Kur’ân Eğitiminde Manzûm Tecvid Geleneği: Cemzûrî ve Tuhfetü’l-Eṭfâl Adlı Manzûm Eseri
Poetical Tajwīd in the Education of the Qur'an: Jamzūrī and His Work Tuḥfat al-Aṭfâl

Summary/Abstract: The first known work on tajwīd is written by Abu Muhammad Musa b. Ubeydillâh al-Khaqani (d. 325/937). Afterwards, the distinct authority in Qur’an recitation Ibn al-Jazarī (d. 833/1429) emerged with his work al-Muqaddimah. After Ibn al-Jazarī, we see the poetic work called Tuḥfat al-Aṭfâl by Sulaymān al-Jamzūrī (d. ?) which is widely studied for Qur’anic education (tajwīd) especially in the Arabian geography. This article deals with Tuḥfat al-Aṭfâl, a work despite authored in the 12th century, still holds its importance today. It was a poetical textbook regarding the education of the Qur’an in the Arab world and was memorized by students. The aim of this study is to examine this poetical text and also the commentary (Fath al-Aqfal) written by the author himself.Summary: Arabic letters as well as their articulation-places and features have been explored and examined by the Arab philologists and the scholars of the Qirāah. In consequence, before the tajwīd evolved into an independent Qur’ānic discipline, some topics of the tajwīd had taken their place in the literature of Arabic grammar and the Qirāah. The tajwīd evolved into an independent Qur’ānic discipline through the works composed by the Qur’ānic scholars who lived in the second half of the third century and the first half of the fourth century after Hijrah. A cursory glance at the tajwīd literature shows that some of these books were written in verse. The fact that the literature in verse helped the students study and even memorize the subjects of the tajwīd played an important role in composing such works in verse in the field.The earliest work produced in the field of the tajwīd is an in-verse book known as al-Qaṣidah al- Khāqāniyyah by Abū Muzāḥim Mūsā bin ‘Ubaydillāh al-Khāqānī (d. 325/937). Again, al-Muqaddimah, which was composed by one of the most authoritative scholars of the Qirāah, Ibn al-Jazarī (d. 833/1429), and has been one of the most frequently studied textbooks by the students of the tajwīd, is also a tajwīd textbook written in verse. As a continuation of such works, al-al-Jamzūrī’s Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl, which was composed in the twelveth century after Hijrah and has been one of the most studied texts by the students in the Arab countries in modern times, is also important. This article is intended to examine the Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl through the Fatḥ al-Aqfāl, a work that al-Jamzūrī himself composed as a commentary upon the former, investigating the significance and distinguishing features of the work.We do not have much biographical information about al-Jamzūrī, who was born in 1160 after Hijrah in Jamzūr, a town located four miles away from Ṭanṭa, Egypt. The exact date of his death is not known. However, in consideration of the Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl’s date of composition 1198 after Hijrah, one can say that he passed away after that time. As a follower of the Shāfi‘ī school, al-Jamzūrī studied with a number of scholars, the most famous of whom is ‘Alī bin Aḥmad al-Mīhī, whose mention occurs in the Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl. This scolar in turn studied with thousands of great scholars in Ṭanṭa.The following are some of al-Jamzūrī’s works which have come down to us and have been considered one of reference books in the field:Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl bi Tajwīd al-Qur’ān: Al-Jamzūrī composed this book in verse in order to teach the children the subjects of the tajwīd that he studied with his teacher al-Mīhī.Fetḥ al-Aqfāl bi Sharḥi Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl: This is his commentary on his own in-verse Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl.Al-Fatḥ al-Raḥmānī Sharḥu Kanz al-Ma‘ānī bi Taḥrīri Ḥirz al-Amānī fī al-Qirāah. This is an annotation by our author on Kanz al-Ma‘ānī, which is a commentary by Jābarī (d. 732/1332) on the Ḥirz al-Amānī, known also as Lāmiyyah, a work in verse by Shāṭibī (d. 590/1194).Manẓūma fī Qirāati Warsh: This work analyzes the Azraq version of the Warsh narration, and is registered in the Cairo Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah Library, no 615.The first printed edition of the Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl was done by Maṭba‘at al-Sharaf in 1308 after Hijra, in Egypt. The work, including its prologue and epilogue, consists of 10 chapters and 61 verses in totality. Our considerations about this work in verse by Sulaymān al-Jamzūrī are as the following:After saying the praise of God (ḥamdalah) and evoking mercy and peace upon the Prophet Muḥammad (ṣalwalah) in the epilogue, the book speaks briefly of its contents, which are in order: al-tanwīn or al-nūn al-sākinah, the states of al-mīm al-sākinah, “aliflām” and “lām al-fi‘l”, idghām al-mithlayn, idghām al-mutajānisayn, idghām al-mutaqāribayn, types and rulings of al-madd. On the other hand, the book does not include a discussion of the articulation-places and features of the letters. One may explain this as because the book targets as its readers the new beginner students of the Qur’ān and thus aims at providing a brief explanation of the tajwīd topics. The tajwīd literature gives priority to such topics as the definiton and importance of the tajwīd, merits of the recitation of the Qur’ān, and the articulation-places and features of the letters. This order is most likely to be formed in accordance with the systematic he took from his teacher whom he mentions at the beginning of the prologue.One may observe that the Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl is an essential textbook for the new beginners of the Qur’ān studies in the contemporary Arab world. Again in this context, this book is important in that it is one of the books written in verse that have been studied and memorized with certification and authorization by the students of the Tajwīd and the Qirāah. Of similar books in verse, one can mention in order al-Shāṭibiyyah, Ṭayyibat al-Nashr, Muqaddimat al-Jazarī, and Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl. What is interesting in this context is the fact that some of the commentaries on the Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl are considered together with the Muqaddimat al-Jazarī, which has been studied more by the advanced students of the Qirāah. This shows the fact that both works in verse are quite important in the education of the Qur’ān.One can say that the Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl adopts a brief, clear and easy-going style in explaning the topics, a fact which contributed to the easily memorization of the text. As a result, this text is widely studied and memorized in the Arab countries. One should state that the work is successful in terms of language, style and rhyme. This adds a phonetical beauty to the work. In conclusion, this is an important work in the in-verse literature of the tajwīd in that it briefly and clearly discusses an important part, if not all, of the subjects of the tajwīd.

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