Heavy letters in Arabic — called Tafkheem — are seven letters pronounced with the back of the tongue raised toward the roof of the mouth, giving them a full, thick sound. All remaining letters are light (Tarqeeq). Three letters — Alif, Ra, and the Lam in Allah — switch between heavy and light depending on the vowels around them.

What Do Tafkheem and Tarqeeq Mean?

Tafkheem (تفخيم) means “to make heavy” or “to thicken”. Tarqeeq (ترقيق) is its opposite: “to make thin”. The two words describe what happens to the sound of a letter, not to the letter itself — the same shape on the page can be recited either way, which is why this rule sits under sifat al-huroof, the characteristics of the letters.

Physically the difference is one movement. For a heavy letter the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate and the sound fills the mouth; scholars call this isti’la (استعلاء), elevation. For a light letter the tongue stays low and flat — istifal (استفال) — and the sound stays thin and forward.

This is where students often confuse Tafkheem with the Makhraj of Arabic letters. The makhraj is where the sound is produced; Tafkheem is how the tongue is shaped while it is produced. One makhraj can carry two very different sounds depending on that shaping — which is exactly what happens with Ra, and it is why a reader can be hitting the right articulation point and still sound wrong.

The 7 Heavy Letters in Arabic (Huroof al-Isti’la)

There are exactly seven letters of elevation, and every one of them is heavy in every position, without exception. Learn these seven and you have learned the entire heavy list — nothing is added to it later.

The classical memory phrase

Teachers have used the same mnemonic for centuries: خُصَّ ضَغْطٍ قِظْ — Khuṣṣa Ḍaghṭin Qiẓ. It is a deliberately artificial phrase whose only job is to hold the seven letters in order, first letter of each syllable. Say it ten times and you will not lose the list again.

One note on ṭā, ḍād, ṣād and ẓā: these four are also huroof al-itbaq, the letters of adhesion, where the tongue presses flat against the palate as well as rising. They are the heaviest of the seven, and if your ear can only tell one group apart at first, start with these.

Light Letters in Arabic (Huroof al-Istifal)

Here is the part that makes this rule far easier than students expect: there is no list of light letters to memorise. Every Arabic letter that is not one of the seven heavy letters is light. That is twenty-one letters, plus the three conditional ones covered below, and none of them need to be learned individually.

So the entire task is negative: know the seven, and treat everything else as thin by default. Tarqeeq is the resting state of the Arabic alphabet, and Tafkheem is the exception.

The 5 Levels of Tafkheem

Heaviness is not a switch, it is a dial. A heavy letter is always heavy, but how heavy depends on the vowel it carries and on what follows it. Scholars of Tajweed set out five levels, from strongest to weakest, and this is the layer that separates a reader who knows the rule from a reader who sounds correct.

Levels one to four all use the same letter, ṭā, so the taper is audible rather than theoretical. Play them in order: aṭ-ṭāriq is round and full, ṭaghā a shade lighter, ṭumisat narrower again, baṭsha narrower still. Level five drops to ghayn under a kasrah — ghislīn — still unmistakably heavy, but the sound has thinned and moved forward. None of them is wrong; they are the same characteristic at different points on the dial.

The Three Conditional Letters

Three letters sit outside both lists. They are not permanently heavy and not permanently light — they take one or the other from their surroundings. Understanding heavy and light letters in Arabic properly means understanding these three, because almost every recitation error a beginner makes lives here.

The Ra rule (ر)

Ra is the letter that decides whether a reader sounds trained. It has a full ruling of its own, and the core of it fits on one screen.

Read the two columns together and the pattern is a single question: is there a kasrah in the picture? If yes, the Ra goes light. If not, it goes heavy. Everything else is detail.

The exceptions worth knowing

The Lam in “Allah” (ﷲ)

The Lam is a light letter everywhere in the language except in the name Allah, where it follows the vowel immediately before it.

This is one of the most audible mistakes in the whole of Tajweed, because the phrase bismillāh is recited more often than any other. The kasrah on the mīm makes the Lam thin — thickening it there is immediately noticeable to a trained ear.

The Alif (ا)

The alif has no ruling of its own at all. It is a mirror: it takes the weight of whatever letter comes before it. In قَالَ the alif follows a heavy qāf, so it is heavy; in مَالِك it follows a light mīm, so it is light.

Because of this, the alif is where over-thickening spreads. A reader who gives the heavy letter more weight than it needs drags the alif with it, and the whole syllable turns muddy. Watch the alif and you will usually catch the fault one letter earlier. Linguists describe the same seven sounds as pharyngealised consonants — a useful second lens, because it explains why the heaviness colours the vowels on either side of the letter and not just the letter itself.

Test Yourself: Heavy or Light?

You’ve read the rules — now see if your ear agrees. We’ll show you a word from the Quran, you decide whether the highlighted letter is heavy or light. Ten questions, instant feedback, no sign-up.

Play: The Heavy Letters Gym

The quiz checks whether you know the rule. This one checks whether you can apply it at speed — which is a different skill, and the one that actually shows up in recitation. Play it directly below, or open it in a new tab if you prefer a full screen.

It works well for children too — the seven letters stop being a list to recite and become something they can recognise by sound, which is exactly the transfer you want before formal Tajweed lessons begin.

Tafkheem and Tarqeeq Examples from the Quran

Rules settle once you meet them in the text you actually recite. Each line below highlights the target letter — blue for heavy, gold for light — with the recitation of Sheikh Al-Husary beside it.

Notice how often a heavy and a light letter sit side by side. That is the real training: not producing each sound in isolation, but switching between them cleanly at speed. If you’d like to drill this alongside the other rules, our free Arabic letter games cover the same ground for children and adults.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Frequently Asked Questions

Where This Fits in Tajweed

Tafkheem and Tarqeeq is one characteristic among many in sifat al-huroof, and it sits inside the wider system of Tajweed rules. Seven letters, five levels, three conditionals — that is the whole of it, and most students hold it within a fortnight.

What takes longer is the ear. Reading the Ra rule takes ten minutes; hearing your own Ra correctly takes a teacher. If you want that feedback, our Tajweed courses are built around exactly this kind of correction, or you can simply book a free trial lesson and recite a page.

May Allah make the Quran the spring of your heart, and may He accept it from you. 🤲

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 know which rule applies. The rest is practising the sound until it is steady.

What Is Meem Sakinah?

That is the whole Meem Sakinah meaning in one line. Sakinah comes from sukoon (سكون), stillness — a letter with no vowel. In print, this is shown by the sukoon mark above the letter, though its shape varies between mushafs. A meem that is still is a Meem Sakinah, whether or not the sign is printed: many mushafs, including the widely used Madani mushaf, leave the meem bare before ب and م to signal concealment or merging. A missing sign in that position does not mean the meem has a vowel. 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:

Meem Sakinah is not the same as a meem with shaddah

Meem Sakinah Pronunciation and Makhraj

The meem is articulated by bringing the two lips together — ash-shafatayn (الشفتان) — while its ghunnah resonates through the nasal passage. 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, the next letter decides what happens to the meem: it is concealed before ب, merged before م, and pronounced clearly before every other letter. Each outcome also needs the right ghunnah. Ikhfa and Idgham both hold a two-count ghunnah, so length alone does not tell them apart — what differs is how the meem meets the next letter. In Izhar, the meem is pronounced clearly without a prolonged ghunnah.

Hear the three rules back to back

Three short clips in the recitation of Shaykh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary (Hafs ‘an ‘Asim), each only a few seconds long so you can focus on the meem. Play them in order: a clear meem, a concealed meem with a two-count ghunnah before ب, and a merged meem held with a two-count ghunnah before م. The contrast becomes easier to hear with each pass.

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, conceal the meem with a two-count ghunnah before ب. Teachers differ in how they describe and transmit the lip position in Ikhfa Shafawi. Some teach a slight gap; others teach gentle lip contact with reduced pressure. Learn the precise movement through direct instruction from a qualified Quran teacher, while maintaining the two-count ghunnah before ب.[2]

This lesson illustrates the slight-gap approach: the lips come very close without pressing, the ghunnah is held for two counts, and the lips then close onto the ب. Whichever method your teacher transmits, the error to avoid is the same — pronouncing a full, crisp meem with firm lip pressure and no held ghunnah. That is a clear meem, which belongs to Izhar, not a concealed one.

➜ Read the full guide: Ikhfa Shafawi

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

➜ Read the full guide: Idgham Shafawi

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; whatever is left triggers it. Izhar Shafawi has the largest set of trigger letters: the remaining 26 letters.

How to read it: close the lips on the meem and pronounce it clearly — without prolonging its ghunnah, without lengthening and without a pause — then release straight into the next letter. The meem keeps its natural nasal quality; it is simply not held for the two counts of Ikhfa or Idgham.[1]

➜ Read the full guide: Izhar Shafawi

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 a few short ayat that contain all three. Selected ayat from Surah Al-Fil and Surah Quraysh, two short surahs many learners already know, do exactly that between them. Work through the five selected ayat below to practise all three rules of Meem Sakinah.

More Meem Sakinah Quran examples

How to Recognize Meem Sakinah in the Quran (3 Steps)

There is no third question. That settles which rule applies — and it is why Meem Sakin rules are often among the first things a Tajweed teacher gives a beginner who needs an early win. Producing the ghunnah and the meem accurately is the part that takes practice.

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, but the number of rules, the trigger letters and the articulation point all differ.

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

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

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. 🤲

When a meem sakinah is followed by the letter ب at the start of the next word, the meem is not pronounced fully clearly, and it is not merged into the ba either. It is concealed, with a ghunnah held for two counts, and then the ba is pronounced. You can hear it in تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ. That is Ikhfa Shafawi, and it has exactly one trigger letter: ب. It is one of the three rules of Meem Sakinah inside the wider set of Tajweed rules — and one of its clearest examples sits in a surah you probably already know by heart.

Also written Ikhfaa Shafawi, Ikhfa Shafawee or Ikhfa Shafawi Meem Sakinah — in Arabic, إخفاء شفوي.

What Is Ikhfa Shafawi?

Both halves of the name are literal. Ikhfa (إخفاء) means concealing: the meem sakinah is concealed when it meets the ba. Shafawi (شفوي) means “of the lips”, from shafah (شفة), because the meem and the ba are both pronounced from the two lips.[3] So the name gives you the action and the place.

Why “hidden” and not “merged”?

Because that is how the rule was transmitted. Imam Ibn al-Jazari reported that the reciters of old differed over a meem sakinah before ba — some pronounced it clearly, some concealed it, and some merged it — and he stated that he held concealment.[1] Hidayat al-Qari records concealment with ghunnah as the chosen practice, followed by the reciters of Egypt, the Levant, al-Andalus and elsewhere.[3]

The same book gives a reason (wajh) for the ruling: the meem and the ba share the same articulation point at the lips and most of their attributes.[3] Treat that as an explanation of a ruling that was received from teachers, not as a formula you can use to work out rulings yourself. “Different letters can’t merge” is not a rule either — a noon sakinah, for example, is merged into a following م, و or ي, all letters other than noon — so Tajweed rulings are learned as they were transmitted.[2] Meem before meem has its own separate ruling, Idgham Shafawi.

Ikhfa Shafawi Letters: Just One

There is one Ikhfa Shafawi letter: ب.[3] That is the entire list. Whenever a meem sakinah at the end of a word is followed by a ba at the start of the next word, and you recite the two words joined, the chosen practice is Ikhfa Shafawi.

What is worth memorising is how that one letter sits against the other two rules of the chapter, because the three of them together account for every letter that can follow a meem sakinah (a meem sakinah never comes before an alif of madd).[3]

↔ Swipe sideways to see the whole table.

Source for the letter counts: Hidayat al-Qari, chapter on Meem Sakinah.[3]

How to spot it in the mushaf

In the Madani-style mushaf the meem here carries no sukoon — it is written bare:

تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ

Not تَرْمِيهِمْ with a sukoon on the meem. A bare, unmarked meem is your cue that something other than Izhar is happening — so check the next letter. If it is ب, this is Ikhfa Shafawi. If it is م with a shaddah, it is Idgham Shafawi. Once you have noticed this a few times you stop working the rule out and simply see it.

How to Pronounce Ikhfa Shafawi (4 Steps)

Four steps. The ghunnah and its length are the parts every teacher agrees on; the exact lip position is described in two ways, explained after the steps.

What the sources say about the lips

Teachers do not all describe the lip position for Ikhfa Shafawi in the same way, and it is better to know that from the start.

• IslamWeb’s fatwa no. 52856 describes the question — whether the lips close or keep a small gap, in both Iqlab and Ikhfa Shafawi — as a point of difference among the later reciters.[1]
• The fatwa says it found no explicit statement from Imam Ibn al-Jazari either way. He chose concealment (ikhfa), and some understood that to mean leaving a small gap; the fatwa points out that texts from earlier scholars complicate that reading — Ibn Ghalbun and Abu ‘Amr al-Dani, as quoted there, describe the lips as closing.[1]
• Contemporary teachers quoted in the fatwa also differ. Some say they received it with the lips closed, and one adds that there is no harm in a light closure without pressing the lips together. Others, quoted from the book Zad al-Muqri’in, prefer a very slight gap: neither a full, tight closure nor an opening so wide that it spoils the concealment.[1]
• The fatwa also mentions contemporaries who accept either way, according to what the reciter received from their teachers.[1]

What both descriptions share: the meem is concealed rather than pronounced with full force, the lips are not pressed hard, the mouth is not opened wide, and the ghunnah is held for two counts. Al-Mar’ashi, quoted in the same fatwa, explains concealing the meem as weakening it by reducing the pressure on its articulation point — not erasing it.[1] This page does not declare either description invalid on the basis of lip contact alone. The exact performance is learned by ear: read to a qualified teacher and follow the way they received it.

Ikhfa Shafawi Examples in the Quran

Start with Surah Al-Fil. Ayah 4 holds a clear example of the rule, and the rest of the surah gives you the contrast for free: every other meem sakinah in it is Izhar Shafawi. In the Arabic below, the meem sakinah is shaded blue, the ب orange, Izhar meems green, and — in Iqlab examples — the noon or tanween gold.

Now the wider set of Ikhfa Shafawi Quran examples. Ten passages, each one a meem sakinah meeting a ب, recited by Sheikh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary. Rows marked short clip play a trimmed excerpt; rows marked full ayah play the whole verse, and the ones marked long verse take a while to reach the example.

Ikhfa Shafawi examples from the Quran: the pattern

Look at the word just before the ب in the rows above: هُم, أَنتُم, عَلَيْهِم, رَبُّهُم. Most of them end in a plural pronoun. Train your eye on those endings, then glance at the next letter — that habit will catch many of the cases you meet. Just remember it is a habit, not the rule: in أَلَمْ يَعْلَم بِأَنَّ the meem ends a verb, and the ruling is the same.

Ikhfa Shafawi vs Iqlab: The Confusion Worth Clearing Up

This is the pair that trips up almost every intermediate learner, and for a good reason: they sound the same. Imam Ibn al-Jazari stated that, once the noon has been changed into a meem, there is no difference in pronunciation between أَن بُورِكَ and يَعْتَصِم بِاللَّهِ.[1] Your ear is not deceiving you.

The difference is entirely in what you started with. In Ikhfa Shafawi the letter was already a meem sakinah. In Iqlab it was a noon sakinah or a tanween, which changes into a meem before the ba — and that meem is then concealed.[2] Same destination, different starting point — which is why you cannot tell them apart by listening alone, and why the mushaf marks them differently.

↔ Swipe sideways to see the whole table.

The Arabic on this page uses simplified vowel notation, so the small Iqlab م is not drawn in it — you will see that mark in a Madani-style mushaf. Sources: [2], [3], and Ibn al-Jazari’s examples quoted in [1].

Ikhfa Shafawi vs the Other Meem Sakinah Rules

The three rules of Meem Sakinah all start from the same place — a meem sakinah — and the letter that follows decides what happens to it: concealed before ba, merged into a following meem, or pronounced clearly before every other letter.[3]

↔ Swipe sideways to see the whole table.

Every meem keeps its natural nasal quality; what Izhar does not have is the full, two-count ghunnah of the other two rules.[2]

4 Common Ikhfa Shafawi Mistakes

Practise Ikhfa Shafawi

Rhythm practice timer

This timer measures one thing only: how long you hold the button. It does not hear your recitation, so it cannot tell whether your ghunnah is present, correct, or too short. Two counts are measured like a natural madd at the pace you are reciting, so the right number of seconds changes with your tempo.[2]

Listen to Sheikh Al-Husary first. Then hold the button for as long as your ghunnah lasts while you recite تَرْمِيهِم بِ, and compare what you see with what you heard — and with your teacher’s correction.

Ikhfa or Iqlab? Fifteen phrases

Every phrase below produces a concealed meem sound before a ب. Only one thing changes: what the letter was to begin with. The letter to judge and the ba after it are highlighted. Tap the rule you think applies — you get the reason either way.

Listen and choose: which rule of Meem Sakinah?

Ten verses, one meem sakinah highlighted in each. Play the clip, then tap the rule you hear. Instant feedback, no sign-up.

Play: Catch the Ikhfa Shafawi Fish (Free Game)

Recognition under time pressure is a different skill from recognition on a page. Catch only the words that contain Ikhfa Shafawi and let the rest swim past. It works on phones and tablets, and no account is needed.

Game not loading? Open it in a new tab · or browse all our free Tajweed games · the 3-rule tap game lives on the rules of Meem Sakinah hub.

Learn More

Ikhfa Shafawi is one of three rules that govern the meem sakinah. Here is what to study next:

All of them sit inside the wider set of Tajweed rules, and all are taught step by step in our Tajweed for adults and Tajweed for kids classes.

Ikhfa Shafawi FAQ

May Allah beautify your recitation and accept it from you. 🤲

Iqlab is the third rule of Noon Sakinah and Tanween. When a silent Noon (نْ) or Tanween is followed by the letter ب, the Noon changes into a hidden Meem (م) pronounced with a two-count nasal sound. Iqlab has only one trigger letter, which makes it the simplest of the four rules of Noon Sakinah and Tanween to recognise.

Also spelled Iqlaab, Ilqab or Eqlab in English transliterations.

What Does Iqlab Mean?

The word comes from the root q-l-b (قَلَبَ) — to overturn, to flip a thing onto its other side. The name is unusually literal here. Nothing is being softened, shortened or concealed: one letter is replaced by a different letter.

That single fact is worth pausing on, because it is what separates this rule from its three neighbours.

So the working definition to carry with you is this: a silent Noon before ب is read as a Meem — a Meem you hide rather than announce. Everything else on this page is detail hanging off that sentence.

The Iqlab Letters — Just One

Learners arrive here expecting a list, because Izhar has six letters and Idgham has six. This rule has one. There is no mnemonic to learn, no grouping to memorise and no exceptions to file away — which makes it the fastest rule in Tajweed to learn properly.

Why ب specifically, and why a Meem?

This is the part that turns a rule you memorise into a rule you understand, and it comes down to what your mouth can physically do.

The Noon is voiced and nasal: the tongue tip meets the gum line and air escapes through the nose. The Baa is a lip sound with a small explosion in it — the lips press shut, pressure builds, and the sound releases. Moving straight from a nasal front-of-tongue consonant into a pressurised lip consonant is awkward, and the Arabs did not do it.

Linguists call this place assimilation: a consonant shifting its point of articulation towards the one that follows it. It happens in English too — most speakers say “ten bags” with an M-like sound in the middle without ever being taught to. What Tajweed does is take that natural tendency and fix it as a precise, measured rule. You can see where each of these sounds is formed in our guide to the Makhraj of Arabic letters.

How to Spot Iqlab in the Mushaf

Most learners meet this rule twice: once in a lesson, and once again a week later when they open the Quran, see a Noon with no sukoon on it and a tiny letter floating above, and wonder what happened. This is the section that answers that.

Symbol spotter: see the difference in ten seconds

Switch between the three specimens below and tap the highlighted letter in each one. The first is an ordinary silent Noon; the second and third are Iqlab, with a Noon and with a Tanween.

One caveat worth knowing: this small-Meem notation is the convention of the Madinah Mushaf in the narration of Hafs, printed by the King Fahd Glorious Quran Printing Complex and followed by most editions in circulation today. Some regional prints mark it slightly differently. The rule does not change — only the ink does.

How to Pronounce Iqlab Correctly

Understanding this rule takes about a minute. Producing it correctly takes longer, because almost everyone makes the same mistake — and it is a mistake you cannot hear in your own mouth until someone points it out.

There is a shortcut here that most pages never mention. This sound is not new to you if you already know Ikhfaa: the hidden Meem here is produced with exactly the same mechanism as Ikhfaa Shafawi, the hiding of a silent Meem before a ب. Same lips, same gap, same two counts. Learn one and you have learned both — compare the two clips below.

Iqlab Rules: When It Applies

The trigger has no conditions attached to it: a silent Noon or a Tanween, followed by ب. That combination shows up in three shapes.

Iqlab vs the Other Noon Sakinah Rules

Four rules, one silent Noon, and the only thing that decides between them is the letter that comes next.

If you keep one sentence from this page, keep this one: Izhar reveals the Noon, Idgham erases it, Ikhfaa veils it — and Iqlab converts it. Three of the four rules decide how much of the Noon you hear. Only this one decides which letter you hear instead.

Interactive Practice: Find the Iqlab

Iqlab has one letter — but can you spot it inside a verse, with the other three rules competing for your attention? Ten questions, instant feedback, no sign-up.

Iqlab Examples from the Quran

Six short examples covering both word positions and all three Tanween endings. The Noon or Tanween is marked in blue, the ب in orange. Each clip is a few seconds of the continuous recitation of Sheikh Mahmoud Khalil Al-Husary — recited at normal pace, not word by word.

Two more worth knowing by heart, because they close dozens of ayat between them: سَمِيعٌۢ بَصِيرٌ and عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ. And inside a single word, the clearest example of all is أَنۢبِئْهُم — get this rule right once and it pays out across the whole Quran.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Play: Catch the Iqlab Letter (Free Game)

Recognition under time pressure is a different skill from recognition on a page. Catch the letter that triggers the rule, dodge the rest, and see how long you last. It works on phones and tablets, and no account is needed.

Game not loading? Open it in a new tab · or browse all our free Arabic letter games.

Learn More

Iqlab is one of four rules that govern the silent Noon. Here’s what to study next:

All of them sit inside the wider set of Tajweed rules, and all of them are covered step by step in our Tajweed courses.

Frequently Asked Questions

May Allah beautify your recitation and accept it from you. 🤲