Learn to Read the Quran: A Shia Qaida with Tajweed
شیعہ قاعدہ اور تجوید: قرآن پڑھنا سیکھیں
تَعَلَّمُوا الْقُرْآنَ فَإِنَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْحَدِيث
From Alif to Ya, then fatha, kasra and damma, joined letters, tanween, madd, sukoon and tashdeed, and on to the rules of Tajweed and your first surahs. Every letter and word is in the Uthmani script of the Mushaf. Tap any letter to hear it, tap a joined word to see its letters, and check yourself at the end of each unit.
Learning the Quran in the way of the Ahlulbayt (A.S.)
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَجِّلْ فَرَجَهُمْ
This book is dedicated to Imam al-Mahdi (A.T.F.S.), the Imam of our time. It teaches a child, or an adult starting from the beginning, to read the Holy Quran correctly, letter by letter and rule by rule, so that it can be recited every day as our infallible Imams (A.S.) taught.
وَرَتِّلِ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ تَرْتِيلًا
“…and recite the Quran in a measured, beautiful way (tarteel).”
The Quran and the Ahlulbayt (A.S.) go together
The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.W.) left two weighty things for his Ummah: the Book of Allah and his family. We learn to read the words of the Quran in this book, and we learn their meaning from the Ahlulbayt (A.S.), who are its true teachers.
إِنِّي تَارِكٌ فِيكُمُ الثَّقَلَيْنِ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَعِتْرَتِي أَهْلَ بَيْتِي، مَا إِنْ تَمَسَّكْتُمْ بِهِمَا لَنْ تَضِلُّوا
“I am leaving among you two weighty things: the Book of Allah and my family, the people of my house. As long as you hold on to both, you will never go astray.”
Source: Kamal al-Din, Shaykh al-Saduq
وَتَعَلَّمُوا الْقُرْآنَ فَإِنَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْحَدِيثِ، وَتَفَقَّهُوا فِيهِ فَإِنَّهُ رَبِيعُ الْقُلُوبِ، وَاسْتَشْفُوا بِنُورِهِ فَإِنَّهُ شِفَاءُ الصُّدُورِ، وَأَحْسِنُوا تِلَاوَتَهُ فَإِنَّهُ أَنْفَعُ الْقَصَصِ
“Learn the Quran, for it is the best of speech. Understand it deeply, for it is the spring of hearts. Seek healing in its light, for it is the cure of hearts. And recite it beautifully, for it is the most beneficial of stories.”
Source: Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 110
الْقُرْآنُ عَهْدُ اللَّهِ إِلَى خَلْقِهِ، فَقَدْ يَنْبَغِي لِلْمَرْءِ الْمُسْلِمِ أَنْ يَنْظُرَ فِي عَهْدِهِ وَأَنْ يَقْرَأَ مِنْهُ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ خَمْسِينَ آيَةً
“The Quran is the covenant of Allah with His creation. So a Muslim should look into his covenant and read fifty verses of it every day.”
Source: Usul al-Kafi, al-Kulayni
Learn it from a Shia teacher
The Quran has always been learned from the mouth of a teacher, not from paper alone. A teacher hears how you say each letter and corrects it before a mistake becomes a habit. The recitation in this book, and in almost every Mushaf in the Shia world, is that of Hafs from ʿAsim. ʿAsim learned it from Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, who learned it from Imam Ali (A.S.). In our Shia Tajweed classes online, male and female tutors teach this book one to one.
Manners with the Quran
- Do not touch the writing of the Quran in a Mushaf without wudu; this is haram. It is good to be in wudu whenever you recite.
- Begin with أَعُوذُ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ and recite slowly, as the verse above teaches.
- Read a little every day. Five minutes daily is better than one hour once a week.
How to use this book
Tap any letter or word to hear it. If you hear nothing, your device has no Arabic voice, so read it with your teacher or a parent. Tap a joined word to see the letters it is made of. There are 31 lessons in 10 units, and each unit ends with a 15-question check. This book is made by ShiaEdu, a Shia Quran academy online for children and adults.
Contents
The 29 letters, from Alif to Ya
حروفِ تہجی: الف سے یا تک
Arabic is read from right to left. The Quran is written with 29 letters. Start at Alif, at the top right, and say each letter after hearing it. Learn them in small groups of five or six, and come back to the whole row every day.
Letters that differ only by their dots
نقطوں سے پہچان
Many Arabic letters have the same shape and differ only in their dots (nuqtah): how many there are and whether they sit above or below. Look closely at each pair or group.
ب ت ث · One dot below, two above, three above
ج ح خ · One dot inside, no dot, one dot above
د ذ · No dot, one dot above
ر ز · No dot, one dot above
س ش · No dots, three dots above
ص ض · No dot, one dot above
ط ظ · No dot, one dot above
ع غ · No dot, one dot above
ف ق · One dot above, two dots above
Where the letters come from: the Makharij
مخارجِ حروف
Every letter has its own makhraj, the place it comes from. Saying a letter from its right place is the first rule of Tajweed. A teacher checks this carefully, because a wrong place can change the meaning of a word.
The empty space of the mouth and throat (al-Jawf)
The long sounds of Alif, Waw and Ya come from here.
The throat (al-Halq)
Deepest: hamzah and haa. Middle: ʿayn and ḥaa. Nearest the mouth: ghayn and khaa.
The tongue (al-Lisan)
Eighteen letters are made with different parts of the tongue.
The lips (al-Shafatan)
Faa is made with the lower lip and the top teeth; baa, meem and waw with both lips.
The nose (al-Khayshum)
The humming sound of ghunnah comes from the nose, with noon and meem.
Heavy letters
Seven letters are always said with a full, heavy sound, with the back of the tongue raised: خ ص ض غ ط ق ظ. They are gathered in the phrase خُصَّ ضَغْطٍ قِظْ. The other letters are light.
The separate letters at the start of surahs
حروفِ مقطعات
Twenty-nine surahs begin with separate letters, the Huruf al-Muqatta'at. They are not read as a word; each letter is read by its name. So الٓمٓ is read “Alif, Laam, Meem”. The wavy sign above some letters (maddah) means the sound is stretched.
Fourteen different letters are used in them: ا ل م ص ر ك ه ي ع ط س ح ق ن.
One letter, four shapes
حروف کی شکلیں: شروع، درمیان، آخر
When letters join, most of them change shape. Each letter has up to four forms: alone, at the start of a word, in the middle, and at the end. The small line ـ shows where the letter joins. Read across each row from the alone form.
| Letter | Alone | Start | Middle | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| alif | ا | ا | ـا | ـا |
| baa | ب | بـ | ـبـ | ـب |
| taa | ت | تـ | ـتـ | ـت |
| thaa | ث | ثـ | ـثـ | ـث |
| jeem | ج | جـ | ـجـ | ـج |
| ḥaa | ح | حـ | ـحـ | ـح |
| khaa | خ | خـ | ـخـ | ـخ |
| daal | د | د | ـد | ـد |
| dhaal | ذ | ذ | ـذ | ـذ |
| raa | ر | ر | ـر | ـر |
| zaay | ز | ز | ـز | ـز |
| seen | س | سـ | ـسـ | ـس |
| sheen | ش | شـ | ـشـ | ـش |
| ṣaad | ص | صـ | ـصـ | ـص |
| ḍaad | ض | ضـ | ـضـ | ـض |
| ṭaa | ط | طـ | ـطـ | ـط |
| ẓaa | ظ | ظـ | ـظـ | ـظ |
| ʿayn | ع | عـ | ـعـ | ـع |
| ghayn | غ | غـ | ـغـ | ـغ |
| faa | ف | فـ | ـفـ | ـف |
| qaaf | ق | قـ | ـقـ | ـق |
| kaaf | ك | كـ | ـكـ | ـك |
| laam | ل | لـ | ـلـ | ـل |
| meem | م | مـ | ـمـ | ـم |
| noon | ن | نـ | ـنـ | ـن |
| waaw | و | و | ـو | ـو |
| haa | ه | هـ | ـهـ | ـه |
| yaa | ي | يـ | ـيـ | ـي |
Two letters joined together
دو حروف کا جوڑ
Now two letters join. In the first row each letter joins an Alif: the letter takes its start form, and Alif takes its end form. Tap a pair to see the two letters it is made of.
Letters joined to Alif
Two letters joined
Laam and Alif
When Laam is followed by Alif, the two are written in a special way: لا. It is read “laa”.
Three letters joined: finding letters inside a word
تین حروف کا جوڑ
Here three letters join to make a word. These are words from the Quran, written without their vowel signs, so that you can practise seeing the letters inside them. Say the letters one by one, then tap to check.
The six letters that never join to the next letter
وہ چھ حروف جو آگے نہیں ملتے
Six letters never join to the letter after them: ا د ذ ر ز و. They join to the letter before them, but leave a gap after them, so a word can look as if it is in pieces. It is still one word.
Words with a gap
Fatha (zabar): the “a” sound
زبر
A small slanting line above a letter is a fatha (zabar in Urdu). It gives a short “a” sound: بَ is “ba”. Open your mouth a little as you say it. On Alif, the vowel sits on a hamzah: أَ.
Kasra (zer): the “i” sound
زیر
A small slanting line below a letter is a kasra (zer). It gives a short “i” sound: بِ is “bi”. The lower jaw drops slightly.
Damma (pesh): the “u” sound
پیش
A small waw-shaped sign above a letter is a damma (pesh). It gives a short “u” sound: بُ is “bu”. Round your lips as you say it.
Reading words with fatha, kasra and damma
زبر، زیر، پیش کی مشق
Now the three signs come together in real words. Read each letter with its vowel, then join them smoothly without stopping: خَ لَ قَ becomes خَلَقَ, “khalaqa”.
Tanween: the “an”, “in” and “un” sounds
تنوین: دو زبر، دو زیر، دو پیش
Tanween is a doubled vowel sign. It adds a hidden “n” sound at the end of a word. Two fathas give “an”, two kasras give “in”, and two dammas give “un”. With two fathas, an Alif is usually written after the letter, but it is not read.
Two fathas: “an”
Two kasras: “in”
Two dammas: “un”
Reading words with tanween
تنوین کی مشق
Read these words from the Quran. The tanween always comes on the last letter of a word.
The standing vowels of the Uthmani Mushaf
کھڑا زبر، کھڑی زیر، الٹا پیش
The Uthmani Mushaf has three small signs that make a vowel long, for two counts:
- A small upright Alif above a letter (ـٰ), the “standing fatha” (khari zabar in Urdu Qaidas): هَٰذَا is “haadhaa”.
- A small Waw after the pronoun هُ (هُۥ), read as a long “uu”, like the ulta pesh: لَهُۥ is “lahuu”.
- A small Ya after هِ (هِۦ), read as a long “ii”, like the khari zer: بِهِۦ is “bihii”.
The madd letters: Alif, Waw and Ya
حروفِ مدہ
Three letters, when they have no vowel of their own, stretch the sound before them for two counts. These are the madd letters:
- ا after a fatha: بَا “baa”
- و after a damma: بُو “buu”
- ي after a kasra: بِي “bii”
Alif after fatha
Waw after damma
Ya after kasra
The soft letters: “aw” and “ay”
حروفِ لین
When و or ي has a sukoon and the letter before it has a fatha, the sound is soft and gentle: “aw” and “ay”. These are the leen letters. The sound is not stretched, except when you stop at the end of a verse.
Leen words from the Quran
Reading words with long and short sounds
مد کی مشق
Read these words, stretching only where there is a madd letter. A long vowel is two counts and a short vowel is one; keep them different, because the length can change the meaning.
Sukoon (jazm): a letter with no vowel
جزم
A small circle above a letter is a sukoon (jazm in Urdu). It means the letter has no vowel; it is joined to the vowel before it. أَبْ is “ab”. Say the letter firmly and briefly, without adding a vowel.
Reading words with sukoon
جزم کی مشق
Read these words. Join the letter with sukoon to the vowel before it: مِنْ is “min”, one beat, not “mi-na”.
Shaddah (tashdeed): a doubled letter
تشدید
A small “w”-shaped sign above a letter is a shaddah (tashdeed). It doubles the letter: the first is read with sukoon and the second with the vowel. أَبَّ is “ab-ba”. Press on the letter a little.
Reading words with shaddah and sukoon
تشدید اور جزم کی مشق
These words mix shaddah, sukoon and the short vowels. Read the doubled letter clearly: رَبِّ is “rab-bi”.
Ghunnah: the humming of Noon and Meem with shaddah
غنہ
When Noon or Meem has a shaddah, hold it with a humming sound from the nose for two counts. This sound is the ghunnah. Try pinching your nose: if the sound stops, you are making the ghunnah correctly.
إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ ٱلْأَبْتَرُ
Hamzat al-Wasl, and the moon and sun letters
ہمزۂ وصل، حروفِ قمری اور شمسی
Now begin the rules of Tajweed, which make recitation correct and beautiful. In this book each rule has its own colour, shown above.
Hamzat al-Wasl
In the Uthmani Mushaf, an Alif with a small sign on top, ٱ, is a joining Alif. When you start reading from it, you say a hamzah: ٱهْدِنَا is “ihdinaa”. When it comes in the middle of reading, it is silent and you join straight through: وَٱنْحَرْ is “wanḥar”.
The moon letters: Laam is read
Before 14 letters, the Laam of ٱلْ is read clearly with a sukoon. They are called the moon letters, after ٱلْقَمَرِ: ا ب غ ح ج ك و خ ف ع ق ي م ه.
The sun letters: Laam is silent
Before the other 14 letters, the Laam is not read, and the next letter has a shaddah. They are called the sun letters, after ٱلشَّمْسِ: ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن.
Noon with sukoon and tanween: the four rules
نونِ ساکن اور تنوین کے قواعد
A Noon with sukoon (نْ), or tanween, which ends in a hidden Noon sound, is read in one of four ways. It depends on the letter that comes next.
Izhar: say it clearly
Before the six throat letters ء ه ع ح غ خ, the Noon is said clearly, with no ghunnah.
أَنْعَمْتَ · مَنْ ءَامَنَ · عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
Idgham: merge it
Before the six letters of يَرْمَلُونَ, the Noon merges into the next letter. Before ي ن م و it merges with ghunnah; before ل ر it merges without ghunnah. This happens only between two words.
مَن يَقُولُ · يَكُن لَّهُۥ
Iqlab: turn it into Meem
Before ب, the Noon changes into a hidden Meem with ghunnah. The Uthmani Mushaf shows this with a small Meem.
مِنۢ بَعْدِ
Ikhfa: hide it
Before the remaining 15 letters, the Noon is hidden: halfway between clear and merged, with ghunnah for two counts.
مِن شَرِّ · أَنتُمْ · مِن قَبْلِ
Meem with sukoon: the three rules
میمِ ساکن کے قواعد
A Meem with sukoon (مْ) has three rules, depending on the next letter.
Ikhfa shafawi: before Baa
The Meem is hidden with ghunnah, the lips lightly closed.
تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ
Idgham: before another Meem
The two Meems merge into one doubled Meem with ghunnah.
كَم مِّن فِئَةٍ
Izhar shafawi: before every other letter
The Meem is said clearly. Take special care before و and ف, which are also made with the lips.
أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ
Qalqalah, and heavy and light Raa and Laam
قلقلہ، اور راء اور لام کی پُر اور باریک آواز
Qalqalah: the echo
Five letters, gathered in قُطْبُ جَدٍّ (ق ط ب ج د), make a small bouncing echo when they have a sukoon. The echo is stronger when you stop on them at the end of a verse.
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ · قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Heavy and light Raa
- Raa with fatha or damma is heavy: رَبِّ, رُسُلٌ.
- Raa with kasra is light: رِجَالٌ.
- Raa with sukoon follows the vowel before it: heavy in مَرْيَمَ, light in فِرْعَوْنَ.
The Laam in the name of Allah
The Laam of ٱللَّهُ is heavy after a fatha or damma, as in قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ, and light after a kasra, as in بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ.
How long to stretch: the kinds of Madd
مد کی اقسام
You already know the madd letters. Now learn how long each kind of madd is held. In the recitation of Hafs from ʿAsim:
Madd tabiʿi (natural)
A madd letter with nothing special after it: 2 counts.
قَالَ · يَقُولُ · قِيلَ
Madd muttasil (joined)
A madd letter followed by a hamzah in the same word: 4 or 5 counts. The wavy maddah sign shows it.
جَآءَ · ٱلسَّمَآءِ
Madd munfasil (separated)
A madd letter at the end of a word, followed by a hamzah at the start of the next: 4 or 5 counts.
إِنَّآ أَعْطَيْنَٰكَ
Madd lazim (necessary)
A madd letter followed by a shaddah or a fixed sukoon: 6 counts.
وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ · الٓمٓ
Madd ʿarid (on stopping)
A madd letter before the last letter of a verse when you stop on it: 2, 4 or 6 counts.
ٱلرَّحِيمِ · ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
Where to stop: the signs of Waqf
رموزِ اوقاف
Small signs above the words of the Uthmani Mushaf tell you where to stop and where to continue.
| Sign | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ـۘ | Meem: you must stop here |
| ـۙ | Laa: do not stop here |
| ـۚ | Jeem: you may stop or continue |
| ـۖ | Ṣalaa: continuing is better |
| ـۗ | Qalaa: stopping is better |
| ـۛ | Three dots: stop at one of the two places, not both |
| | End of a verse: a good place to stop |
How to stop on a word
- The last vowel becomes a sukoon: ٱلرَّحِيمِ is read “ar-raḥeem”.
- Tanween with two fathas becomes a long “aa”: تَرْتِيلًا is read “tarteelaa”.
- A round Taa (ة) becomes a “h” sound: جَنَّةٌ is read “jannah”.
Words from the Quran, and Bismillah
قرآنی الفاظ اور بسم اللہ
Here are words you will meet again and again in Namaz and in the short surahs. Read each one with all its rules.
Bismillah: a verse of every surah
In the school of the Ahlulbayt (A.S.), بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ is a verse of every surah except Surah al-Tawbah, and in Surah al-Fatiha it is the first verse. So in Namaz it is recited with Surah al-Fatiha and with the surah after it.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Your first surahs: al-Fatiha, al-Ikhlas and al-Kawthar
پہلی سورتیں: الفاتحہ، الاخلاص، الکوثر
You can now read whole surahs. Tap a verse to hear it, read it after your teacher, and recite these in your Namaz every day. Surah al-Fatiha must be recited correctly in Namaz, as our Namaz rules book explains, so ask your teacher to listen to it.
Surah al-Fatiha (1)
Surah al-Ikhlas (112)
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Surah al-Kawthar (108)
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Game: which letter is hiding?
Each shape is a letter in its start, middle or end form. Choose the letter.
Game: moon letter or sun letter?
Is the Laam read (moon letter) or silent (sun letter)?
My certificate
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This certificate is presented to
for completing the Qaida and the rules of Tajweed, from Alif to Ya and on to the first surahs of the Holy Quran.
Read the Quran with a teacher
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