How the script is written, and the first four letters

This stage teaches you to read the Arabic script letter by letter, as the muṣḥaf writes it. It teaches the letters first, then the marks written above and below them, then the muṣḥaf's own small signs, and it ends by reading al-Fātiḥah one letter at a time.

This lesson teaches three things about the script, and four letters that show them.

Three things about the script

• Arabic is written and read from right to left. A line begins at the right edge of the page, and a book opens from what an English reader would call its back.
• The letters of a word are joined to each other, as in handwriting. A letter's shape changes a little with its place in the word: alone, at the start, in the middle or at the end.
• Many letters share one shape and differ only in their dots: how many dots there are, and whether they stand above the letter or below it.

The script has twenty-eight letters, and the hamzah, which is written in a way of its own and has a lesson of its own later. Most of the letters are consonants. Three of them, alif, wāw and yā’, also stand for long vowels. The short vowels are not letters at all: they are small marks written above or below a letter, taught from lesson 9.

The letters

Each card gives the letter's name, how the app's transliteration writes it, and its shapes. The transliteration is worked out by a rule, not written by a person; it is there to help you tell the letters apart, not to teach how they are said.

Alif

Alif is a single upright stroke. It joins to the letter before it, but never to the letter after it, so it has only two shapes: alone and at the end. Alif often stands for a long ā, and it also carries the hamzah, as later lessons show. The transliteration gives no letter of its own for it.

Bā’, tā’ and thā’

These three letters have one body: a shallow bowl, open at the top. Only the dots tell them apart.

• Bā’ has one dot below.
• Tā’ has two dots above.
• Thā’ has three dots above.

At the start and in the middle of a word, the bowl shrinks to a short hook, and the dots are what you read. At the end of a word and alone, the bowl is drawn whole.

In the Qur’ān

The first word of al-Fātiḥah begins with bā’. Here it is, and below it the same word letter by letter. The small marks on each letter are named too; you will learn them in later lessons.

In this verse, every bā’, tā’ and thā’ is picked out, and the plain alif that ends the first word. Two more letters look like an alif and are left unmarked: the second letter of that first word, which carries a hamzah below it, and the first letter of the second word, which carries a small sign above it. Each is a form of its own, taught in lessons 15 and 18. Look at each marked letter and say its name. Bā’ is a short hook here, at the start of one word and in the middle of another. The last word ends with tā’, drawn with its whole bowl.

How the letters are said

This course teaches the letters and their names. How each letter is sounded, and from where in the mouth and throat, is taught in the library's Tajwīd title, under makhārij. A teacher who recites is the surest way to learn the sounds.

Recall

• In which direction is Arabic read?
• Which letter of this lesson never joins to the letter after it?
• How do you tell bā’, tā’ and thā’ apart?

Answers: from right to left; alif; by their dots: one below for bā’, two above for tā’, three above for thā’.

Next

The next lesson teaches three more letters that share one body: jīm, ḥā’ and khā’.