Tanbih al-Ghafilin wa Irshad al-Jahilin
- Author died
- 1118 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat Abd al-Karim ibn Abd Allah
Tanbih al-Ghafilin wa Irshad al-Jahilin (Warning the Heedless and Guiding the Ignorant) is a manual on the rules of Qur'anic recitation (tajwid) by the Tunisian Maliki jurist and Qur'an specialist Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Nuri al-Safaqsi (1053–1118 AH / 1643–1706 CE) . The work focuses on identifying and correcting recurrent phonological and phonetic errors made by reciters during the oral recitation of the Qur'an .
Composition and Purpose
The full title given to the treatise is Tanbih al-Ghafilin wa Irshad al-Jahilin 'amma Yaqa'u lahum min al-Khata' Hal Tilawatihim li-Kitab Allah al-Mubin ("Warning the Heedless and Guiding the Ignorant Concerning Errors That Occur While Reciting the Clear Book of Allah") . Al-Safaqsi composed the treatise prior to his work on the seven canonical readings, Ghayth al-Naf' fi al-Qira'at al-Sab', in which he cross-references Tanbih al-Ghafilin for an abridged summary of the categories and degrees of elongation (madd) .
In his prologue, al-Safaqsi explains that reciting the Qur'an with proper tajwid—by articulating each letter from its correct point of origin and observing its required attributes—is an obligation . He underscores the necessity of direct oral transmission (talaqqi) from skilled teachers, cautioning that relying solely on written books leads to mistakes and blameworthy innovation in recitation .
Contents and Methodology
The work provides a practical guide to the fundamentals of tajwid:
- Points of Articulation (Makharif al-Huruf): Al-Safaqsi adopts the position of al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi that there are seventeen articulation points distributed across five principal regions (the oral/pharyngeal cavity, the throat, the tongue, the lips, and the nasal passage), contrasting this with the sixteen-point system of Sibawayh and al-Shatibi, and the fourteen-point division of al-Farra' .
- Letter Attributes (Sifat al-Huruf): It classifies intrinsic paired attributes (such as hams versus jahr, and shidda versus rakhawa and intermediate sounds) and discusses how their acoustic realization prevents confusion between phonetically similar letters .
- Rules of Recitation: The text details rules governing velarization and thinning (tafkhim and tarqiq), assimilation (idgham), elongation (madd), and nasalization (ghunna), highlighting common pronunciation slips to be avoided .
Scholars of the discipline have described Tanbih al-Ghafilin as a primary manual ('umda) for teachers and students of tajwid .
Manuscripts and Publication
An autograph draft in forty quarto leaves is known . Multiple manuscript copies are preserved in several North African libraries, including the National Library of Tunisia, the al-'Abdaliyya Library at the Ez-Zitouna Mosque in Tunis, and the General Library (al-Khizana al-'Amma) in Rabat . The text was edited by Muhammad al-Shadhili al-Nayfar and published in Tunis in 1974 by Mu'assasat Abd al-Karim ibn Abd Allah .
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