Arabic Small High Meem Initial Form

It marks a required pause. Other Qur’anic signs can allow or discourage stopping.

A 2026 study places the earliest pause marks in the Mashhad al-Riḍawī Qur’an manuscript, probably copied in the late first Islamic century (near the end of the first century of the Islamic calendar). This dates the tradition, not this exact small-meem design; many early Qur’an manuscripts lack pause marks.