The letter Meem, Love, depth, the mother principle, water and the source that sustains life

What Meem encodes

Meem is produced by closing both lips completely, then releasing with a nasal hum that resonates in the chest. It is the only Arabic letter that seals the mouth. This interiority is its principle: أم (umm. Mother) begins with Meem. ماء (ma'. Water, the substance of life) begins with Meem. معنى (ma'na. Meaning, what lies beneath the surface) begins with Meem. The letter clusters around what sustains, what originates, what holds depth.

Ibn Arabi and the Science of Letters

The cross-linguistic evidence for Meem is one of the most remarkable facts in all of human language. In Arabic: أم (umm). In Urdu/Hindi: ماں (maa). In English: mother, mom, mama. In French: mère, maman. In German: Mutter, Mama. In Spanish: madre, mamá. In Turkish: anne, mama. In Swahili: mama. In Chinese: 妈 (mā). In Russian: мама (mama). The letter of love and sustaining depth expresses itself in the word for the origin of love across cultures with no linguistic contact. Ibn Arabi writes that this is because the letter carries the principle, and the principle preceded the languages.

Meem as the first letter

A person whose name opens with Meem is constitutionally oriented toward depth of feeling and love that sustains. They do not love shallowly. The water quality means their emotional nature is deep, capable of great sustaining but also subject to tides. The معنى (meaning) quality means they are always searching for what lies beneath the surface of situations, relationships, and ideas. They are rarely satisfied with appearances.

Meem in the Quran

Meem opens الم (Alif-Lam-Meem) in seven surahs and all seven حم (Ha-Meem) Hawameem surahs. The letter of depth and love is the most frequently recurring in the Quran's disconnected letters.

Names opened or shaped by Meem

Each of the following names carries the Meem principle. Either as the opening letter that governs the outward self, or within the name where it shapes the interior life. Click any name to read its full reading.

Letters whose principles interact meaningfully with Meem:

Meem joins on both sides, so it takes all four shapes. In a word it connects to the letter before it and to the letter after it, and the shape you see depends on where in the word it falls.

Meem is a moon letter. When the definite article ال (al-) comes before it, the l is pronounced clearly and stays audible, as in القمر, al-qamar, the moon, which gives this group its name. Names beginning with Meem keep their al- intact when they carry one.