Learn to read Quran with Tajweed Rules: Noon Sakinah and Tanween

Asmaa Akl

24 Dec 2019

Following up from our last article “Learn Quran with Tajweed rules: Ghunnah and Idgham”, we touched briefly upon the topic of Noon Sakinah and Tanween. Let's delve even deeper in order to further understand the functions of Noon Sakinah and Tanween in tajweed rules.

Note: It is important that you have a functional understanding of how to read Arabic letters and diacritics before you read this article. If you don’t, please review our articles “Learn Arabic Letters” and “Learn Arabic Diacritics: Tashkeel” or you can alternative join our Learn Arabic Letters classes.

What is a Noon Sakinah?

Basically the Noon Sakinah is a Noon ن devoid of any vowels; namely the Kasra كسرة, fatha فتحة, and dammah ضمة. In the Quran, the noon Sakinah can be depicted with a Sukoon سكون above it or without anything above it at all like this ن. It is important to note that both have the same pronunciation and are called Noon Sakinah. Here's an example of a Noon Sakinah in the Quran:

What is Tanween تنوين?

The tanween is an extra Noon Sakinah used with the Kasra كسرة, fatha فتحة, and dammah ضمة:

 

The noon of the Tanween is pronounced but not written:

 

There are four Tajweed rules applied to both the Noon Sakinah and Tanween and they are: إظهار، إقلاب، إدغام، إخفاء (read as Izhaar, Iqlab, Idgham and Ikhfaa respectively).

 

Izhar (إظهار): In which a Noon ن is read clearly

Letter	ن	Tanween

 

When you find the following signs in Quran with tajweed, you should know that you have to pronounce the tanween clearly:

 

Idgham (إدغام): the Noon changes into a different letter

As we previously discussed in our previous article in the series “Learn Quran with tajweed rules: Ghunnah and Idgham” , there are two types of Idgham; One with ghunnah and one without ghunnah. In this article we will expound more on examples of Idgham without ghunnah, also known as Complete Idgham (إدغام كامل), in which the letter noon changes into the letter following it when it is either a Laam ل or Raa ر.

Laam (ل):

Raa (ر):

For more information about Idgham with ghunnah, also known as Incomplete Idham (إدغام ناقص).

Iqlab (إقلاب): in which a Noon Is merged into the next letter:

Iqlab is when the noon sakinahor tanween is changed into a meem م when it is followed by a baa ب.

The equation of Iqlab (read from right to left) is:

 

An example of Iqlab with Noon Sakinah:

Min baed becomes mimbaed

 

An example of Iqlab with Tanween:

Samion basir becomes Samiombasir

 

Ikhfaa (إخفاء): the Noon is hidden and is not clear

The fourth and final rule of Noon Sakinah and Tanween is the Ikhfaa, characterized somewhere between Izhar and Idgham with Ghunnah. Ikhfaa in Arabic means “to hide”. This is exactly what happens to the Noon Sakinah or Tanween in this case. The sound of the noon fades into the sound of the letter following it accompanied with a ghunnah sound. The letters causing Ikhfaa are all the remaining Arabic letters after excluding the Arabic letters causing Izhar, Idgham and Iqlab.

The levels of Ikhfaa

There are three levels of Ikhfaa concerning each group of the remaining Arabic letters depending on the proximity of the articulation point of a letter and the letter noon. The closer a letter’s articulation point to the noon, the stronger the ghunnah sound emitted and the closer the Ikhfaa is to Idgham and vice versa. These levels are:

1- The letters (ط - د - ت):

Their articulation point is close to that of Noon. Strong Ghunnah. Ikhfaa is more like Idgham.

Examples of Ikhfaa with these letters:

Letter	ن	Tanween

 

2- The letters (ث - ج - د - ز - س - ش - ص - ض - ظ - ف):

Their articulation points are not too close to that of Noon and are not far fromn it. Ghunnah is in between.

Examples of Ikhfaa with these letters:

Letter	ن	Tanween

 

2- The letters (ق - ك):

Their articulation point is far from that of Noon. Very week Ghunnah. Ikhfaa is more like Izhar.

Examples of Ikhfaa with these letters:

Letter	ن	Tanween

 

We hope this article helped you in your quest to learn Quran with tajweed rules. We at Nour Academy strive to facilitate your path to learning Arabic and Quran with tajweed rules, which is why we specifically developed interesting curricula for those who wish to learn Arabic online and take Theoretical tajweed classes online. If you fit the criteria, be sure to check our broad spectrum of online classes and await our weekly articles for more Arabic and tajweed lessons.