Tajweed 102

Session 1

Letters in Arabic Alphabet

Tafkheem

Sometimes have
Tafkheem and other
times have Tarqeeq

Tarqeeq
The rest of the
letters in
alphabet
except those of
Tafkheem and

*Tafkheem

letters

The
heaviest

Less
heavy

The level of heaviness of the tafkheem letters is determined

based on the strength of the characteristics of the letter.

Has the most strong characteristics; thus, it is

the heaviest letter in the Arabic alphabet.

* Question: Do the letters of

tafkheem carry the same heaviness in

all situations?

Answer: The heaviness of a

particular tafkheem letter varies based
on the harakah it has and the letter
which comes after or before it.

Tafkheem letter with fathah

followed by alif

Tafkheem letter with fathah

and no alif after it

II

Tafkheem letter with

dhammah

III

Tafkheem letter with sukoon

IV

Tafkheem letter with kasrah

5 levels
of
Tafkhee
m
accordin
g to
Imam
AlJazariy

* I.

First Level of
If the Tafkheem
letter has a fathah and it is followed by an Alif:
Tafkheem

II. Second Level of Tafkheem

If the Tafkheem letter has a fathah and does NOT have
an Alif after it.

III. Third Level of Tafkheem

If the Tafkheem letter has dhammah.

IV. Fourth Level of Tafkheem

If the Tafkheem letter has a sukoon.
In this case, one has to look at the harakah of the letter
that comes before the sakin tafkheem letter.

If preceding
letter has a

fathah

II Level
Tafkheem

If preceding
letter has a

If preceding
letter has a

dhammah

kasrah

III Level

V Level

Tafkheem

Tafkheem

IV. Fourth Level of Tafkheem

Preceding letter has a

Preceding letter has a

kasrah

dhammah

V Level Tafkheem

III Level Tafkheem

Preceding letter has a

fathah

II Level Tafkheem

IV. Fourth Level of Tafkheem

Also at the same V level as mentioned in the previous slide are

with a sukoon and

in

with a sukoon if sakina precedes them:

EXCEPTION: If with a sukoon is preceded by a

kasrah and after the comes a heavy then the level of
Tafkheem is not lowered, rather it is increased to be proportionate
with the heavy

V. Fifth Level of Tafkheem

When the Tafkheem letter has a kasrah.

Itbaq letters among the tafkheem letters are at a lower level here, however
they still have an obvious heaviness, they dont lose their characteristic of
Tafkheem. The rest of the tafkheem letters which are istilaa (,, )are known
as having relative heaviness,i.e. Tafkheem un-nisbiy,they are at the
lowest in this level they are not considered to be Istifaal rather they are
considered to have the lowest level of Istilaa and Tafkheem.

Tafkheem
un-nisbiy

* Letters of Istifaal always have

tarqeeq, except which

sometimes have Tafkheem and

sometimes Tarqeeq.

Be Careful!!!
Usually when the tongue is caught up between a light and
a heavy letter, the light letter most of the times if one is
not careful accidentally gets recited as heavy under the
influence of the heavy letter, this should be kept in mind
and the light letter should be recited light and the heavy
letter heavy.

Hamzah in the following examples should be

)light (be it a real hamzah or hamzatul wasl

 in the following examples should not be made

heavy under the influence of heaviness of the letters
coming before or after it.

 in the following examples

should not be made heavy under the
influence of the heavy letters
( , , ) proceeding it.

* is a letter that always has Tarqeeq

however, its characteristics of shiddah, jahr and

qalqalah should not be omitted for the sake of
lightness:

Although is a letter that always has tarqeeq, its

characteristics such as jahr, shiddah and qalqalah should be
given their due rights, especially in the following examples:

is always made tarqeeq. In the following examples, one

should be careful not to recite it with tafkheem due to the
influence of a takheem letter which may come after it:

* in the following examples should

be paid more attention not to make it

heavy because of certain
characteristics of the letters following
it.

Because of
strong
characteristic of
shiddah of

 More examples of
recited lightly although a heavy letter comes before or after it

There are words in the Quran that are almost similar

but differ from each other by the letters

VS

and

In these cases should be made low and light while

- heavy and high; otherwise meanings will get
mixed together. Safeer characteristic of should be
made clear to distinguish it from the heavy .

* and have a very close makhraj; thus, we

might very easily make idghaam(merging) of
into accompanied by ghunnah in the following
words if we are not careful:
should be recited clearly
with Tarqeeq and its
lightness in such cases

* In the following words and with

sukoon should be pronounced clearly and
not moved (not with qalqalah like vibration
of the sound).

When sakinah
is followed by
any throat letter,
it should be
recited clearly
(rule of Izhaar)

 and have the same makhraj but have

different characteristics, so they should be
pronounced distinctly and accurately, otherwise it
might mix up words like
Infitaah and
Istifaal,
Tarqeeq
characteristics

Itbaaq and
Istilaa,
Tafkheem
charactersitics

They might sound the same if the

characteristics are not applied
appropriately.

* Likewise, with and in the following

words.

vs.
Istifaal and
Infitaah,Tarqeeq
charactersitics

Itbaaq and
Istilaa,Tafkheem
characteristics

These two letters have the same makhraj and only

their characteristics distinguish them from each
other. Therefore, it is very important to be careful
with the variation of characteristics in similar
letters in order to avoid the errors in recitation.

* Although and

are the letters of tarqeeq, their

shiddah characteristic should also be evident and it

is done by keeping the tongue firm against the
makhraj of the and , and also make sure to
give them a soft Hams characteristic but not too
much. The examples mentioned by Imam alJazariyy are: