Question

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh

Insha Allah, Antum bi khayrilllah.

I’m am very happy to see that people are very interested in trying to recite the Qur'an with proper pronunciation to limit their errors; it is a very noble pursuit.

My question; I have been studying tajweed for many years and I have a query regarding other parts of the face and not of the mouth.
I have found many people reciting Qur'an with very good tajweed however they are uncontrollably moving their eye brows ( i.e. the muscles above the eyes) is this a error in the recitation and only the mouth parts should move and not other parts of the face?   

Many Sheikhs have said this is a mistake in Qiraah while others have said that it is permissible.  I would like your opinion on this or even proofs of either way being correct.
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullah.

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh. Jazakum Allahu khairan, just witnessing and fasting another Ramadhaan is a great ni’mah.  May Allah bless all the Muslims and accept our fasting and righteous deeds.   

The excessive movements of the face that you are referring to is called in Arabic.  It is something we have been taught to be incorrect and some of the great scholars have warned against this.  Since no letters are pronounced from the eyebrows, or by moving the mouth to the side, there is no need for it in recitation.  Imam Ibn Al-Jazaree said in his poem about tajweed:  

Complete without exaggerating
with gentleness in pronunciation with no abuse

 In the explanation of this line  the Sheikh Dr. Ayman Swayd, in his verification of the explanation of Al-Jazariyyah by Sheikh Zakariyya Al-Ansaari, specifically mentioned that students should be corrected when they move around or use their eyebrows or close their eyes with pronouncing certain letters since the articulation points of these letters have nothing to do with the eyes and eyebrows. 

In our experience in teaching this must be corrected immediately with beginning students or it is very hard to change later. 

May Allah guide all Muslims to the proper recitation of the Qur'an without exaggeration.

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.