Here is a situation many Indian parents run into. Your daughter has finished Noorani Qaida at the local madrasa and reads the family mushaf nicely. Then she opens a Quran app on your phone, and suddenly she is slow and unsure. The letters look thinner, some marks are new, and a few words seem to be spelled differently. She asks if this is a different Quran.
It is not. She has met the other main way of printing the Quran. In India most homes and masjids use the Indo-Pak style, while most apps, and copies from Saudi Arabia, use what people call the Uthmani or Madani script. Here is what actually differs, and how to decide which one to learn.
First, the names
The labels are a bit confusing. Strictly speaking, both styles follow the Uthmani rasm, the way the words are spelled in the copies of the Quran sent out in the time of the Caliph Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). When an app or a shop says “Uthmani script”, it usually means the style of the Madani mushaf printed by the King Fahd Complex in Madinah. “Indo-Pak” (also called South Asian or Hafizi) means the style printed in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Both carry the same words of the Quran and, in India, almost always the same recitation, Hafs from Asim. What differs is the style of handwriting and the system of marks added to help the reader. The Indian names for those marks — zabar, zer, pesh and the rest — are explained in plain words in our guide to zabar zer pesh in the Quran.
What looks different
The lettering
Indo-Pak letters are bolder and thicker, with more space between them. Many readers, especially older ones, find them easier to read in print. The Madani style is finer and closer to the naskh handwriting used across the Arab world.
Long vowels and silent letters
This is where most of the confusion comes from. The two styles mark the same sounds in different ways:
| What it shows | Indo-Pak | Madani (Uthmani) |
|---|---|---|
| A standing (long) fatha | هٰذَا, a vertical stroke | هَٰذَا, a small alif after the fatha |
| A long “u” on the pronoun ha | an upside-down damma on the ha of لَهُ | لَهُۥ, a small waw after the ha |
| A long “i” on the pronoun ha | a standing (vertical) kasra under the ha of بِهِ | بِهِۦ, a small ya after the ha |
| A letter that is written but not read | اُولٰٓئِكَ: the silent waw is left with no mark | a small round circle, like a zero, on the silent waw |
In Indo-Pak copies the rule of thumb is simple: if a letter has no mark at all, you do not pronounce it. Madani copies mark the silent letter with a little circle instead. Children who learned one rule are often thrown by the other, which is exactly what happened to the girl with the phone.
Tajweed hints built into the marks
The Madani print builds several Tajweed hints into its marks. For example, the way a tanween is drawn shows whether the noon sound is clear or merges into the next letter, and a sukoon is left off a letter that is not pronounced clearly. Indo-Pak copies show some of this differently and leave more of it to the teacher. Neither approach is wrong; they were developed for readers in different places.
Stopping marks and page layout
Indo-Pak copies carry a larger set of stopping signs, while the Madani print uses six. Our guide to waqf signs in the Quran lists both. Indo-Pak copies also mark each ruku with a ع in the margin and are usually divided into 30 paras and 7 manzils; the Madani print marks the hizb and its quarters with ۞. For all 30 names, see the 30 paras of the Quran and how Indian mushafs divide them.
Page layout matters mainly to Hifz students. The standard Madani mushaf has 604 pages of 15 lines, each page ending at the end of an ayah. In India the popular “Hafizi” copies also have 15 lines and pages that end on an ayah, but the layout is not the same as the Madani one. There are also 13-line and 16-line Indo-Pak copies.
Which one should you learn?
There is no religious reason to prefer one style. The practical question is which copy your child will read from most. A few common cases:
- Your family and masjid use Indo-Pak copies. Start there. Most Noorani Qaida books in India are printed in the same style, so the move from Qaida to Quran is smooth. Our guide on learning Noorani Qaida online explains that first stage.
- Your child reads mostly on a phone or tablet. Most apps open in the Madani style. Many also offer an Indo-Pak font in settings, so check that before deciding.
- You are an adult starting from scratch. Pick the style of the copy you own and will open every day. Our page on learning Quran as an adult has more for late starters.
- You are starting Hifz. Choose one printed copy and keep it for the whole journey. Memory leans heavily on where an ayah sits on the page, so changing layouts midway makes revision harder. The Hifz revision plan explains why the same copy matters.
Can you learn both?
Yes, and many people do. The letters and words are the same, so a fluent reader of one style is learning a new set of marks, not a new language. It feels slow for the first sessions. Keeping the table above beside you, or asking a teacher to point out each new mark as it appears, makes the switch much quicker. Children who travel or move abroad often end up reading both comfortably.
A tip for parents choosing a mushaf
When you buy a copy for a child, look for clear print, a good-sized font and sturdy binding rather than a decorative cover. Open a page and check that the vowel marks are sharp, because blurry marks are the main cause of reading mistakes in cheap prints. If your child will start Hifz later, a 15-line Hafizi copy is a sensible choice in India.
If you join classes, show the teacher the copy you use at home during the trial and ask whether the lessons can follow it. In Nazra, the stage of reading fluently from the mushaf (see what is Nazra Quran), matching the copy saves a lot of confusion. Our Nazra Quran online course and the Noorani Qaida online course both run as one-to-one classes, 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, and Hifz students can read about the online Hifz classes. For fees, see the fee section, or read about our online Islamic institute.
Frequently asked questions
No. It is the same Quran with the same words. Only the style of the lettering and the system of vowel and stopping marks differ.
Usually the one they see at home and in the masjid. Since most Noorani Qaida books in India use the Indo-Pak style, many children find that style easier to begin with.
Yes. Get used to its marks first, then memorise from one copy and keep using that same copy for revision.
Mostly because of the marks: silent letters, long vowels and small helper letters are shown differently in the two styles. The words being read are the same.
No. Both follow the Uthmani spelling of the Quran and are accepted by scholars. Choose the one that suits the copy you will read every day.
Not sure which copy your child should read from? Book 3 free trial classes and talk it through with a teacher. You pay only if you decide to continue.