Arabic Language - Writing System

Writing System

The Arabic alphabet derives from the Aramaic through Nabatean, to which it bears a loose resemblance like that of Coptic or Cyrillic scripts to Greek script. Traditionally, there were several differences between the Western (North African) and Middle Eastern versions of the alphabet—in particular, the fa had a dot underneath and qaf a single dot above in the Maghreb, and the order of the letters was slightly different (at least when they were used as numerals).

However, the old Maghrebi variant has been abandoned except for calligraphic purposes in the Maghreb itself, and remains in use mainly in the Quranic schools (zaouias) of West Africa. Arabic, like all other Semitic languages (except for the Latin-written Maltese, and the languages with the Ge'ez script), is written from right to left. There are several styles of script, notably Naskh, which is used in print and by computers, and Ruq'ah, which is commonly used in handwriting.

The Arabic writing system is sometimes seen to be more readable than the Latin writing system. Edward William Lane, the writer of "The Arabic-English Lexicon," complained once that he was so used to the cursive calligraphy of his Arabic manuscripts that the Western print strained his eyes.