"I recommend watching my documentary about the Science of Letters (ʿIlm al-Ḥurūf) on my YouTube channel before reading this description. It’s important to first understand the fundamentals of the Islamic and traditional approach to letters in order to fully grasp the content of this text."

Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/oK2GTokPPUA?si=yOw6ggxJHdiNVZC2

What is Nun and why it is important in Islamic tradition?

Nun is the fourteenth letter of both the Arabic and the Hebrew alphabets and it has the numerical value of 50. It holds however a more particularly significant place in the Arabic alphabet of which it terminates the first half, and the total number of Arabic letters is 28. This letter in Islamic tradition, as representing al-Hut, the whale, and because of that Prohpet Yunus (the prophet Jonah) is called Dhun-Nun (The companion of the whale), the whale in the story of Prophet Yunus, doesn’t only have the meaning ‘fish-saviour ’ but also in the truth, it means the ark or the ship, In fact, Prohpet Yunus captives in the body of the whale, like Noah in the ark, during a period that is for him, and also for the outer world, a period of obscuration and darkness corresponding to the interval between two states or two modalities of existence which, one is finished and another one is beginning. Moreover, Prohpet Yunus’s egression from the the whale has always been regarded as a symbol of resurrection and therefore, the passage to a new state or a new birth.

The shape on letter “Nun” consists of the lower half of a circumference and a point that is in the center, and the lower half-circumference is also the figure of an ark floating on the waters, and the point within, represents the seed enveloped or contained therein. The central position of this point shows, ‘seed of immortality’ and being safe from all the outward dissolutions. This fact that half-circumference is downward, represents the meaning of the “Matrix” which the not-yet-developed seed is in it and this point or the seed in the letter of “Nun” represents the meaning of the heart in the individuality and that is the ‘seed of immortality’ and the growing or the development of the spiritual seed implies that the being leaves its individual state and the cosmic setting to which it belongs, like Prohpet Yunus’s egression from the body of the whale that causes reviving and the new birth necessarily needs death to the former state, whether it be an individual or a world.

Death and birth or resurrection, are two aspects that are inseparable one from another, Nun in the alphabet immediately follows “Mim”, which has among its principal significations that of death (al-mawt).

The symbolism of the whale has not only a benefic aspect, but also a malefic one which, and connected to both of death and birth, like the role of the whale in the story of Prohpet Yunus.

In the book of Meccan revelations from Ibn Arabi which is an important book about the science of letters, there is a word “Bas’et” of letters which means the components of letters and Ibn Arabi has used this word.

Components of the shapes of letters which is about the outer view of them and the letter “Nun”, is a combination of letters “Ra” = ر and “Za” (ز). It seems that Ibn Arabi has used some knowledge’s about calligraphy and we can understand it from his books. Ibn Arabi considers the nature of “Nun” to be cold and dry and knows earth as the element of “Nun” and these knowledge’s are connected with Alchemy and the old astronomy.  The important point in researching about the shapes of letters from their outer view, is that maybe the opinions of Ibn Arabi about the outer view of letters, like what he has said about them like a letter is the result of combination of two other letters, have spiritual and mystic manifestation that shows the resulted letter has the power of two letters which made the resulted letter.