Is tajwid obligatory?

The questioner : Is there not something that leads to memorizing the Qur'an? Tajwid now, the tajwid of the Qur'an, and the realization of the attributes of the letters, the attributes of the Qur'an, and the attributes of the reciters, and others?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Is there not something that leads to memorizing the Qur'an, or is it among the things that lead to memorizing the Qur'an?

The Shaykh : Some people have started, because of their distance from tajwid, to eat a letter, for example, or to merge a letter, or to pronounce a letter with a specific articulation, without any basis for it. In any case, there is no doubt that tajwid beautifies the voice, so it falls under the category of what is recommended (mustahabb), in the sense of adorning the voice, as Abu Musa said: "If I had known, I would have adorned it for you with adornment."
As for saying that the permissibility of recitation depends on mastering this and applying it, this is contrary to scholarly consensus (ijma'), because all Muslims recite as they are, and most people do not know tajwid, have not studied tajwid, and neither the meaning nor the grammar depends on knowing tajwid. The most that can be said is that these are attributes of letters that give an additional melody to the Noble Qur'an. I do not rule out that some beautification has entered into it over a long period of time, and that it was not in this form in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), because we all know that the Qur'an was revealed in the language of Quraysh, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pronounce the Qur'an and pronounce the Sunnah, and we do not know that anyone said that the Prophetic hadiths are pronounced in this way with tajwid, even though the speech of the Arab Messenger is undoubtedly in the Arabic language. So it appears to me that when Muslims took care of the Qur'an and beautified their voices with it, as is apparent, they introduced these beautifying elements to improve the wording, and I do not rule out that it developed more than it was previously. Therefore, we hold that tajwid is not obligatory. Yes. Yes.

The questioner : Contrary to the existing rules.

The Shaykh : Yes, and this recitation of the Messenger was also contrary to the rules of tajwid, for he would elongate "Allah," elongate "al-Rahman," and elongate "al-Rahim." If we look at the rules of tajwid, they consider this not to be elongation (madd). No, the natural elongation (madd tabi'i) is not called elongation by them. For this reason, Ibn Malik said "the short and the elongated." When he recited and compared with Ibn Mas'ud, "the poor and the needy," he said to him: "Elongate it, elongate 'al-fuqara' (the poor)," meaning: elongate it, put a hamzah in it, lengthen the elongation until it is clear. As for the natural elongation, like "qala" (he said), "mal" (wealth), and "kala" (like), the elongation does not appear in it. But if it is six movements or similar, that is where the elongation appears, and they write it with elongation. No, "al-Rahman" is not written with elongation; they write the mim with elongation, "Rahman," and they do not write it with elongation, but they indicate the deleted alif in the writing, indicating a long movement. Yes. Yes. We do not say, how do we say it is wrong, and the Messenger elongates them? We say: "al-Rahman, al-Rahim, Allah."