The following table shows the system which I have followed in transliterating the letters of the Arabic alphabet :—
ء Consonantal sound a
ا Long vowel * ā
ب …………………… b
ت …………………… t
ث …………………… th
ج …………………… j
ح …………………… h
خ …………………… kh
د …………………… d
ذ …………………… z
ر …………………… r
ز …………………… z
س …………………… s
ش …………………… sh
ص …………………… s
ض …………………… dh
ظ …………………… z
ع …………………… ‘ (inverted apostrophe)
غ …………………… g
ف …………………… f
ق …………………… q
ك …………………… k
ل …………………… l
م …………………… m
ن …………………… n
هـ ه …………………… h
و consonant w
و long vowel* ū
و diphthong au
ي consonant y
ي long vowel* ī
ي diphthong ai
َ– (fatha) a
ِ– (kasra) i
ُ– (dhamma) u
1. For the hamzā (ء) I have used no distinctive sign. An apostrophe for it and an inverted apostrophe for the ‘ain (ع), or vice versa, is confusing to English readers. As a moved consonant, it is sufficiently shown in English by the long or short vowel which moves it, e.g., ab, Raūf. Where it is a hiatus preceded by a fatha, I have shown it by a second a: thus, Iqraa, the cave of Hiraa. In other cases it has not been possible to show it without using a distinctive sign. The name of the Holy Book is usually written Qurān ; but I prefer to write Qur-ān.
2. The final h preceded by the short a is scarcely pronounced, and I have left it out. Hence Sūra, Fātiha, Hijra, etc., where the Arabic spelling would require Sūrah, Fātihah, Hijrah, etc.
3. In internationalised words and names I have used the spelling ordinarily current in English ; e.g., Mecca, Medina, Maulvi, Urdu, Islam, Israel, Abraham, Jacob. Here the boundary is thin and rather ill-defined, and possibly my practice and that of my proof-readers have not been absolutely uniform.
4. Some names, e.g., Ishmael, Hagar, etc., have acquired a contemptuous association in their European forms, while the persons they represent are sacred personages held in great honour in Islam. I have, therefore, avoided the European forms and used the Arabic forms, Ismā’īl, Hājar, etc.
*Where it is really pronounced long. Hence khalaqnā-kum but khalaqnal-insān ; Abū Sufyān but Abul-Qāsim ; fin-nār but fī-hi.