Question

Assalamu Alaikum,

I have begun to study Tajweed through a teacher. He teaches many rules about it. I have one basic question regarding Tajweed. Is there any evidence that the Tajweed that is been taught is same as that of what Prophet (pbuh) approved or taught?. I read your article "Why should we read the Qur’an with tajweed?" and still I couldn't get answer to my question. I understand that there are only very few hadith tracing back to Prophet (pbuh) about how he used to recite the Quran. My question is, can we be sure that the complete rules of Tajweed as it is laid down today is as the same as Prophet (pbuh) approved or taught?

Could you be kind enough to answer my question?.

May Allah guide us. Thanks.

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

The Qur’an has been transmitted two ways and preserved two ways, aurally and in writing.  The transmission of the Qur’an from the mouth of the Prophet,  to the companions, down through the generations in authentic chains is well documented.  Each Muslim in these chains takes the utmost care to transfer the Qur’an to the next one, listening to the entire Qur’an, word by word, aayah by aayah, from the beginning of the Qur’an to the end until the sheikh is satisfied that the student is accomplished and reciting the Qur’an just as it was revealed.  This is called ijaazah of the Qur’an.  The rules of tajweed were not necessary at the beginning of time of the Prophet, , because for the most part, the Arabs spoke with tajweed.  The exception to this is the lengthenings, and since you read the download, you then read the story of Ibn Mas’ood, may Allah be pleased with him, when he corrected a Muslim for not lengthening a word that had a long lengthening, and the hadeeth from Al-Bukhari in which Anas, may Allah be pleased with him,  was asked about the recitation of the Prophet   and he answered [meaning] that used to lengthen some sounds a lot. 

The chains of transmission for ijaazah of the Qur’an documented by Imam Ibn Al-Jazaree in the seventh century Hijara used the same criteria as Imam Al-Bukhari, so a chain was not accepted unless the same conditions were met for each and every Muslim in the chain.  These chains exist today and many Muslims that have memorized the Qur’an have gone on to obtain an ijaazah in their recitation.  This ijaazah then is authentication of the recitation and gives permission for them to teach others and give others ijaazah in the Qur’an.  Through these chains then, we have certain proof that the Qur’an is being recited as it was revealed with the same tajweed.   The written rules that were put down in ink after the Prophet’s death , were done early in the Islamic era.  Many of theses works exist today in the form of manuscripts and have been well studied.  The reason for the need of these rules was the corruption of the pure Arabic tongue as Islam spread and non-Arabs entered Islam.   

May Allah guide us all and grant that we recite the Qur’an as it was revealed.  

You are welcome.