Review and goals of level 2

Welcome to level 2. You can now read the letters, the short and long vowels, sukun, shadda and tanwin. This course teaches you to recite with the first rules of tajwid.

The word "tajwid" comes from a root that means "doing well". Allah says: وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْآنَ تَرْتِيلًا "and recite the Qur'an slowly and distinctly" (meaning of verse 73:4). Tajwid is reciting the way the Qur'an was passed on, from teacher to student, back to the Prophet ﷺ.

A three-point review: • Sukun (ـْ): the letter has no vowel. • Shadda (ـّ): the letter is doubled. • Tanwin (ـً ـٍ ـٌ): a doubled vowel pronounced with an "n" sound at the end of the word. This "n" behaves like a noon sakinah: that is why we study the two together.

How the course is organised: • Unit 1: the four rules of noon sakinah and tanwin. • Unit 2: meem sakinah, ghunnah and the basics of madd (lengthening). • Unit 3: qalqalah, heavy and light letters, then practice on short surahs.

One clarification: we follow the reading of Hafs from 'Asim, the most widespread today. For some lengths, teachers follow slightly different chains of transmission: when that is the case, we say so, and your teacher tells you which one he follows.

How to work: read the lesson, spot the rule in the examples, then listen to it on the site's Qur'an page and have a teacher listen to you. A rule you know but have never heard stays fragile.

The lessons open in order: each one builds on the previous one.

Understanding the lesson: why tajwid

1. Explanation Tajwid scholars define it like this: giving each letter its right (ḥaqq), that is, its point of articulation and its own qualities, and what is due to it (mustaḥaqq), that is, the rules that apply depending on the letters around it. The rules of this level (noon sakinah, meem sakinah, madd, qalqalah, heavy letters) are almost all of the second kind: they describe what happens to a letter when it meets another. Scholars also distinguish two kinds of mistakes: the obvious mistake (laḥn jalii), which changes a letter or a vowel and can change the meaning, and which must be avoided at all costs; and the subtle mistake (laḥn khafii), which concerns the rules of this course (a missed ghunnah, a madd too short), and which we correct little by little with a teacher. Common mistakes at the start: learning the rules only from books, without hearing them; reading too fast; imitating a famous reciter's melody without applying the rules.

2. Lessons to learn • Reciting as it should be recited is part of the respect owed to the Qur'an: Allah praises "those who recite it as it should be recited" (meaning of verse 2:121). • Imam Ibn al-Jazari wrote in his poem on tajwid that applying it is an obligation. [À VÉRIFIER : formulation et portée de la citation] • A little every day is better than one long session a week: ten regular minutes are enough to progress. • Record yourself from time to time: you hear your mistakes better when you listen back.

3. To remember • Tajwid = giving each letter its right and what is due to it. • Obvious mistakes (avoid at all costs) and subtle mistakes (correct little by little). • Tajwid is learned by ear, in front of a teacher.

4. The message of the lesson Reciting well means rendering the Word of Allah as it was passed down: with care, with humility, and with patience towards oneself.

Source: rules according to the reading of Hafs from 'Asim (ash-Shatibiyya chain), as set out in standard tajwid manuals; the meaning of the verses from Al-Mukhtasar fi tafsir al-Qur'an.