The letter Alif

أَلِف

Where it comes from

All 17 points

The empty cavity الجوف

No contact at all. The air runs freely through the open mouth and throat, and the shape of the opening alone decides whether you hear a long ā, ū or ī.

Alif also carries the hamza, which is produced at the deepest part of the throat.

Also from here:وWawيYa

How to write it

The isolated form, shown as one common way to write it — Arabic stroke order is not fixed as rigidly as it is in some scripts.

1
  1. Stroke 1 of 1: part of the letter's body.

All four forms

اIsolated
Initial
Medial
‍اFinal

The short gold marks show which sides the letter joins to its neighbours.

Alif doesn't connect to the letter after it, so it has no initial or medial form.

Often confused with

عAin

In a word

Isolated

أَحَد

ahad

one

Final

سَمَ‍‍ا

samaa

sky

In the Quran

IsolatedAl-Ikhlas 112:1

قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

سورة الإخلاص

FinalAl-Qadr 97:1

إِنَّ‍‍ا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ

سورة القدر

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