Islam > Quran > Tajweed > Ikhfa Haqeeqi
Updated on 04 October 2026 at 11:01 PM
📖 4 min readIn the language: concealment. One says: akhfa ash-shay'a, that is: you have hidden it and covered it.
In the terminology: concealing the first letter within the second while keeping the ghunnah. It is an intermediate state between izhaar and idghaam.
Indeed: izhaar is the keeping of the letter with the full realization of its articulation point and of its characteristics, distinguishing it from the letter that follows it; idghaam is the annihilation of the first letter, by effacing its articulation point and its characteristic, and by blending it into the second; and ikhfa is an intermediate degree between the two, for its letters are neither close enough to the noon for idghaam, nor far enough for izhaar. A middle way was therefore taken: part of the noon was blended into the letter that follows it, while keeping part of it apparent in the pronunciation, with care to bring out its characteristic, the ghunnah.
This is why, in pronouncing the concealed noon, it is pronounced from the nose (khayshum), without the tongue rising to the articulation point of the noon or sticking to the roots of the teeth. The ghunnah is maintained there for a duration of about two harakaat.
Some reciters regard incomplete idghaam and ikhfa as one and the same thing, but the verifier finds in them a difference: the degree of blending of the noon into the following letter is greater in incomplete idghaam than in ikhfa. That is why the shaddah is found in idghaam, and not in ikhfa.
The letters in which the noon hides number fifteen: the taa, the thaa, the jeem, the daal, the dhaal, the zay, the seen, the sheen, the saad, the daad, the taa', the dhaa', the faa', the qaf and the kaf. Shaykh al-Jamzuri gathered them at the beginning of his poem:
صف ذا ثنا كم جاد شخص قد سما
دم طيبًا زد في تقى ضع ظالمًا
Meaning: "Saad, dhaa, thunna, kam, jaada, shakhs, qad, samaa, damn, tayyiban, zid, fi, taqa, da', zaaliman": the fifteen letters are hidden in it.
Scholars of tajweed gathered them in the openings of these two verses:
ضحكت زينب فأبدت ثنايا
تركتني سكران دون شراب
طوقتني ظلمًا قلائد ذل
جرعتني جفونها كأس صاب
Meaning: "Zaynab laughed and uncovered her teeth, she left me drunk without drink, she wrongfully encircled me with necklaces of humiliation, her eyelids made me drink a cup of foam".
وَلَمَن صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ ٱلْأُمُورِ
Surah 42, 43: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of ولمن hides behind the saad of صبر, with ghunnah.
مَّن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يُقْرِضُ ٱللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًۭا فَيُضَـٰعِفَهُۥ لَهُۥ وَلَهُۥٓ أَجْرٌۭ كَرِيمٌۭ
Surah 57, 11: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of من hides behind the dhaal of ذا, with ghunnah.
۞ وَيَطُوفُ عَلَيْهِمْ وِلْدَٰنٌۭ مُّخَلَّدُونَ إِذَا رَأَيْتَهُمْ حَسِبْتَهُمْ لُؤْلُؤًۭا مَّنثُورًۭا
Surah 76, 19: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of منثورا hides behind the thaa that follows it, with ghunnah.
وَأَنجَيْنَا مُوسَىٰ وَمَن مَّعَهُۥٓ أَجْمَعِينَ
Surah 26, 65: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of أنجينا hides behind the jeem that follows it, with ghunnah.
إِنَّآ أَنشَأْنَـٰهُنَّ إِنشَآءًۭ
Surah 56, 35: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of أنشأ hides behind the sheen that follows it, with ghunnah.
وَٱلْجَآنَّ خَلَقْنَـٰهُ مِن قَبْلُ مِن نَّارِ ٱلسَّمُومِ
Surah 15, 27: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of من hides behind the qaf of قبل, with ghunnah.
هَـٰذَا يَوْمُ لَا يَنطِقُونَ
Surah 77, 35: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of ينطقون hides behind the taa' that follows it, with ghunnah.
قُلْ سِيرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَٱنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ
Surah 27, 69: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of فانظروا hides behind the dhaa' that follows it, with ghunnah.
إِنَّآ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحًۭا صَرْصَرًۭا فِى يَوْمِ نَحْسٍۢ مُّسْتَمِرٍّۢ
Surah 54, 19: Ikhfa: the tanween of ريا hides behind the saad of صرصرا, with ghunnah.
لِّيُنذِرَ مَن كَانَ حَيًّۭا وَيَحِقَّ ٱلْقَوْلُ عَلَى ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ
Surah 36, 70: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of لينذر hides behind the dhaal that follows it, with ghunnah.
وَكُنتُمْ أَزْوَٰجًۭا ثَلَـٰثَةًۭ
Surah 56, 7: Ikhfa: the tanween of ازواجا hides behind the thaa of ثلاثة, with ghunnah.
وَلِكُلٍّۢ جَعَلْنَا مَوَٰلِىَ مِمَّا تَرَكَ ٱلْوَٰلِدَانِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبُونَ ۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ عَقَدَتْ أَيْمَـٰنُكُمْ فَـَٔاتُوهُمْ نَصِيبَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ شَهِيدًا
Surah 4, 33: Ikhfa: the tanween of لكل hides behind the jeem of جعلنا, with ghunnah.
۞ مَا نَنسَخْ مِنْ ءَايَةٍ أَوْ نُنسِهَا نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍۢ مِّنْهَآ أَوْ مِثْلِهَآ ۗ أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌ
Surah 2, 106: Ikhfa: the meem saakinah... the noon saakinah of ننسخ hides behind the seen that follows it, with ghunnah.
رَّبِّ ٱغْفِرْ لِى وَلِوَٰلِدَىَّ وَلِمَن دَخَلَ بَيْتِىَ مُؤْمِنًۭا وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنَـٰتِ وَلَا تَزِدِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ إِلَّا تَبَارًۢا
Surah 71, 28: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of ولمن hides behind the daal of دخل, with ghunnah.
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّىٰهَا
Surah 91, 9: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of من hides behind the zay of زكاها, with ghunnah.
وَمَن يَعْصِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَيَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَهُۥ يُدْخِلْهُ نَارًا خَـٰلِدًۭا فِيهَا وَلَهُۥ عَذَابٌۭ مُّهِينٌۭ
Surah 4, 14: Ikhfa: the tanween of خالدا hides behind the faa' of فيها, with ghunnah.
تَرْجِعُونَهَآ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ
Surah 56, 87: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of كنتوم hides behind the taa that follows it, with ghunnah.
قَالُوا۟ رَبَّنَا مَن قَدَّمَ لَنَا هَـٰذَا فَزِدْهُ عَذَابًۭا ضِعْفًۭا فِى ٱلنَّارِ
Surah 38, 61: Ikhfa: the tanween of عذابا hides behind the daad of ضعفا, with ghunnah.
لِنُرْسِلَ عَلَيْهِمْ حِجَارَةًۭ مِّن طِينٍۢ
Surah 51, 33: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of من hides behind the taa' of طين, with ghunnah.
إِنَّ لَدَيْنَآ أَنكَالًۭا وَجَحِيمًۭا
Surah 73, 12: Ikhfa: the noon saakinah of أنكالا hides behind the kaf that follows it, with ghunnah.
Read also: izhaar halqi, the idghaam of the noon saakinah and the tanween, the iqlaab and Questions on the noon saakinah.