Illustrated Tajwīd Made Easy – Book Two

Description

Illustrated Tajwīd Made Easy – Book Two
The Science of Reading the Holy Qur’ān
by Liza Zaldarriaga Sadain
eBook in protected PDF format, 156 pages
ISBN 978-621-96783-2-2

Excerpt from the ITME Book Two Foreword by Prof. Julkipli Wadi, Dean of the Institute of Islamic Studies, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City:

[The Illustrated Tajwīd Made Easy: The Science of Reading the Holy Qur’ān Book Two is a continuing discussion about the fundamentals of tajwīd in Book One. It provides a transition to the more advanced discussion in Book Three.

The three books are a must read. Although requiring intent study and much needed focus and interest especially for beginners, the book provides comprehensive understanding and easy-to-follow steps when reading properly the Holy Qur’ān. The work follows a long tradition of both foundational and disciplinal studies about the Qur’ān and Arabic language including its recitation and cantillation known as tajwīd….

…Tajwīd is fundamentally important. As kalāmu Allāh or Words of Allāh (Glory to Him, The Exalted), the Qur’ān must be read properly during prayers and other occasions of recitation. The Qur’ān is the comprehensive expression of Truth or haqq in written form just as creation is the āyah or sign of Truth in the totality of cosmic dimension. Man, being the “fruit of creation”, carries the same Truth, honored as son of Adam (may peace be upon him), albeit mediated with nafs or ego leading him to have varied apprehension of Truth. Moreover, man is imbued with bayān (speech) allowing him to appropriate in the most exalted expression the recitation of the Holy Qur’ān. By exalting the Words of Allāh (Glory to Him, The Exalted), man exalts the Truth in creation and in himself and thus he exalts and praises the Source of all Truth, Allāh the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful (The Rahmān and the Rahīm). The first few verses of Sūrat Ar Rahmān (Qur’ān, 55: 1-9) capture this point so eloquently:

Allah Most Gracious!
It is He Who has taught the Qur’ān.
He has created man:
He has taught him speech (and intelligence).
The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed;
And the stars and the trees both (alike) bow in adoration.
And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (of Justice),
In order that ye may not transgress (due) balance.
So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the Balance.

Reflecting on the uniform yet multi-faceted expressions of Truth-cum-Mercy (Rahmah) with such “receptacles” as the Holy Qur’ān, creation, man and the power of speech (bayān) bestowed upon him, a believer, normatively speaking, is able to more attentively engage in adoration (sujūd), in maintaining balance (mīzan) and in avoiding transgression. Tajwīd, therefore, is the way in maintaining justice and balance towards the Holy Qur’ān especially when reciting it. Certainly, the Holy Qur’ān being the most comprehensive compendium of Truth in script must not be read inappropriately. Doing so could border on irreverence, disrespect, and transgression, albeit owing to linguistic variations amongst people and the seeming difficulty for beginners to reach a “proper way” of recitation, the Holy Qur’ān embraces such human frailties with Divine Mercy as Sūrat Ar Rahmān opens with reiteration about Allāh’s Mercy. On the contrary, such openness or God’s Compassion must not be arguably overstretched with such lame excuse like “We are not Arabs; hence, our inability to read and recite properly the Qur’ān must be understandably forgivable.”]