Mus-haf al-Tajweed with coloured letters

 

I would like to ask about the Mus-haf al-Tajweed that has coloured letters to help the reader pronounce the letters correctly. Are the colours, squares and spaces indicating pauses contained in this Mus-haf regarded as innovations or not?.

Praise be to Allaah.

After examining the Mus-haf al-Tajweed with coloured letters,
it is clear that there is nothing wrong with using these colours, rather it
makes it easier to learn tajweed, for those who are not able to learn
directly from experts. 

The Dar al-Ma’rifah (publisher’s) website has published a
copy of the approval of the Islamic Research Council in al-Azhar of this
Mus-haf in which different colours are used; it also cites the approval of
the senior scholar of Qur’aan in Syria, Shaykh Muhammad Kareem Raajih, and
the approval of Shaykh Dr. Wahbah al-Zuhayli. This is the text of what it
says on the site:         

With regard to this work of ours, the senior scholar of
Qur’aan in Syria, Shaykh Muhammad Kareem Raajih stated on 21 Safar 1412 AH
that this work “is acceptable and even it is of no benefit then it does not
cause any harm, moreover it serves as a reminder and indication of the rules
of tajweed, but it does not do away with the importance of learning tajweed
directly from the mouths of the shaykhs.” At the same time, Shaykh al-Qaari’
Muhiy al-Deen al-Kurdi stated on 18 Safar 1415 AH that “those who away from
educational circles and elderly people may benefit from this work, because
they cannot learn directly.” Professor Wahbat al-Zuhayli, a member of the
Islamic Fiqh Council in Jeddah and the President of the Faculty of Islamic
Fiqh and Madhhabs at the University of Damascus stated on 18 Muharram
1415AH: “Allaah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
‘And We have indeed made the Qur’aan easy to understand and remember; then
is there any one who will remember (or receive admonition)?’ [al-Qamar
54:17]. This clearly indicates that everything that makes it easy to
recite Qur’aan, which we are required in Islam to study it, understand its
meanings and act in accordance with what it says, is a must according to
sharee’ah for those who study knowledge, fiqh and the tafseer of the Book of
Allaah. As reciting the Qur’aan in the manner that is known in the science
of tajweed is obligatory, then every means that makes it easy for the reader
to learn the rulings on tajweed and follow them when reciting is something
that is permissible according to sharee’ah, whether it is letters printed in
one colour or several colours. The good reading is that which imprints the
letters in the mind, and this printing of the Holy Qur’aan in different
colours makes it easy to read the Qur’aan, and establishes the rulings in
the mind, so it is a contemporary means that is to be encouraged and it does
not contradict the way in which Qur’aan was traditionally transmitted to us
and the traditional way of writing it.  May Allaah help Dar al-Ma’rifah with
this blessed work. End quote. 

A copy of the approval of the Islamic Research Council at
al-Azhar may be seen by clicking on this link:

 

 

http://www.dar-al-maarifah.com/ar/azhar.htm 

There is no way that these colours can be ruled to be an
innovation, because the scholars of Qur’aan at the time of the Taabi’een
introduced dots and vowels in the Mus-haf and wrote the dots and vowels in
red.  

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him)
said: 

The Sahaabah did not write dots and vowels in the Mus-hafs
because they were Arabs who did not make mistakes in pronouncing the words,
so they did not need the dots. A single word could be read in two ways, with
a ya’ or a ta’, such as ya’maloon (يعملون)
and ta’maloon (تعملون), which they would
read in only one way because they knew that the other was not correct.  

But at the time of the Taabi’een, when it become common for
people to mispronounce words, some of the Taabi’een added vowels and dots to
the Mus-haf, and they wrote them in red. They wrote the fathah as a red dot
above the letter, and the kasrah as a red dot below the letter, and the
dammah as a red dot before the letter. Then they expanded the red dots and
they denoted the shaddah by writing “shadd” and the maddah by writing
“madd”. They made the sign for the hamzah look like the letter ‘ayn,
because the hamzah is the sister of the ‘ayn. Then they abbreviated them and
made the sign for the shaddah look like the main part of the letter seen,
and the sign for the maddah an abbreviated sign, as those who keep records
may abbreviate numbers etc, and as the
scholars of hadeeth abbreviated words such as akhbarana (he informed us) and
haddathana (he narrated to us) by writing the first and last part of the
word in the forms ana (أنا)  and thana(ثنا)
.  

The scholars disputed as to whether it was makrooh or not to
add vowels and dots to the Mus-haf and there are two well known views, both
of which were narrated from Ahmad, but there was no dispute concerning the
fact that if there are vowels and dots in a Mus-haf, they must be respected
just as the letters are respected. End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (12/101). 

Shaykh Dr. ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Muhammad al-Mutlaq (may Allaah
preserve him) said: The following things were not originally part of the
‘Uthmaani text: 

1 – The dots by means of which letters are distinguished, for
they were added to the Arabic letters at the time of the Taabi’een. Before
that the letters were written without dots. Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthmaan ibn Sa’eed
al-Daani (d. 444 AH) said: Chapter on the first ones among the Taabi’een to
add dots to the Mus-hafs, and those who regarded it as makrooh and those
among the scholars who granted concessions allowing that: the reports we
have vary as to who was the first to add dots to the Mus-haf among the
Taabi’een, but we think that the first one who did that was Abu’l-Aswad
al-Du’ali. 

We narrated that Ibn Sireen had a Mus-haf to which dots had
been added by Yahya ibn Ya’mar, and that Yahya was the first one to add dots
to it. [Kitaab al-Naqd, printed alongside al-Maqna’ fi Ma’rifat
Arsoom Masaahif Ahl al-Amsaar, p. 129].  

2 – Vowels and tanween – the first one to add them was
Abu’l-Aswad al-Du’ali, and they were dots. That was because he wanted to
write Arabic in such a way that the people would correct the mistakes that
they had started to make in their speech, as that had become common among
the elite and the common folk. So he brought someone to hold the Mus-haf,
and he brought ink of a different colour, and he said to the one who was
holding the Mus-haf for him: If I open my mouth then put the dot above the
letter, and if I stretch my mouth then put the dot beneath the letter, if I
purse my lips then put the dot before the letter, and if I follow these
letters with ghunnah (i.e., tanween), then put two dots, until I reach the
end of the Mus-haf. And it was said that the first one who did that was Nasr
ibn ‘Aasim al-Laythi. [Kitaab al-Naqd, printed alongside al-Maqna’
fi Ma’rifat Arsoom Masaahif Ahl al-Amsaar, p. 129].  

Then al-Khaleel ibn Ahmad developed that when he invented
vowel signs derived from the letters. [al-Itqaan fi ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan,
p. 219]. 

3 – Hamzah, shaddah, rawm and ishmaam. The first one who
introduced these was al-Khaleel ibn Ahmad al-Faraaheedi. 

4 – Signs of tajweed and signs of al-wasl (joining) and
al-waqf (pausing). These did not exist in the ‘Uthmaani text, rather they
were developed later on in ‘ilm al-tajweed. End quote from Kitaabat
al-Qur’aan il-Kareem bi Khatt Braille lil-Makfoofeen, published in
Majallat al-Buhooth al-Islamiyyah (66/337). 

And Allaah knows best.