A lot of people look forward to learning the art of Quran recitation or reciting the Quran with a good voice. However, they usually make a fundamental mistake. You should not start your journey to becoming a Quran reciter without first learning to recite the Quran with tajweed.
What Happens If You Make This Mistake?
Tajweed is the building block of a good Quran recitation. It is the science of knowing the sounds of consonants and vowels, the places of articulation, manners of articulation, and other such things. If a reciter does not know tajweed and more importantly does not implement it in their recitation, their recitation would not be authentic one way or another, even if they have the best voice. People will seriously cast doubt on the credibility of that person as a reciter. This is how important tajweed is.
What else happens if a reciter cannot recite the Quran with good tajweed?
- People will possibly ridicule such a person because their recitation sounds abnormal.
- The reciter will lose his self-confidence when he listens to his own recitation and notices how mediocre it is.
- He may become demotivated to continue his path to becoming a reputable Quran reciter.
- He might become too occupied with the melodious aspects of recitation and ignore tajweed altogether.
I made this mistake too and it very much set me back on my path to becoming a Quran reciter.
I was focusing too much on the maqamat and the vocal aspects of Quran recitation. I always felt there was something missing in my recitation. No matter how much I tried to recite with a pleasant voice, something in my recitation wasn’t making it up to par. People said you don’t sound Arabic. Wherever I recited the Quran, those who were well versed in Quran recitation would find all kinds of problems in my recitation.
This is why I want to share this with you.
You must first master the science of tajweed and learn to put it into practice before you become a reciter of the Quran.
If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t waste my time learning recitation vocal techniques and instead focus on perfecting my tajweed first. If I had made the right decision, not only would I have perfected my tajweed, but I would also had more time to work on my vocal skills.
What would have happened if I or you made such a right decision?
- You would master your tajweed skills sooner.
- You wouldn’t waste your time doing things you shouldn’t be doing.
- When you do want to learn the other recitation skills and techniques, you would be fully prepared for them.
- Quran teachers would give you helpful advice as to how you should become a good reciter.
So if you made the mistake I made, it is perfectly fine. After all, we learn from our mistakes. There is always a way back. If you have disregarded tajweed, now is the time to leave everything else aside and start improving your tajweed. This is very important because tajweed is the backbone of Quran recitation.
