Rule Number 01

Arabic Alphabet
And Why You Should Start with Them

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By the End of This Rule YOU Will be Able to:

1- Know how many letters in Arabic.

2- Know what's the meaning of Naskh and Reqaah styles

3- Know the Standalone Shape

4- Know the Standalone shape according to the line

5- Get introduced to the 4 shapes

6- Know the difference between vocalized & un-vocalized text

7- Get introduced to Arabic Calligraphy

8- Get introduced to how to write the alphabet In Naskh

Style.

9- Get Introduced to how to write the alphabet In Reqaah

 Style.

Let’s Start:

How Many Letters In Arabic.

If YOU want to learn any language, the right way to start is to

start with learning its Alphabet, right? and Arabic is not an

exception, so let’s start Rule one with the Arabic alphabet as a

starting point. Firstly, have a look at the two tables given below;

Table 1-1 and Table 1-2.

In The following tables of letters – from right to left – You will

note the following:

1- The letters of the Arabic alphabet are in the shape they have

when they are in the Standalone Shape; which means when they

are NOT connected or joined to any other letters.

2- The total number of alphabet is twenty eight (28) letters.

3- The first table 1-1 is written in Naskh Printing style.

4- The second table 1-2 is written in Reqqaah handwriting style

Since Arabic words are produced when we join letters together,

you should know that, some times we call the Standalone shape

as the Independent shape, as you noticed the letters come by

itself and are not connected to a following letter or a preceding

letter

Have a look at these letters first – from right to left – and you will

note that they are twenty eight letters; However, you may find in

some books that Arabic alphabet letters are 29, 30 or even 32

letters! But In fact they are 28 letters, and in another point I will

explain why they are 28 letters and what the extra letters are.

What's The Meaning Of Naskh and Reqaah styles.

Some basic Information YOU should know:

1- You should know that there are many ways, styles and much

other calligraphy to write Arabic. In this book I'm using the most

two famous ways of writing Arabic; the Naskh printing style as in

Table (1-1) and the Reqaah Handwriting style as in Table (1-2),

however, other styles could be learned after you finish this ebook.

2- You should know that, besides Arabic language, The Arabic

alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia

and Africa, such as Malay and Urdu and Farsi and others…

3- The Arabic alphabet was first used to write texts in Arabic,

most notably the Quran, the holy book of Islam.

4- The full Arabic alphabet of twenty eight letters are created by

placing various combinations of dots above or below some of

these shapes which you will learn after a while.

5- Most Arabic letters change its form or shape depending on

whether they appear in the word (i.e. its position in the word) for

example:

- When it appears at the beginning of a word (we call it initial

shape)
- When it appears in the middle of a word (we call it medial

shape)

- When it appears at the end of a word (we call it Terminal shape)

- When it appears on its own as standalone of a word (we call it

standalone shape)

Note:

All details about Letters shapes will be completely covered in Rule

Number 2

6- When I say that we have many ways and styles to write Arabic

– don’t get confused – as you should know that letters can be

joined in both Reqaah handwriting style and Naskh Printing style,

they also joined in the same way in all other styles and

calligraphy but with a touch of art, the only exceptions to this are

crossword puzzles in magazines and newspaper and signs in

which the Arabic letters are written vertically or horizontally as in

the following picture.

7- Vowel diacritics, which we use them to mark short vowels and

other special symbols appear only in writing the holy Quran and in

full vocalized texts. They are also used, though with less

consistency, in other religious texts, in classical poetry, in books

for children and foreign learners, especially beginners, just for the

purpose of education, and occasionally in complex texts to avoid

ambiguity and confusion, for example you may find two words

which have the same spelling and they have very different

meaning and to distinguish between them, you have to use the

proper vowel.

>> Have a look at the following picture to see the difference

between vocalized and un-vocalized texts.

Fully vocalized Text - Diacritics

un-vocalized Text - Diacritics

8- Because early Muslims developed many ways and Arts in

writing Arabic, Sometimes you may find that the diacritics are

used for decorative purposes as in book titles, letterheads,

nameplates, etc. as in the following picture:

Please Note:

Don’t get Confused with the previous 2 pictures after you get

advanced level in Arabic – Insha'Allah – you will be able to

recognise them.

After That

With the spread of Islam as a religion, Arabic alphabet came to be

used to write many languages of many other language families

including, at various times, Urdu, Pashto, Baloch, Malay, and

others…

The Arabic Script (Don’t Get Confused)

As a beginner or even as advanced Arabic learner, In Arabic you

may find a number of different styles of calligraphies, including

Naskh ‫ﺧط اﻟﻧﺳﺦ‬, Reqaah ‫ﺧط اﻟﺮﻗﻌﺔ‬, Thuluth ‫ﺧط اﻟﺛُﻠث‬, Kufic ‫اﻟﺧط اﻟﻛوﻓﻲ‬, Sini,

Hijazi ‫ اﻟﺧط اﻟﺣﺟﺎزي‬, and many others…

All of them are using the same rules explained here but in

different styles and using specific pens, to distinguish between the

same words written in different Calligraphies, it needs from you

some experience and practise in writing Arabic, which will you get

from here Insha'Allah ‫ إن ﺷﺎء ﷲ‬.

Note:

You will find more about Arabic calligraphy in this ebook

The Two Tables Below

Have a look to the following two Tables which explain the Arabic

alphabet in its Standalone Shape – just for ease - and written in

two different famous ways, which I'm going to use them in this
book:

1) Naskh Printing Style ‫ – ﺧط اﻟﻧﺳﺦ‬as in Table 1–1

2) Reqaah Handwriting style ‫ – ﺧط اﻟﺮﻗﻌﺔ‬as in Table 1–2

You may Note that the left side column for the two tables which

contains the same letters but written with line consideration – I

will explain This more in another rule - which means that the

letter could be written above the line, below the line or its half

above the line and the other half is below the line. Just I

mentioned it to you here to make you get used to see the right

way of writing Arabic letters with line considerations.

Note:

You will find more on writing Arabic letters and words with line

consideration explained in ebook in other Rules.

How To Write The Alphabet In Naskh Style

Writing Arabic In Naskh Printing Style

You should know that since the Naskh printing style is relatively

easy to read and write, Naskh printing style appealed particularly

to the general population, especially the new learners and

beginners.
For me, as a personal style, I always prefer to use the Naskh

printing style only when I teach my students especially in the

beginner level, as it is very clear to the student to learn and to

know the shapes of all letters without confusion, however in

advanced level, I prefer to use the Reqaah Handwriting Style for

fast and freehand writing.

How To Write Naskh Printing Style

Sometimes we may call the Naskh Printing Style as the standard

style of Writing Arabic, that's why you may find most of

magazines, books are written using Naskh Printing style; for

many reasons, like its simplicity and clear way, so no confusion

for any reader.

That's why, currently, Naskh Printing Style is considered the

supreme script in printing for almost all Muslims and Arabs around

the world.

How it is written then?

Naskh Printing Style is usually written with short horizontal stems

- and with almost equal vertical depth above and below the line.

The curves are full and deep, the uprights straight and vertical,

and the words generally well spaced and clear.

Note:

You can Watch my videos for all packages to learn more about

this point.

In Following Table (1-1):

You will find the Arabic Alphabet written in Naskh Printing Style in

two columns, the first column from right is for the letters in its

standalone shape in Naskh Printing Style and the left side column

is for the letters in its standalone shape but written with the line

consideration, which I will explain more in another rule in this

ebook.

Table 1-1
Writing Arabic Alphabet
in "Naskh Printing Style"
‫ﺍ‬ ‫ا‬ ‫‪1‬‬

‫ﺏ‬ ‫ب‬ ‫‪2‬‬

‫ﺕ‬ ‫ت‬ ‫‪3‬‬

‫ﺙ‬ ‫ث‬ ‫‪4‬‬

‫ﺝ‬ ‫ج‬ ‫‪5‬‬

‫ﺡ‬ ‫ح‬ ‫‪6‬‬

‫ﺥ‬ ‫خ‬ ‫‪7‬‬

‫ﺩ‬ ‫د‬ ‫‪8‬‬

‫ﺫ‬ ‫ذ‬ ‫‪9‬‬

‫ﺭ‬ ‫ر‬ ‫‪10‬‬

‫ﺯ‬ ‫ز‬ ‫‪11‬‬

‫ﺱ‬ ‫س‬ ‫‪12‬‬

‫ﺵ‬ ‫ش‬ ‫‪13‬‬

‫ﺹ‬ ‫ص‬ ‫‪14‬‬

‫ﺽ‬ ‫ض‬ ‫‪15‬‬

‫ﻁ‬ ‫ط‬ ‫‪16‬‬

‫ﻅ‬ ‫ظ‬ ‫‪17‬‬

‫ﻉ‬ ‫ع‬ ‫‪18‬‬

‫ﻍ‬ ‫غ‬ ‫‪19‬‬

‫ﻑ‬ ‫ف‬ ‫‪20‬‬

‫ﻕ‬ ‫ق‬ ‫‪21‬‬

‫ﻙ‬ ‫ك‬ ‫‪22‬‬

‫ﻝ‬ ‫ل‬ ‫‪23‬‬

‫ﻡ‬ ‫م‬ ‫‪24‬‬

‫ﻥ‬ ‫ن‬ ‫‪25‬‬

‫ﻫـ‬ ‫ھـ‬ ‫‪26‬‬

‫ﻭ‬ ‫و‬ ‫‪27‬‬

‫ﻱ‬ ‫ي‬ ‫‪28‬‬

 How To Write The Alphabet In Reqaah Style

Writing Arabic In Reqaah Handwriting Style

This is another famous style of writing Arabic, this style, which I

call it as Reqaah or small sheet; it was produced from both Naskh

Printing Style and Thuluth style. Although Reqaah Handwriting

Style has a close relation with the Thuluth style, Reqaah was

developed in a different direction, which I'm going to explain in

the following points.

Reqaah Handwriting Style became simplified. The geometric forms

of the letters are similar to those of Thuluth style, but are smaller

with more curves. Also you may find that Reqaah Handwriting

Style is more rounded and structured with short horizontal stems.

Historical Notice about Reqqaah Handwriting Style

Reqaah Handwriting Style was one of the favourite scripts of

Ottoman calligraphers and underwent many improvements at the

hand of Shaykh Hamdullah al-Amasi. Later, Reqqaah was revised

by other calligraphers and went on to become the most popular

and widely used script for handwriting. That’s why today,

Reqqaah is the preferred script for handwriting throughout the

Arab world.

In the following Table (1-2):

You will find the Arabic Alphabet written in two columns, the first

column from right is for the letters in its standalone shape and the

left side column is for the letters in its standalone shape but

written with the line consideration, which I will explain more in

another rule in this ebook.

Table 1-2
Writing Arabic Alphabet
in "Reqaah Handwriting Style"

‫ﺍ‬ a 1
‫ﺏ‬ ‫‪l‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬

‫ﺕ‬ ‫‪p‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬

‫ﺙ‬ ‫‪t‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬

‫ﺝ‬ ‫@‪x‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬

‫ﺡ‬ ‫‬ ‫‪6‬‬

‫ﺥ‬ ‫…‬ ‫‪7‬‬

‫ﺩ‬ ‫†‬ ‫‪8‬‬

‫ﺫ‬ ‫ˆ‬ ‫‪9‬‬

‫ﺭ‬ ‫‪Š‬‬ ‫‪10‬‬

‫ﺯ‬ ‫‪Œ‬‬ ‫‪11‬‬

‫ﺱ‬ ‫‘‬ ‫‪12‬‬

‫ﺵ‬ ‫•‬ ‫‪13‬‬

‫ﺹ‬ ‫™‬ ‫‪14‬‬

‫ﺽ‬ ‫‪Ÿ‬‬ ‫‪15‬‬

‫ﻁ‬ ‫‪Ã‬‬ ‫‪16‬‬

‫ﻅ‬ ‫@‪Ä‬‬ ‫‪17‬‬

‫ﻉ‬ ‫‪Ë‬‬ ‫‪18‬‬

‫ﻍ‬ ‫‪Ï‬‬ ‫‪19‬‬

‫ﻑ‬ ‫@‪Ó‬‬ ‫‪20‬‬

‫ﻕ‬ ‫@×‬ ‫‪21‬‬

‫ﻙ‬ ‫@‪Û‬‬ ‫‪22‬‬

 ‫ﻝ‬ ß@ 23

‫ﻡ‬ ã@ 24

‫ﻥ‬ ç@ 25

‫ﻫـ‬ €è@ 26

‫ﻭ‬ ì@ 27

‫ﻱ‬ ñ@ 28

In this ebook:
In this ebook and for more clarification, I use the two famous

written Arabic styles or ways, which they are Naskh Printing Style

‫ ﺧط اﻟﻧﺳﺦ‬and Reqqaah Handwriting Style ‫ﺧط اﻟﺮﻗﻌﺔ‬.

Why I'm Using these two Styles in Writing Arabic in this

ebook?

From the previous discussion you have noticed that the most

famous ways of writing are Naskh Printing Style ‫ ﺧط اﻟﻧﺳﺦ‬and

Reqaah Handwriting Style ‫ﺧط اﻟﺮﻗﻌﺔ‬, and also I want to give you an

idea about the differences you may expect when you see different

ways and styles of Arabic writing.

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