Arabic Alphabet - Computers and The Arabic Alphabet - Unicode - Ligatures

Ligatures

Unicode primary range for basic Arabic language alphabet is the U+06xx range. Other ranges are for compatibility to older standards and do contain some ligatures. The only compulsory ligature for fonts and text processing in the basic Arabic language alphabet range U+06xx are ones for lām + ’alif. All other ligatures (yā’ + mīm, etc.) are optional. Example to illustrate it is below. The exact outcome may depend on your browser and font configuration.

• lām + ’alif

  لا‎

Note: Unicode also has in its Presentation Form B FExx range a code for this ligature. If your browser and font are configured correctly for Arabic, the ligature displayed above should be identical to this one, U+FEFB ARABIC LIGATURE LAM WITH ALEF ISOLATED FORM:

ﻻ‎

• U+0640 ARABIC TATWEEL + lām + ’alif

  ـلا‎

Note: Unicode also has in its Presentation Form B U+FExx range a code for this ligature. If your browser and font are configured correctly for Arabic, the ligature displayed above should be identical to this one:

• U+FEFC ARABIC LIGATURE LAM WITH ALEF FINAL FORM

  ﻼ‎

Another ligature in the Unicode Presentation Form A range U+FB50 to U+FDxx is the special code for glyph for the ligature Allāh (“God”), U+FDF2 ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM:

ﷲ‎

This latter ligature code again is a work-around for the shortcomings of most text processors, which are incapable of displaying the correct vowel marks for the word Allāh in Koran. Because Arabic script is used to write other texts rather than Koran only, rendering lām + lām + hā’ as the previous ligature is considered faulty: If one of those fonts are installed on a computer (mry_KacstQurn, KacstOne, DejaVu Sans, Scheherazade, Lateef) the right will appear without automatically adding gemination mark and superscript Alef.

• lām + lām + hā’

  لله‎ or لله

• ’alif + lām + lām + hā’

  الله‎ or الله

• ’alif + lām + U+0651 ARABIC SHADDA + U+0670 ARABIC LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF + hā’

  اللّٰه

An attempt to show them on the faulty fonts without automatically adding the gemination mark and the superscript Alef, although may not display as desired on all browsers, is by adding the U+200d (Zero width joiner) after the first or second lām

• (’alif +) lām + lām + U+200d ZERO WIDTH JOINER + hā’

  الل‍ه‎ ‎ لل‍ه‎