IKF uses a simplified academic transliteration system throughout all published content. The system prioritises readability for English-speaking readers while preserving scholarly precision for Arabic terms.
General Principles
- Long vowels are marked with a macron: ā, ī, ū
- The letter ʿayn is represented by the symbol ʿ (a raised reversed comma)
- The hamza is represented by ʾ when it appears mid-word or end-word; it is not marked at the beginning of a word
- Emphatic and pharyngeal consonants are marked with diacritical dots
- Universally recognised words are written with full transliteration including macrons and diacritics
Fixed Spellings
The following words appear in their fully transliterated forms throughout IKF content:
| Word | IKF Spelling |
|---|---|
| اللَّه | Allāh |
| الإسلام | Islām |
| مسلم | Muslim |
| القرآن | Qurʾān |
| مُحَمَّد | Muḥammad |
Consonant Reference Table
| Arabic Letter | IKF Transliteration |
|---|---|
| ب | b |
| ت | t |
| ث | th |
| ج | j |
| ح | ḥ |
| خ | kh |
| د | d |
| ذ | dh |
| ر | r |
| ز | z |
| س | s |
| ش | sh |
| ص | ṣ |
| ض | ḍ |
| ط | ṭ |
| ظ | ẓ |
| ع | ʿ |
| غ | gh |
| ف | f |
| ق | q |
| ك | k |
| ل | l |
| م | m |
| ن | n |
| ه | h |
| و | w |
| ي | y |
| ء (mid/end) | ʾ |
Vowel Reference Table
| Type | Representation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Short a | a | kataba |
| Short i | i | kitāb |
| Short u | u | kutub |
| Long ā | ā | imām |
| Long ī | ī | dīn |
| Long ū | ū | sūrah |
Notes
The definite article al- is written in lowercase and connected with a hyphen. Sun letters are not assimilated in transliteration: we write al-dīn rather than ad-dīn. The tāʾ marbūṭah is rendered as ah in isolation and as at in iḍāfah constructions where pronunciation shifts.
Islamic Knowledge Foundation — conveying the knowledge of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah.