What Is Noorani Qaida? The Beginner's Book for Reading the Quran

If you learnt to read the Quran in a mosque in South Asia, the UK or many other countries, you almost certainly started with a thin book of letters and syllables. That book is the Noorani Qaida, or a close relative of it. It has lasted for more than a century because it works.

Where it comes from

The Qaida is named after its compiler, Sheikh Noor Muhammad Ludhianvi, a teacher in Ludhiana in the Punjab, who wrote it in the late 1800s. (Qa'idah means "rule" or "foundation".) His aim was a step-by-step method that let non-Arab children read the Quran correctly from the start, rather than learning by imitation alone. Many editions and adaptations exist today, including the Madani Qaida, but they follow the same idea.

What the lessons cover

Editions vary slightly, but most have around 17 lessons in this order:

1. Single letters: the 28 letters (plus hamza) with their correct sounds.
2. Compound letters: how letters look when joined at the start, middle and end of a word.
3. Disjointed letters (huruf muqatta'at): the letter combinations that open some surahs, like الٓمٓ.
4. Short vowels: fatha, kasrah and dammah. See harakat.
5. Tanween: the doubled vowels at the end of nouns.
6. Standing vowels: the small alif, ya and waw that lengthen sounds.
7. Madd letters: alif, waw and ya that stretch the vowel. See madd rules.
8. Leen letters: waw and ya with sukoon after fatha.
9. Sukoon: letters with no vowel.
10. Shaddah: doubled letters. See sukoon and shaddah.
11. Combined practice: words that mix everything, including noon sakinah, ghunnah and words from the Quran.

Why it works

• One new thing at a time. Each lesson adds a single concept and drills it before moving on.
• Sound first. Students say the letter's sound, not just its name, which builds correct makharij from day one.
• Tajweed built in. Ghunnah, madd and qalqalah appear naturally in the later lessons, so students meet them before they meet the mushaf.
• Real Quranic words. The later lessons use words taken from the Quran, so the transition to the mushaf is gentle.

Who it is for

• Children, usually from around age 4 or 5.
• Adults who never learnt to read Arabic script, including many new Muslims.
• Adults who learnt as children but read with many mistakes and want to rebuild properly.

How long it takes

Most learners take three to six months with two or three lessons a week. Young children often take longer, and adults are often faster. We break this down by age and number of lessons in how long Noorani Qaida takes.

Can you learn it alone?

You can learn the letter shapes from the book and videos. The problem is pronunciation. Many Arabic sounds do not exist in English or Urdu, and a beginner cannot tell whether their ح or ض is correct. Since the whole purpose of the Qaida is correct reading, a teacher who listens to every sound is important, especially for the first lessons.

Tips for parents

• Short daily practice beats one long session a week.
• Have your child read the last page of their lesson to you each day. You do not need to know Arabic to notice hesitation.
• Do not rush to the next page. A solid lesson is better than three shaky ones.
• Praise steady effort. Learning a new script is hard work.

Our guide to teaching the Arabic alphabet to kids has more ideas, and UK families may find this guide for UK parents useful.

After Noorani Qaida

Students move on to Nazra, reading the mushaf itself with tajweed, and later to Hifz or tafseer. Our one-on-one Noorani Qaida course is taught by Hafiz-e-Quran teachers, with the pace set by the student.