Transliteration of Arabic

The following is my preferred system for romanizing Arabic. It is similar to the ALA-LC transliteration system and also partly inspired by the transliteration used in the Hans Wehr dictionary.

ا

ā

ب

b

ت

t

ث

th

ج

j

ح

ḥ

خ

kh

د

d

ذ

dh

ر

r

ز

z

س

s

ش

sh

ص

ṣ

ض

ḍ

ط

ṭ

ظ

ẓ

ع

ʻ

غ

gh

ف

f

ق

q

ك

k

ل

l

م

m

ن

n

ه

h

و

w, ū

ي

y, ī

ء

ʼ

ى

á

Use a “modifier letter apostrophe” (U+02BC) for hamza, regardless of what seat it is written on, and a “modifier letter turned comma” (U+02BB) for ʻayn. But omit a word-initial hamza (its presence can always be inferred from context). Treat alif madda as hamza + alif.

Write t for a pronounced tāʼ marbūṭa, and omit an unpronounced one: معاهدة الصداقة muʻāhadat al-ṣadāqa. Use h for an unpronounced tāʼ marbūṭa following an alif: الحياة al-ḥayāh.

Use u, a, i for short ḍamma, fatḥa and kasra respectively, and add an n for tanwīn. Use w, y when ‭و and ي are consonantal, and ū, ī when they are vocalic. Use aw and ay for the diphthongs ـَـو and ـَـي .

If any of the sequences th, kh, dh, sh is needed to represent two separate Arabic letters, divide it with a midpoint: ده  d·h, كه k·h. (This does not apply if one of the letters has an underdot: تح tḥ.)

The definite article al, and the particles a, bi, sa, fa, ka, la, li and wa (all written with single letters in Arabic script), should be joined with a hyphen to the following word: لنتعلّم ونفهم li-nataʻallam wa-nafham. Omit an elided hamzat al-waṣl; do not add an apostrophe to mark the elision: في البحر fī l-baḥr. Do not transliterate the assimilation of al, except where reproducing the sound is important (e.g., in poetry: الشَّمْسُ ash-shamsu).

Capitalize as in English: proper nouns, the first word of a sentence, and all words (except particles and prepositions) in titles. If a word to be capitalized begins with an ʻayn, capitalize the following letter: Amīna ʻAbd al-Baṣīr.