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This page in a nutshell: Arabic words on Wikipedia should be represented by either acommon English translation, acommon transcription, or abasic transcription in that order of decreasing preference. Thestrict transliteration should be used only sparingly for etymology.

This page proposes aguideline regarding the use of Arabic words on the English Wikipedia.

On the English Wikipedia, Arabic is rendered into Latin script according to one of four methods in order of decreasing preference:

1. Common English translation
2. Common transcription
3. Basic transcription
4. Strict transliteration

The transliteration of Arabic used by Wikipedia is based on theALA-LC romanization method, with a few simple changes that make it easier to read and manage in compliance with the main Manual of Style. The strict transliteration uses accents, underscores, and underdots, and is only used foretymology, usually alongside the original Arabic. All other cases of Arabic script romanization will use the same standard, but without accents, underscores, and underdots. Some exceptions to this rule may apply.

Arabic is not originally written in theLatin alphabet and must betransliterated into characters that are generally intelligible to literate English speakers, preferably using established systematic transliterations.(SeeRomanization of Arabic § Romanization standards and systems.) However, as stated inWikipedia:English, if a common English form of an Arabic term exists—as you would find it inreliable sources—it should be preferred over a systematic transliteration.

This convention applies to cases where no widely accepted English translation is available. For the purposes of this convention, anArabic word refers to any name or phrase that is most commonly written inArabic script and does not have a standard English equivalent. This means that an Arabic word, as is mentioned in this guideline, could refer to a word in any language that uses the Arabic script, such asArabic,Persian, orOttoman Turkish.

Examples of Arabic script transliterated into Latin script:

• Abu Sayyaf (organization)
• Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (poet)
• Ta'iz (city)

Examples of titles not transliterated from Arabic script:

• Yazdegerd III of Persia (ruled Persia before Arabic script became used)
• Ahmet Necdet Sezer (ruled Turkey after the script stopped being used)
• Egypt (does not derive from an Arabic word)
• Algorism andAlgorithm (common English words, no longer perceived as transcriptions ofالخوارزميal-Khwārizmī)

A word or name has acommon transcription^[a] (anglicization) if a large majority of references in English use the same transcription or if a reliable source shows that an individual self-identifies with a particular transcription.Non-printable characters (including underscores) should be avoided.

Examples of references include theOxford Dictionary, theFBI, theNY Times,CNN, theWashington Post,Al Jazeera,Encarta,Britannica, theLibrary of Congress, and other academic sources. Examples of self-identification include a driver's license or passport in which the individual personally chose a particular form of transcription.

Google searches can be useful in determining the most common usage, but should not be heavily relied upon. The content of large searches may not be relevant to the subject being discussed or may misrepresent the figures due to the use in languages other than English. For example, theISO transliteration (ISO 233) ofالقائم is "al-Qāʾim", but the transcription "al-Qaim" receives five times as many hits. This word is used in the names of three historical Caliphs and a town in Iraq, and is also another name for theMahdi inShia Islam. Since Google searches do not discriminate between them, other sources must be used to determine if a common transcription exists for any particular usage. Google search counts are also biased toward syndicated news articles: a single syndicated reference may generate hundreds or thousands of hits, amplifying the weight of whatever spelling happens to be used by that one reference.

If there is no common transcription, a basic transcription is used.(See§ Basic transcription.)

Examples:

• There is no single most popular transcription for the name of the prophet of Islam. "Mohammed", "Mohammad", "Muhammad", and "Mohamed" are all commonly used. The basic transcription "Muhammad" is used.
• The capital of Egypt is most widely known asCairo. The basic transcription of "al-Qahira" is not used.
• The common transcription of the leader ofal-Qaeda (itself a common transcription of the strict transliterational-Qāʿida) is "Osama bin Laden". The basic transcription ofUsama ibn Ladin is not used.

 Note onibn andbint: the Arabic wordsابن orبن (transl. son of) should be transcribedibn unless a common transcription requires the colloquialbin (orben and sometimesibni andibnu to show thegrammatical case of the noun'), andبنت (transl. daughter of) should be transcribedbint. For example,Muhammad ibn Abd Allah,Qasim ibn Muhammad,Osama bin Laden,Amina bint Wahb,Tafsir Ibnu Abbas etc.(For further information, seeArabic name § Nasab andPatronymic § Arabic.)

Thebasic transcription^[b] uses a systematic convention of rendering Arabic scripts. The basic transcription from Arabic to Roman letters is foundbelow.

The basic transcription does not carry enough information to accurately write or pronounce the original Arabic script. For example, it does not differentiate between certain pairs of similar letters (e.g.سsīn vs.صṣād), or between long and short vowels. It does, however, increase the readability of the article to those not familiar with Arabic transliteration, and avoids characters that may be unreadable to browsers. This transcription method can be seen as a compromise between strict transliteration and Wikipedia conventions.

Astrict transliteration is completely reversible, allowing the original writing to be faithfully restored. A strict transliteration need not be a 1:1 mapping of characters as long as there are clear rules for choosing one character over another. A source character may be mapped (1:n) into a sequence of several target characters without losing sequential reversibility.

A strict transliteration uses a system of accents, underscores, and underdots to render the original Arabic in a form that preserves all the information in the original Arabic.

ALA-LC romanization is most commonly used for this purpose; other common transliteration standards includeISO 233 andDIN 31635.

Note that several letters proposed in the strict transliteration system below do not render correctly for some widespread software configurations (e.g. ḥ, ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, ṛ, and ẓ). Using the{{transliteration}} template to enclose transliterations allows CSS classes to address these issues.

Article titles should conform toWP:CRITERIA. Rules of thumb that will work in most cases:

1. Use the translation or transcription that is most often used in English-language reliable sources (WP:COMMONNAME principle).

   Example:Henna

2. When there are several forms that occur often in English-language reliable sources, and for those that are used most often it is unclear which one outdoes the others in usage, choose among these the one that is closest to the basic transcription.

   Example:Jinn (notDjinn norGenies)

3. In all other cases use the basic transcription.

   Example:Jabir ibn Aflah

4. Stay within the constraints ofWP:TITLESPECIALCHARACTERS.

   Example:Na'im ibn Musa (notNa‘im ibn Musa, norNa‘īm ibn Mūsā)

Choosing an article title that diverts from the above rules of thumb can only be done with a consensus that the alternative article title conforms better toWP:CRITERIA, and when all applicable redirects are in place.

Example:Thābit ibn Qurra

All frequently occurring name variants, including transcriptions and transliterations, should redirect to the article. There will often be many redirects, but this is intentional and does not represent a problem.

All articles with Arabic titles should have a lead paragraph which includes the article title, along with the original Arabic script and thestrict transliteration in parentheses, preferably in the lead sentence. This is in accordance with the official Wikipedia policy atWP:ENGLISH. Many articles that are missing this information are listed atCategory:Articles needing Arabic script or text. Arabic script is used in combination with the{{langx}}, while the strict transliteration is written using{{transliteration}}. A combination of the{{lang|ar}} and{{transliteration}} templates can also be represented by{{lang|ar}}:

• {{lang|ar|...}}: will mark the text as Arabic. In some browsers, this may trigger a more legible font.
• {{transliteration|ar|...}}: provides a mouseover note indicating that the inserted text is transliterated from Arabic. The transliteration has to be italicised manually.
• {{langx|ar|...1...|...2...|lit=...|link=...}}: provides a combination of a link toArabic language, the original Arabic term, its transliteration and a literal translation.
  • Parameter 1: Arabic-script text
  • Parameter 2:strict transliteration
  • |lit= "literal translation"
  • |link= fill in|link=no to unlinkArabic

The standard format, with, pursuant to{{transliteration}}, thetransliteration system indicated, is given in the following examples:

• Cairo (Arabic:القاهرة,romanized: al-Qāhira) is ...
• Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (Arabic:الحاكم بأمر الله,romanized: al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh; 13 August 985 – 13 February 1021) was the sixth Fatimid caliph...

Some cases will require variations on this format. If the name is extremely long, the first appearance of the name is suitable to provide the strict transliteration. Likewise, if a strict transliteration appears overly repetitious, it should be in place of the page title in the lead paragraph.

Example:

• Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad as-Saffāḥ (Arabic:أبو العباس عبد الله بن محمد السفاح) was the first Abbasid caliph. Abu al-Abbas was the head of...

As with the convention fortitles, common English translations should be used as much as possible. Likewise, if these are not available, one should first try a common transcription before resorting to the basic transcription. Strict transliterations in the main text should only be used out of necessity, e.g. explanations in linguistic texts or articles about transliterating.

Words ending withayn or ahamza are transcribed with an apostrophe at the end. This can cause a problem if the word is at the end of anitalicized orbold text. In order to prevent the final apostrophe from being interpreted as wiki markup'' and''', use{{`}}.

Example:''Karbala{{`}}'' forKarbala'.

• Index by family name in modern cases where there is one, otherwise by the first component in the commonly used name.
  • Example:Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan should be indexed under "Muawiya".
• For indexing of persons, the definite article "al-" and its variants (ash-, ad-, etc.) should be omitted when they form part of a modern family name.
  • Example:Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi,Yahya El Hindi andBaba Ratan Hindi should all be indexed under "Hindi".
• However, for organisational names, where acommon transcription is established by usage, the al- or el- part is often treated as a full part of the word.
  • Example:Al-Qaeda should be indexed as "Al-Qaeda", not "Qaeda".
• Include particles such asAbu,Abd, Abdel,Abdul,ben, bin and bint as part of the name. When found in modern surnames, such names are considered compound names and the particles are integral to the name.
  • Example:Osama bin Laden should be indexed as "Bin Laden, Osama".
• For indexing, the apostrophe (representing hamza and ‘ayn) should be ignored, and letters with diacritics should be indexed as if they did not have their diacritics.
  • Example:Ibn Sa‘ūd should be indexed under "Saud".

Thestrict transliteration presented below is based on theALA-LC Romanization method (1997), and standards from theUnited Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. It also includes some alternative symbols adopted inISO 233 andDIN 31635, which are used by such sources as theEncyclopedia of Islam, and are available in theArabic tab of the default Wikipedia editor.

Thebasic transcription is a simplified version.^[discuss]

Notes from theALA-LC specifications

Romanizing the Arabic definite article is usually preferred unassimilated.

Arabic has only one definite article (الـal-). However, if it is followed by asolar letter (listed in the table right), the "L" is assimilated in pronunciation with this solar letter and the solar letter is doubled.

Examples

• تقي الدين is pronounced as/taˈqijjadˈdiːn/ and is either transliterated asTaqi al-Din (preferably) orTaqi ad-Din.

Both thenon-assimilated (al-) or theassimilated (ad-) form appear in various standards of transliteration. Choose one and use it consistently throughout the article.

"Al-" and its variants (ash-, ad-, ar-, etc.) are always written in lower case, also when forming part of proper nouns, except when beginning a sentence. It is always separated from the following word (which takes the upper case when it is a proper noun) by a hyphen.

Examples

• "He was a member of al-Qaeda."
• "Al-Qaeda has been designated as a terrorist group."

Some people, especially in the region ofArabia, when they are descended from a famous ancestor, start their last name withآلāl/ʔaːl/, anoun meaning "family" or "clan", like the dynastyAl Saud (family of Saud) orAl ash-Sheikh (family of the Sheikh).آلāl/ʔaːl/ is distinct from the definite articleالal-/al/.

Rules for the capitalization of English should be followed, except for the definite article, as explained above.

Thebasic transcription ofArabic names comprises a variation on the following structure:

• the given name (ism)
• multiplepatronymics (nasab), as appropriate, each preceded by the particleibn (son) orbint (daughter).

 Note onibn andbint: the Arabic wordsابن orبن (transl. son of) should be transcribedibn unless a common transcription requires the colloquialbin (orben and sometimesibni andibnu to show thegrammatical case of the noun'), andبنت (transl. daughter of) should be transcribedbint. For example,Muhammad ibn Abd Allah,Qasim ibn Muhammad,Osama bin Laden,Amina bint Wahb,Tafsir Ibnu Abbas etc.(For further information, seeArabic name § Nasab andPatronymic § Arabic.)

• multiple descriptivenicknames (laqab) or family names (nisba), as appropriate.

 Note: IfAbū is preceded byibn, the correct grammatical format isibn Abī, notibn Abū.

When the Arabic script was adopted for thePersian language, there were letters pronounced in Persian which did not have a representation in the Arabic alphabet, and vice versa. ThePersian alphabet adds letters to the Arabic alphabet, and changes the pronunciation of some Arabic letters. In addition, Persian does not use a definite article (al-).

Urdu adds additional letters, and some existing letters are transliterated differently. The strict transliteration is based on theALA-LC Romanization method for Urdu (2012). The basic transcription is the same for the additional letters, but without accents, underscores and underdots. All letters in common with Arabic should likewise follow the Arabic transcription and/or translation conventions.

TheOttoman Turkish language differs from the above languages in that, since 1928, words that were once written with a Persian-influenced version of the Arabicabjad have been written using theLatin alphabet. As such, there is a long established set of standards for writing the language in a basic transcription; however, in a strict transliteration, the language adheres closely to the standards for strict transliteration described above.

Guidelines for writing Ottoman Turkish words according to the basic transcription can be found at the website of theTurkish Language Association (Türk Dil Kurumu):here for the majority of words, andhere for names of people.

In the following table, only those letters which differ in either their strict transliteration or their basic transcription fromthe Arabic-oriented table above are shown; all others are transliterated according to that table.

In words that use the Arabic definite articleال, the article always follows the assimilation ofsolar letters. However, the vowelا can be transliterated in a number of ways.

1. For a definite article in initial position, the definite article is written asel- in both the basic and the strict renderings; e.g.الوهابel-Vehhāb,الرمضانer-Ramażān.
2. For a definite article in medial position, such as is found in many names of Arabic origin, the vowel in the strict transliteration can be written in a variety of ways; e.g.u’l,ü’l,i’l,’l, etc. In such cases, the diacritic representing thehamza or‘ayin (i.e.’ or‘) is always used, and the choice of vowel should follow modern Turkish orthography; e.g.عبد الله‘Abdu’llah',عبد العزيز‘Abdü’l-‘Azīz,بالخاصهbi’l-ḫaṣṣa.
3. For a definite article in medial position in the basic transcription,’ is not used, and the choice of vowel and spelling should follow modern Turkish orthography; e.g.عبد اللهAbdullah,عبد العزيزAbdülâziz,بالخاصهbilhassa.

• Guideline for the ALA-LC romanization:
  • Arabic
  • Persian
  • Urdu
  • Ottoman Turkish
• Arabic Romanization at the Library of Congress - Fact sheet for the ALA-LC standard
• Arabic - Sheet comparing 6 major transliteration standards.
• Arabic - Report on the status of United Nations romanization systems for geographical names. January 2003
• Yamli Real-Time Arabic transliteration
• eiktub Another real-time Arabic transliteration software, also capable of exact transliteration according to the rules ofBikdash Transliteration.

• Wikipedia style guideline proposals

• Pages using sidebar with the child parameter