Open any page of the Quran and you will find noon sakinah or tanween within a line or two. That is why this is usually the first set of rules a tajweed teacher spends real time on. Get these four right and your recitation already sounds very different.

First, what counts as noon sakinah and tanween?

Noon sakinah is a noon with no vowel, either written with a sukoon (مِنْ) or pronounced that way. It can sit in the middle of a word or at the end.

Tanween is the doubled vowel at the end of a noun, as in عَلِيمٌ، عَلِيمًا، عَلِيمٍ. It is not written as a noon, but it is pronounced as one: 'alīmun, 'alīman, 'alīmin. So the same four rules apply to it. The only difference is that tanween only appears at the end of a word.

Rule 1: Izhar (clear pronunciation)

Letters: the six throat letters ء ه ع ح غ خ.

The throat letters are far from where noon is produced, so the noon stays clear, with no extra nasal sound held.

• مَنْ آمَنَ: noon then hamza
• مِنْهُمْ: noon then ha, inside one word
• عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ: tanween then hamza
• مِنْ خَيْرٍ: noon then kha

The usual mistake here is adding a hum because the student is used to ikhfa. Close the noon cleanly and move on.

Rule 2: Idgham (merging)

Letters: the six letters in the word يَرْمَلُونَ: ي ر م ل و ن.

The noon is absorbed into the next letter, as if that letter had a shaddah. There are two kinds:

With ghunnah: ي ن م و

The noon merges, but you keep a two-count nasal sound.

• فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ reads as famay-ya'mal
• خَيْرًا يَرَهُ (az-Zalzalah 99:7)
• مِنْ مَالٍ
• مِنْ وَالٍ

Without ghunnah: ل ر

The noon disappears completely into the ل or ر, with no hum.

• مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ reads as mir-rabbihim
• غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ reads as ghafūrur-rahīm
• هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

Rule 3: Iqlab (changing to meem)

Letter: only ب.

The noon turns into a meem, said with closed lips and a two-count ghunnah. Many mushafs print a small meem above the noon to remind you.

• مِنْ بَعْدِ reads as mim-ba'di
• أَنْبِئْهُمْ, inside one word
• سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ reads as samī'um-basīr

Keep the lips lightly closed. Pressing them hard makes the ghunnah sound pinched.

Rule 4: Ikhfa (hiding)

Letters: the remaining fifteen: ص ذ ث ك ج ش ق س د ط ز ف ت ض ظ.

The noon is neither fully said nor fully merged. The tongue does not touch where it normally makes a noon. Instead, the sound comes through the nose for about two counts while the mouth gets ready for the next letter.

• مِنْ قَبْلِ
• أَنْتُمْ, inside one word
• كُنْتُمْ
• رِيحًا صَرْصَرًا

A practical point: the ghunnah takes on the weight of the next letter. Before a heavy letter like ق or ص it sounds fuller; before a light letter like ت or ك it sounds lighter.

A quick way to remember all four

How to practise

Take Surah al-Mulk or Juz 'Amma and underline every noon sakinah and tanween in one colour. Before reading, say which rule applies to each one. Then read the passage aloud slowly. This "find it, name it, say it" habit is what we use with students, and it usually takes a couple of weeks before the rules start happening without thinking.

The rules for meem sakinah follow the same idea with fewer letters, so they are a natural next step. If you would like someone to check your ghunnah and ikhfa, our tajweed course works on exactly this in one-on-one sessions.