Childrens Bequest: The Principles of Tajweed

The poetical treatise Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl—literally, The Childrens’ Bequest—is a wonderful gift to the Islamic tradition from the 12th century Egyptian scholar Sulaymān al-Jamzūrī [d. 1198H]. Since that era, it has been a time-tested method of teaching Tajweed, the art of reciting the Qurʼān. The fact that it continues to be, to this day, the single most utilized text by teachers of Tajweed in the world is testimony to its foremost standing among resources for learning this science. This work contains a translation of this poem incorporated within a textbook on the science of Tajweed, based upon the Qurʼānic reading of Ḥafṣ on the authority of Imām ‘Āṣim.