Tajweed Reference & Record-and-Compare

The complete tajwīd reference — foundations to waqf — plus record-and-compare practice

… 73:4:4-6

"And recite the Qur'an with measured recitation." (73:4)

Full course

▶ Learn Tajweed the Easy Way

Short video lessons for adults — each a “Learn” video and a “Practice” video with the teacher — from the makhārij of the letters to stopping and starting. Plays here with your progress saved.

Teacher: Understand Quran Majeed Academy · Awaiting scholar review · no certificate yet

Open: UrduOpen: English
Visual lesson

Tajweed and makhārij — see, listen, repeat

Start with the five broad articulation zones, then listen with a teacher or reference audio and compare your own sound.

The five broad makhraj zones

Educational diagram — approximate positions of the articulation zones.

1. الجوف — Al-Jawf — the empty space (madd letters): ا و ي1الجوف2. الحلق — Al-Halq — the throat: ء ه ع ح غ خ2الحلق3. اللسان — Al-Lisan — the tongue: ق ك ج ش ي ض ل ن ر ط د ت ص ز س ظ ذ ث3اللسان4. الشفتان — Ash-Shafatan — the lips: ف ب م و4الشفتان5. الخيشوم — Al-Khayshum — the nasal cavity (ghunnah): نّ مّ5الخيشوم
  1. 1الجوفAl-Jawf — the empty space (madd letters)ا و ي
  2. 2الحلقAl-Halq — the throatء ه ع ح غ خ
  3. 3اللسانAl-Lisan — the tongueق ك ج ش ي ض ل ن ر ط د ت ص ز س ظ ذ ث
  4. 4الشفتانAsh-Shafatan — the lipsف ب م و
  5. 5الخيشومAl-Khayshum — the nasal cavity (ghunnah)نّ مّ

5 steps

Five-step sound practice

See, listen, pronounce, then compare your own sound.

Sources and notes
  1. Learning scope: Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim · educational practice, not automated pronunciation grading

Correct articulation is learned by listening and reciting to a qualified teacher. The mouth map is an approximate teaching aid.

Version: 2026.09

Essential tajweed path

The map is an approximate teaching aid. Correct articulation is learned by listening and reciting to a qualified teacher.

Qurʾān reader

Read with tajweed colours

Structured course

Lesson-by-lesson curriculum

Tajweed grader

Test your recitation

Maqāmāt

Melodic styles of recitation

Reader tajwīd colours

What each colour in the Qurʾān reader means. Colours are a learning aid — learn correct recitation from a qualified teacher.

Madd (prolongation)

  • Natural madd — 2 countsالمد الطبيعي
  • Madd before hamzah (muttaṣil / munfaṣil) — 4–5 countsالمد المتصل والمنفصل
  • Madd ʿāriḍ at a stop — 2, 4 or 6 countsالمد العارض للسكون
  • Madd lāzim (necessary) — 6 countsالمد اللازم

Nūn sākinah, tanwīn & mīm sākinah

  • Idghām with ghunnahالإدغام بغنة
  • Idghām without ghunnahالإدغام بلا غنة
  • Iqlāb (conversion to mīm)الإقلاب
  • Ikhfāʾ (concealment)الإخفاء الحقيقي
  • Ikhfāʾ shafawī (mīm before bāʾ)الإخفاء الشفوي
  • Idghām shafawī (mīm into mīm)الإدغام الشفوي

Merging of adjacent letters

  • Idghām mutajānisayn (same articulation point)إدغام المتجانسين
  • Idghām mutaqāribayn (close articulation points)إدغام المتقاربين

Letter qualities

  • Ghunnah (nasalisation) — 2 countsالغنة
  • Qalqalah (echo / bounce)القلقلة

Not pronounced

  • Hamzat al-waṣl (connecting alif)همزة الوصل
  • Lām shamsiyyah (assimilated lām)اللام الشمسية
  • Silent letter (written, not read)حرف لا يُنطق

Iẓhār is left uncoloured — the data marks only rules that change the sound.

Foundations

3

What tajwīd is, its ruling, and the two kinds of error (laḥn).

Tajwīd literally means "to perfect / make excellent." As a science it is giving every letter its ḥaqq (its intrinsic right: correct articulation point and attributes) and its mustaḥaqq (its contextual due: rules such as madd, idghām, tafkhīm). Its textual basis is the command "wa rattil al-Qurʾāna tartīlā" (73:4); the early scholars explained tartīl as tajwīd of the letters and knowing where to pause. The discipline's classic primers are al-Muqaddimah al-Jazariyyah and Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl.

How to:Learn rule by rule, always with listening and imitation: tajwīd is received orally (talaqqī/mushāfahah) from a teacher whose recitation carries an unbroken chain. Use this page as the map, the reader's colours as the territory, and a teacher as the guide.
Qurʾānic examples
… 73:4:4-673:4

The Qurʾānic command to recite with tartīl — the basis of tajwīd.

🎧 Hear it in the reader — open 73:4

Makhārij — 17 articulation points

6

The five zones — jawf, throat, tongue, lips, nasal passage — and every letter's exact exit.

Ṣifāt — letter attributes

3

The paired attributes (hams/jahr, shiddah/rakhāwah…) and the standalone ones.

Nūn Sākinah & Tanwīn

4

The four rules: iẓhār, idghām, iqlāb, ikhfāʾ — with the letters of each.

Mīm Sākinah & Ghunnah

4

The three labial rules of mīm sākinah, plus the ghunnah of نّ and مّ.

Madd — prolongation

6

Every madd type with its beat count: ṭabīʿī, muttaṣil, munfaṣil, lāzim, ʿāriḍ, līn.

Lām & Rāʾ — heavy / light

3

Sun/moon lām, the lām of Allah (lafẓ al-jalālah), and when rāʾ is heavy or light.

Waqf & Ibtidāʾ — stopping & starting

3

The muṣḥaf pause symbols (ۖ ۗ ۚ ۛ ۘ ۙ), the kinds of stop, and the sakt.

Common mistakes (non-Arab learners)

3

Sound-alike letters, timing slips, and joining habits — with Urdu-speaker notes.

Scholar note: tajweed is best learned face-to-face (mushafahah) with a qualified teacher holding an authentic ijazah/sanad. Use this tool to support, not replace, that.

Your next step: Tajwīd course