Transliteration
- Transliteration
For transliteration from languages which use Arabic script the use of diacritics has been avoided in order to present the text of the journal in a uniform and uncluttered manner. A table of transliterated key terms – complete with diacritics and native script – has been included at the end of an article where it is necessary to avoid confusion.
Note: In some words and names of Persian origin, ‘e’ and ‘o’ have been used in lieu of ‘i’ and ‘u’ to conform to standard spellings.
TRANSLITERATION KEY:
| Arab./Pers./ Urdu Letter | Roman Equivalent |
|---|---|
| ’ | |
| a | |
| b | |
| p | |
| t | |
| t | |
| th | |
| j | |
| ch | |
| ḥ | |
| kh | |
| d | |
| d | |
| dh | |
| r | |
| r | |
| z | |
| zh | |
| s | |
| sh | |
| ṣ | |
| ḍ | |
| ṭ | |
| ẓ | |
| ‘ | |
| gh | |
| f | |
| q | |
| k | |
| g | |
| l | |
| m | |
| n | |
| h | |
| w | |
| y | |
| h or t |
| Short | Vowels |
|---|---|
| a | |
| u | |
| i |
| Long | Vowels |
|---|---|
| á | |
| ū | |
| Ī |
| Diphthongs | |
|---|---|
| aw | |
| ay | |
[End Page 257]
NOTES
The Definite Article: The Arabic definite article ‘al’ (always followed by a dash) is only capitalised at the beginning of a sentence, name, or heading, e.g. ‘Hasan al-Basri’ or ‘Al-Basri’. The definite article is never assimilated or abbreviated e.g. ‘hujjatu-l islam’,‘al-qur’an ul-karim’, ‘huruf ash-shamsiyyah’,‘ar-rahmanir rahim’, and ‘bidayat ‘l-hikmah’ are all incorrect. When a noun (mawsuf) is followed by an adjective (siffah), include the definite article ‘a’ before both, e.g. ‘al-harakat al-jawhariyyah’ not ‘harakat al-jawhariyyah’.
Construct phrases: Only the second word of the Arabic idafah takes ‘al’ e.g. ‘salat al-fajr’ not ‘al-salat al-fajr’ For Persian, the final kasrah of the word in the construct state (mudaf) is transliterated as ‘-i’ unless the word ends in a ‘y’, e.g. ‘Bank-i Markazi-yi Iran’ and ‘Hawzih-i ‘Ilmiyyih-i Qum’.
Patronymic particles: The patronymic particles ‘bint’ and ‘ibn’ should only be capitalised if at the beginning of a name i.e. ‘Ibn Sina’ is correct and so is ‘Ali ibn Sina’, but ‘Ali Ibn Sina’ is incorrect. Kunyas (e.g. Abu, Abi, Aba, Umm) are to be capitalized and never assimilated e.g. ‘Bintal Huda’ and ‘Abulqasim’ are incorrect. ‘Bin’ and ‘b.’ should not be used.
Naturalised words: Words that have been admitted into the English language should be transliterated according to their common spelling. For example, ‘Ayatollah’ not ‘Ayat Allah’.
Capitalisation: Transliterated words should be capitalised according to English convention, that is, at the beginning of sentences, in titles, and for names. However, when transliterating a sentence or phrase, capitalisation is not required.
Dashes: Where it is thought useful dashes may be used to indicate prefixes and suffixes, e.g. ‘pish-namaz’ and ‘kitab-ha-yi dini’ (in Persian) and ‘li-takunu’ and ‘bi-buyutihim’ (in Arabic).
Inflexion: The inflexion of the end letter of a word is not usually indicated, e.g. ‘qawl wa fi‘l’ not ‘qawlun wa fi‘lun’. On occasions it is warranted, e.g. ‘sami‘tu al-adhan’ not ‘sami‘t al-adhan’ and ‘hayya ala al-salah’ not ‘hayy ala al-salah’.
Miscellaneous: In Farsi transliterate with ‘v’ rather than ‘w’, except for cases like ‘khwajih’. For Arabic when ta marbutah occurs in the middle of a construct phrase transliterate as ‘t’ rather than ‘h’, e.g. ‘jazirat al-‘arab’. Modern Tukish spellings should be used for Ottoman Turkish. For more information see our website. [End Page 258]
