Murattal, mujawwad and muallim: Quran recitation styles explained

Murattal is measured recitation at a steady, moderate pace: clear, careful and close to how the Quran is recited in prayer. Mujawwad is slower and more melodic, with long phrases, pauses and repetition, made for listening gatherings and broadcasts. Muallim ("teacher") is a teaching recitation, slow and clear so that learners can repeat after it. All three keep the same rules of tajwid; they differ in pace, melody and purpose.

Tartil: the root of "murattal"

Murattal comes from tartil, as in the ayah وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْآنَ تَرْتِيلًا (Al-Muzzammil 73:4), "and recite the Quran with measured recitation". Tartil means reciting slowly and distinctly, giving each letter its right. A definition attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib describes it as tajwid of the letters and knowing where to stop.

So murattal isn't a fashion of a particular era: it is the measured, careful recitation the Quran itself asks for.

The three speeds of recitation

Scholars of tajwid describe recitation at different speeds, all of them correct as long as the rules are kept:

Some add tartil as its own speed between tahqiq and tadwir; others treat tartil as the quality that every correct recitation should have, at any speed.

Murattal

Most recordings you hear, and the recitation in most prayers, are murattal. Features:

• a steady, moderate pace;
• melody kept simple, serving clarity;
• usually one breath per phrase, with stops at natural places.

Murattal recordings are ideal for listening while you follow the mushaf, for memorising, and for checking your own recitation. Most of the reciters people know from radio and apps, such as Mishary Alafasy, Abdur-Rahman As-Sudais, Saud Al-Shuraim, Maher Al-Muaiqly and Saad Al-Ghamdi, are heard in murattal.

Mujawwad

Mujawwad comes from tajwid (from jawwada, to make excellent). In practice the word describes a slower, more elaborate recitation associated with Egypt's great reciters of the twentieth century, such as Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary, Mohamed Siddiq El-Minshawi and Abdul Basit Abdus-Samad. Features:

• a slow pace, with very long breaths;
• melodic development, often moving through the melodic modes known as maqamat;
• repetition of a phrase or ayah, sometimes from different starting points;
• pauses between passages, traditionally for a listening audience.

Mujawwad is recited for listening and reflection, at gatherings, on the radio, at the opening of events. It is rarely used in prayer.

A note on melody

Beautifying the voice in recitation is encouraged; a hadith in Sunan Abi Dawud says "Beautify the Quran with your voices." At the same time, scholars caution that melody must never override the rules: a vowel stretched to fit a tune, or a madd cut short, is a mistake whatever its beauty. Views on deliberately learning and applying maqamat vary between scholars. If you're interested, ask a teacher you trust.

Muallim: the teaching recitation

A muallim recording is made for learners. The reciter recites slowly and very clearly, at the tahqiq end of the scale, so you can hear each letter and copy it. Al-Husary's teaching recitation is the best known. Use it when:

• you're learning to read and want to copy each sound;
• you're working on particular letters or rules;
• a child is memorising a short surah phrase by phrase.

Style is not the same as qira'ah

People sometimes confuse styles with qira'at. A qira'ah (reading) or riwayah (transmission) is a way of reciting the text itself that has been passed down with a chain of teachers. The ten recognised qira'at each have two main narrators, and they differ in some letters, vowels, word forms and rules.

• Hafs from Asim is the most widespread today, and is what most printed mushafs follow.
• Warsh from Nafi is common in North and West Africa.
• Others, such as Qalun and al-Duri, are recited in particular regions.

A murattal or mujawwad recitation can be in any riwayah. Reciters on most apps, including all 26 in Samee, recite Hafs from Asim.

Reciters in Samee, by style

Samee identifies recitations against a catalogue of 26 reciters, and you can play any of them on repeat in Practice:

Each style of the same reciter is a separate set of recordings, so when Samee matches an exact recording it tells you which one you heard, for example Al-Husary's mujawwad rather than his murattal.

Which style should you listen to?

• Learning to read: a teaching (muallim) recitation, or a slow murattal such as Al-Husary or Al-Minshawi.
• Memorising: one clear murattal reciter, consistently. Changing reciters often makes it harder to settle the sound of a passage in your memory.
• Revising: a slightly faster murattal you can recite along with.
• Reflection: whatever moves you, mujawwad included.

To drill a passage, open Practice, choose a reciter and 3, 5 or 7 times, then recite it yourself; see practise your weak ayahs. And if you heard a recitation and want to know who it was, identify it.