What is iqlab?
Iqlāb means "turning over" or "changing". When a nun sakinah or tanwin is followed by the letter ب, the nun is changed into a mim, and that mim is pronounced with a light lip closure and a ghunnah of two counts.
The letter of iqlab
Only one letter:
- ب
Iqlab happens both inside a word (أَنبِئْهُم، لَيُنبَذَنَّ) and across two words (مِن بَعْدِ، سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ).
How it looks in the mushaf
In most printed mushafs a small mim (ۢ) is written above the nun or next to the tanwin, and the nun has no sukun. This tells you: do not read n, read m.
Why iqlab?
Nun with its clear tongue articulation and ب with closed lips are hard to pronounce one right after the other. Mim shares the lips with ب and the ghunnah with nun, so it is the perfect bridge between the two.
How it sounds
- Bring the lips together gently – do not press them hard.
- Hold the nasal sound for about two counts.
- Then release into the ب.
So مِن بَعْدِ sounds like "mim-baʿdi" with a soft, humming m.
Typical mistakes
- Reading a clear n: "min baʿdi".
- Pressing the lips too hard so the mim sounds like a hard b.
- Shortening the ghunnah or leaving it out.
- Some teachers allow a very small gap between the lips – what matters is that the n disappears and the ghunnah remains audible.
Practice tip
Look for the small mim sign in your mushaf on one page of Surah al-Baqarah. Every time you see it, hum the m for two counts before saying the ب. Recording yourself helps you hear whether the n has really disappeared.