Tajwīd; from Obligation to Prohibition (Observing the Rules of Tajwīd from the Viewpoint of the Shī a and Sunnī Jurisprudents)

There are different and sometimes contradictory views concerning the necessity or the unnecessity of observing the rules of tajwīd in reading the Qur’ān. On one hand, some scholars regard observance of the rules of tajwīd as unlawful and on the other hand, some regard it as individual obligation, like prayer. Some scholars also distinguish between the rules of tajwīd and practicing it. Similarly, other details are also observed in this respect. In the present article, first the most important views concerning this problem are brought up; then, the limits and criterion of the obligation of tajwīd discourses are talked about. Furthermore, the writer has concluded that only the observance of those rules of the tajwīd discourses are obligatory that failing to observe them would violate the correctness of reading and, contrary to the legal popular belief, the realization of the correctness and corruption should be entrusted to the experts and not to people’s convention.