TheElifba alphabet (Elifba Albanian: ئەلیفبایا ئارابۋ-شكېپ,Albanian:Elifbaja, fromOttoman Turkish:الفبا,romanized: Elifbâ) was one of the main writing system for theAlbanian language during the time of theOttoman Empire from 19th century to 1911. This Albanian variant of theAbjadOttoman was used to write the Albanian language. The last version of theElifbaja shqip was invented by therilindas,Rexhep Voka (1847-1917). Although the first standardized Albanian script based on the Arabic alphabet was published in the 1800s,Sufi Albanian poets began composing poetry in Albanian using the Arabic script as early as the late 17th century.

TheOttoman Turkish alphabet was mainly favored byAlbanianMuslims, but also used by someChristians. After being especially used during theBejte poetry, aprimer for the Albanian language inArabic script was published in 1861 inConstantinople byMullah Daut Boriçi, a prominent member of theLeague of Prizren.^[1]

During 1909 and 1910 there were movements by AlbanianYoung Turks supporters to adopt theArabic alphabet, as they considered the Latin script to beun-Islamic. InElbasan, Muslim clerics led a demonstration for the Arabic script, telling their congregations that using the Latin script would make them infidels. In 1911, the Young Turks dropped their opposition to theLatin alphabet, and thecurrent Latin alphabet for Albanian was adopted. In order to eliminate ambiguity in the pronunciation of the Arabic script,Rexhep Voka developed a customized Arabic alphabet consisting of 44 consonants and vowels, which he published in 1911. However, it was hardly used anymore due to theCongress of Manastir. Tiranli Fazli then used this script to publish a thirty-two page grammar. Only one Albanian newspaper at the time ever appeared in Arabic script, and it lasted a brief period. Regardless of what script appeared, such material raised Albanian national consciousness:^[2] There were Albanian Arabic alphabet and reading books published inConstantinople in 1912,^[3] and also the AlbanianZemér newspaper published in Constantinople in 1911-12.^[4]

Here ىٕ is an approximation of the glyph used to represent ë.^[5][3][4]

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in Albanian:

• Ottoman Albania
• Writing systems
• Albanian scripts
• Arabic alphabets

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Albanian-language text
• Articles containing Ottoman Turkish (1500-1928)-language text