Recitation criticism

[Abdullah5576]

Asalamulaykum, I was wondering if my fellow muslim brothers and sisters would mind checking my recitation and giving me tips (specifically tajweed and whether my voice needs much improvement, bare in mind im merely 14). surah an-naba.mp3
I apologize for getting a little emotional in certain parts.

Side Note: I sound much better in person, i'm not sure how to get a clear recording of my recitation.

[The Fake Shaykh]

good effort, generally your tajweed is good, maybe some words are being stretched to much, the voice/recitation style can be changed over time

[Abdullah5576]

good effort, generally your tajweed is good, maybe some words are being stretched to much, the voice/recitation style can be changed over time

Would you mind pointing out the specific ayahs i stretch to much and haha, i fail with 'ayn it results to be quite stressed.

[Sulaiman84]

there's good potential but certain mistakes should be corrected:



1. Making obscure the difference between madd asli and regular harakaat. The duration for madd asli is two vowels (at least) and a regular harakah is only one vowel. There were quite a few of those mistakes (those count as major mistakes; lahn jali)

2. Not to pronounce the 'Ain makharaj with shiddah; over-emphasis on its articulation point.

3. The nun Sakin and tanwin rules need to be precise and consistent. No ghunnahs on Ith-haar, ghunnahs on Ikhfaa' etc.

4. Consistency in the duration of madd muttasil and madd munfasil. If you want to make the second madd more than two harakaat then you should be consistent throughout your Qiraa'ah.


There were other mistakes but I think you can work on those for the time being.

Focus on the rules of tajweed first, the beauty in your voice should come naturally after,

[Abdullah5576]

there's good potential but certain mistakes should be corrected:



1. Making obscure the difference between madd asli and regular harakaat. The duration for madd asli is two vowels (at least) and a regular harakah is only one vowel. There were quite a few of those mistakes (those count as major mistakes; lahn jali)

2. Not to pronounce the 'Ain makharaj with shiddah; over-emphasis on its articulation point.

3. The nun Sakin and tanwin rules need to be precise and consistent. No ghunnahs on Ith-haar, ghunnahs on Ikhfaa' etc.

4. Consistency in the duration of madd muttasil and madd munfasil. If you want to make the second madd more than two harakaat then you should be consistent throughout your Qiraa'ah.


There were other mistakes but I think you can work on those for the time being.

Focus on the rules of tajweed first, the beauty in your voice should come naturally after,

jazakallah khair, i've honestly started reading the Qur'an last August (its embarassing at the age of 14) but i learned quick and memorized 1/3 of the Qur'an. But not being a natural born 'arab my 'ayn is terrible. I've tried to not stress it but it ends of sounding like a hamzah just choked up. I will try to keep in mind i cant do gunnah with certain letters. How do i know how long to prolong the maad, do i count in seconds?

[Sulaiman84]

jazakallah khair, i've honestly started reading the Qur'an last August (its embarassing at the age of 14) but i learned quick and memorized 1/3 of the Qur'an. But not being a natural born 'arab my 'ayn is terrible. I've tried to not stress it but it ends of sounding like a hamzah just choked up. I will try to keep in mind i cant do gunnah with certain letters. What is the difference between "madd muttasil and madd munfasil"?

The trick is to not over pronounce 'Ain. It starts from the middle of the throat as a gutteral sound but you don't make the 'Ain sound "full mouthed" like the letters saud and dhaud.

The difference between madd muttasil and munfasil is when the letter Hamzah is in the same or the next word.

[Abdullah5576]

The trick is to not over pronounce 'Ain. It starts from the middle of the throat as a gutteral sound but you don't make the 'Ain sound "full mouthed" like the letters saud and dhaud.

The difference between madd muttasil and munfasil is when the letter Hamzah is in the same or the next word.

Oh i know what you mean here is a surah that uses a lot of 'ayn see if there is any improvement, Jazakallah Khair Qaf with correction.mp3 (Forgive me for the sound quality)

[Sulaiman84]

Oh i know what you mean here is a surah that uses a lot of 'ayn see if there is any improvement, Jazakallah Khair Qaf with correction.mp3 (Forgive me for the sound quality)

The sound was not too clear but it seemed a little better. Most likely these changes will not come over night but with regular practice and effort. Since Arabic was not my mother tongue during hifth, it took me over a year to properly pronounce the letter dhaud! lol.

Your primary concern should be to find a qualified teacher in tajweed and then take it from there. And also work on your madd asli.


One of the ways I was taught the length of madd is to measure it by the sound of a harakah (one vowel, which is around a second). So make the duration of madd muttasil 4 harakaat.

[Shuayb Abdul-Khaaliq]

Brother check out http://www.l2rq.com/. It's by Wisam Sharieff and this brother knows what he's doing when it comes to Tajweed Masha'Allah. Specifically check the "Arabic Sounds" section for how to pronounce the individual letters and review the ones you have difficulty with. I recommend to watch "Lesson 1" before any others though as he gives you some nice tips on how to take the best advantage of these videos (such as using a mirror, recording yourself, etc). Go to "Tajweed Followups" and Subhan'Allah you can run through the entire 30th Juz with an expert teacher like Wisam Sharieff. Then explore the rest of the website as well.

'Ayn was one of my challenges as well when I started learning proper Tajweed (at a much, much older age than you), because I'm Pakistani and as the Pakistanis will testify to this, we are taught to pronounce it as Alif/Hamza with no emphasis on the 'Ayn sound. In the beginning I thought I would never be able to pronounce this letter correctly but Alhamdulillah by the grace of Allah swt, practice has made it much, much better to where now it actually sounds like a proper 'ayn most of the times and not like hamza. However I do notice that the particular 'section' of my throat where 'Ayn is generated I guess gets "tired" after a period of recitation (like if I'm reciting for an hour straight) and then it becomes difficult for me to get that sound out fully, but even that period has increased with practice and will Insha'Allah continue to increase.

Here's Sheikh Wisam's video on 'Ayn specifically ('Ayn starts around 3:10):

http://youtu.be/cAKEYPq49GY

I think your recitation sounds really good overall Masha'Allah and Insha'Allah you're gonna make an excellent Qari down the road. You're only 14 so you're way ahead of most of us Masha'Allah! Make sure you thank Allah abundantly for that. Keep practicing and please remember in your duas.

[Abdullah5576]

Brother check out http://www.l2rq.com/. It's by Wisam Sharieff and this brother knows what he's doing when it comes to Tajweed Masha'Allah. Specifically check the "Arabic Sounds" section for how to pronounce the individual letters and review the ones you have difficulty with. I recommend to watch "Lesson 1" before any others though as he gives you some nice tips on how to take the best advantage of these videos (such as using a mirror, recording yourself, etc). Go to "Tajweed Followups" and Subhan'Allah you can run through the entire 30th Juz with an expert teacher like Wisam Sharieff. Then explore the rest of the website as well.

'Ayn was one of my challenges as well when I started learning proper Tajweed (at a much, much older age than you), because I'm Pakistani and as the Pakistanis will testify to this, we are taught to pronounce it as Alif/Hamza with no emphasis on the 'Ayn sound. In the beginning I thought I would never be able to pronounce this letter correctly but Alhamdulillah by the grace of Allah swt, practice has made it much, much better to where now it actually sounds like a proper 'ayn most of the times and not like hamza. However I do notice that the particular 'section' of my throat where 'Ayn is generated I guess gets "tired" after a period of recitation (like if I'm reciting for an hour straight) and then it becomes difficult for me to get that sound out fully, but even that period has increased with practice and will Insha'Allah continue to increase.

Here's Sheikh Wisam's video on 'Ayn specifically ('Ayn starts around 3:10):

http://youtu.be/cAKEYPq49GY

I think your recitation sounds really good overall Masha'Allah and Insha'Allah you're gonna make an excellent Qari down the road. You're only 14 so you're way ahead of most of us Masha'Allah! Make sure you thank Allah abundantly for that. Keep practicing and please remember in your duas.

Jazakallah Khair im still wondering what im doing wrong with articulating the 'ayn (its completely foreign in my native African tongue)