If you have already learnt the rules of noon sakinah and tanween, meem sakinah will feel easy. It works on the same idea, the next letter decides the pronunciation, but there are only three rules instead of four, and only two letters that change anything.

What is meem sakinah?

It is a meem with no vowel. You see it all the time in pronouns like هُمْ، لَكُمْ، عَلَيْهِمْ. Because meem is made by closing both lips, the rules are called shafawi, from shafah, lip.

1. Ikhfa shafawi: before ب

When meem sakinah is followed by ب, you bring the lips together lightly, hold a nasal sound (ghunnah) for about two counts, then release into the ب.

• تَرْمِيهِمْ بِحِجَارَةٍ (al-Fil 105:4)
• وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ (al-Baqarah 2:8)
• يَعْتَصِمْ بِاللَّهِ

Reciters differ slightly on how the lips are held. In the common practice, the lips touch gently without pressure; some teachers prefer a tiny gap. Both are accepted. What matters is that you do not press the lips hard, and that the ghunnah lasts its full two counts.

2. Idgham shafawi: before م

When meem sakinah meets another meem, the two merge into one meem with a shaddah, held with ghunnah for two counts. Scholars also call this idgham mithlayn saghir, merging two identical letters.

• لَهُمْ مَا يَشَاءُونَ reads as lahum-mā
• كَمْ مِنْ فِئَةٍ (al-Baqarah 2:249)
• أَمْ مَنْ

3. Izhar shafawi: before every other letter

Before the remaining 26 letters, the meem is pronounced clearly. Close the lips, say the meem, and open into the next letter with no added hum.

• الْحَمْدُ
• أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ
• لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ (al-Kafirun 109:6)

Why و and ف need special care

The letters و and ف are also made with the lips, so the mouth wants to slide straight into them and swallow the meem. Ibn al-Jazari warns about this directly in his poem. Listen to the end of al-Fatiha: عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ. The meem must be closed fully before the و. The same goes for هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ.

Summary table

Meem with shaddah

A meem written with shaddah, as in ثُمَّ or مِمَّا, always carries a full two-count ghunnah. Strictly that belongs to the rules of ghunnah, but students often meet it in the same lesson.

Practising it

Surah al-Fil, al-Kafirun and the last verses of al-Fatiha contain all three rules in a few lines, so they make a good drill. Read each meem sakinah, name the rule, then read the line again at normal speed. Ask your teacher to listen specifically for the meem before و and ف; it is the part most people get wrong without noticing.

These rules are covered early in our Quran with Tajweed course, right after noon sakinah.