Learning Tajweed with Tuhfatul Atfaal Poem

This article is the Tuhfatul atfaal Tajweed lessons I learned under the tutelage of Shaykh Suhaib Webb from Suhaib Webb Institute of Sacred Sciences (SWISS). It is my perspective as a student, and may act just an aid to understanding

If you want to read the Quran like the Prophet peace be upon him, you have to read it with proper tajweed.  A good place to start is the Tuhfatul Atfaal poem by Shaykh Sulaiman Al Jamzuri. It is a poem that encapsulates most of the Tajweed rules for beginners.

Tuhfatul Athfaal: Noon Sukoon & Tanween

The first rule of Tajweed in the poem that will help you read the Quran properly is the rules of noon with sukoon and Tanween.

What is noon with sukoon and Tanween? Arabic is an acoustical language, sounds are very important. Minor changes in sound may alter the meaning of a word. Noon is one of the letter of the Arabic al phabet, it looks like the letter on the left

Whereas Tanween is the double vowel sounds of Fathah Kasrah and dummah represented on the right.    

 Noon with Sukoon and Tanween are like identical twins when it comes to sound. They sound the same. So it is distinguished in its written form, they 

Shaykh Al Jamzuri in his poem said that 

They are four rules of noon with sukoon and tanween for how we recite them so take this explanation

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So the first (of the four rules) is izhar, before the letters of the throat which are six arranged in order so know them. 

The Hamza  , the Ha then the ain and the ha and then the ghain and the Kha. 

Tuhfatul Athfaal

6 Letters of the Throat

The letters mentioned in the poem are also known as Izhaar Halqi These six letters mentioned comes from te epiglottis or throat.  

For some it is difficult to understand and pronounce. But I remembered there is a clip from a Movie my name is Khan, where Sharukh Khan explain it beautifully. This is just for the purpose of explanation. It is not an encouragement for you to watch Bollywood movies.

So whenever a noon sukoon or tanween is met  with any of the six letters you pronounce it with Izhaar. But what do we mean by Izhaar? The simplest way to understand Izhaar is to pronounce it without a nasal sound. So yo pronounce it clearly. If you learn public speaking in the English language your often advised to pronounce your consonont,

Example of Izhaar

I would strongly advise you if you want to learn Tajweed seriously, you should subscribe to SWISS by Suhaib Webb. I do not earn any commission, for recommending SWISS. However, you reserve my right for any incentive I would receive in the hereafter