Initials and Medials.

Reduced Order. Final. Initial. Medial. Value.
1 ا‎ ـا‎ اـ‎ ـاـ‎ a (i, u)
2 ٮ‎ ـٮ‎ ٮـ‎ ـٮـ‎ b, t, s̤
3 ح‎ ـح‎ حـ‎ ـحـ‎ j, ḥ, k͟h
4 د‎ ـد‎ دـ‎ ـدـ‎ d, ẕ
5 ر‎ ـر‎ رـ‎ ـرـ‎ r, z
6 س‎ ـس‎ سـ‎ ـسـ‎ s, sh
7 ص‎ ـص‎ صـ‎ ـصـ‎ ṣ, ẓ
8 ط‎ ـط‎ طـ‎ ـطـ‎ t̤, z̤
9 ع‎ ـع‎ عـ‎ ـعـ‎ ʿ, g͟h
10 ڡ‎ ـڡ‎ ڡـ‎ ـڡـ‎ f, q
11 ك‎ ـك‎ كـ‎ ـكـ‎ k
12 ل‎ ـل‎ لـ‎ ـلـ‎ l
13 م‎ ـم‎ مـ‎ ـمـ‎ m
14 ن‎ ـن‎ نـ‎ ـنـ‎ n
15 ه‎ ـه‎ هـ‎ ـهـ‎ h
16 و‎ ـو‎ وـ‎ ـوـ‎ w
17 ى‎ ـى‎ يـ‎ ـيـ‎ y

A further examination of this reduced list shows, that the characters, 1, 4, 5 and 16, ا‎, د‎, ر‎ and و‎, do not admit of the horizontal prolongation towards the left which serves to connect a letter with a following one, or, in other words, that they can only be joined to a preceding letter, and that the characters 14 and 17, viz. ن‎ and ى‎, in their initial and medial form, differ from the character b only by the superadded dots, and may therefore count for one with it, finally limiting the number of characters to fifteen. Thus the whole Arabic alphabet resolves itself into the four signs

ا د ر و‎

which can be joined to a preceding letter, but must, even in the middle of a word, remain separate from a following one, and the eleven signs

ٮحسصطعڡكلمه‎

which can be connected either way.

These, then, are the graphical elements, in their simplest expression, by means of which Arabic, etymologically perhaps the richest language in existence, was originally written, and which were expected to transmit the sacred text of the inspired book to the coming generations. The first in the above series of connectible characters (ٮـ‎) represents five different sounds, b, t, s̤, n, and y; the second (حـ‎) three sounds, ḥ, j, and k͟h; the next five (سـ‎, صـ‎, طـ‎, عـ‎, ڡـ‎), together with د‎ and ر‎ two sounds each, s and sh, ṣ and ẓ, t̤ and z̤, ʿ and g͟h, f and q, d and ẕ, r and z, respectively, and only five out of the whole number of fifteen (و‎, مـ‎, لـ‎, كـ‎, ا‎) are single signs for a single consonantal sound each. As for the vowels, only the long ones, ā, ū, and ī, were in this system of writing graphically expressed, being represented by the so-called weak consonants, ا‎, و‎, and ى‎, which, in this case, act as letters of prolongation. Yet the corresponding short vowels, a, u, and i, were of the utmost importance for the correct reading of a text, for the whole system of Arabic inflection is based upon them, and their faulty employment in the recital of the Qurʾān would frequently lead to grave mistakes, or, at all events, grievously shock the pious and the learned.

So it will be easily understood that the want of additional signs was soon felt, to obviate this double insufficiency of the original alphabet, that is to say, on the one hand to distinguish between letters of the same form but of different sound, and on the other hand to show with what vowel a letter was to be enounced in accordance with the rules of the Iʿrāb or grammatical inflection.

Accounts differ as to when and by whom these signs were invented and introduced into the sacred as well as the secular writing. We must here at once remark that the form in which they now appear is by no means their oldest form, as we have also, with regard to the characters of the alphabet themselves, to distinguish between two styles of writing, the one called Cufic, used in inscriptions on monuments and coins, in copies of the Qurʾān, and documents of importance, the other of a more cursive character, better adapted to the exigencies of daily life. This latter style, it is true, seems to have existed, like the former, long before Muḥammad, and resembles in a document of the second century of the Hijrah, which has come down to us, already very much the so-called Nask͟hī character now in use. But the two kept from the first quite apart, and developed independently from each other up to the middle of the fourth century of the Muḥammadan era, when the more popular system began to supplant the older one, which it finally superseded even in the transcriptions of the sacred book.