Question

as salaam alaikum wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh,

I will be taking a tajweed class soon, insha'Allah.  And I have a few concerns as a student learning a second language.  When learning pre-tajweed - the rules and the makhaarij and all - do the students have to master each individual makhaarij before reciting?

The reason I ask is because, as a Native English speaker, I feel as though if I do not master each makhaarij before practicing to read out loud - I will be reinforcing bad pronunciation that will be harder to correct later. 

Jazaakum Allahu khaira. 

as salaam alaikum. 

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

May Allah bless your time and grant that you learn a great deal in the course you take.  Almost always tajweed classes involve learning rules and practicing them immediately.  It is not a requirement for all the articulation points to be mastered before reciting, in fact this would be a great burden on many students who struggle for years to get a particular articulation point down correctly.  As long as the student is aware that the letter is not correct and he/she continues to try his/her utmost to correct the letter, there is no reason that recitation cannot continue.   With recitation to a trained teacher and continued correction, the student is more likely to correct the letter than if he/she just worked on the letter without reciting the Qur’an.  Once the letter is corrected, insha’ Allah, it will be applied in the recitation, especially if the student has been working on it while reciting. 

We ask Allah to make easy for you’re the recitation of the Qur’an as it was revealed to our beloved Prophet, . 

Wa iyyaakum.  Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatullah.