What's tajweed?
Tajweed means reading each letter of the Arabic alphabet according to certain rules.
Tajweed does not exist in order to complicate the pronunciation — on the contrary, it is intended to correct the reading of the Quran and the pronunciation of the letters to sound exactly as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did.
Tajweed does not mean chewing of the tongue, guttural sounds, softening the letters, a shudder of the voice, elongation of the double letters, intermittent elongation, the sonority of of nasal reading and neither does it mean the intermission of the letter ra …
Chewing of the tongue is when a person reads as if they are chewing something.
Guttural sounds: when a person reads as if all the sounds come out of the throat.
Softening the letters: when a person reads, softening all the letters which results in them sounding childish.
A shudder of the voice: when a person’s voice shudders as if they want to cry or are freezing. But this is excusable when the shudder of the voice occurs under the impression of what has been read.
Elongation of the double letters: when a person takes too much time to stop on the double consonant letters (i.e where the tashdeed is).
Intermittent elongation: when a person elongates long vowels either lowering or raising their voice.
The sonority of nasal reading: this is an excessive stretching of those letters that are read with nasalization either lowering or raising the voice.
The intermission of the letter ra: this is when a person has an interruption of reading on the letter ra.
So, the reading should be natural, like learning to speak from birth, not doing anything that is unnatural to the Arabic language.
The science of Tajweed teaches the correct pronunciation.
This science is based on the Quran and the Sunnah, like the message about the manner of reading of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Moreover, it is based on the manner of reading of his companions and contemporaries, their followers and connoisseurs of reading (the Quran), until this science has reached us through an unbroken chain.
Studying the science of Tajweed is a collective duty (farḍ kifāyah)
Its implementation in practice is an individual duty (fardu ayn) for every Muslim, in accordance with the words of the Almighty:
The benefit of studying Tajweed is protecting the language from making mistakes when reading the Quran.
The rules of Tajweed were established by scholars in the field of reading the Quran.
The purpose of studying Tajweed is to earn a reward in this world and in the Hereafter. It is the best of all knowledge associated with the best book — the holy Quran.