Noon Sakinah and Tanween: The Four Rules, With Examples
Quick answer
Noon sakinah and tanween follow four rules, decided by the next letter: izhar (clear) before the six throat letters ء ه ع ح غ خ; idgham (merging) before the letters of يرملون, with ghunnah for ي ن م و and without it for ل ر; iqlab (turning into a meem) before ب; and ikhfa (partial hiding with ghunnah) before the remaining fifteen letters.
Noon sakinah is a noon carrying a sukun (نْ). Tanween is the doubled vowel at the end of a word (ـً ـٍ ـٌ), which is pronounced as a hidden noon. In Tajweed both follow the same four rules, and which rule applies depends on just one thing: the letter that comes right after. Between them, the four rules cover all 28 letters of the alphabet.
You will meet these rules on almost every line of the Mushaf, which is why most Tajweed teachers start here once a student's reading is solid.
Rule | Letters | What happens | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Izhar (clear) | ء ه ع ح غ خ | The noon is pronounced clearly, with no added nasal sound | مَنْ آمَنَ |
Idgham with ghunnah | ي ن م و | The noon merges into the next letter, with a nasal sound held for two counts | مَن يَقُولُ |
Idgham without ghunnah | ل ر | The noon merges completely, with no nasal sound | مِن رَّبِّهِمْ |
Iqlab (conversion) | ب | The noon turns into a light meem, with ghunnah | مِنۢ بَعْدِ |
Ikhfa (hiding) | The remaining 15 letters | The noon is half-hidden, with ghunnah, as the mouth prepares for the next letter | مِن قَبْلِ |
Examples follow the recitation of Hafs from Asim.
Izhar
Say it clearly
Before the six throat letters, the noon is pronounced clearly and the tongue moves straight on. Teachers often use the phrase أَخِي هَاكَ عِلْمًا حَازَهُ غَيْرُ خَاسِرٍ to remember them: the first letter of each word is one of the six. The usual mistake here is adding a nasal hum that does not belong, so listen for a clean, short noon.
Idgham
Merge it
Idgham happens with the six letters gathered in the word يَرْمَلُونَ. With ي ن م و, the noon merges into the next letter and leaves behind a ghunnah of two counts. With ل and ر, it disappears into the next letter completely.
One exception catches people out. Idgham only happens across two words. Inside a single word the noon is read clearly, and there are exactly four such words in the Quran: الدُّنْيَا, بُنْيَانٌ, قِنْوَانٌ and صِنْوَانٌ.
Iqlab
Turn it into a meem
One letter only: ب. The noon becomes a light meem, the lips close gently, and the sound is held with ghunnah for two counts. Most Mushafs print a small meem above the noon or tanween to mark it, as in مِنۢ بَعْدِ.
Ikhfa
Hide it halfway
The other fifteen letters are ت ث ج د ذ ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ف ق ك. Here the noon is neither fully pronounced nor fully merged. The tongue does not press firmly on the place of the noon; the sound passes through the nose for two counts while the mouth gets ready for the next letter. Students find this the hardest of the four, and it is where a teacher's ear matters most.
The mistakes we hear most
Skipping the ghunnah altogether in idgham and ikhfa, so the recitation sounds flat. Turning ikhfa into a full, clear noon, which is the most common mistake of all among English speakers, because English has no sound quite like it. And forgetting the four-word exception, then merging the noon in الدُّنْيَا.
The best practice is not memorising the table. Open Juz Amma, find every noon sakinah and tanween on one page, name the letter after it, and say the rule out loud before you recite. Ten minutes of that does more than an hour of reading rules. In our Tajweed classes at Bilqalam this is usually the first family of rules taught after the basics, with examples taken from surahs the student already knows. For how these rules fit with the others, see our guide on what Tajweed is.