The rules of Meem Sakinah are three: Ikhfa Shafawi, Idgham Shafawi and Izhar Shafawi. Which one you apply depends entirely on the single letter that comes after the silent meem (مْ). This is the easiest chapter in Tajweed rules — and it is worth saying so plainly, because most learners arrive here bracing for another list of twenty-eight letters to memorise.
Noon Sakinah has four rules and letter groups to sort. Meem Sakinah has three rules, and two of them are triggered by one letter each: ب and م. Everything else falls to the third rule by default. If you can answer one question — is the next letter ب or م? — you have finished the chapter.
⚡ The 30-second version: مْ before ب → Ikhfa Shafawi, 2-count ghunnah · مْ before م → Idgham Shafawi, 2-count ghunnah · مْ before any of the other 26 letters → Izhar Shafawi, no ghunnah. All three are called Shafawi because the meem is made with the two lips.
What Is Meem Sakinah?
Meem Sakinah (ميم ساكنة) is the letter meem (م) carrying a sukoon — a meem with no vowel on it, like the مْ in هُمْ or أَلَمْ. In Tajweed it has three rules, and which one applies depends entirely on the letter that comes immediately after it.
That is the whole Meem Sakinah meaning in one line. Sakinah comes from sukoon (سكون), stillness — the small circle written above a letter to say “this letter has no vowel, do not move on it”. A meem that is still is a Meem Sakinah. You will also see it written Meem Sakin, Mim Sakin or Meem Saakinah in English; all four spellings describe the same مْ, and the Meem Sakin rules are the same rules.
Where you will find it
A Meem Sakinah sits in one of two places, and the rules work identically in both:
At the end of a word
لَكُمْ · عَلَيْهِمْ · أَنتُمْ
In the middle of a word
الْحَمْدُ · يَمْشُونَ · أَمْوَال
Meem Sakinah is not the same as a meem with shaddah
This is the single most common beginner confusion, and almost no English page addresses it. A meem carrying a shaddah — as in أُمَّة or ثُمَّ — is not a Meem Sakinah. A shaddah means the letter is doubled, and a doubled meem has its own separate rule: a compulsory two-count ghunnah, in every position, with no reference to the letter after it. Meem Sakinah is only ever a meem with a sukoon. If you see a shaddah, this chapter does not apply.
Meem Sakinah Pronunciation and Makhraj
The meem is produced by closing the two lips — ash-shafatayn (الشفتان) — while the sound escapes through the nose. That single fact explains the naming of the entire chapter. Shafawi (شفوي) means “of the lips”, from shafah (شفة). All three rules of Meem Sakinah carry the label because all three concern a letter made at the lips. You can place it against the other articulation points in our guide to the Makhraj of Arabic letters.
Once the makhraj is settled, only one variable is left, and it is the whole of Meem Sakinah Tajweed: the length of the ghunnah. Two of the three rules hold a nasal sound for two counts. One holds none at all. Learn to hear that dial move and you have learned the chapter.
👃 The nose-pinch test
Pinch your nose and recite أَلَمْ تَرَ. Nothing should change — there is no ghunnah in Izhar Shafawi, so blocking the nose blocks nothing. Now try تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ with the nose still pinched. The sound gets blocked, because Ikhfa Shafawi has a ghunnah and the air needs somewhere to go. Ten seconds, no teacher required, and it tells you instantly whether you are applying the rule.
Hear the three rules back to back
Three short clips in the recitation of Shaykh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary — a couple of seconds each, deliberately, so you hear the meem and nothing else. Play them in order. The difference between “no hum”, “hum with a gap” and “hum with the lips shut” becomes obvious within one pass.
Tap a clip to hear it.
The 3 Meem Sakinah Rules With Examples
Here is the entire chapter in one table. Everything below it is detail; if you only read one thing on this page, read this.
1. Ikhfa Shafawi (مْ before ب)
Ikhfa (إخفاء) means hiding; shafawi means of the lips. Put together: the meem is hidden at the lips. It is neither pronounced fully clearly nor merged away — it sits in the middle, which is exactly why it takes practice.
To produce it, bring the two lips close together but do not press them shut. Hold the ghunnah for two counts through the nose while the lips hover, then release straight into the ب. The classic error is sealing the lips completely: do that and you have pronounced a clear meem, which is Izhar, not Ikhfa. The gap is small — a hair’s width is enough — but it has to be there.
تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ
Al-Fil 105:4 · tarmeehim bi-hijarah — “pelting them with stones”
أَلَمْ يَعْلَم بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَىٰ
Al-‘Alaq 96:14 · alam yaʿlam bi-anna… — “does he not know that Allah sees?”
وَهُم بِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ
Luqman 31:4 · wa hum bil-aakhirati hum yooqinoon — “and of the Hereafter they are certain”
An honest note on the disagreement
Not all scholars describe this identically. Some hold that the lips close completely during Ikhfa Shafawi and the hiding happens by the ghunnah alone. The position taught in most Hafs ‘an ‘Asim curricula, and the one assumed on this page, is the light gap. Both are transmitted positions and neither invalidates a recitation — but if your teacher describes it the other way, follow your teacher, not a web page.
2. Idgham Shafawi (مْ before م)
Idgham (إدغام) means merging. A silent meem meets another meem, and the two become one. Because the two letters are identical, the classical books give this rule a second, more precise name: Idgham Mutamathilayn Sagheer (إدغام متماثلين صغير) — the small merging of two identical letters. “Small” because the first letter is silent and the second carries a vowel.
How to read Idgham Mim Sakin words
1. Do not pronounce the first meem separately
It has no independent sound of its own. Reading it as its own letter is the error that produces two meems where there should be one.
2. Close the lips once, on the second meem
Press them together slightly firmer than usual, exactly as though the second meem carried a shaddah — because in effect it does.
3. Hold the ghunnah for two counts, then release
The nasal sound runs while the lips stay shut. Only after two counts do you open into the vowel that follows.
❌ Wrong: لَهُمْ · مَا — two separate meems with a bump between them.
✅ Right: لَهُم مَّا — one meem, lips shut, held two counts.
وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ
Al-Baqarah 2:141 · wa lakum maa kasabtum — “and for you is what you earned”
وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ
An-Nahl 16:53 · wa maa bikum min niʿmah — “whatever blessing you have”
لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ
Al-Ma’idah 5:9 · lahum maghfiratun wa ajrun ʿaẓeem — “for them is forgiveness and a great reward”
A clue printed in your mushaf. In the Madani script the first meem carries no sukoon circle at all, and the second meem carries a shaddah. If you see a bare meem followed immediately by a meem with a shaddah, you are looking at Idgham Shafawi before you have read a word. It is the fastest visual giveaway in the whole chapter.
3. Izhar Shafawi (مْ before the other 26 letters)
This is the default, and it comes with the best news on the page: there is no list to memorise. Take the twenty-eight letters of the alphabet, remove ب and م, and every remaining letter triggers Izhar Shafawi. Twenty-six of twenty-eight, which is why most of the meem sakinah you meet in the Quran fall here.
How to read it: close the lips cleanly on the meem, no ghunnah, no lengthening, no pause, and release straight into the next letter. The meem is heard as itself and nothing is added to it.
The two letters to watch: و and ف
Both are made at or very near the lips — the waw with the lips rounded, the fa with the lip against the teeth. Because the meem has only just left the lips, it is easy to let it blur into them and add a hum that does not belong. Classical works flag these two as needing the firmest clarity, which is why the pairing is sometimes called Izhar Shafawi Aqwa, the strongest Izhar Shafawi.
عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
Al-Fatihah 1:7 · meem before و — extra care
هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
Al-Baqarah 2:39 · meem before ف — extra care
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ
Al-Fil 105:1 · meem before ت
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
Al-Fatihah 1:2 · meem before د, inside one word
Meem Sakinah Examples in the Quran
The best way to meet the Meem Sakinah rules in the Quran is not a list of scattered verses — it is one short passage that contains all three. Surah Al-Fil and Surah Quraysh do exactly that between them, and nearly every learner already has both memorised. Work through these eight ayat correctly and you have applied the whole chapter today.
Worked passage: Al-Fil & Quraysh
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ
105:1 · after مْ: ت · Izhar Shafawi
أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ
105:2 · after مْ: ي · Izhar Shafawi
عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا
105:3 · after مْ: ط · Izhar Shafawi
تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ
105:4 · after مْ: ب · Ikhfa Shafawi
أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ
106:4 · after مْ: م, twice · Idgham Shafawi ×2
Four ayat of Al-Fil give you three clear Izhar Shafawi and one Ikhfa Shafawi. One ayah of Quraysh gives you two Idgham Shafawi in a row. That is the complete chapter inside two surahs you can already recite from memory.
More Meem Sakinah Quran examples
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
1:2 · د · Izhar Shafawi, inside one word
عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
1:7 · و · Izhar Shafawi (strongest)
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
112:3 · ي twice · Izhar Shafawi
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ
109:6 · د · Izhar Shafawi
هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
2:39 · ف · Izhar Shafawi (strongest)
أَلَمْ يَعْلَم بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَىٰ
96:14 · ب · Ikhfa Shafawi
وَهُم بِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ
31:4 · ب · Ikhfa Shafawi
وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ
2:141 · م · Idgham Shafawi
لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ
5:9 · م · Idgham Shafawi
وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ
16:53 · م · Idgham Shafawi
How to Recognize Meem Sakinah in the Quran (3 Steps)
1. Find the meem with no vowel
Look for a bare مْ, or a meem with a small sukoon circle above it. Skip any meem carrying a shaddah — that is a different rule entirely and does not belong to this chapter.
2. Look at the very next letter
Even if it is the first letter of the next word. Word boundaries do not matter here; only adjacency does.
3. Apply the two-question test
Is it ب? → Ikhfa Shafawi. Is it م? → Idgham Shafawi. Neither? → Izhar Shafawi.
There is no third question. That really is the entire chapter, and it is why Meem Sakin rules are usually the first thing a Tajweed teacher hands a beginner who needs an early win.
Try it: which letter comes after the مْ?
Tap any letter of the alphabet and the widget gives you the rule, the ghunnah count and an example.
Pick a letter above to see the rule.
Meem Sakinah vs Noon Sakinah: What’s the Difference?
These two chapters are taught side by side, and mixing them up is the fastest way to make an easy rule feel hard. They share the idea of a silent letter changing behaviour according to what follows it — and almost nothing else.
The tanween row is the one to internalise. Tanween is phonetically a silent noon, so it belongs entirely to the noon chapter — a word ending in ـٌ or ـً never triggers anything on this page. ➜ Noon Sakin Rules
5 Common Meem Sakinah Mistakes
1. Sealing the lips during Ikhfa Shafawi
Close them fully and the hidden meem becomes a clear one — you have silently swapped Ikhfa for Izhar. Leave the smallest gap and let the ghunnah carry the sound.
2. Pronouncing two separate meems in Idgham
Reading لَهُمْ مَا instead of لَهُم مَّا. There is one meem, closed once and held — not two with a bump between them.
3. Adding a hum to Izhar Shafawi
Especially before و and ف, where the lips are already busy. Izhar Shafawi has no ghunnah at all — the nose-pinch test above will catch this in seconds.
4. Treating a meem with shaddah as Meem Sakinah
Words like أُمَّة and ثُمَّ have their own compulsory ghunnah and are not governed by the letter that follows them.
5. An inconsistent ghunnah length
One count in this ayah, four in the next. The two-count ghunnah has to be the same length every time, and the only reliable way to know whether yours is steady is to have someone listen.
Practise the Rules of Meem Sakinah
Two ways to drill this, both free and both usable on a phone. Start with the quiz — you get a short Al-Husary clip with every question, so you are training your ear and your eye at the same time.
Which rule is it? — 9 questions
Choose the rule that applies to the highlighted meem.
Play: Catch the Meem Sakinah (free game)
Recognition under time pressure is a different skill from recognition on a page. Catch the letters that follow the silent meem and see how long you last. Works on phones and tablets, no account needed.
Game not loading? Open it in a new tab · or browse all our free Tajweed games.
📚 Continue Learning
Each of the three rules has a full guide of its own, with more examples, more audio and the finer points this overview leaves out:
All of these sit inside the wider set of Tajweed rules, and are taught step by step in our Tajweed for adults and Tajweed for kids courses.
Rules of Meem Sakinah FAQ
May Allah beautify your recitation and accept it from you. 🤲
Hafidha of the Quran · Arabic Language Graduate · Writer on Islamic Sciences
Jehad Mahmoud is a graduate of the Arabic Language department and a Hafidha of the Quran who writes the Islamic educational content at Quran Book Academy.
She writes with a focus on Tajweed, Quranic recitation and the sharia sciences, making technical rules accessible to English-speaking Muslim families.
Her articles are educational, not fatwa. For a ruling on a specific personal situation, readers are advised to consult a qualified scholar or mufti.
References & Sources
1. Al-Azhar Al-Sharif — azhar.eg
2. Surah Al-Fil 105 — Quran.com
3. Surah Quraysh 106 — Quran.com
4. Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics — Brill Reference Works
5. Recitation — Shaykh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary (Hafs ‘an ‘Asim), via EveryAyah.com and Quran.com word-by-word audio
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