Question

Salam,

Please I’m trying to learn Tajweed on my own coz there is no qualified teacher in my area. Can you please give me some help or advice on how to go about it? Thanks

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

There is no doubt that having a qualified teacher of the Qur’an is an essential part of learning tajweed correctly, but if it is not possible because of your location, some steps can be taken to help yourself learn.  The goal though should always be to seek out a qualified teacher and this may require traveling.

1.  Use a good quality recording of a known master of tajweed to listen to and try and imitate the sounds of the letters and tajweed from them.  Sheikh Al-Husary and Sheikh Abdullah Basfar are both excellent reciters and their recordings are available both online and in cassette tapes.

2.  Do not assume you read correctly.  Always be hard on yourself in trying to evaluate the quality of your recitation.  Record yourself reading and with a tape player with the two cassette feature, play the master of recitation reading an aayah, then critically listen to yourself reading that aayah and try to find the mistakes or differences in the way they read and you read. 

3.  There are some teachers that make themselves available online for listening and correcting students.  You may need to seek them by searching on the Internet.  If possible and affordable, finding a teacher that you could call and read to would be another option.  This is not as good as reading in person, but certainly better than reading to no one.

4.  Make a lot of dua’ that Allah will provide you with a qualified teacher.  It may require that you save money to travel to a teacher.  This is the way of our righteous predecessors and a noble thing to do.  Allah is indeed able to make the seemingly impossible, possible.

May Allah grant that you read with correct tajweed and grant you the best of teachers for the Qur’an.

You are welcome. Wa assalaam alaikum.