In the Quran, noon Sakinah and meem Sakinah refer to a set of rules that are very important. 

You will come across these rules on almost every other Arabic letter. 

Let’s learn the rules.

Noon Sakinah

When a Noon (نْ) doesn’t have Harakat on it, it is called Noon Sakinah/Sukoon. 

Remember Tanween? It’s an implied noon!

For instance (بً – بٍ – بٌ).

While reading the Quran, whenever you see a Noon Sakinah or Tanween, you must look at the next letter.

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

Here are the four groups of letters to recognize while reading Noon Sakinah/Tanween:

• 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 Sakinah 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).

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

Merge rule

Rule 2: Show (اِظهار)

If the next letter after Noon Sukoon or Tanween is a throat letter, you will show it.

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 it’s not a throat letter, hide the Noon.

Check out the video that explains rules 2 and 3.

Show/hide rules

Rule 3 (a) Lighter/heavy hiding

While hiding the Noon, you need to care for 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 had 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 Sakina, 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 noon Sakina follows Ba’aa, it becomes Meem Ghunna.

Watch these videos to understand the above rules.

Light and heavy letters

Al-Qalb rule

Rules of Meem

If you have trouble reading the Noon rules, don’t learn Meem until you are proficient in the Noon rules. Because you will get confused.

For Meem, you need to see the next letter just like you did for Noon Sakina.

If the next letter is:

• Meem. Merge meem into meem
• Baa. Combine Meem with Baa and create Ghunnah
• Rest of the letter. Show Meem clearly

Here is the video lesson:

Rule of Meem

Section test – Important!