Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet is the special way of writing the Arabic language. It is written from right-to-left in a flowing, cursive style, which means the letters connect together like a hand writing. This alphabet has 28 letters, and most of them change shape depending on their position in a word.

Unlike the Latin alphabet we use for English, the Arabic alphabet does not have uppercase and lowercase letters. It is called an abjad, which means that most of the time only the consonants are written down. However, there are special marks that can be added to show vowels when needed, especially for long vowels like ā, ī, and ū.

Because of this unique way of writing, the Arabic alphabet is very important for reading and writing in many countries across the Middle East and parts of Africa. It is used not just for Arabic, but also for many other languages that have adapted it to fit their needs.

Letters

The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters. Unlike the Latin alphabet, it has no upper or lower case letters. Many letters look similar but are different because of dots placed above or below them. For example, the letters ب b, ت t, and ث th have the same basic shape but different numbers of dots.

Arabic writing is always cursive, meaning most letters in a word connect to each other. Letters can change shape depending on their position in a word, having up to four forms: initial, medial, final, or isolated. Some letters stay mostly the same, while others change more. Certain letters can only connect to the letter before them, and some combinations of letters are written as special shapes called ligatures.

Diacritics

Main article: Arabic diacritics

In Arabic writing, long vowels are usually shown, but short vowels are often left out. Readers need to use their knowledge of the language to understand the missing vowels. However, in schools and when teaching Arabic grammar, these short vowels are included because they change the meaning of sentences. For example, the holy book called the Qur’ān always includes these special marks to make sure the words are read correctly. These marks are called Arabic diacritics and include signs for different vowel sounds.

Short vowels in everyday writing, like on signs or in books, are usually not written. But when writing the Qur’ān, these marks are required. Books for children and grammar books also use these marks to help learners. These vowel marks are placed above or below the letters they follow. For instance, the word for "heart" is written without vowels as qlb, but with vowels it shows exactly how each letter sounds.

Additional letters

Some letters in the Arabic alphabet have different shapes depending on where they are used. Writers can choose different letters to show sounds that are not usual in Arabic, especially when writing foreign names or words. For example, the sound “g,” like in the word “Golf,” can be written in many ways depending on where the writer is from.

The Arabic script is also used for languages besides Arabic, and it has extra letters to fit the sounds of those languages. This helps people write words that do not sound quite right in standard Arabic.

Numerals

Main articles: Western Arabic numerals and Eastern Arabic numerals

There are two main kinds of numerals used with Arabic writing: Western Arabic numerals and Eastern Arabic numerals. Western Arabic numerals are commonly used in North Africa, while Eastern Arabic numerals are written from left to right.

The Arabic alphabet can also stand for numbers, known as Abjad numerals. Each letter has a number value, starting with أ ʾalif as 1 and ب bāʾ as 2, up to غ ghayn representing 1000. This system is sometimes used to create special date designs called chronograms.

History

Main article: History of the Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet comes from an old writing style called the Nabataean script used for Nabataean Aramaic. Over time, it changed into what we now recognize as the Arabic alphabet. One of the earliest known writings in this style is from a place called Jabal Ram in Jordan.

Later, small dots were added above and below the letters to tell them apart. These dots helped make the writing clearer. Important books, like the Qurʾan memorization, were often learned by heart instead of being written down. Finally, marks for vowels were added to help with reading, and these changes were finished around the year 786 by a scholar named al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi.

Main article: Tarsh

In the past, people used wooden blocks to print in Arabic. This started around the 10th century and lasted until around 1444. They printed special charms and holy words from the Qur’anic verses. Different styles of writing were used, like Kufic and Naskh.

Later, in 1514, someone in Venice printed a book in Arabic for Christian communities. In the late 1500s, a press in the Middle East began printing books using small, movable pieces of type. This was the first time Arabic books were printed this way. In 1734, a monk in Lebanon set up the first Arabic printing press there, and it kept working until 1899.

Computers

The Arabic alphabet can be used in computers through special sets of symbols called character sets, such as ISO-8859-6, Windows-1256, and Unicode. Unicode includes a special area called the "Arabic segment" with codes from U+0600 to U+06FF. Computers use this system to show Arabic letters correctly on screens.

Unicode has several blocks for the Arabic script, including the main Arabic block (0600–06FF), and additional blocks for extra letters and symbols used in languages like Urdu and Persian. These blocks help computers display Arabic letters in the right shapes depending on their position in a word. Arabic keyboards vary between countries, but they usually include both Arabic and Roman letters, often following the QWERTY layout, except in North Africa where French is common and AZERTY is used instead.

The modern Hijā’ī sequence (excluding hamzah) in 15 fonts:

ي و ه ن م ل ك ق ف غ ع ظ ط ض ص ش س ز ر ذ د خ ح ج ث ت ب ا	Hijā’ī sequence
	•	Noto Nastaliq
	•	Scheherazade New
	•	Lateef
	•	Noto Naskh Arabic
	•	Markazi Text
	•	Noto Sans Arabic
	•	El Messiri
	•	Lemonada
	•	Changa
	•	Mada
	•	Noto Kufi Arabic
	•	Reem Kufi
	•	Lalezar
	•	Jomhuria
	•	Rakkas