بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
وشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَات
And give good news (O Muhammad), to those who believe in this Book and do good deeds (in accordance with its teachings). [2:25]
“إنَّ أصدقَ الحديثِ كتابُ اللَّهِ”
The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) has said, “The most accurate and truthful speech is the Book of Allah s.w.t.”
(Nisa’i no. 1578 – Sahih)
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said: “Everything in existence prays for the forgiveness of the person who teaches the Qur’an – even the fish in the sea.”
In order to access the Quran, you must first know how to read Arabic, the language of Divine revelation. Knowledge of Arabic brings us, as Muslims, closer to our Deen, so that we are able to pray with focus and understand what we are reciting.
Importance of Tajweed
Quran reading with tajweed has immense importance in the preservation of Quran and its authority, as correction and beauty of the words leads to the production of perfect meanings. It is obligatory for every Muslim, children and adults alike, to read the Quran with Tajweed.
The first step of this journey is to learn how to read the Arabic script. Traditionally, Muslim children were taught how to read the Quran even if they could not speak or understand Arabic. Many Muslims raised in non-Muslim lands—whether converts or otherwise—are no longer taught this vital religious skill, and only realize its importance later in life. But it’s never too late to learn. Come join us.
What is Ijazah?
It is referred linguistically to ‘permission’ and technical means to narrate through established chains of narrators. In other words, Ijazah is a certification that one has permission to teach and recite the Quran with Tajweed by the chains of reciters that lead to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and the to Allah subhanahu wa Ta’ala.
In the Ijazah course program students will get permission for Ijazah from already certified teacher. This Ijazah can be in the reading of the Quran with tajweed to the teacher or recitation from memory as well. The teacher will listen to the reading of the entire Quran from the student with the applied rules of Tajweed. Ijazah in memorization/Hifz is for students who completed the recitation of the entire Quran from memory to the teacher.
The Ten Qira'at
Traditionally, there are 10 recognized schools of Qira’at, and each one derives its name from the famous reader of the Quran recitation. The Ten Qira’at are not like different voices and different styles, rather there are slight differences in pronunciation, letters, and Harakat (signs). It is like comparing two different books of the Quran and you find differences between them. To know this clearly, we need to go back to the times of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and Islamic history. People in the times of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) have their own dialect of their own tribe like any other language. Like in the case of English of British and American. It has differences in spelling and pronunciation. The same was the case for that time that they have a different dialect of Quraysh which was the tribe of Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), a dialect of Yemen, a dialect of Kufa, a dialect of Madinah, and many more. These dialects have slight differences but without a change in the meaning.
At the time of the revelation of the Quran, the angel Jibril (alayhissalaam) came and recited the Quran to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and he recited back to him in one dialect. Then Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) requested the angel to increase the dialect and he did until seven completed. All these were the same in meaning but a change in pronunciation.
1) Ibn ‘Abbaas reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Jibreel recited the Quran to me in one harf, and I recited it back to him, but I requested him to increase (the number of harf) and he continued to increase it for me until we stopped at seven ahruf.” Ibn Shihaab az-Zuhree (d. 124 A.H.), one of the narrators of the hadeeth, said, “It has reached me that these seven ahruf are essentially one (in meaning), they do not differ about what is permitted or forbidden.” 383
2) ‘Ubayy ibn Ka’ab reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was once on the outskirts of Madinah (near the tribe of Banu Ghifaar) when Jibreel came to him and said, “Allaah has commanded that you recite the Quran to your people in one harf.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, “I ask Allah’s pardon and forgiveness! My people are not capable of doing this!” Jibreel then came again and said, “Allah has commanded you to recite the Qur’an to your people in two ahruf.”
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) again replied, “I ask Allah’s pardon and forgiveness! My people are not capable of doing this!” Jibreel then came a third time and said, “Allah has commanded you to recite the Quran to your people in three ahruf.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied for a third time, “I ask Allah’s pardon and forgiveness! My people are not capable of doing this!” At last, Jibreel came for the fourth time, and said, “Allah has commanded you to recite the Qur’an to your people in seven ahruf, and in whichever harf they recite, they would be right. 384”
3) ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab narrated, “I was sitting in the masjid when I heard Hishaam ibn Hakeem recite Soorah al-Furqaan. I was almost about the jump on him in his prayer, but I waited until he finished, and then grabbed him by his garment and asked him, ‘Who taught you to recite in such a manner?’” He replied, ‘It was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself!’ I responded, ‘You are mistaken, for indeed I learned this soorah from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and it was different from your recitation!’
Therefore, I dragged him to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and complained to him that Hishaam had recited Surah al-Furqaan in a manner different from what he (peace and blessings be upon him) had taught me. At this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told me to let go of Hishaam, and asked him to recite Surah al-Furqaan. Hishaam recited the Surah in the same way I had heard him before. When he finished, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘It was revealed this way.’ He then asked me to recite the same surah. When I had finished, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘It was (also) revealed this way. Indeed, the Quran has been revealed in seven different ahruf, so recite whichever one is easy for you.’” 385.
In conclusion, the Quran was recited in seven different dialect that was allowed by Allah based upon seven different dialects at that time in the Arabian Peninsula. After the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the Companions understood it and spread it to others as well. But the once Islam spread and people of different Areas met, they found these differences. For this once Companion suggested to Khalifah Uthman Bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) to combine the Ummah on one Mushaf (Book). The Khalifah chose the Qurayshi dialect for the Ummah. Other Mushaf were forgotten. But the seven recitations remain in the society from the Qurayshi Mushaf in reading only not in the shape of books.
The Ten Qira'at is grouped into 2 categories
1) Mutawatir: The transmission which has independent chains of authorities so wide as to rule out the possibility of any error and on which there is the consensus of Scholars (Ulama’) of that time.
2) Mashhur: these are slightly less wide in their transmission, but still so wide as to make errors highly unlikely to happen.
There are 7 Mutawatir Qira’at
1) Nafi’ (d. 169/785)
2) Ibn Kathir (d. 120/737)
3) Abu ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ala’ (d. 154/762)
4) Ibn ‘Amir (d. 154/762)
5) ‘Asim (d. 127/744)
6) Hamza (d. 156/772)
7) al-Kisa’i (d. 189/904)
There are 3 Mashhur
1) Abu Ja’far (d. 130/747)
2) Ya’qub (d. 205/820)
3) Khalaf Ashir (d. 229/843)
There are also the four Shadh Qira’at
Listen to the Recitation of the 10 Qira’at of Shaykh Muhammad Sharifuddin at our Youtube channel
