What is the ruling on learning the rules of recitation and tajwid?

The questioner : The ruling on learning the rules of recitation and tajwid?

The Shaykh : Our Lord said: So this recitation with this tartil (measured recitation) that the scholars have received from generation to generation is necessary. However, there is also a need for some detail here. The rules of recitation and the rules of tajwid are like the other rulings of the Shari'ah, meaning the jurisprudential rulings. Just as there are things in these jurisprudential rulings that are disputed and things that are agreed upon, and the first category of disputed matters is not a difference of variety but a difference of contradiction. When the disagreement is of this second type, a difference of contradiction, then the truth is on one side, as Allah the Exalted said: Therefore, it is necessary for those who are among the people of knowledge to seek the truth from what people have differed on. Just as there are two types in the religious rulings: something agreed upon and something disputed, and this disputed matter is divided into two types, making the total number of types three: something disputed where the truth is on one side and the error is on the other. This is the case regarding recitation and its principles as well. There are things that are agreed upon and things that are disputed. It is not permissible to attach what is disputed to what is agreed upon. Earlier, a phrase passed with me in the book "Al-I'tisam" (Holding Fast to the Rope), where he mentions types of deviations that some people fall into. He mentioned the jurists and the Sufis, and included among them the reciters, stating that these people are generally biased toward what they found their fathers and grandfathers doing. He gave an example of this which I did not understand, so I asked someone I thought would answer me, and he promised to review it. The first time I read it, it said that one of the reciters in Morocco used to recite the letter "ba" as what did he call it? "Ba" of "Subhan Allah" (Glory be to Allah), it slipped my mind—Abu al-Yaman went to pray, maybe he just went straight away?—

The questioner : A soft "ba."

The Shaykh : A soft "ba," yes, what did he say? He recites the "ba" softly. So the author of "Al-I'tisam" denies this with the strongest denial. And by Allah, I did not understand what this soft "ba" is. He wants to say that this person is an innovator who recites a soft "ba." He wants to say that he is an innovator because he deviated from the path of the believers. As for me, I did not understand the soft "ba." Do you know anything about it?
Al-Halabi : In my opinion, my Shaykh, and Allah knows best, the "ba" is pronounced with intensity (shiddah), but they say this "ba" is the soft "ba." Some contemporary writers place three dots under it.

The Shaykh : This is a "p," my brother.
Al-Halabi : It is this softness.

The Shaykh : No, that is not reasonable. This is a French "p," a foreign letter.

The questioner : In Morocco, as is not hidden from you, my Shaykh, they do not say "ba" but rather "bi" (soft), and it is not even called "ba" in pronunciation.

The Shaykh : Perhaps this is closer.

The questioner : Because they say, for example, "shabduk" (how are you?), they pronounce it softly, and even with a kasrah (short i vowel). This is the dialect of all of Morocco, absolutely.

The Shaykh : That is... foreign languages, French, because I studied French in elementary school. They have "b" and "p," and our Albanian language has this and that, with "b" and "p." So you find me proficient in "p." I do not think this soft "ba" is it; perhaps this is the closest, and Allah knows best. In any case, the knowledge of recitation is like the knowledge of the rulings of fiqh exactly. Therefore, it is obligatory for the student of recitation to choose a scholar of the knowledge of recitation and tajwid, and then not to surrender the leadership of his mind to him as if he were before his Prophet, no, but rather to ask him questions so that he may be on clear understanding of what he receives of the knowledge of recitation.