transliteration.md

Transliteration Guide

Here is a guide on how I intend to transliterate Arabic to English throughout this journal and likely into future notes.

Letters
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 -> ' (always when it has a vowel and after a preceding vowel if sākinah)
غ -> gh
ف -> f
ق -> q
ك -> k
ل -> l
م -> m
ن -> n
ه -> h
و -> w
ي -> y
ء -> - (if preceded by a vowel or after vowel of previous letter if sākinah)

Ḥarakāt
fatḥah -> a
fatḥah elongated -> ā
ḍammah -> u
ḍammah elongated -> ū
kasrah -> i
kasrah elongated -> ī

Other notes

• ال will always be written as al- regardless of if verbally the lām is not pronounced and the following letter is given a shaddah
• Letters with a sukūn may be followed by a - if combined with the following letter could depict a letter for example dāl (d) and hā (h) becoming dhāl (dh)
• With transliteration of multiple words, the trailing ḥarakah of each word may be dropped with the exception of some common phrases/words and possibly other exceptions (pronouns)
  • In the following example, the ḥarakah of the first word is kept and whereas for the second word it is dropped: al-ḥamdu lillāh
• Some words in common phrases may be merged into single words for example: bismillāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm
  • Technically it should be: bism allāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm however due to the nature of the phrase, the first two words are combined