah]. Works also emerged in other sciences that the Arabo-Islamic civilization either developed indigenously or inherited.
At its core, the recitation of the Quran is simply a form of Arabic pronunciation and is subject entirely to the rules of that pronunciation. The codification of the principles of recitation is intimately linked with the codification of the rules of the Arabic language in the early generations. Then it became an independent science with specialized books, taking on a new name—the science of tajwīd. The following is a survey of the development of the science of tajwīd and the history of authorship in it.
Section One: The Development of the Science of Tajwīd
The development of the science of tajwīd is intimately linked to two other sciences: the science of qirāʾāt [Quranic reading systems and variants] and the science of the Arabic language. The topics of tajwīd matured under the shade of these two sciences. The development of the science of tajwīd can be divided into three stages:
1. The Stage of Oral Transmission Before the Codification of the Sciences [Revelation—2nd Century AH]
This stage extends from the Prophetic period to the time of the first works in the sciences of the Arabic language and qirāʾāt in the 2nd century AH. The recitation of the Quran in this stage relied on oral instruction and direct transmission [from teachers]. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the first teacher of the Quran, and from him, the Companions received the Quran and learned to recite it. Of course, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was preoccupied with the many burdens of calling to Islam, conveying the message, and managing the affairs of the people, so he began to seek the help of skilled reciters among the Companions to teach other Muslims how to recite the Quran. He would say to his Companions, “Recite as you have been taught.”[3] The scholars of qirāʾāt from the Companions and their followers took on this Prophetic approach to teaching. They would say, “Recitation is a sunnah [tradition] that the latter takes from the former.”4
The recitation of the Quran in this stage relied, first, on the native linguistic competence of the Companions, in whose language the Quran was revealed, and second, on the method of teaching and transmission, both of which mitigated the influence of the natural linguistic diversity that spread in the community during the Medinan era after people entered the faith in droves. This was when the license of the seven modes of recital [aḥruf] came to accommodate this diversity and mitigate its effects.
2. The Stage of Codifying the Principles of Recitation in Books of Arabic Grammar and Qirāʾāt [2nd—3rd Century AH]
This stage spans more than two centuries, from the emergence of literature in these two sciences until the appearance of the first dedicated work in the science of tajwīd. A detailed discussion on the emergence of these two sciences and the history of authorship in them is beyond the scope of this chapter. For our purposes, it suffices to point out that the oldest extant work, which includes a discussion on rules of the Arabic language, is Al-Kitab [The Book] of Sībawayh (d. 180 AH). This work discusses the points of articulation [makhārij] of letters, their manners of articulation [ṣifāt], and many of the rules and discussions that form the most important topics of the science of tajwīd.5
The science of qirāʾāt is older than the science of tajwīd, and although both pertain to the recitation of the Quran, there is a difference between them that makes them independent sciences. The science of tajwīd treats the nature of pronunciation and examines the points of articulation, manners of articulation, and special properties of sounds. The science of qirāʾāt treats the different modes of pronouncing words of the Quran narrated from the [early] reciters.6
The first works of qirāʾāt appeared early on. The first comprehensive book on qirāʾāt is the book of Abū ʿUbayd (d. 224 AH), passages from which have been transmitted within other books [though the work itself is not extant].7 The earliest extant work is Al-Sabʿah fī al-Qirāʾāt by Ibn Mujāhid (d. 324 AH), which contains references to some tajwīd issues. In one important narration, Ibn Mujāhid says, “There are two types of errors [laḥn] in [reciting] the Quran: apparent [jalī] and subtle [khafī]. The apparent error is in grammar [iʿrāb], and the subtle error is in failing to give the letter its full due in terms of the beautification [tajwīd] of its sound.”8 This is the earliest reference in which the word tajwīd appears with a meaning close to its common technical definition.
The books of qirāʾāt and the scholars writing them undertook the task of teaching correct pronunciation and regulating recitation before the emergence of independent tajwīd books. This was primarily done within the phonetic discussions they had in their books in addition to the oral instruction they gave on correct pronunciation. These discussions remained a part of the books of qirāʾāt, even after the emergence of tajwīd books that specialized in those issues.
3. The Stage of the Emergence of Works Dedicated to the Science of Tajwīd [4th Century AH]
The constantly expanding culture of knowledge of the Arabic language and the science of qirāʾāt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AH generated conviction among scholars that they needed to write specific monographs — outside of the general works on grammar [naḥw], morphology [ṣarf], and qirāʾāt — that discuss the articulation points of letters [makhārij], their manners of articulation [ṣifāt], and the phonetic rules of combining letters [aḥkām].
[Important Scholars and Works in this period:]
Thus, the fourth century witnessed the birth of a new science to fulfill this need at the hands of one scholar of qirāʾāt and one scholar of the Arabic language.
[The qirāʾāt expert] Abū Muzāḥim al-Khāqānī (d. 325 AH) composed a poem on perfecting Quranic recitation in fifty-one verses, beginning with the couplet:
I give inspiring words for those who have intelligence
Without boast – for boasting gives rise to arrogance. 9
Ibn al-Jazarī says, “[Abū Muzāḥim] is the first to author a work on tajwīd as far as I know, and his rāʾiyyah[10] poem is well-known and was commented on by Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī (d. 444 AH).”11
[The expert of the Arabic sciences] Ibn Jinnī (d. 392 AH) wrote the book Sirr Ṣināʿat al-Iʿrāb [The Key to Mastery of Grammar] in which he discusses the states [aḥwāl] of individual letters, explaining their points of articulation, characteristics, and the changes they undergo in speech [taṣarrufuhā fī al-kalām].12 He labeled these discussions the science of sounds and letters.13
The scholars of qirāʾāt took off at this point and helped this fledgling science mature into an independent field of study, while the efforts of Arabic language scholars did not build beyond Ibn Jinnī's method of combining grammatical and phonetic studies. They continued to address phonetic topics in their grammar books without treating them independently.
Before the end of the fourth Hijrī century, one scholar of qirāʾāt wrote a dedicated treatise on apparent and subtle errors [laḥn] that played an important role in establishing tajwīd as a science. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Saʿīdī (d. 410 AH) wrote his Al-Tanbīh ʿalā al-Laḥn al-Jalī wa-l-Laḥn al-Khafī [Commenting on the Apparent and Subtle Errors], in which he mentions the term tajwīd in the introduction: “You asked me... to describe for you a brief overview of the proper beautification [tajwid] of the wording of the Quran.”14 He devoted his book to addressing the various types of subtle errors [al-laḥn al-khafī],[15] adopting Ibn Mujāhid's division of errors into apparent and subtle even though he does not explicitly cite his name.16
Though the first work in the science of tajwīd was the poem of Abū Muzāḥim al-Khāqānī (d. 325 AH), which he wrote on perfecting Quranic recitation, it is concise and written in verse, and poetry does not allow for the vast discussion that prose does. Additionally, while the treatise Al-Tanbīh ʿalā al-Laḥn al-Jalī wa-l-Laḥn al-Khafī is the second dedicated work in this science, it only addresses one topic: subtle errors in pronunciation. If we want to identify the first work that treats the entire science holistically and whose title contains the term “tajwīd,” we will have to go into the works of the fifth century AH and later.
Section Two: History of Authorship in Tajwīd
The fifth century AH witnessed the emergence of the first comprehensive works in the science of tajwīd, giving the science its features and defining its topics of study, with authorship in this field continuing throughout subsequent eras until the present time. The works have varied: some extensive, and others concise; some in prose, and others in verse; some general, and others focusing on a single topic. The history of authorship in the mature science of tajwīd can be divided into three main stages:
1. The Early Holistic Works [The Early Classical Period: 5th—8th Centuries AH]:
The most important and most famous works of tajwīd were written in the fifth century AH. These works appeared simultaneously in Andalusia and in the eastern lands, especially in Baghdad. Among the most famous Andalusian works are:
Al-Riʿāyah li-Tajwīd al-Qirāʾah wa Taḥqīq Lafẓ al-Tilāwah by Makkī ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Qaysī (d. 437 AH), who states in his introduction: “I am not aware of anyone before me who has authored such a book.”17
Al-Taḥdīd fī al-Itqān wa al-Tajwīd by Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī (d. 444 AH)
Al-Mūḍiḥ fī al-Tajwīd by ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Muḥammad al-Qurṭubī (d. 461 AH)
Works from the eastern lands in the fifth century include:
Kitāb fī al-Tajwīd by Abū al-Faḍl al-Rāzī al-ʿIjlī (d. 454 AH), which is lost, but several early authors quote passages from it.
Kitāb al-Tajrīd fī al-Tajwīd by Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Bannāʾ al-Baghdādī (d. 471 AH), which is also lost, but Ibn al-Bannāʾ mentions it in his other book, Bayān al-ʿUyūb.18
Several books of tajwīd were also written in the sixth century AH. Among the most famous are:
Nihāyat al-Itqān fī Tajwīd al-Qurʾān by Shurayḥ ibn Muḥammad al-Ruʿaynī (d. 539 AH), which is partially available in manuscript form.
Al-Tajrīd fī al-Tajwīd by Abū ʿAlī al-Aṣbahānī al-Ḥājī (d. 543 AH), which is also in manuscript form.
Al-Inbāʾ fī Tajwīd al-Qurʾān by Ibn al-Ṭaḥḥān al-Andalusī (d. 560 AH), which is published.
Al-Tamhīd fī maʿrifat al-tajwīd by Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-ʿAṭṭār al-Hamadhānī (d. 569 AH), which is also published.
It is difficult to mention all the tajwīd works written after the sixth century due to their large number.19 However, it is possible to highlight here the works of Ibn al-Jazarī, which represent the end of this stage of authorship and the beginning of a new one. The most important of his works are:
Al-Tamhīd fī ʿIlm al-Tajwīd, which is published.
The poem Al-Muqaddimah fī-mā ʿalā Qāriʾihī an Yaʿlamahu [which is commonly studied by students of tajwīd and known as Al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah].
The chapter on tajwīd in [his magnum opus] Al-Nashr fī al-Qirāʾāt al-ʿAshr.20
2. Works in Later Centuries [Late Classical Period: 9th Century AH—Modern Period]:
Al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah attracted most of the attention of the scholars of tajwīd after it. It became the main work studied by students of tajwīd, starting from the author's lifetime until recently. In fact, students of knowledge continue to commit it to memory today. The many contemporary works produced since have not been able to usurp its position.
One of the manifestations of this interest in the Muqaddimah is the abundance of commentaries on it, starting with the commentary of Ibn al-Jazarī’s son, Abū Bakr Aḥmad Ibn al-Nāẓim (d. 835 AH), and other direct students of the author. This trend continues with commentaries by contemporary scholars, as will be indicated in a subsequent discussion, inshāʾAllāh.
Many later tajwīd scholars did, however, leave the orbit of Al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah, and continue to write independent books. Among the most prominent of these works are:
Tuḥfat al-Ṭālibīn fī Tajwīd Kitāb Rabb al-ʿĀlamīn by Shaykh Manṣūr ibn ʿĪsā al-Samannūdī (d. after 1092 AH), who also wrote a commentary on the Muqaddimah called Al-Durar al-Munaẓẓamah al-Bahiyyah.
Ghunyat al-Ṭālibīn wa Munyat al-Rāghibīn by Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn Ismāʿīl al-Baqarī (d. 1111 AH).
Tanbīh al-Ghāfilīn wa Irshād al-Jāhilīn ʿan-mā Yaqaʿu la-hum min al-Khaṭaʾ Ḥāla Tilāwatihim li-Kitāb Allāh al-Mubīn by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Nūrī al-Ṣafāqusī (d. 1118 AH).
Juhd al-Muqill and its explanation, Bayān Juhd al-Muqill, by Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Marʿashī, commonly known as Sājiqlī Zādah (d. 1150 AH).
3. Tajwīd Works in the Modern Period:
There is no single date separating the classical period from the modern period. Perspectives have differed on the events and dates that could be considered the dividing line between the two. It may not be accurate to specify a particular year as the start of the modern period, since history is a continuum.
It is possible to take the book Nihāyat al-Qawl al-Mufīd fī ʿIlm al-Tajwīd by Shaykh Muḥammad Makkī Naṣr al-Juraysī (fl. 1305 AH/1888 CE) and the book Khulāṣat al-ʿUjālah fi Bayān Murād al-Risālah by Ḥasan ibn Ismāʿīl al-Darkazallī al-Ḥabbār al-Mawṣilī (d. 1327 AH) as the end of the late classical period, because they are still written in the late classical style and remained in manuscript form until they were later published.
Among the prominent features of works in this stage is their large number, varied methods, and differing lengths. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Qāḍī (d. 1403 AH) wrote in 1400 AH/1980 CE in his commendation of the book Al-Mulakhkhaṣ al-Mufīd fi ʿIlm al-Tajwīd by Muḥammad Aḥmad Maʿbad, “The books of tajwīd in this era are too numerous to count. Some are concise, and others detailed. Some are brief, and others lengthy. Some are in prose, and others in verse.”21
It seems that the number of works of tajwīd in the modern period has multiplied since Shaykh al-Qāḍī made this statement more than twenty-five years ago.22 It is difficult to list all these works in this brief overview.
A few overarching trends can be observed about many of these works:
The First Trend: Modern works tend to rely on tajwīd works from the late classical period, and these [late classical works] lack the originality and innovation characterizing earlier works in this science. Previously, this could be excused because many earlier works were not published or available, but this no longer stands today after the publication of many early sources.
The Second Trend: These works seldom benefit from modern linguistics research and are often deprived of the scientific content in these books, despite its relevance to many topics in tajwīd. These [modern linguistics] works can be useful for clarifying the nature of certain rules and phonetic phenomena and resolving disagreements by providing supporting evidence.
The Third Trend: Many modern tajwīd works lack proper citation of sources and references. This is a weakness that does not befit any serious research. It has been said from time immemorial, “Of the blessings of knowledge is to attribute every statement to its speaker.”23 In doing so, we uphold the rights of those who came before us, acknowledge their status, distinguish between which insights belong to the author and which belong to others, and instill confidence in the reader regarding the research at hand.
I hope that the commentary I have written moves past these trends and that it benefits from all the sources of this science whether early, late, linguistic, tajwīd-related, or phonetic, while referring every statement to its source.
Notes
[1] [Translator’s note: For a discussion on when Ibn al-Jazarī wrote his poem, Al-Muqaddimah, see Dr. Ghānim Qaddūrī al-Ḥamad, Sharḥ al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah, (Jeddah: Dār al-Ghawthānī, 2022), 77-79.]
[2] [Translator’s note: Dr Ghānim Qaddūrī al-Ḥamad is one of the leading contemporary scholars of tajwīd and Quranic Studies. He was previously professor and chancellor at Tikrit University in Iraq before his retirement. This translation is from the first chapter (pp. 17-30) of his Sharḥ al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah, known informally as Al-Sharḥ al-kabīr (The Large Commentary).]
[3] This is narrated from Ibn Masʿūd ؓ. See al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, 1:12.
[4] See Ibn Mujāhid, Kitāb al-Sabʿah, 50-53.
[5] See Sībawayh, al-Kitāb, 4:431-485.
[6] See al-Marʿashī, Juhd al-muqill, 110; and al-Marʿashī, Tartīb al-ʿulūm, 64.
[7] See al-Sakhāwī, Jamāl al-qurrāʾ, 2:424-431.
[8] See Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī, Al-Taysīr, 116.
[9] [Translator’s note: The translation of this couplet is taken from the published translation and commentary of this poem. The explanation is written by my teacher Ustādha Saima Yacoob, while the poetic translation of the poem, cited here, is written by her brother M. Saad Yacoob. See Saima Yacoob, Beyond Recitation: Tajwīd and Spirituality, 15.]
[10] [Translator’s note: This is referring to the rhyme of the poem (qāfiyah) where the poem of Abū Muzāḥim is called a Rāʾiyyah because each couplet ends with a letter “rāʾ”.]
[11] See Ibn al-Jazarī, Ghāyat al-nihāyah, 2:321.
[12] [Translator’s note: While the title seems to indicate that this is a book of grammar, the editor of the printed edition mentions that many scholars over the course of history have referred to this book as just Sirr al-ṣināʿah (The Key to Mastery) because it has very little grammatical discourse and consists mostly of linguistic discussions. See Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUthmān ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb, ed. Muḥammad Ḥasan Muḥammad Ḥasan Ismāʿīl (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2000), 3-5.]
[13] See Ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb, 1:10.
[14] See Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Jaʿfar al-Saʿīdī, Risālatān fī tajwīd al-Qurʾān, 27.
[15] [Translator’s note: It may strike the reader as peculiar that the author, al-Saʿīdī, mentions both types of errors in the title of the work while only addressing subtle errors in the book itself. The reason for this is given in the introduction, where the author mentions that while both grammarians and scholars of recitation can correct the apparent errors, the correction of subtle errors is the sole domain of a “precise and expert reciter” who received the correct pronunciation through oral transmission from his teachers. Thus, al-Saʿīdī decided to mention various types of subtle errors which will guide a student in their journey towards proper pronunciation. See al-Saʿīdī, Risālatān fī tajwīd al-Qurʾān, 28-29. In other words, the intended audience of this work were either not in need of guidance regarding the apparent errors, or al-Saʿīdī felt that there were sufficient resources already available regarding the apparent errors within the books of Arabic grammar.]
[16] See al-Saʿīdī, Risālatān fī tajwīd al-Qurʾān, 27-28.
[17] See Makkī b. Abī Ṭālib, Al-Riʿāyah, 52.
[18] See Ibn al-Bannāʾ, Bayān al-ʿuyūb, 35.
[19] See Dr Ghānim Qaddūrī al-Ḥamad, Al-Dirāsāt al-ṣawtiyyah ʿinda ʿulamāʾ al-tajwīd, 29 onwards.
[20] See Ibn al-Jazarī, al-Nashr, 1:198-243.
[21] See Muḥammad Aḥmad Maʿbad, Al-Mulakhkhaṣ al-mufīd, 8.
[22] [Translator’s note: In the year 2025, it has now been 45 years since Shaykh al-Qāḍī wrote those comments.]
[23] See al-Qurṭubī, Al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān, 1:3.
Basil Farooq is a Year 5 student in the ʿĀlimiyyah program at Qalam Seminary, as well as a research assistant in the seminary’s Tajwīd department. He primarily researches and writes within the field of Quranic Studies under the supervision of his teachers. He has obtained a number of licenses to teach (ijāzah al-tadrīs) the Ten Reading Systems of the Quran (al-qirāʾāt al-ʿasharah) from Recite with Love.
