The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters. Adaptations of the Arabic script for other languages, such as Persian, Ottoman, Sindhi, Urdu, Malay or Pashto, Arabi Malayalam, have additional letters, shown below. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms. Many letters look similar but are distinguished from one another by dots (’i‘jām) above or below their central part, called rasm. These dots are an integral part of a letter, since they distinguish between letters that represent...

Evolution of early Arabic calligraphy (9th–11th century). The Basmala is taken as an example, from Kufic Qur’ān manuscripts. Early 9th century script used no dots or diacritic marks;  in the 9th–10th century during the Abbasid dynasty, Abu al-Aswad’s system used red dots with each arrangement or position indicating a different short vowel. Later, a second system of black dots was used to differentiate between letters...

WHY DO MUSLIMS SAY, “INSHA ALLAH”? Muslims believe everything in life is planned by Allah (God). Nothing happens unless Allah (God) wills it. Therefore, throughout the Muslim world, you will hear the Arabic phrase, lnsha Allah, “if Allah (God) wills,” on a daily basis for every situation of life. Sometimes it is used as polite way to say no. Many criticize this view as too fatalistic, leading to pessimism, complacency, and...

ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي