ظَاء
Where it comes from
All 17 pointsThe tongue tip between the teeth طرف اللسان وأطراف الثنايا
The tip pushes out between the teeth, touching the edges of the upper front teeth, and the air passes over it. Ẓāʾ, dhāl and thāʾ are made here.
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.
- Stroke 1 of 3: part of the letter's body.
- Stroke 2 of 3: the extra mark that completes the letter.
- Stroke 3 of 3: a dot, added after the body is finished.
All four forms
The short gold marks show which sides the letter joins to its neighbours.
Dhaa connects on both sides, so it has all four forms.
Same shape, different dots
These letters share one skeleton — only the dots tell them apart.
Often confused with
In a word
Isolated
أَلْفَاظٌ
alfaaz
utterances
Initial
ظُلُمَات
dhulumaat
darknesses
Medial
يَنْظُرُون
yandhuroon
they look
Final
حَافِظٌ
haafidh
guardian
In the Quran
فِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ
سورة البروج
وَمَنْ يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُ
سورة الطلاق
أَفَلَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَى الْإِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ
سورة الغاشية
إِنْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ لَمَّا عَلَيْهَا حَافِظٌ
سورة الطارق
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