Editing Arabic (section)

== Writing system {{anchor|writing system}} ==
{{Main|Arabic alphabet|Arabic Braille}}
[[File:Menulis khat.jpg|thumb|[[Arabic calligraphy]] written by a Malay Muslim in Malaysia. The calligrapher is making a rough draft.]]
The Arabic alphabet derives from the Aramaic through [[Nabatean alphabet|Nabatean]], to which it bears a loose resemblance like that of [[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] or [[Cyrillic script]]s to [[Greek alphabet|Greek script]]. Traditionally, there were several differences between the Western (North African) and Middle Eastern versions of the alphabet—in particular, the ''faʼ'' had a dot underneath and ''qaf'' a single dot above in the Maghreb, and the order of the letters was slightly different (at least when they were used as numerals).

However, the old Maghrebi variant has been abandoned except for calligraphic purposes in the Maghreb itself, and remains in use mainly in the Quranic schools ([[zaouia]]s) of West Africa. Arabic, like all other Semitic languages (except for the Latin-written Maltese, and the languages with the [[Ge'ez script]]), is written from right to left. There are several styles of scripts such as [[thuluth]], [[muhaqqaq]], [[tawqi]], [[rayhan]], and notably [[Naskh (script)|naskh]], which is used in print and by computers, and [[Ruq'ah|ruqʻah]], which is commonly used for correspondence.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tabbaa|first=Yasser|date=1991|title=The Transformation of Arabic Writing: Part I, Qur'ānic Calligraphy|journal=Ars Orientalis|volume=21|pages=119–148|issn=0571-1371|jstor=4629416}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Hanna|Greis|1972|p=2}}</ref>

Originally Arabic was made up of only ''rasm'' without diacritical marks<ref>{{cite book |title=What the Koran Really Says : Language, Text & Commentary |publisher=Prometheus |year=2002 |isbn=157392945X |editor-last=Ibn Warraq |author1=Ibn Warraq |location=New York |url=https://www.ebooklibs.co/book/view/1m41/what-the-koran-really-says.html |translator-last=Ibn Warraq |page=64 |ref=WtKRS-I-IW2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411194515/https://www.ebooklibs.co/book/view/1m41/what-the-koran-really-says.html |archive-date=11 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later diacritical points (which in Arabic are referred to as ''nuqaṯ'') were added (which allowed readers to distinguish between letters such as b, t, th, n and y). Finally signs known as ''[[Arabic diacritics#Tashkīl|Tashkil]]'' were used for short vowels known as ''[[Arabic diacritics#Ḥarakāt (short vowel marks)|harakat]]'' and other uses such as final postnasalized or long vowels.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="7" |Arabic Alphabet
|-
! rowspan="2" |Wikipedia
Romanization
! rowspan="2" |Value in MSA 
([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]])
! colspan="3" |Contextual forms
! rowspan="2" |Isolated form
! rowspan="2" |No.
|-
!Final
!Medial
!Initial
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ā}}
|{{IPAslink|aː}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـا}}}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ا]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="01." |1
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|b}}
|{{IPAslink|b}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـب}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـبـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|بـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ب]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="02." |2
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|t}}
|{{IPAslink|t}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـت}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـتـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|تـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ت]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="03." |3
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ṯ}} or {{transliteration|ar|ALA|th}}
|{{IPAslink|θ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـث}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـثـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ثـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ث]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="04." |4
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|j}}
|{{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}*
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـج}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـجـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|جـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ج]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="05." |5
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḥ}}
|{{IPAslink|ħ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـح}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـحـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|حـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ح]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="06." |6
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḵ}} or {{transliteration|ar|ALA|kh}}
|{{IPAslink|x}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـخ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـخـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|خـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[خ]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="07." |7
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|d}}
|{{IPAslink|d}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـد}}}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[د]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="08." |8
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḏ}} or {{transliteration|ar|ALA|dh}}
|{{IPAslink|ð}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـذ}}}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ذ]]}}}}
| data-sort-value="09." |9
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|r}}
|{{IPAslink|r}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـر}}}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ر]]}}}}
|10
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|z}}
|{{IPAslink|z}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـز}}}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ز]]}}}}
|11
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|s}}
|{{IPAslink|s}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـس}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـسـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|سـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[س]]}}}}
|12
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|š}} or {{transliteration|ar|ALA|sh}}
|{{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـش}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـشـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|شـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ش]]}}}}
|13
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ṣ}}
|{{IPAslink|sˤ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـص}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـصـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|صـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ص]]}}}}
|14
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḍ}}
|{{IPAslink|dˤ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـض}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـضـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ضـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ض]]}}}}
|15
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ṭ}}
|{{IPAslink|tˤ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـط}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـطـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|طـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ط]]}}}}
|16
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ẓ}}
|{{IPAslink|ðˤ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـظ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـظـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ظـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ظ]]}}}}
|17
|-
|{{Ayn}}  or {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ʕ}}
|{{IPAslink|ʕ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـع}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـعـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|عـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ع]]}}}}
|18
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ḡ}} or {{transliteration|ar|ALA|gh}}
|{{IPAslink|ɣ}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـغ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـغـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|غـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[غ]]}}}}
|19
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|f}}
|{{IPAslink|f}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـف}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـفـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|فـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ف]]}}}}
|20
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|q}}
|{{IPAslink|q}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـق}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـقـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|قـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ق]]}}}}
|21
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|k}}
|{{IPAslink|k}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـك}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـكـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|كـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ك]]}}}}
|22
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|l}}
|{{IPAslink|l}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـل}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـلـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|لـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ل]]}}}}
|23
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|m}}
|{{IPAslink|m}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـم}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـمـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|مـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[م]]}}}}
|24
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|n}}
|{{IPAslink|n}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـن}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـنـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|نـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ن]]}}}}
|25
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|h}}
|{{IPAslink|h}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـه{{lrm}}}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـهـ{{lrm}}{{lrm}}}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|هـ{{lrm}}}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ﻩ]]}}}}
|26
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|w}} and {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ū}}
|{{IPAslink|w}}, {{IPAslink|uː}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـو}}}}
| colspan="2" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[و]]}}}}
|27
|-
|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|y}} and {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ī}}
|{{IPAslink|j}}, {{IPAslink|iː}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـي}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|ـيـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|يـ}}}}
|{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ي]]}}}}
|28
|-
! colspan="7" |
|-
|ʾ or {{transliteration|ar|ALA|ʔ}}
|{{IPAslink|ʔ}}
| colspan="4" |{{huge|{{lang|ar|[[ء]]}}}}
| -
|}
Notes:

* Modern Standard Arabic (Literary Arabic) {{angle bracket|{{lang|ar|ج}}}} can be pronounced {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} or {{IPAslink|ʒ}} (or {{IPAslink|g}} only in Egypt) depending on the speaker's regional dialect.
* The [[Hamza]] {{angle bracket|{{lang|ar|ء}}}} can be considered a letter and plays an important role in Arabic spelling but it is not considered part of the alphabet, it has different written forms depending on its position in the word, check [[Hamza]].

=== Calligraphy ===
{{Main|Arabic calligraphy}}
After [[Khalil ibn Ahmad al Farahidi]] finally fixed the Arabic script around 786, many styles were developed, both for the writing down of the Quran and other books, and for inscriptions on monuments as decoration.

Arabic calligraphy has not fallen out of use as calligraphy has in the Western world, and is still considered by [[Arabs]] as a major art form; calligraphers are held in great esteem. Being cursive by nature, unlike the Latin script, Arabic script is used to write down a [[ayah|verse]] of the Quran, a [[hadith]], or a [[proverb]]. The composition is often abstract, but sometimes the writing is shaped into an actual form such as that of an animal. One of the current masters of the genre is [[Hassan Massoudy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hassan Massoudy |url=https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/artist/iraq/hassan-massoudy/ |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=Barjeel Art Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

In modern times the intrinsically calligraphic nature of the written Arabic form is haunted by the thought that a typographic approach to the language, necessary for digitized unification, will not always accurately maintain meanings conveyed through calligraphy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Osborn|first=J.R.|year=2009|title=Narratives of Arabic Script: Calligraphic Design and Modern Spaces|journal=Design and Culture|volume=1|issue=3|pages=289–306|doi=10.1080/17547075.2009.11643292|s2cid=147422407}}</ref>

=== Romanization ===
{{Main|Romanization of Arabic}}There are a number of different standards for the [[romanization of Arabic]], i.e. methods of accurately and efficiently representing Arabic with the Latin script. There are various conflicting motivations involved, which leads to multiple systems. Some are interested in [[transliteration]], i.e. representing the ''spelling'' of Arabic, while others focus on [[Phonetic transcription|transcription]], i.e. representing the ''pronunciation'' of Arabic. (They differ in that, for example, the same letter {{lang|ar|[[ي]]}} is used to represent both a consonant, as in "'''y'''ou" or "'''y'''et", and a vowel, as in "m'''e'''" or "'''ea'''t".)

Some systems, e.g. for scholarly use, are intended to accurately and unambiguously represent the phonemes of Arabic, generally making the phonetics more explicit than the original word in the Arabic script. These systems are heavily reliant on [[diacritic]]al marks such as "š" for the sound equivalently written ''sh'' in English. Other systems (e.g. the [[Bahá'í orthography]]) are intended to help readers who are neither Arabic speakers nor linguists with intuitive pronunciation of Arabic names and phrases.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

These less "scientific" systems tend to avoid [[diacritics]] and use [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] (like ''sh'' and ''kh''). These are usually simpler to read, but sacrifice the definiteness of the scientific systems, and may lead to ambiguities, e.g. whether to interpret ''sh'' as a single sound, as in ''gash'', or a combination of two sounds, as in ''gashouse''. The [[ALA-LC]] romanization solves this problem by separating the two sounds with a [[Prime (symbol)|prime]] symbol ( ′ ); e.g., ''as′hal'' 'easier'.

During the last few decades and especially since the 1990s, Western-invented text communication technologies have become prevalent in the Arab world, such as [[personal computer]]s, the [[World Wide Web]], [[email]], [[bulletin board system]]s, [[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]], [[instant messaging]] and [[mobile phone text messaging]]. Most of these technologies originally had the ability to communicate using the Latin script only, and some of them still do not have the Arabic script as an optional feature. As a result, Arabic speaking users communicated in these technologies by transliterating the Arabic text using the Latin script.

To handle those Arabic letters that cannot be accurately represented using the Latin script, numerals and other characters were appropriated. For example, the numeral "3" may be used to represent the Arabic letter {{angle bracket|{{lang|ar|ع}}}}. There is no universal name for this type of transliteration, but some have named it [[Arabic Chat Alphabet]] or IM Arabic. Other systems of transliteration exist, such as using dots or capitalization to represent the "emphatic" counterparts of certain consonants. For instance, using capitalization, the letter {{angle bracket|{{lang|ar|د}}}}, may be represented by '''d'''. Its emphatic counterpart, {{angle bracket|{{lang|ar|ض}}}}, may be written as '''D'''.

=== Numerals ===
In most of present-day North Africa, the [[Western Arabic numerals]] (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) are used. However, in Egypt and Arabic-speaking countries to the east of it, the [[Eastern Arabic numerals]] ({{script/Arabic|٠}} – {{script/Arabic|١}} – {{script/Arabic|٢}} – {{script/Arabic|٣}} – {{script/Arabic|٤}} – {{script/Arabic|٥}} – {{script/Arabic|٦}} – {{script/Arabic|٧}} – {{script/Arabic|٨}} – {{script/Arabic|٩}}) are in use. When representing a number in Arabic, the lowest-valued [[positional notation|position]] is placed on the right, so the order of positions is the same as in left-to-right scripts. Sequences of digits such as telephone numbers are read from left to right, but numbers are spoken in the traditional Arabic fashion, with units and tens reversed from the modern English usage. For example, 24 is said "four and twenty" just like in the German language (''vierundzwanzig'') and [[Classical Hebrew]], and 1975 is said "a thousand and nine-hundred and five and seventy" or, more eloquently, "a thousand and nine-hundred five seventy".

=== Arabic alphabet and nationalism ===
There have been many instances of national movements to convert Arabic script into Latin script or to Romanize the language. Currently, the only Arabic variety to use Latin script is [[Maltese language|Maltese]].

====Lebanon====
The Beirut newspaper ''La Syrie'' pushed for the change from Arabic script to Latin letters in 1922. The major head of this movement was [[Louis Massignon]], a French Orientalist, who brought his concern before the Arabic Language Academy in Damascus in 1928. Massignon's attempt at Romanization failed as the academy and population viewed the proposal as an attempt from the Western world to take over their country. [[Sa'id al-Afghani|Sa'id Afghani]], a member of the academy, mentioned that the movement to Romanize the script was a [[Zionism|Zionist]] plan to dominate Lebanon.<ref name="shrivtiel179">{{cite book|last=Shrivtiel|first=Shraybom|title=The Question of Romanisation of the Script and The Emergence of Nationalism in the Middle East|date=1998|publisher=Mediterranean Language Review|pages=179–196}}</ref><ref name="shirvtiel188">Shrivtiel, p. 188</ref> [[Said Akl]] created a Latin-based alphabet for [[Lebanese Arabic|Lebanese]] and used it in a newspaper he founded, ''Lebnaan'', as well as in some books he wrote.

====Egypt====
After the period of colonialism in Egypt, Egyptians were looking for a way to reclaim and re-emphasize Egyptian culture. As a result, some Egyptians pushed for an Egyptianization of the Arabic language in which the formal Arabic and the colloquial Arabic would be combined into one language and the Latin alphabet would be used.<ref name="shrivtiel179" /><ref name="shirvtiel188" /> There was also the idea of finding a way to use [[Hieroglyphics]] instead of the Latin alphabet, but this was seen as too complicated to use.<ref name="shrivtiel179" /><ref name="shirvtiel188" />

A scholar, [[Salama Musa]] agreed with the idea of applying a Latin alphabet to Arabic, as he believed that would allow Egypt to have a closer relationship with the West. He also believed that Latin script was key to the success of Egypt as it would allow for more advances in science and technology. This change in alphabet, he believed, would solve the problems inherent with Arabic, such as a lack of written vowels and difficulties writing foreign words that made it difficult for non-native speakers to learn.<ref name="shrivtiel179" /><ref name="shirvtiel188" /> [[Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed|Ahmad Lutfi As Sayid]] and [[Muhammad Mustafa Azmi|Muhammad Azmi]], two Egyptian intellectuals, agreed with Musa and supported the push for Romanization.<ref name="shrivtiel179" /><ref name="shrivtiel189">Shrivtiel, p. 189</ref>

The idea that Romanization was necessary for modernization and growth in Egypt continued with Abd Al-Aziz Fahmi in 1944. He was the chairman for the Writing and Grammar Committee for the Arabic Language Academy of Cairo.<ref name="shrivtiel179" /><ref name="shrivtiel189" /> This effort failed as the Egyptian people felt a strong cultural tie to the Arabic alphabet.<ref name="shrivtiel179" /><ref name="shrivtiel189" /> In particular, the older Egyptian generations believed that the Arabic alphabet had strong connections to Arab values and history, due to the long history of the Arabic alphabet (Shrivtiel, 189) in Muslim societies.