In the Quran, the Noon Saakin and Meem Sakinah rules apply very frequently.

Once you’re done with Harakat, Sukoon and Madd rules, it’s important to learn Noon Saakin and Meem Sakina.

Let’s begin with video lessons!

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What is Noon Sakinah (Noon Saakin)

When a Noon (نْ) doesn’t have Harakat on it, it is called Noon Saakin or Noon Sakinah. You can also call it NoonSukoon. 

Remember Tanween? We covered it in the Harakat lesson. 

Typically, a Tanween has an implied Noon!

For instance (بً – بٍ – بٌ).

All these letters have an implied noon at the end.

So the rule is, when you are reading the Quran, you should look at the next letter after Noon Saakin or Tanween.

You must apply one of the four Noon Saakin rules depending on which group the next letter belongs to.

Here are the four groups of letters to recognize while reading Noon Saakin or Tanween in Quran:

• YARMOLOON letters (ي – ر – م – ل – و – ن)
• Throat letters (ء – ه – ع – ح – غ – خ)
• Non-throat letters (rest of the letters)
• Baa (ب)

Rule 1: Merge (اِدغام)

When a Noon Saakin or Tanween is followed by any of these letters (ي – ر – م – ل – و – ن), you merge the ن into these letters. 

We call these five letters YARMOLOON (Ya, Ra, Meem, Laam, Wow, Noon).

Here is one of the Noon Sakinah examples from Surah Al-Baqara [2:8].

Note: These are the hardest Tajweed rules. If you perfect them, you will be in good standing.

Rule 2: Show (اِظهار)

If you find a throat letter next to Noon Saakin or Tanween, you will pronounce Noon normally.

Wondering which letters are the throat letters?

We have six throat letters which are: (ء – ه – ع – ح – غ – خ).

Rule 3: Hide (اِخفاء)

If the next letter is not a throat letter, you’ll hide the Noon. 

When you apply this rule, you need to take care of a few more things such as if the next letter is light or heavy. 

And if the next letter is Ka’af, the noon will be pronounced accordingly. 

Let’s check these sub-rules.

Rule 3 (a) Light/heavy hiding

In this rule you need to check the following things:

• If the next letter is the light letter? The Ghunnah will be lighter. As in أَنْشَرَ
• If the next letter is the heavy letter? The Ghunnah will be heavier. As in فَنْصَبْ

Rule 3: (b) Ka’af

We have two special letters in YARMOLOON: Laam and Raa. 

While hiding the Noon, we have another two special letters, (ك – ق) 

So when these two letters come after Noon Saakin, you need to raise the back of the tongue to touch the Qaaf Makhraj. 

It creates a sound that comes from the nose and not from the mouth.

Rule 4: Qalb/Al-Iqlab (change ن to م)

When Ba’aa follows Noon Sakina, it becomes Meem Ghunna.

Meem Sakinah Rules

We always recommend perfecting the Noon Saakin rules before jumping to Meem Sakinah rules.

If you face trouble with the Noon Sakinah rules, spend time with them before moving on to Meem Saakin.

For Meem Sakinah rules, you need to see the next letter just like Noon Saakin.

If the next letter is:

• Meem, merge meem into meem
• Ba’aa, combine Meem with Ba’aa and create Ghunnah
• For the rest of the letters, pronounce Meem clearly