A brief introduction to

reciting the Uthmaani style of the Quraan

By Sister Usmah 2014

FORWARD

Bismillahi-Rahmaani-Raheem

All praise is due to Allah (swt - Subhanah Wa Ta’ala) and may the peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, the last Messenger and Prophet of Allah, (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

To proceed, the best speech is the Book of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), the worst practice is the introduction of new practices (bid’ahs) in Islam and every bid’ah is a misguidance.

Introduction

While studying tajweed rules and how to recite the Quraan, I came across a gap in the explanation of the basics of how to recite the Uthmaani Quraan. There are generally two main styles of the Quraan – the Uthmaani Quraan – this is the style of the Madinah Musaf (Musaf is the Quraan in a written book form, as Quraan literally means recital – i.e. that which is recited continuously) and the Indo-Pak style. I personally prefer the Uthmaani style of the Quraan, as the tajweed rules are more apparent and once a person is familiar with the basics it is easier to read. Therefore what follows is a brief explanation of the diacritical marks found in the Uthmaani Quraan. These marks apply specifically the way of recitation of Hafs ‘an ‘Aasim by the way of Shaatabiyyah, which is the most common way of reciting the Quraan. I have referred to many tajweed rules throughout this booklet and I suggest you read this then go over the relevant tajweed rules to understand the topic completely. I have put a link for the complete tajweed rules for this way of recitation at the end of the booklet.

The Diacritical Marks

The fat-hah is the small line found on top of letters and is recited with an opening of the mouth and

emitting an “a” sound as in the a in the word about. An example is:

The dhammah is the small mark that looks like a number nine on top of letters and is recited by circling

the lips and emitting an “o” sound as the oo in the word “cook”. An example is:

The kasrah is a small line found under letters and is recited by slightly retracting the jaw (like a person

would when they smile), and emitting an “e” sound as in the i in the word “ink”. An example is:

These three – the fat-hah, dhammah and kasrah are commonly called vowels. Any letter that does not have a vowel on or under it is called a saakin letter, even if there are other marks on that letter.

The sukoon looks like this: and the letter it sits on is joined on to the letter before it. When there is asukoon on a letter this letter is recited clearly with all of its characteristics, and none of it is hidden. For example:

is recited as nasta’eenu is recited as an’amta

When you put a sukoon on a letter, you are changing a vowelled letter in to a saakin letter. This usually applies when you stop on a vowelled letter. Such letters would also be recited clearly, unless by making that letter saakin it changes in to a madd letter, in which case it is treated as such (see below).

The shaddah – looks like this and represents two letters, the first saakin and the second with a vowel. When a shaddah is found on a letter it means that the first letter that was saakin has completely merged in to that letter, and no trace of it remains. Therefore a person joins the letter before the saakin letter which has a vowel on it, with the letter with a shaddah on it. The result is that the letter with the shaddah gains emphasis, and is recited as the if there were two letters exactly the same.

Sometimes the letter that is merged into the letter with the shaddah on it is written out and sometimes it isnot. Therefore whenever the shaddah is seen, it is recited as though there are two letters.

When letters with no marks or a hamzah on or under them are seen, the marks on the letters before and after it need to be considered when continuing the recitation, even if it is in the next verse, unless it is one of those letters that start some surahs.

When stopping on these letters only the letter before it needs to be considered, and this letter will gain a sukoon and is recited clearly, unless the sukoon makes it in to a madd letter.

If the letter is an alif, wow or ya and the previous letter carries the corresponding vowel that makes it into a madd letter (alif with a fat-hah before it – all alifs in this Quraan are madd letters, wowwith a dhammah before it and ya with a kasrah before it), then this letter is treated as such. Allmadd letters lengthen the vowel on the previous letter and the sound of that letter, two vowel counts unless there is a madd sign above it. Examples include:

If this letter is a madd letter and is the last letter of a word and the first letter of the next word carries a shaddah or is saakin, then the madd letter is recited when stopping (as are all saakin letters), but dropped (i.e. not recited) when continuing, and the previous letter to the madd letter joins on to the first letter of the next word. This is to prevent two saakin letters from meeting between two words – which is not allowed in Arabic.

If this letter is a ya without the dots at the end of a word, with an alif before it, it is called alif maqsoora. It is recited the same as every alif. If there is a tanween fat-hah (two fat-hahs one on topof the other) on the letter before it, alif maqsoora like every alif is recited when stopping on that word, even though the small alif is not visible, the alif maqsoora is there. Most of the time the small alif is visible on top of the alif maqsoora. Therefore when stopping on this letter we recite thealif maqsoora and when continuing, we apply the relevant tajweed rules. Examples of alif maqsoora include:

If the letter after it has a shaddah on it, then this letter is completely merged into that letter, and the previous letter with a vowel is joined on to the letter with a shaddah, (unless it begins the nextword and you are stopping on this word. When stopping on a letter, the first letter of the nextword will have no effect on the letter being stopped on, and we never stop on letters within aword). Examples include:

- the first ت completely merges into the second ت and the ح joins on to the second ت

- the ن completely merges into the second ل and the ك joins on to the second ل

- the ذ completely merges into theظ and the ء joins on to the ظ

- the ق completely merges into the ك and the ل joins on to the ك

- the د completely merges into the ت and the ب joins on to the ت

If the next letter only carries a vowel, then this letter is merged in to that letter with an incompletemerging. The characteristics that remain of this saakin letter depend on what letter it is. For example, if it is a noon, then we apply the relevant noon saakinah rules.

Examples are:

if it is a meem, then we apply the relevant meem saakinah rules. For example:

and if it is a ط then, we keep only the characteristic of itbaaq of the ط . For example

If one of these letters is one of the letters that begin some surahs, then these are lengthened twovowel counts, except the alif. These letters are recited as they are spelt, and there is no madd letter in alif when it is written out. Examples of letters that begin some surahs are:

If we take the first example from the left – both the letters when written out carry a fat-hah, have

an alif after them, and there is no sukoon or a shaddah after the madd letter. This is why it is lengthened two vowel counts.

Dagger alif or small alif – this is not attached to words and is recited as any alif. The letter the alif belongs to is the one it sits on when that letter has a vowel on it. When this alif sits on a wow or a yawithout any vowel on it, or when it does not sit on any letter, it belongs to the letter before it just like anyalif.

Examples are:

Note: in the Uthmani Quraan, hamzah and alif are two separate letters and the alif (big or small and alif maqsoora) is always saakin with a fat-hah before it, unless it is one of the letters that begin some surahs.

The alif is absent in the Name of Allah. The alif is after the laam with a shaddah. Examples are:

There are some other small letters in this style of the Quraan, and they are the small wow, ya and noon.

These are recited as if they were full sized letters, unless the wow or ya come after the pronoun ه . In this

case they treated as any wow or ya when continuing the recitation but they are dropped when stopping on such words. Examples are:

The small ya found in verse 36 of surah An Naml (the example above on the far right) can be dropped when stopping and putting a sukoon on the noon, or by putting a sukoon on the ya (as you would normally). There is only one place where there is a small noon and this is in surah Al Anbiyyaa. As this letter does not have a vowel on it and the following letter is an ikhfaa letter, do not forget to hide this noon.

The madd sign – this is a wavy line on top of a madd letter. It looks like this: . When you see this on top of a madd letter you lengthen the vowel and the sound of the letter before the madd letter to four or five vowel counts unless you see a sukoon or a shaddah on the following letter, in which case it is lengthened to six vowel counts. If you are stopping on a letter which has the madd sign above it, the madd sign is

ignored and that letter is treated as any madd letter. This is because the madd sign is not applied when you stop on such a letter.

You will also find this wavy line on top some of the letters that begin some surahs. These letters are recited are they are spelt out. For example the noon is spelt: noon with a dhammah followed by a wow and then a noon saakinah – the madd letter is followed by a sukoon, and this causes the letter and vowel before the madd letter to be lengthened six vowel counts. The letter ع is an exception. The leen letter in the middle

can be lengthened four or six vowel counts in this way of recitation. These letters also follow the other tajweed rules. The tajweed rules to note are the qalalah, ikhfaa and idghaam. There is an exception to the noon saakinah rules in these letters, and it is found when continuing reciting after the letter seen in surah Ya Sin verse one and after the noon in surah Al Qalam verse one. For more details click the link at the end of this booklet, and you will find all the tajweed rules in detail.

The round zero can be found on top of the letters alif, wow and ya. When this round zero is on top of any letter, that letter is not recited at all, whether you are stopping or continuing your recitation. Examples are:

There is an exception to this rule and that is in surah Al Insaan verse 4. The word is . When stopping the alif can be recited, or it can be dropped and putting a sukoon on the laam. When continuing the recitation the alif is always dropped.

The standing oblong zero is found at the end of some words on the alif . This alif is not recited whencontinuing but when stopping this alif is recited.

A very common example is:

The hamzah The hamzah can be seen on or under an alif, wow and ya when they have no vowel on them

(this ya will not have any dots, like the ya the dagger alif can sit on). In these cases you just recite the hamzah and not the alif, wow or ya. Examples are:

When the hamzah, like any letter comes before a madd letter, the vowel and the sound of the hamzah is lengthened two vowel counts as normal (unless there is a madd sign on top of the madd letter as mentioned above).

Examples are:

In surah Al Baqarah verse 72, you may find a little line under a hamzah, as in: - the hamzah is recited as normal in this way of recitation, and is of relevance in the other ways of reciting.

The black dot – in surah Fusillat verse 44 there is an alif with a black dot on top of it - and it is a hamzah that is recited softly, with an easing of the hamzah so that it sounds somewhere in between an alif and a hamzah with no lengthening. This is called tas-heel. This verse is the only place where you will find the black dot in most of these Quraans. However, some of them have ablack dot to respresent that something different needs to be done, and the diamond (see below) is substituted by the black dot.

Hamzatul wasl or the connecting hamzah looks like this: - it is an alif with the letter saad over it. A person cannot start their recitation on a letter without a vowel. Therefore when the first letter of a word does not have a vowel there will be a hamzatul wasl before it, which will allow the recitor to start their recitation. The vowel the hamzatul wasl gets depends on the make-up of that word.The hamzatul wasl that stands before the laam of the definite article – the alif-laam ta’reef (meaning the word “the” in Arabic) will always carry a fat-hah. In all nouns and verbs, the hamzatul wasl will carry a kasrah unless the third letter of the verb (including the hamzatul wasl and two letters for a shaddah if applicable) carries an original dhammah, in which case it will carry a dhammah. Another way of looking at it is to remember the hamzatul wasl will always get a kasrah unless hamzatul wasl is part of the alif-laam ta’reef (when it will carry a fat-hah) or the third letter carries an original dhammah (when it will carry a dhammah).

The team behind the great website “abouttajweed.com” have put a table together showing what vowel to put on the hamzatul wasl when beginning the relevant verses of the Quraan. Click the following link to download it:

http://www.abouttajweed.com/Verbs%20and%20Nouns%20beginning%20with%20hamzah%20al.pdf

The following link has lessons on basic Arabic grammar:

http://www.abouttajweed.com/grammar-brief-intro-/index.php

Remember: if the letter after the hamzatul wasl is a hamzah, the maddi badal rules are also applied.

The hamzatul wasl is only recited when starting on that word but dropped when continuing the recitation, i.e. the last letter of the last word with a vowel joins on to the letter without a vowel.When continuing the recitation from verse 1 to 2 of suratul Ale Imran, the meem saakinah of the Meem in the first verse acquires a fat-hah and this joins to the Name of Allah in the second verse.

The Tanween – this is two fat-hahs together, one on top of the other (called tanween fat-hah or fat-hah tain), two dhammahs together, one on top of the other or next to each other (called tanween dhammah or dhammah tain), or two kasrahs together one on top of the other (called tanween kasrah or kasrah tain). When the tanween is seen on or under a letter it means a noon saakinah is added on to that letter. The second vowel represents the noon saakinah. It is recited by placing a noon saakinah after the letter it sits on (or under) and reciting the vowel on that letter.

For example: is recited as (an).

You may find an alif after a letter with a tanween fat-hah on it. This alif is not recited when continuing, only when stopping. When stopping the noon saakinah is substituted by the alif. This substitution will

occur always when we stop on a letter with a tanween fat-hah unless that letter is a ة - a ta marboota. In this case the ta marboota is exchanged for a ha saakinah. The ta marboota is always exchanged for a ha saakinah when stopping regardless of what mark it carries. If the letter following the tanween is a hamzatul wasl and we are continuing the recitation (i.e. not stopping, even for a breath) the hamzatul wasl is dropped (as it always is when we continue the recitation) and the noon saakinah of the tanween acquires a kasrah and joins to the saakin letter of the next word. This noon is called noon qutni. I have put a table of all the places of noon qutni in the Quraan where this situation occurs within a verse, on this site.

To assist recitors the way the tanween is written tells us what rules to apply. If the tanween fat-hah or tanween kasrah is sitting directly over or under a letter and both vowels are aligned with each other, onedirectly on top of the other, then the tanween ith-haar rules are to be applied. If they are not aligned witheach other and not directly sitting on or under the letter, an idghaam rule is to be applied, and if one of the vowels is replaced by a meem, there is an iqlaab rule to be applied. The style of the dhammah is like this

for idghaam, and like this for ith-haar. You will find these styles of the tanween on the last letter of some verses. This is because when a person is continuing their recitation with the next verse, that is the rule to be applied.

Stopping signs - when we stop on a word we always put a sukoon on the last letter, unless we are stoppingwith roam or the last letter carries a tanween fat-hah, or a ta marboota. It is sunnah to stop at the end of a verse. If you do not stop at the end of a verse, you carry on reciting as if the end of the verse was not there i.e. make no changes to the last letter of the last word, and not take a breath at that point. Many times the reciter will need to stop within a verse. There are some signs found in the Quraan which help you to deduce when to take a breath in your recitation.

- This is a meem with a tail. You are required to stop here otherwise the meaning may change.Note: this is not the meem found on top of a noon or as part of a tanween when applying the noon

saakinah and tanween iqlaab rule – which looks like this .When this is found on the noon or tanween, the noon saakinah is exchanged for a meem saakinah. Hence instead of two vowels forthe tanween, you will find one vowel and a meem.

- Qaaf laam ya. This means it is preferrable to stop here.

- This means it is permissible to stop here. There is one exception in the way of Hafs ‘an

‘Aassim. This is in surah Al Araaf verse 176. We do not stop here and

the ث completely merges in to the ذ.

- you will find two of these together in a verse. The rule is to stop at one or the other but not at both places. You can also carry on with your recitation and not stop at either of these.

- Saad laam ya. Here it is preferable to carry on. If you do not stop here you can resume your recitation straight after this sign if you stopped at a later point.

- Do not stop here, or do not stop here and start on the word after this sign.

With the exception of the , we can continue the recitation and not stop at any of the above signs. When continuing the recitation after one of these signs or when carrying on after the end of a verse and the following word starts with a letter with shaddah on it, then the last letter of the last word is completely merged in to that letter. But when starting on such a word you ignore the shaddah because the shaddah was there to allow the continuation of the recitation. The only time when a shaddah is not found on a letter

beginning a verse that had the last letter in the last verse completely merged in to it, is in the case of the

at the end of verse 28 in surah Al Haaqah.: This is probably due to having the option of doing a sakta here, in which case there is no merging, as it is treated as though you were stopping (see below).

- This is a small seen. It is the sign for a sakta – a breathless pause. When continuing the recitation it is required to make a sakta. The other tajweed rules that apply to the sakta are the same as if you are stopping, i.e. there is a pause to stop the continuation of tajweed rules, but technically you are continuing

the recitation. This pause is longer than the gap made to distinguish one word from the following word but shorter than the gap made when taking a breath. The sakta is found just after the end of a word in four places in the Quraan: surah Al Kahf between verse 1 and 2, surah Ya sin verse 52, surah Al Qiyaamah verse 27 and surah Al Mutafifeen verse 14. There is also an option to make a sakta between verse 28 and 29 of surah Al Haaqah, if you were continuing your recitation, as mentioned above.

The seen for the sakta is positioned differently to the seen found only over or under the letter saad, as in what follows.

The small seen on top of the letter saad found in surah Al Baqarah verse 245 , and surah Al

‘Araaf verse 69 , indicates that instead of reciting the saad you recite the seen.

The small seen under the letter saad found in surah At Tur verse 37 . Here you can recite either the saad or the seen . I have noticed in a print of the Uthmani Quraan, though not the Medinah Musaf in surah Al Ghaashiyah the seen is also under the saad in verse 22. However, here only the saad is recitedin this way of recitation.

The diamond – this indicates that there is a special rule. There are two places in this Quraan. The first is in surah Hud verse 41 .

The word is . The letter ر here is recited with an imaalah which means “tilting”. Practically speaking instead of reciting the alif by opening the mouth vertically you widen your mouth, hence the imalah/tilting. Do not forget that as there is an alif, the length of the imaalah is two vowel counts.

The second place of the diamond is in surah yusuf verse 11.

The word is . This word was originally . This word can be recited in one of two ways: either by completely merging the two noons and making the lips move for the dhammah called ishmaam – you do the ishmaam during the ghunnah. Or by reciting both noons clearly but only giving the dhammah 2/3rds of its timing. For more details of the special words in this way of recitation, click on the following link:

http://www.abouttajweed.com/words-hafs-an-aasim-min-tareeq-ash-shatibiyy/index.php

To conclude: in this way of recitation you recite the letters as they are written unless it is an exception or special word for this way of recitation, where it may be recited slightly differently. These detailed tajweed rules can be found by clicking the link below:

http://www.abouttajweed.com/tajweed-rules-for-hafs-an-aasim/index.php

In order to apply these rules correctly make sure you sit with a qualified teacher and listen to Qaris. If sisters cannot find other sisters to teach them in person, do dua to Allah to help you then ring in to some live broadcasts.

I have put a couple of tables on the following pages comparing the two styles of Quraan. They may be of use when transferring from one style of Quraan to the other.

May Allah forgive me for any shortcomings in this booklet. Ameen. May Allah make it easy for everyone to recite the Quraan correctly and to a standard that is acceptable and pleasing to Him. Ameen.

A summary of the main differences between the Uthmaani style of the Quraan and the Indo-Pak style of the Quraan

Uthmaani Indo-PakSukoon Same mark but it only means that it joins to the letter before it with no

indication on how that letter is recited. For example you will see the sukoon on a noon that is hidden (ikhfaa) in this Quran as well as on other letters that are not hidden.

Shaddah Same mark but in this Quraan, it represents all types of merging (i.e. both complete and incomplete merges are represented by a shaddah).

Letters with no mark or a hamzah on or under them

These do not always represent saakin letters in this Quraan. Most of the time it refers to the “silent letters”.

Alif maqsoora Same letter, in this Quraan when there is no merging of the letter before the alif maqsoora with the letter after it, the alif is written on the preceeding letter and not on the ya. When there is a merging of the letter before the alif maqsoora with the letter after the alif maqoora,, (even if it is in the next verse) both Quraans omit this alif. Remember when stopping on alif maqsoora it is always recited, just like every alif.

Small ya Straight line under a letterSmall wow A “6” on top of a letterMadd sign There are two used in this Quraan, the wavy line will still be four or five vowel

counts. This is for madd munfasil. To indicate a possible lengthening of four, five or six vowel counts this is used, unless it is at the beginning of a surah, when it will be six vowel counts. To know how to apply this mark you need to know the complete madd rules.

The round zero Same mark, but this Quraan makes no distinction between the two zeros, and you have to know when to recite the letters and when not to. Many times there is no mark on a letter, where in the Uthmaani Quraan there would be a standing oblong zero, so a person would have to know which words they are. Many times the “silent letters” in this Quraan are those that the Uthmaani Quraan places the round zero on top of. Without a teacher going through which letters are recited and which ones are not, there is the potential for errors.

Hamzah Same letter, also the alif with a vowel or sukoon on or under it, is a hamzahHamzatul wasl If a hamzatul wasl begins a verse it will usually have the relevant vowel on it.

When continuing the recitation from one verse to another, it is important to know if the word beginning the verse begins with a hamzatul wasl because if the last letter of the last word has a vowel on it, the hamzatul wasl is dropped, and if that last letter carries a tanween, then we recite the noon qutni. When hamzatul wasl does not begin a verse, or a word after a stopping sign, it will not have a vowel on it, and is distinguished from the madd alif by the fact that it begins a word and the madd alif will not begin a word. Also the alif in the alif-laam ta’reef is a hamzatul wasl.

The tanween These are all written in one style, with no indication of what tajweed rule to apply. The noon qutni when it occurs within a verse are written in, but not always when you are carrying on from one verse to another. Sometimes the noon qutni is positioned around the hamzatul wasl, which is incorrect as the noon qutni is the former noon saakinah of the tanween and not a part of the hamzatul wasl. The meem for the iqlaab rule is added after or on the noon or tanween, with the tanween remaining unchanged.

The black dot and the diamond This mark is indicating that there is something different to be done in that word. In most copies of this Quraan, it does not sit exactly on the letter that requires the change, (an explanation of what to do is usually found in the margins). This mark indicates that something is to be done in surah Hud verse 41. There is no mark found on surah Yusuf verse 11. Here the word is written as you would if you did ishmaam on that word, but with no indication to do the ishmaam. This mark is found elsewhere and you need to know what it is that needs to be done.

A summary of the difference in the names of some of the marks found in the Uthmaani and Indo-Pak styles of the Quraan

Name of the mark in the Uthmaani Quraan Name of the same mark found in the Indo-Pak Quraan

Fat-hah ZabarDhammah PeshKasrah ZerSukoon JazmShaddah TashdeedDagger alif Kari Zabar or standing ZabarRound zero on top of an alif Zaid alifTanween Fat-hah Do Zabar or two ZabarsTanween Dhammah Do Pesh or two PeshsTanween kasrah Do Zer or two Zers

When reciting the Indo-Pak Quraan, you recite it how its written, while at the same time knowing all the tajweed rules, and which words begin with hamzatul wasl. There are more stopping signs in the Indo-Pak Quraan. For

example the ط usually means “it is better to stop here” and the ز usually means “you can stop, but it is better

to continue”, and the ص means the same as . What the remaining symbols mean can usually be found at the

end of that Quraan.

There is no difference between how these two styles of Quraan are recited, it is just with the Indo-Pak style, you need to know more rules and memorise which words have letters in them that are not recited.