Abjad Glossary

The system that gives each Arabic letter a fixed number. The name comes from its first letters: alif, ba, jim, dal.

The great method. It uses the full letter values from 1 to 1000. It is the most common method.

Letters used as numbers before modern digits spread. Each letter stands for a value from 1 to 1000.

The small method. It reduces the values, often down to a single digit.

The total you get when you add a word's letter values.

A middle method between the great and small systems. Its use varies by source.

The first Arabic letter. Its Abjad value is 1.

The shortened alif, written like ya at a word's end. It is often counted as 10.

The 99 Beautiful Names of Allah.

The phrase Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Its Abjad total is 786.

A phrase whose Abjad total equals a year. Writers used it to record dates in poems.

The remembrance of Allah through set phrases.

Small marks that show vowels or other sounds. In Arabic these are the harakat.

The Hebrew practice of adding letter values. It is the Hebrew cousin of Abjad.

The last letter in the Abjad order. Its value is 1000.

A mark for a glottal stop. It counts as 1 in Abjad.

The short vowel marks above and below letters. They carry no Abjad value.

The Arabic name for Abjad calculation. It means adding the letter values of a word.

The single letters that open some Quranic chapters, such as Alif-Lam-Mim. Their full meaning is known to Allah.

The traditional science of letters and their meanings.

The traditional study of numbers linked to letters.

The Greatest Name of Allah. Scholars differ on which Name it is.

The Greek practice of adding letter values.

A traditional lettrist practice from early history. It is presented here as history, not endorsement.

The fixed number assigned to one Arabic letter.

The Western letter order from North Africa. A few letters carry different values.

The shared sum of every row, column, and diagonal in a magic square.

The Eastern letter order, standard in the Arab East. Alif is 1 and ghayn is 1000.

Prayer beads used to count dhikr. It is also called subha.

Making letter forms standard, such as the alif types. It helps compare text fairly.

The belief that numbers hold meaning. Abjad is a letter-number system, studied here for facts only.

The base letters that carry a word's core meaning.

The tied ta at a word's end. It is often counted as 5.

Saying glorification phrases and counting them. It also names the beads used to count.

The full set of Arabic vowel and pronunciation marks.

A stretch mark that lengthens a word for style. It carries no value.

A written grid or text kept for traditional reasons. This site studies its structure only.

The standard that gives every character a code point. It lets tools read Arabic correctly.

A magic square: a grid where every row, column, and diagonal shares one sum.

A historical device that combined letters and numbers. It is a topic of study, not a claim.