What is Tajweed? Why it is important for learning recitation of the Quran?
Linguistically, the Arabic word Tajweed means ‘doing something well’ or being ‘proficient’ at something.
However, in light of the Holy Quran, the term Tajweed means giving every letter of the Quran its rights and dues of characteristics during recitation, whilst responsibly adhering to the rules that apply to those letters in varying situations. We give the letters their rights by observing the essential characteristics of each letter that never leave it. And we give them their dues by observing the characteristics of each letter that are present in them some of the time and not present at other times. Keeping this in mind, it is important to know that The Glorious Quran – the divinely revealed Book of Allah SWT and His verbatim word – was revealed with Tajweed regulations already in-place from the onset. In other words, upon revelation of the Holy Quran and its verses, the angel Jibreel (AS) taught the words of Allah SWT to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) – in a certain manner. He showed the Prophet (SAW) the ways and means in which it was permissible to recite the Quran.