Square Kufic

This is a presentation of the work I have done on the Kufic version of the Arabic alphabet.

I have tried to encompass all of the variations of Arabic, including those used to write a variety of languages from around the world.

Please see the Gallery for examples.

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The 19 basic letter forms used in Kufic

alif

alif

• The basic form of alif, historically vocalized as /a:/ or /?/.

alif hamza

• Used for /a/:

• The alif with hamza above:

• The alif with hamza and fatHa:

• Used for /u/:

• The alif with hamza and Damma:

• Used for /i/:

• The alif with hamza below:

• The alif with hamza and kasra:

• The alif with hamza above a fatHa:

• The alif hamza is used in cases when a short vowel begins a word.

alif madda

• The alif madda, it is used to indicate /?a:/. When two hamza using the alif as a seat follow each other, or when a hamza is followed by a long vowel, then a madda is used instead.

alif waSla

• The alif waSla is used to indicate that the alif is not to be pronounced and that the preceding vowel is elidable.

baa, taa, thaa

variations

baa

• The baa, used for /b/.

• The pe used in Perso-Arabic for /p/.

taa

• The taa, used for /t/.

• The Te, used in Urdu for /t`/.

thaa

• The thaa, used for /T/.

jiim, Haa, khaa

variations

jiim

• The jiim, in MSA for /dZ/, /g/ in Masri and /Z/ in Shami.

Haa

• The Haa, used for specifically for /X\/.

khaa

• The khaa, used specifically for /x/.

daal, dhaal

variations

daal

• The daal, used for /d/.

• The Daal, used in Urdu to represent /d`/.

• Used in Pashto to represent /d`/.

dhaal

• The dhaal, used for /D/.

raa, zaay

variations

raa

• The raa, used for /r/.

• The Urdu aar, used for /r`/.

• Used in Pashto to represent /r`/.

zaay

• The zaay or zaa, used for /z/.

siin, shiin

variations

siin

• The siin, used for /s/.

• The xiin, used for /x/ in Pashto.

shīn

• The shiin, used for /S/.

Saad, Daad

variations

Saad

• The Saad, used for /s?\/

Daad

• The Daad, used for /d?\/

Taa, DHaa

variations

Taa

• The Taa, used for /t?\/.

DHaa

• The DHaa, used for /D?\/ or /z?\/.

ʿayn, ghayn

variations

ʿayn

• The ʿayn, used for /?\/.

ghayn

• The ghayn, used for /G/.

nga

• The nga, used specifically by the Jawi alphabet for /N/.

faa

variations

faa

• The faa, used for /f/.

paa

• The paa, used specifically by the Jawi alphabet for /p/.

qaaf

• The qaaf, used for /q/ or /g/ in Gulf Arabic.

kaaf

• The kaaf, used for /k/.

• A secondary version of kaaf used by many languages, most prominently those that use the Perso-Arabic alphabet.

• The gaaf, used for /g/ in the Perso-Arabic alphabet and the Jawi alphabet.

• Another version of the gaaf, not used as frequently as the former.

• This version is used unofficially in Moroccan Arabic for /g/ and in some languages as /N/. The use of the initial, medial and final forms vary widely.

• Used specifically in the Pashto Alphabet for /g/.

laam

• The laam, used for /l/.

laam-alif

• The laam-alif is a ligature used to represent /la:/.

• Variations.

miim

• The miim, used for /m/.

nuun

• The nuun, used for /n/.

• Used specifically in the Pashto Alphabet for /n`/.

nya

• The nya, used specifically in the Jawi alphabet for the palatal nasal, /J/.

haa

• The haa, used for /h/.

taa marbuuTa

• The taa marbuuTa, a variation of the taa, used grammatically to indicate the feminine gender. It can be vocalized as /h/, /t/ or it can be silent, depending on the semantic role of the morpheme.

waaw

• The waaw, used as /w/ and /u:/.

yaa

• The yaa, used as /j/ and /i:/.

alif maqSuura

• The alif maqSuura, used only in the final position to represent /a:/.

Harakaat

fatHa

• Placed over consonants for /a/.

Damma

• Placed over consonants for /u/.

kasra

• Placed below consonants for /i/.

sukuun

• Placed over consonants to indicate the absence of a vowel.

hamza

• Free standing hamza, used for /?/.

• The hamza used as harakaat.

shadda

• Used to indicate gemination.

dagger alif

• Used only in completely vocalized text.

tanwiin al-fatH

• Grammatical ending, used to indicate the accusative of indefinite nouns, pronounced /an/.

tanwiin aD-Damm

• Grammatical ending, used to indicate the nominative of indefinite nouns, pronounced /un/.

tanwiin al-kasr

• Grammatical ending, used to indicate the genitive of indefinite nouns, pronounced /in/.

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More to come. -- Qang