Noon Sakenah & Tanween

In this section we cover the rulings of the silent Noon (Noon Sakenah) and Tanween.

The Silent Noon (Noon Sakenah): a Noon that carries no vowel (fatha, damma, or kasra), remaining stable whether continuing (wasl) or stopping (waqf). It occurs in nouns, verbs, and particles, and in the middle or end of a word, e.g.: ﴾وَالأَنْعَامُ﴿, ﴾أَنْعَمَ﴿, ﴾عَنْ﴿, and similar words.

Tanween: an extra silent Noon that exists in pronunciation but not in writing, following the final vowel of a word. It is represented by doubling the vowel mark: two dammas ﴾عَلِيمُڿ﴿, two fathas ﴾عَلِيمًا﴿, or two kasras ﴾عَلِيمٍ﴿. It exists in speech at the end of a noun when continuing recitation, and disappears when stopping. It never occurs in verbs or particles.

The Rulings of the Silent Noon and Tanween

They have four rulings: Idhar, Idgham, Iqlab, and Ikhfa. These four rulings are transient qualities that appear on the letter Noon specifically while it is silent (and this includes Tanween).

The Al-Jazariyyah Verses on the Rulings of Noon Sakenah and Tanween

وَحُكْـمُ تَنْوِيْنٍ وَنُونٍ يُـلْـفَى    إِظْهَـارٌ ادْغَامٌ وَقَلْبٌ اخْـفَـا

The ruling of Tanween and Noon, once made silent,
Is Idhar, Idgham, Iqlab, or Ikhfa.

فَعِنْدَ حَرْفِ الحَلْقِ أَظْهِرْ وَادَّغِمْ     فِي اللاَّمِ وَالرَّا لاَ بِغُـنَّـةٍ  لَزِمْ

At a throat letter, pronounce clearly and merge
Into Lam and Raa without ghunnah, as required.

وَأَدْغِـمَنْ بِغُنَّـةٍ فِي  يُومِـنُ     إِلاَّ بِكِلْمَةٍ  كَدُنْيَـا عَـنْوَنُـوا

And merge with ghunnah in the letters of "Yumin,"
Except in a single word, such as "Dunyaa" and "Sinwaan."

وَالقَلْبُ عِنْـدَ البَا بِغُنَّةٍ كَـذَا     لاخْفَا لَدَى بَاقِي الحُرُوفِ أُخِذَا

And convert before Baa, with ghunnah, likewise;
Ikhfa is taken for the remaining letters.

Important Note

The Noon may sometimes be given a vowel to avoid two consecutive silent letters meeting; in that case, the rulings of this section no longer apply to it — as in ﴾مِنَ الَّذِينَ ٖامَنُوا﴿ (Al-Baqarah: 212).

Tanween may also be pronounced with a kasra when two silent letters meet, as in ﴾جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ الَّتِي﴿ (Maryam: 61), pronounced "'adninillatee". In such cases, the Noon does not carry any of the transient qualities discussed here, which Tajweed scholars call the rulings of the silent Noon.