Al-Muzzammil · Makki · ayah 4 of 20

Al-Muzzammil 73:4

أَوْ زِدْ عَلَيْهِ وَرَتِّلِ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ تَرْتِيلًا

“Or add to it, and recite the Qur’ān with measured recitation.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Recite the Quran the way it was sent, each word given its space like evenly set petals, so the heart has time to be moved.

A reflection

Petals around a centre

Wa rattili al-qurʾāna tartīlā. And recite the Quran with measured recitation.

The root of tartīl has a picture behind it. The Arabs spoke of a thaghr rattal: front teeth set evenly, a little space between each one. A classical commentator compares it to the flowers of the chamomile, white petals spaced neatly around the centre. Another explains that the teeth do not touch each other.

Now picture a chamomile flower in a summer field. Each petal stands on its own, clearly separate, yet all of them belong to one flower and turn around one centre. Nothing is crowded. Nothing is lost in a blur.

That, the commentators say, is what recitation should be like. The same commentator describes tartīl as reciting with ease and care, making the letters clear and giving the vowels their full value. The recited words should come out like those evenly set teeth. Not gabbled, not run together in a stream.

A later commentator goes further. Recite it so clearly that a listener could count the letters.

The emphatic form matters too. The verb is followed by its own noun, rattil … tartīlā. Recite in measured recitation, really measured.

Most of us recite the way we read emails, fast and for the gist. This ayah asks for something else. Give each word its space. Let the whole revolve around its centre. Let a listener, or your own heart, be able to hear every part.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.