Quba

ٱقْرَأْ

Learn to read the Quran

A step-by-step course from the Arabic letters to the rules of tajweed, with practice after every lesson.

YOUR COURSEStart with lesson 1 · How Arabic is written0 of 29 lessons done

Practice tools

Work through the units in order: first the letters, then the vowels and signs, reading whole words, the rules of tajweed, and finally understanding what you read. Each lesson takes about ten minutes and ends with a short practice.

UNIT 1

The letters

Recognise all 28 letters and their sounds.

  1. 1How Arabic is writtenDirection, letters and joining
  2. 2Alif to khāʾا ب ت ث ج ح خ
  3. 3Dāl to ṣādد ذ ر ز س ش ص
  4. 4Ḍād to qāfض ط ظ ع غ ف ق
  5. 5Kāf to yāʾك ل م ن ه و ي ء
  6. 6Letter shapesHow letters join in a word
  7. 7Sounds new to EnglishHear the difference

UNIT 2

Vowels and signs

The small marks that make the letters speak.

  1. 8Short vowelsFatḥa, kasra and ḍamma
  2. 9SukūnLetters without a vowel
  3. 10Long vowelsAlif, wāw and yāʾ of madd
  4. 11TanwīnThe endings -an, -in and -un
  5. 12ShaddaA doubled letter
  6. 13Signs of the Quran scriptMarks you meet in the muṣḥaf

UNIT 3

Reading

Join letters into words and read your first verses.

  1. 14Al- and the sun lettersWhen the l of “the” is heard
  2. 15Your first verseRead the basmala, syllable by syllable
  3. 16Reading Al-FātiḥaThe Opening, word by word

UNIT 4

Tajweed

Recite as the Quran was revealed and taught.

  1. 17What is tajweed?Why and how we learn it
  2. 18Where letters come fromThe places of articulation (makhārij)
  3. 19Heavy and light lettersTafkhīm and tarqīq
  4. 20QalqalaThe echoing letters
  5. 21Nūn sākina and tanwīnFour ways to say the n
  6. 22Mīm sākinaThree rules for the m
  7. 23GhunnaThe nasal sound of nūn and mīm
  8. 24Madd: lengtheningHow long to stretch a vowel
  9. 25Stopping and startingWaqf and its signs

UNIT 5

Understanding

Start to understand what you recite.

  1. 26Words you meet everywhereStart with the most frequent words
  2. 27PronounsI, you, he, we and they
  3. 28Roots and patternsOne root, many words
  4. 29Keep goingMake it a daily habit

The tajweed rules here follow the recitation of Ḥafṣ from ʿĀṣim, as in this app’s Quran text. An app is a good start, but recitation is best learned by reciting to a teacher.